Robbie Savage opens his mouth and proves he's a cock. Again. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29638128
To be fair to him PNP he's probably explaining the mindset of the vast majority of players when it comes to the matter. It seems to me that players with little/no connection to the clubs they're playing for - the majority of players at the top level of the modern game - aren't going to care as much. In the second half of the article he says that: "I had no idea what it was like for the working-class man with a family to go to a match once or twice a week, put petrol in the car to get to the stadium and buy food for his kids when he is there." He's saying that he was probably wrong to never think of the effect his increased wage demands would have on ticket prices (don't get me wrong he never says he'd have done differently though), but as he says towards the end of the article, nowadays clubs can't really make the wages excuse for ticket prices because even though wages have gone up, there has been a truly massive increase in TV and sponsorship levels at the same time. As he rightly says at the end, clubs nowadays especially in the PL seem more bothered about developing fan bases abroad than caring for the fans at home. This would especially ring true for Spurs right now...
Hudd your spot on. Today's players tend to detach themselves from the real world , money has bought them a barrier of celebrity , a life in some cases above the law or even having enough cash to silence the press. Generally they are poorly educated with no concept of social justice. They mainly have the "I'm alright Jack " attitude . In Savages's case he is just being honest and reinforces his professions love of ignorance .
Got to disagree. Most players come from poverty or working class backgrounds. Their family and friends are still in those social classes. You don't forget your roots. Savage is a knob
I think Savage is just telling it like it unfortunately is. Most of us already knew what he has said anyway. It's not that you forget where you came from, it's just that the majority of them are just glad to be out of it and couldn't give a toss for anybody else - except maybe family and very close mates. As Sidney says, "I'm alright Jack"
Don't get me wrong Inda, I'm no great fan of Robbie Savage. And as you say, you shouldn't forget your roots. But when you're having thousands, if not tens of thousands of pounds being thrown at you per week from the age of 18, its not surprising that many players do just that, especially if they move countries away from home and/or are surrounded by people in similar situations. They probably end up lacking people to keep them grounded, especially the foreigners.
The rising cost of football is another example of the rich getting richer and the poor and middle classes getting poorer than anything else, to me. The last 40 years have consisted of those with economic leverage turning the screws and everybody else getting screwed. Football is a game people are passionate about, so it's simple enough to milk the passion to line pockets, and naturally that's what people are doing. It's interesting to see some of the big teams in other countries like Barca and Bayern realizing that keeping the price of tickets down is pound wise and penny foolish. With a greater and greater part of their revenues coming from sources outside the stadium, the fans at the stadium become more and more a part of the commodity that is being sold (stadium packed with fans watching a football team) and less and less the people they're selling the commodity to. Cheaper tickets draw younger and more enthusiastic fans, who present a better picture in terms of enthusiasm to the worldwide audience.
Red you must be Americas only socialist . I agree in everything you say in essence but take our owners as a example , they are here only for the short term , there aim is the "the big sell" . The long term fan base/success is of no interest to them. I am in envy of teams that football leads the business but not like us the other way round.
Yeah, it gets pretty lonely. I should have some company when the analysis of capitalism in Das Kapital turns out to be substantially correct, if I'm still around. We probably still have a cycle or three of expansion left--30, 60, 90 years--before he inevitable collapse. In any case, the fact that various collections of thugs called themselves Marxists has got nothing to do with Marx's work. Don't get me wrong: the idea that the proletarians will magically make everything better is as on the same level of logic as the Rapture. But capitalism is the world's biggest pyramid scheme, and will collapse like the rest of them.
