Well there are definite reasons for why I haven´t been as active on here for a while, and why I don´t expect to be as active in the future either, unless certain things in football, and on this board, take a turn for the better. Firstly, there is barely any debate/discussion on here any more, far more ´give and take´ and being able to see the other point of view, would help the situation hugely. Everyone thinks ( nay, knows) they are right, very, very few are prepared to concede that they might be wrong, so there is no debating the point, neither side gives way, it´s just aimless head-bashing the whole time, leading to frustration and ultimately childish name-calling, when the gas is just about out of the balloon - it´s actually become boring. The obscene amounts of money in the game, is also helping to turn me off it, at a rapid rate of knots, so much so that I´d rather we ploughed our furrow down here in the Championship, than be involved in the money-grabbers League. - which just goes to prove, just how much moneý has destroyed the game, as some of us knew it. If that, to some people, is lack of ambition, then so be it, but football itself has hit the ´self destruct´ button, as far as my enjoyment of it is concerned. Hopefully at some stage, and very soon, if at all possible, the whole caboodle will implode, and we might once again get back towards some semblance of football played on a level playing field. I dare say I won´t be able to refrain from putting in the occasional appearance, but football has dropped drastically down my list of `Things to look forward to´ I´m afraid. No doubt some will accuse me of living in the past, and not moving with the times, but in my opinion the past was exactly the time when football was at its best, and most enjoyable to watch and follow.
Well RBF, I have to agree that the money being spent on a handful of players is OBSCENE and I can see where you're coming from re playing in the Championship and it does have some appeal for me, as at least we can go into EVERY game knowing that if the team plays well, then we have a good chance of winning, or certainly not being on the wrong end of a thrashing!!!!
However much anyone agrees with this (which I certainly do) football is a results-driven business, where promotion to the highest achievable level is the ultimate aim. However 'un-level' the playing field continues to get, I don't see that changing, for coaches, players and most of all the fans. I'm sure even ITFC harbour secret ambitions of dining once more at the top table...although it's been so long, they've probably forgotten how to use posh cutlery
In the PL, we were underdogs for virtually every match except perhaps Bournemouth and Watford at CR. I'm looking forward to that winning feeling again this year, but that doesn't stop me wanting to get back to the PL as soon as we can.
As recently as a couple of years ago Rick, I would have felt exactly the same as you about the PL, but with this latest influx of millions, I would actually be embarrassed to say I was an NCFC supporter, if we regained our PL status, knowing that we were wallowing about in all that wealth - it´s horrible, absolutely horrible. In my opinion no club either deserves or needs that kind of wealth, far better that all clubs, up and down the country had enough to live on, rather than a privileged few have so much, they don´t know what to do with it. The greed in the game seems to be never ending.
By that logic you probably don't watch films or listen to music , actors and bands get paid millions too.
I think a lot has got to do with this being the time people are on holiday..... though saying that I was very busy last year and didn't post much on the second half of the season last year.
At last a thread addressing this sites fall from grace. At times lately it appears more like another (unmentionable ) site with the bickering and feuding between posters. At the end of the day (an unfortunate turn of phrase, more like "at every moment in our lives" ) we are, presumably, all supporters of Norwich City. That we see things from differing viewpoints is just a fact of life, not some threatening anti City stance.
Music was my job, Donuts, as I think I told you once, so it´s never been a form of relaxation for me, after working with, and in it, for 5 hrs a day, the last thing I wanted to do when I got home, was turn the radio on. And I know that football isn´t the only ´art form´ where greed raises its ugly head, but if you´re trying to tell me that average, run-of-the-mill actors, who have yet to prove that they can act at the highest level, will earn £30,000 a week, every week, for the next 3 or 4 years, I´m afraid I´m going to have a bit of a problem believing you. To put it into a different perspective, any footballers earning £30,000 a week, will earn more in a year than I have done in 30 years, working over here - now I call that excessive wages, and they are some of the lowest paid Premier League footballers. Both jobs actually are very comparable too. They play 90 minutes a week (sometimes twice a week) in front of paying customers, I used to play between 90 minutes and 2 hours, often two or three times week, in front of paying customers, they were in the limelight, I was in the limelight. The only difference I can see, is that they would perform in front of x odd thousand people, while I would perform in front of 1500 - but does that really deserve such a gargantuan wage ?
