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PompeyLapras said:
Southampton FC are just there to make up the numbers. And so are Everton FC, Bournemouth, Stoke and West Ham.

So are Portsmouth, Chesterfield and Sheffield Wednesday.

We are all equal, in that we are all equally here just to make up the numbers. Frankly the only clubs that matter are Manchester United, City, Chelski, Arsenal and Liverpool. The rest of us are just there to provide opposition, players and fixtures and someone to show on TV when they're playing one of the clubs that matter. Maybe a little bit of excitement when one of us pointless clubs beat one of the teams that matter allowing the Premier League to market itself in China to gain more money to give to Manchester United, City, Chelski, Arsenal and Liverpool. Aside from that, not at all. Every season is more pointless than the last as all but a few clubs hurtle towards a meaningless position in the league table, unless you get relegated or reach Europe and if it's the Europa League, you don't even care anyway. Regardless, finish 5-17 does it matter? Does it matter the season after that? Or the season after that? What are you progressing towards? What's the end goal? Winning the Premier League? Ha, fat chance. Not unless you want to fire up the cash furnace, make sure you have enough cash to incinerate though. What good is a five year plan when a team can just buy their way into the top 4 and the media metaphorically suck them off while they do it? What's the point in playing a game where all the die are loaded?

Before anyone mentions Leicester, that was a total fluke and will never happen again.
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Could equally say the top 5 are pointless, they can fight among themselves while the rest of us meaningful, down to earth clubs fight to finish higher than each other. Occasionally we can do one over on the big fish which is an unexpected surprise but then back to the real league work.
 
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Beddytare said:
A lot have already said it....Money is the root of all evil............Getting Sky to put the money in was one thing............but the throw back was catastrophic for the top teams (and lower teams) in turn because as the money came in, the costs went up drastically. In truth the fans only gained because if they paid even more they could watch the favourite team on the goggle box.
When it all kicked off there were cries of "the gates would go down" As we all know though, the gates are actually increasing.
Personally I do not yet think it is over, there is more to come. There has been talk of the European super league, it will come in at some stage I am convinced. Which will mean as is the trend beginning to show now the top teams are actually developing two full teams.
A new term creeping in of course is "Rotation" Naturally with that comes yet another increase in costs.
How many games a week can the average man afford I wonder? Me I can barely afford one.....but then maybe you can afford more.
Champions league, Europe league, FA cup and EFL cup are our possible extra games. In theory I guess it could be in the region of 60 games a season. I know I couldn't afford to attend them all and what of the players? Are we beginning to see top teams having to play 70 plus games a season at the top level (Obviously including possible replays and pre-seaon) Does that mean top teams are going to have 3 levels of players....the mind boggles at the thought........all in the name of money!!
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This is an interesting post and I think that the conclusions aren't too far adrift. I would imagine that the League Cup will eventually fizzle out and may merge with the former-JPT in some form. The influence of the Chinese is the biggest threat to the game with ridiculous money being offered for players. I think this will force some major changes with European football needing to meet this threat. This is a format I find difficult to understand as champions from foreign leagues that are equivalent to our League one or Championship making a bit of a mockery of things. I can see these types of teams being shunted out.

The comment about rotation is a good one and I think that the top teams will continue to snap up the better talent. This is why Southampton need to resist these changes as it will ultimately lead to the club being priced out of the market as we will not be able to accumulate squads of this size and won't play sufficient games to utilise them.

The one thing good about Portsmouth is that it has a greater share of community both in ownership and relation to the town. If they get promoted this year as is now looking increasingly likely, it will be a feather in the cap of the genuine supporter because the club is owned by the community. As amusing as it is to laugh at PFC, I quite admire their community-based ethos and the club having a connection with the city where the supporters have invested in the club. This is hugely romantic and appeals to my politics yet I doubt if this will ever get them in to the Championship. However, like capitalism itself, you wonder how long the current "money bags" attitude to football can continue and perhaps it will reach a saturation point. People have been arguing about this since the early 1990s but I am not convinced that we are anywhere near a tipping point where there is a small league for the biggest clubs in Europe and everything else reverts to a more parochial level.

If anything, football illustrates how bad rampant capitalism is. This is why so many fans loved the fact that Ranieri guided Leicester to champions last season. Seeing the s same old teams winning everything is boring although if you are a Man Utd fan in Hong Kong your perspective will be totally different and largely ignorant of the tors at play regarding the genuine fans who turn up at the turnstiles week in, week out. Like so many things these days, football is increasingly about product and the rich business men have stolen the game for their own vanity. FIFA did the right thing in getting Blatter hooked out of the game - we could do with someone more like Rosa Luxembourg in control!!
 
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Be easy on the OP. Wouldn't you be pissed off with life if you were a Pompey fan. The fans he detests most are having the time of their lives while he has to hang about with the other dregs of the football league.
 
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St Godders said:
Be easy on the OP. Wouldn't you be pissed off with life if you were a Pompey fan. The fans he detests most are having the time of their lives while he has to hang about with the other dregs of the football league.
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Be careful, Godders!! Not so long ago, Saints were also part of that "pond life." And I think many a Saints fan enjoyed the visits to places of relative obscurity like Walsall.
 
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