Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Albion blog: Changing face of game
Tuesday 12th February 2008, 9:09AM GMT.
Is this still the English Premiership? writes Albion blogger Jarrod Hill.
Last week’s news of plans to play Premiership games abroad has caused a major discussion amongst football lovers all over the country.
The idea for each Premiership side to play one game a season in various locations across the globe is an idea born out of some marketing brainstorm within the bowels of the Premiership HQ.
The motive is to market the Premiership to the rest of the world, and by this I mean the rights to broadcast games.
If successful, it will generate more competition to buy the rights, thus more revenue for the top tier of English football, and a global dominance of everything football related, including shirt sales, sponsorship, and advertising.
When put to the Chairmen of the Premiership it received a majority backing, hardly surprising when many of our top clubs are now run by foreign businessmen who view any attempt to boost finances as the way forward.
In recent years we have witnessed top clubs like Manchester United going on tour in Asia, to, as they put it, “enhance our global brand”, and now our top league has jumped on the bandwagon.
My father has been a football fan for as long as he can remember, but during his lifetime he has seen so many changes, changes to rules (back pass law, offside, substitute allowance), all seated stadiums, foreign investment, and the birth of the Premier League.
Is it any wonder many ordinary fans no longer view football in the same way as they once did?
I almost feel like fans are a secondary thought, when my team played in the Premiership you could go a whole month without having a 3pm kick off on a Saturday, and now they are talking about playing games in front of prospective new fans all over the world. Where does this theme end?
Football is first and foremost there for the fans, but the power within English football is now in the hands of marketing executives who are chasing multi million pound investment and they rightly assume football fans will toe the line, because we are already committed to following our respected clubs.
As much as I question the morality of the ever evolving football in England, I know I will still support my club, watch games on TV, and turn up at whatever time dictated to, to watch my team.
We are being taken advantage of, due to our loyalty and the endless bombardment of media advertising.
Some fans may view this new idea as an opportunity to gain more fans, see their team play abroad, or just the next part of our ever changing game, but for me I see it as another knife in the back of loyal fans.
I want 3pm kick offs on a Saturday, I want to be able to afford to go to games, and I want football to remain the sport I fell in love with as a young boy.
I love football; we all do, but if you change something so you can no longer recognise it for what it once was, its attraction wanes.
How many people of the older generation have you spoken to who have said,” I used to go but I have lost my passion for it”, or “I cannot justify the cost of going anymore”.
I find it so sad, but when I sat down and realised how much the game will have changed by the time I am in the twilight years of my life, will I still recognise the game I love now?
In a world where everything boils down to money I am probably being naïve, but I believe the only way forward is to have people in power who have football and fans as their number one priority, lose the fans and you will lose football as we know it forever.
Football fans have your say below
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Hi Guys, i am going to explain the theme of my blog today.
I know the performance Saturday was awful, but we have already gone over this in the last few days and i have decided to bring something different to the discussiont table. I promise my blog on Friday will be pure Albion, plus i had to write my blog Friday due to being away with work, sorry, i hope you like the blog anyway.
All the best.
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A very, very good post, Jarrod. Couldn’t agree more.
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Yes all true—next? When are we fans going to do something to show our power? When are Man U likely to play in front of 10000 fans at Old trafford instead of 70K because the fans are pisssed off? Fan protests do work—Brian Robson is probably finished at Sheff U due to the fans.
A protest such as not buying your club’s merchandise for a season and boycotting a few games would soon make the chairmen think
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agree 100 % with you Jarrod. I dont suppose a protest would work because when you are in the premiership the attending fans dont account for a high percentage of the club’s revenue.
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glenn 3)
Your sentiments are valid, but unless any protest was co-ordinated throughout all leagues, then it will not happen. Can you imagine any loyal fan wanting to hamstring his own club in isolation by staging an independant protest, giving an advantage to all others.
I myself am getting more and more concerned at not only foriegn owner greed, but also the lack of real commitment by players to any club. We have experienced it at Albion as have others where they just hold their hands out for money each week and as soon as they see more dosh elsewhere they are off to put their noses in that trough.
The fans are unfortunately seen only as loyal cash cows. The powers that be and players alike say the right things to metaphorically pat the supporters on the head to keep them happy, whilst as Jarrod says the game gets more and more expensive, and moves further and further away from the grasp of the loyal thick and thin supporter.
