With the humiliation that Arsenal endured in Europe again and no other English teams doing that well in Europe for a while now I just thought I would ask your opinions on a couple of points: 1. Is there something wrong with the way the game is played here or is it just the attitude of the over payed prima donnas that inhabit the upper echelon teams in the Premiership? 2. Is football in England actually overrated by the media and the boards of the bigger teams? 3. As fans, are we just happy to sit back and keep telling ourselves that football in England is the 'Best in the World'? 4. Should TV money be spread more evenly among the lower leagues? 5. Is there a better winning mentality amongst European teams? Just thought I would glean some of your thoughts
interesting questions. I've used them to open up wider questions about English football, hope thats ok because i think its relevant. The bigger picture/context to consider, for me, is this: The prem league's best players are, mostly, foreigners of a very high standard, and clubs owned by foreigners and sponsored/financed by wealthy foreign companies. (One good thing about Ipswich is we still have an English and British and indeed local identity from our owner through the management team and the players which is something I value highly as a fan). Chelsea, Arenal and others have only their geographical location which is still English, whats English about Arsenal? foreign Manager (for now..), played at "the Emirates" (FFS! have some dignity!) with mostly foreign players. same goes for Man City. Chelsea too. But their fans don't care as long as they win. I'd bet a tenner bet they mostly voted for Brexit too, standing on the terraces in their shirts made in China, watching foreign players paid by a Russian owner, managed by a foreigner but somehow believing its an 'English game'...it's all very ironic. So in light of what English football is (i.e. not terribly English, for better or worse, opinions will be divided of course, and thats fine. for the record this is no veiled political rant either way, its merely observation of the facts evident to all. So here's my view on your questions: 1. I don't think so, The point is, the PL has some of the best players in the world but things come in phases-the great Chelsea side of Drogba, Lamps and Terry won the champs league and since undergone change and now look getting back to world beating again, same goes for Man U-they'll be back. They both contested the Champs League final not so long ago, Liverpool won it not so longer ago...our clubs will be back; the money is there to get the players but sadly they are unlikely to be English! 2. mostly, English footballers are overrated, not English football itself. English football is one of the best leagues in the world, see above for why. English footballers are few and far between at the highest level and no that great as recent tourneys have shown. Remember Jose Antonio Reyes, for example? He was awesome here, but couldn't get a game for spain-they had at least 4 others ahead of him. if only we had a system to produce the depth of talent...We have a reasonable first xi but once one player is injured we don't have one to call up of the same level. In Spain, if Iniesta is injured they have/had Fabregas or Alonso to fill in. we never stood a chance... 3. yes, mostly, see above re 'provided we win, i'll close my eyes to what has been sacrificed in the process.' or ask a Chelsea fan or Man City fan... 4. Absolutely. I want clubs to have the means to develop British players in the hope it'll produce more English talent. lower leagues scrap and scrape to keep the football ice berg that exists below the water line alive. Only the PL has money-even our club trades at a loss and were hardly tearing up trees, and that money just doesn't seem to filter down or benefit the "English game" in the broader sense. 5. The top players in the PL be they English or not will have a winning mentality. Our teams just aren't at the level of Real, Barca, Bayern etc, those teams have been developing for a long time, many of ours are in a cycle of change; Manu U being a prime example after a pre eminent era of 20 years. For deeper analysis of the issues affecting English football at the highest level see a good book called: Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained. It's written by a economist and a journalist and makes some interesting observations.
