My only serious issue with sky is the gulf that was created between the top teams and the rest. However, are they to blame for attracting sugar daddy's such as abramovich which bankroll clubs to success? It could have happened before, why didn't it?
It's not rocket science how to fix football. Wage and transfer caps getting increasingly stringent every year till spending goes back to pre-90s levels. Ban on agents, backhanders and 'image rights' deals. 50+1 rule as per in Germany, standing areas in every ground and respect rather than prison for fanatical supporters. 80% of TV money ploughed into grassroots football and given to clubs as academy grants. No more poaching of talent from big clubs - youngsters should train at the nearest club to their permanent residence. Get a bit of sanity back, wouldn't it?
Have to agree with this - especially on the transfer/salary cap issue. It would reduce reduce the influence if not mitigate the need for players agents.
The one thing I do dislike is people like Abramovich coming in and showering a club with money. There have always been rich men supporting clubs but not in this obscene manner. And I'm not being hypocritical as I think our owners are trying to do it the right way. If I had Abramovich's money, I would be doing something better than throwing it at a football club...look at the charity work of Bill Gates. Abramovich abandoned the local club that he had been supporting when a relatively small sum would have made them successful and I am sure there are good causes he could support in his homeland.
I think it's more to do with how these billionaires made their money, Bill Gates earned his were as Abramovich's past is dodgy.
sorry, but if Sky money is the only way our club can survive whilst attracting good players then im all for it. We could survive on ticket sales alone but could never affaord the likes of Ramirez, we would get relegated and then lose all our other better players, the team would become old has beens and youth players and the fans would stop coming, until the day the club is closed and the new St Marys Tescos is opened. Ifind it hard to think how clubs can survive with 2000 paying supporters, no one wants to see a club go bust, but there must be 20 clubs or so teetering on the edge and I would not want us to re-join them
Blaming Sky is shooting the messenger. Murdoch was not running English football when the decision was taken to establish the Premier League. It was the First Division clubs (which at the time included both Saints and Norwich) who started us down this road. Murdoch's Sky made the breakaway feasible, but it was the greed and ambition of the top English clubs which was the driving force. What has happened since then was predicted, but the breakaway clubs were determined to go their own way and the rest had no means of preventing it.