So you would rather see an unheard of band in a pub for the price of a pint and a bag of crisps than watch The Rolling Stones for $500 a ticket in Vegas ? You would rather watch a community theatre production of Hamlet than watch the latest big budget Will Smith movie ? This is very commendable until it comes to my team where you would rather Norwich played at Championship and after time without the riches possibly League 1 level with a level of players that wouldn't cost millions to buy or tens of thousands a week in wages. No ambition no risk no glory just keeping our necks above water and not wanting to do so well that we find ourselves playing in the Greedy league again. I understand your position I just find it odd. You can say goodbye to Klose Howson and any other players with ambition because they would much rather be playing at the highest level. It's also not fair on the young fans that have never seen a cup win or European football or had a day out at Wembley, your generation has enjoyed these things but you don't want the next generation to have new memories to treasure. I'm not endorsing a sale of the club and assets to a dodgy Arab millionaire who wants to own our club because it goes with his new yellow Ferrari, we are still a community club owned by a TV chef .
I wasn't old enough to watch us win the Milk cup or travel to Munich. Languishing in the Championship for a decade sounds awfully depressing ask Welly .
I don't believe there's anyone who believes that footballers deserve the obscene amount of money that they are paid, however the entire western world is a capitalist society and it's what they call 'market forces' is it not? I would bet my house that most of us on here subscribe to Sky or BT or both and while we do so nothing will change. Yes I'm guilty myself, I don't have Sky because the subscriptions are outrageously expensive and IMO do not offer value for money, but I do have BT. Many say that football will implode one day, but will it really? If it does I would say it's still a long way off. I'm not at all happy that we will once again be playing Championship football this season as I have always wanted my beloved City to dine at the top table and compete with the very best. Football has changed out of all recognition since I was a lad and even more so since RBF and Dave were ankle biters but you can't live in the past. The Premier League is now the be all and end all I'm afraid and I would much rather my club inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in. OTBC
Another huge factor is the overseas market taking just the Chinese and Indian markets that's almost 3 billion people more than a third of the World's population. In China you get at least 3 live Premier league games a week on basic cable which costs less than £10 month to subscribe. They want to watch it and we are happy to sell them the product nobody is forcing the TV companies to buy it and that goes for pretty much every other country. Ironically the only ones who pay ridiculous amounts of money and forbidden to watch 3pm kick offs is us .
Do you mean outside the tent and getting pissed on? I have no objection to pissing into the tent on all the overfunded rich play things! Bah!
Unfortunitely I think KIO's right (Not unfortunate that I agree with KIO, unfortunate that things have got so obscene) it is all about market forces. The PL is a premium prduct and it is now reaping the benefit of being perhaps the most globally recognised sporting league. As such they are catching up to all the very highly paid US sports stars that used to have the monopoly on these multimillion salaries. Whilst these wages of £200K are undeniably obscene, at least it is going to those genuinely talented enough to excel in a well rewarded sector. If you think of many other exceptionally well paid jobs, like bankers, stock brokers, big business management, politicians, there is often far less merit to their high salaries and much more entitlement and jobs for the boys. The reality of the world at large is that there is, has always been and will always be obscene unjustifiable wealth descrepancies from top to bottom. The players are getting rich for what ammounts to kicking a ball around for a living. But others do for shifting money around and they can often make or break others lives. Murdock and Sky are the biggest winners and that really does rankle. Like KIO I won't stump up for the ridiculously overpriced sky subscriptions, but too many do to change anything. With this latest TV deal the stakes have been raised, with that the PL gets more media coverage of many more stella signings and the interest around the world further spikes. The reportedly large volumes of Utd, Citeh, Loserpool etc fans all over the world and in particular the far east means that as their affluence rises, so does their ability to pay. Now with more Chinese investment into English clubs, that interest could spiral. If I was a PL club owner from China I would maybe try setting up something like the fanzones from the recent Euro championships. Screen all the games, surround the fans with merchandise and try and get a whole city behind the team, add in preseason tournaments for actual appearances and the skys the limit. Back to traffic, I guess I will always watch football and Norwich and as long as I do, I enjoy chatting about it with like and unlike NCFC minds. Any pickup and drop off in my using this site is due to pesky work restrictions (Some times I am in the lab so a bit so hard to get involved, often I am at my desk which allows it sometimes, but a fair ammount of the time I am doing testing infront of a computer that involves repetative testing that requires nothing more than upto 2 minutes of vegatative state between loading samples) Or away from work, if there is anything fun to be done and if there is anything City related going on of interest. I keep hoping to come on here and see an anouncment on the transfers thread that we have finally signed a striker! Bah!
When it comes to bickering, I don't think it's too bad when discussing football matters, is it? Yes, people disagree, but that's to be expected. I think most bickering comes on some 'off topic' threads, and I know I allowed myself to get stupidly caught up in one of those because it lead, fairly or not, to the disappearance of one of my favourite posters. I'm certainly not against this type of thread, but some do have a habit of kicking around for ages, going round in bloody circles, and ending up with people getting sick to death of it and falling out. Just an observation.