Football is mirroring society, 30 years ago people were content with far less, now people expect everything immediately. I know its rose tinted glasses time but are we really better off now? I am not sure that we really are !!
Nor can i say football will improve in the future because of what is happening now.
Thanks for prompting the discussion Jarrod.And thanks for listening.
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Too true, the game started to move away from the fans once the Premier, aka Greed is Good, League was formed. How sad it is to know, before a season even begins, that the champions will be one of four clubs and that the FA cup will almost certainly go to one of them too.
The Championship at least throws up a reasonable number of teams who, on their day, can beat almost anyone else.
I for one would be happy to see the BIG clubs clear off to a European super league and let the rest of us get back to a playing field which is slightly more level. Without the big money from SKY players would have to come to terms with less and who knows we might even see some club loyalty and passion returning to players.
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Jarrod
Excellent blog mate and don’t worry if the blog is not centred purely around the Albion, I think most people would understand it.
I tried it once but got shot down in flames. I mentioned Munich and Shankly last week and that was a bit much for some people to digest.
Anyway, hope all is well and I look forward to our next session in front of the cameras in early March.
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When I was a teen in the seventies I’d go to football most Saturdays. When Albion were at home, I’d go there. Following them away wasn’t really an option, so on those Saturdays me and my mates would head off and watch another local club. Villa, Blues – even the Wolves. It didn’t matter. It was only a few bob to get in and we’d usually decide at lunchtime where to go and just turn up, pay at the turnstile and enjoy the game.
Football belonged to us; the working man – or in my case, semi working student.
Happy days, long gone.
Now it’s all about the money and they just can’t see they are killing everything that made it our national sport.
The latest loony suggestion of playing games abroad is just about the end. The pits. The nadir of the game. It simply cannot be allowed to happen. It won’t happen….. will it?
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Jarrod.
Any fan who knocks you for this blog is extremely short-sighted. The Pate de Foie Gras Premier League, these new owners won’t settle until they’ve stuffed the goose that lays the golden egg to bursting point, when they’ll all disappear. They may kill football as we know it.
We’re often told that as supporters we’re not important because they don’t need our money any more. This may be true to a point but how popular would their global product be without a crowd atmosphere. We’ve already heard Roy Keane complain about the lack of it that the invasion of the prawn sandwich brigade creates.
I’ve been going up since 1961 and still hope for a reurn to the good old days. I’m guessing that the proposed overseas matches are a toe in the water. If successful the next step would be to turn our ‘big clubs’ into a travelling circus consisting of twelve teams, playing each other around the world. This would be the big four, Newcastle, Tottenham etc plus probably Celtic and Rangers.
I’d be only too glad if my club were left behind by this. I’d rather keep the local rivalries at home. An added bonus might be getting rid of the big time Charlie players, leading to the fans feeling a bond with the players again.
The Premier league started the demise of our football. The ‘product’ may have improved but as a fan my sense of alienation has increased year by year.
I think our only hope for the future is that the ‘Elite’ will overstep themselves and b—-r off, leaving the rest of us to get on with it. As you say Jarrod, kick offs at 3 o’clock on a Saturday, Cup replays until someone wins properly. Maybe it’s pie in the sky but you have to hope for something.
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Members of another forum which will remain nameless will probably recall my thoughts on the costs of football now.
When I travel from Cardiff to watch the Albion, it costs all-in-all around £100 give-or-take for one game – including petrol; parking; ticket; food et cetera.
I also travel to Milan to watch Inter play. Coach to London – a quid. Flights to Milan a quid each way plus taxes (around £20 each way). Bus to San Siro 1 Euro. Ticket less than a tenner.
It’s cheaper for me to go to Milan for the day and watch a World Class side than it is to driver up the M50 to Sandwell.
Something is wrong in this country.
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Sorry for intruding, but there’s a lot more sense here at the moment than on the wolves blog! Cantello has it spot on. When I was a kid me and my dad went to wolves one week and albion the next, maybe because there were fewer other attractions but mainly because we loved watching football. We were much less well off then compared with now, but, but we always went to a match somewhere. Nowadays, purely due to the cost, it needs a special occasion to take my kids, so they dont have the love of the game that I did, despite the number of games on TV now. Once the trendiness of football has gone, who will be left to fill the grounds? Watching Premiership games (and many 2nd tier games) is now beyond the reach of ‘traditional’ fans. Finally, would footballers get another job if they were only paid £2000 a week instead of £100,000+ and would the game be worse for it?
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