Football

[only1herbie]

I don’t know what you chaps think but I am fast losing interest in football (never thought I would say that). This started when Shinawatra took over City and hired Eriksson. Ill-gotten money given to a money grabber?? I stopped going to City at this time.

The world cup did briefly “wet my water” again, this was abruptly cut short when England played (sigh).

Recent events are not making football more appealing:
FIFA – corrupt to the core, I am not bothered about England getting the world cup but Qatar???
FA – corrupt to the core and probably taught FIFA all about it.
Newcastle were again becoming my Fav second team and then they sack Chris Hughton
Blackburn today sack Big Sam who is one of my fav managers and arguably one of the top two English mangers

this is not mentioning

ticket prices
sky/espn subscription costs
replica kit prices

I am beginning to think FC United have got it right. A community club for the community. They have just got planning permission to build a stadium near me. Cant say I will ever go (its still Utd FFS) but I hope they do well.

I suspect that the beginning of the end of international football has just begun with FIFAs short-sightedness and that a generation of football fans are being alienated. I don’t think that the same passion for football is present in the younger generation (young Herbie has no interest). Is this the beginning of the end for football as it is?

What do you think?

I for one am looking forward to the new season of Super League Rugby!!

[taylormade]

I heard sam was unhappy that the owners had put chicken korma on the menu in the staff canteen.Got to agree with most of what you say,Hughton was treated very poorly,saying this,I didnt think he was a good manager even taken into account his results,he kept picking shola and even made him captain to rub salt into my wound.Went to watch Falkirk play Hearts recently and the cheeky jocks charged me £20 to watch rubbish and the pukka pie was £3 at half-time,1-0 at half-time so I left cos it was freezing and it ended up 4-3. Money appears to run everything in football,its all a facade and club owners are just after a fast buck,glaziers,gillette,ashley are all cut from same cloth,they have us by the short and curlys and know we will always comeback,saturday good example up here,4pm toon singing ashley is a fat cockney c..t, f..k off, 7-30pm we are singing we are going to win the league and gerrard is a w.n.er. Everything is corrupt,our MPs take the pishh everyday with their expenses etc,. Genuine people are few and far between,I cleared 5 spaces outside my flat in scotland last week, everyday a different car was parked in the space I had cleared when I returned from work.The snow from my 5th dig went all over the car in the 4th space I dug,Cheeky fat twit from down the street wasnt happy next morning,when there was a 2 ft snow wall round his van.Made me feel better tho watching him try to get out. My company has just paid off 85 blokes to save having to pay them holiday money over xmas period,its a disgrace but what happens absolutely nothing,nobody seems to care about anybody else anymore,unions are toothless and so are most of the workers,Im off to watch man utd get humped by arsenal now Nasri first scorer and 3-1 to the arses. gl

[bennythedip2]

Banks ..being run without money .. the con-men had it all !!
Government bail them out with our money to save their own arses !!
Government collusion with US banks !!
Big business cartels collude to hike prices (petrol, gas. electric) to make sure they get bonuses !
Irish bankers are still to get large bonuses even though they spent all their citizens money and that after they just got Europe to bail them out !

So it's no surprise to see Football with all it's high flying millionaires sucking the life blood from the game we all used to love ..
And now this ..
(An influential UK parliamentary committee said yesterday it is to make a wide-ranging investigation into debt problems in British football as part of a new inquiry into the running of the sport.


The inquiry by the Culture, Media and Sport select committee will examine whether there is too much debt in the professional game, whether the rules requiring owners to be "fit and proper persons" are adequate and whether there is any need for the government to intervene in the running of the game.


"The government has said that it will encourage the reform of football governance rules to support the co-operative ownership of football clubs by supporters, and there is widespread concern that the current governance arrangements are not fit for purpose," said committee chairman John Whittingdale.

Debt levels at major clubs such as Manchester United, and the recent court appearances of several clubs fighting administration have heightened government concerns.)
The days we all remember 60's, 70's, 80's, are long gone..
Money, greed and corruption it's all there to make the perfect recipe for disaster ..
Even when Gold and Sullivan took over West ham they couldn't believe the dept of 90 million
I stopped watching football when Rodney Marsh left the UK to America.
The last words he said on radio ..
"I don't recognise my country anymore, and the game I played is not the game we have here now" ..
Maybe he could see what was happening then, who knows, but the game now is all about money and backhanders, which brings us back to Banks and Government
Benny

[Tony2005]

I think two things have spoilt football.....


Firstly SKY TV who have swamped the game with cash at the highest levals and that has made the top three or four clubs in many of the European leagues out of reach of the rest...


This injection of cash has allowed these clubs to spend money in the transfer markets and unfortunatly this money doesnt go to the other league clubs but out of the country especially here in England where we have mainly foreign players now in the premier league.


Alot of the players who have come to the premier league are either not that great or are here to take a nice payoff before returning to their countries to see out their careers..


With the SKY money has come big investers like we have at Man City and Chelsea who are fortunate enough to be able to fund as much cash as the club needs without really being worried about a return financial return...


BUT....


There are also lots of new owners who just want to rip the heart out of clubs by investing and then re borrowing the cash......Liverpool....Man Utd are two of these examples....


Also players have now become bigger then the game and their demands of 150k plus a WEEK are just rediculous for maybe 120 mins of football a week...


The whole game is being ruined by MONEY.....


The gap between the "rich" clubs and the rest is getting bigger by the season and in the end this will only spell trouble for these lesser clubs in the top leagues who try to compete...


We have seen this with LEEDS...FOREST...PORTSMOUTH and a few others who have fallen out of the premier league and have lost 80% of their income but still have to pay players large contracts.....


The other thing that is wrecking football is THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE which is just another cash cow for the big teams and with the input from SKY etc for that its crucial to many top clubs to qualify for the league stages of that comp to bring in the extra cash they need....


In my opinion THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE is many of the top teams priority before winning their league or their cup comps....


Football will never be "A working mans" sport again as its priced itself out of that market nowdays......


Also with most stadiums in the top leagues now being all seater the prices have gone up and also the atmosphere at football has disappeared with most games being played in virtual silence...


Yes your right Herbie....Football has really had its day and the only way to get back to the real heart of the game is to watch lower division matches where they have no money but still have the passion for the game....