Been following events over the last few hours and it's only confirmed what i nand others believe in that football is killing itself. Most footballers aren't the heroes of yesterday who lived in the community and supported their local clubs but mercenaries who are only after the latest big cheque(don't blame them cos i would do the same if offered the money they are.) Maybe that's the problem there's too much money to be had - the poor supporter who will follow the club ,regardless of what happens pretty much, is left to pick up the pieces when said mercenary leaves. I believe this tranfer window does a lot to inflate prices both for clubs selling and buying, panicking managers into signings they wouldn't necessarily buy, paying wages they know are too high because somewhere out there is a club that will. Then there's the journos who put all sorts of rubbish together hoping to sell papers or webpage hits. The bias shown by some (and I include TV in this) is astonishing. For some of these people the fact that a club can rise up to the PL is a chance for them to belittle them everytime they can (MOTD and several daily papers). Unless of course yuor manager is a loveable cheeky rogue in which case you can use the media to 'tap up' any player you like (I know you know who i refer to). Finally there's the rise of the foreign player. Don't get me wrong some of the skills they show are breathtaking but it's the other niggles that are destroying the beautiful game. The sly stamps on legs, the acrobatic leaps to win penalties which wouldn't be out of place in an Olympic diving competition and my all time favourite the waving of the imaginary card to get a player sent off. All we could do without. The worse thing for me is that now homegrown players are now thinking well if they do it then so should we. Football is losing it's place in our lives for a lot of supporters and needs to look closely at itself before it destroys what is left of the beautiful game.
Football could learn a lot from rugby in terms of how to respect officials and others. Agreed about players wages etc but unless a club goes bust or there is a wage cap the top sides will carry on spending regardless of what debts they have.. As for the media/pundits..well like fans they probably have their favourites and dislikes.
