The trouble is that in this day and age there are only a few clubs living within there means. Don't know if this is true or not but someone mentioned to me the other day that there are three. Arsenal Swansea And believe it or not Scunthorpe??? As I said he could of been wrong with the clubs, but either way it's a frightening statistic that all clubs are living beyond their means, not just us. I know it's a previous debt to be wiped, but didn't Cardiff post a 80 million deficit in their accounts? This is the hard fact of football. Cardiff like us have a hardcore base of supporters who went when they were in hard times in NP. They built a new ground to be diluted support of hardcore to families and glory hunters. If we was to build a new ground our support would be the same the 8k of people who want to sing and chant v the families and sponsership's. We took 40k to Wembley / Millenium but those were families glory hunters etc plus our normal 12-16k We are in a good catchment area, but we have seen constant bickering regarding the Eastend not happy with designs of the redesign of the stand, saying corporate boxes will destroy the atmosphere etc. We either stay where we are find some cheap players bounce around between league one / Championship with the overspending trying to push on when in the championship. Or build a new ground / redevelop AG and push on with a new breed of supporter. Or failing that, the club gets a 20 million pound a year sponsership which we all know is never going to happen.
Corporate boxes will destroy the atmosphere and affect the culture of the club. One part of the ground can be kept clear of mass commercialism. Liverpool have kept their traditional end clear. The world's best supported clubs and league in Germany does things differently by steering clear of whoring out everything.There are many opportunities available to club's. First stage is defining what you think a club is.The German model of club is very different but aspects are relevant.Noise wise European fans are streets ahead of the UK pity is there are those here who want to keep ours behind as well.
What you need to find out, are you comparing the German clubs with our Prem clubs or are you talking about the second to third division clubs?? Liverpool have always sold out their ground, hence the reason they keep The Kop We are talking about home truths and the club going financially forward. I'm not getting into a debate about Eastend v rest of the club, just illustrating that to have a full house it won't be the normal hardcore fans.
Home truth is in 2007 fans took an idea to BCFC regarding the East end. That idea increased the dire atmosphere around the ground and put people into an empty part of the ground and made money. Football for many of us is not about going financially forwards it is about much more than that.Point again there regarding German clubs in all divisions. Liverpool were going to move and the design included another end like they have. You don't have to destroy traditions and the culture around football clubs to progress.
