When if football going to sort it self out? It is becoming a joke from top to bottom. It is losing fans and losing touch with reality. FIFA is corrupt to its core. There are stories of bribe taking almost every week with regard to buying votes etc and all FIFA do is launch their own internal investigation. They are a bunch of dinosaurs that refuse to take football forward. Not willing to take on ideas such as video technology, leaving football falling further behind other sports. The FA are a joke organisation who appear to make terrible decision after terrible decision and seem to neglect one of their main purposes of promoting football in this country at grass roots level. They seem to have one rule for some and then a completely different one for others and similarly to FIFA are a backward thinking organisation. Money has destroyed the game. SKY have more power than anyone in the game and only think about their pockets and certainly not the fans. Last minute date changes for matches, unrealistic start times not accounting for fans travel. Ticket prices have gone through the roof at all levels of football meaning for 2 people it often costs in excess of £100. This at a time when unemployment is high yet players wages continue to increase to frankly ridiculous levels. Clubs continue to rack up mountains of debt in a desperate attempt to achieve even short term success. The people who pay the price for this? The fans. The only way it seems of achieving success it seems is to get a rich owner on board to fund these âbusinessesâ. Bloody unsuccessful businesses that lose huge amounts of money but somehow continue to get bailed out and are left exempt from all other business rules and law. Clubs such as Portsmouth paid St Johns Ambulance 20p to every £1 they owed, all while paying Ben Heim £35,000 a week! The identity of clubs, so important to the fans is been changed by owners as they feel it will create more money. Foreign owners with no idea about what the club means to the local area come in and use it a play thing in which they can change years of history as it takes there fancy. Football often seems more about the legal wrangles and off field action than it seems to be about the sport itself. Mangers suing clubs, clubs suing managers, players suing press, managers fining players itâs becoming a joke. The pinnacle of football has become hugely devalued as international football now takes a back seat to the club game. Any number of people could be blamed for this, including managers and players being selective of when they decide to bless the country with their presence. Recent England teams hardly make themselves easy to support. In fact recent teams reads more like a list of criminal convictions and general cheating or underhand behaviour. We have had the pleasure of watching those accused and convicted of assault, racists, missed drugs tests, adulterers, drink driving, diver and cheats. And we are supposed to support these players? I could carry on talking about the players and their behaviour on the pitch, refereeing etc but Iâm bored of writing and you must be bored of reading. Well done if you read up to here. It really is sad as football can offer so much providing enjoyment and bringing people together everywhere. Sadly these opportunities are being lost due to corruption, greed and a lack of morals throughout football. If they donât sort it out people with move away from the sport which would be a massive shame.
Great post, as more and more money is pumped into the game, the closer it seems to get to the gutter!
It is mostly down to money, and it is certainly more important than the sport itself sadly. However I would argue it is also down to the egos some of these people have, although I guess that could be down to money as well. It can only go on so long before people get fed up with it.
football is so far away from the olympics in terms of spirit. however, even the olympics is about money, not the competitors, look at all the sponsorship - Coca cola, lloyds bank, mcdirtys etc etc as long as fifa are corrupt, nothing will happen about sorting football finances out which is what it's all about as we have concluded. the rich get richer as their sugar daddies pump money in to stem the losses. even a wage cap as a % of revenue isn't the answer as it will benefit the bigger clubs. i guess we just need to like it or lump it (go and support Kings Lynn or a L2 / conference club).
Dereham Town! Playing third qualifying round of the FA Cup tomorrow. It's against the Metropolitan Police, so check your tax discs!
Look at my olympics thread, we are benefitting from the olympics, don't know how much of an impact the organising committee had on it though. http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/172687-We-are-benefitting-from-the-Olympics-(OT)
Interesting POV but I would argue football has always had that corrupt element, especially with FIFA. If anything its probably no more corrupt than usual, you can read back through footballs history and find countless examples of dodgy goings on. You dont often hear about them now bar one or 2 here and there. Has football learned to cover its back better? Maybe. An example, perhaps the best as it goes right back to the very beginning of football..... Preston were kicked out of the FA Cup for paying their players. At the time it was for amateurs only but they were paying their players ( the chairman was stealing from other employees to actually pay the players ). The rules changed shortly after and Preston were a side who got caught, not the exception here. As for the England side being full of convicts so to speak, its not a new thing either I suspect. The olympics or IOC however are about as corrupt an organisation as you could ever think of. Give it a google, plenty Fans are better in football aswell, its a passion so people get emotional. Not always a good thing but compared to the fair weather fans of athletics its miles better.
Remember the reasoning for taking the WC to South Africa was to help the country develop. Then because McDonalds was a main sponsor they banned all local vendors from close proximity to the ground. A little thing but says it all really. Using football as a face to make personal wealth not really caring about the game or the fans at all.
Can we have a bit of reality please. All this notion of chaps and chappesses running around a track just for the fun of it - every gold medalist is now a millionaire. Most of them are like footballers - in it for the money!! I accept that at a local level some do it for fun but then thousands of footballers pay to play for their village team. When you are a professional sportsman you are in it for the money - footballer, athlete or cyclist. That is why some athletes and cyclists have been caught taking drugs!!
I agree it has always been there to an extent. It appears to be more so now but that maybe due to coverage and info available. I would say though, underhand behaviour used to be more about getting success on the pitch now its more about money. Part of what I'm getting at is how the importance of the fans has been very much diluted (although I guess they see them as important in making money). Anyway I would just say plenty needs to change from top to bottom in order to keep football popular and accessible to future generations.
Its an interesting point you make. When do you think that it changes from being about the sport to been about the money? Plenty of lower level sportsmen/women earn very little. But is it the attraction that there is potential for a lot more?
and the number of zeros are the thing which make it all the more difficult for supporters to bare, as they can no longer afford to go and watch their team because they have to pay the extra zeros. times have changed even if the parallels are there
