What is Football?(7 Messages)

Lee2008
Posts: 811

20 Apr 2008 12:00 AM
Premier League Football is all about Money these days. Money, Money and then more Money.
Clubs become public limited companies during the 1990s and today premier league clubs are being taken over by foreign billionaires.
Liverpool are currently being turned into the laughing stock of world football. Here we have two owners of one of football's greatest clubs who do not have an interest in football, let alone England.
Their only current agenda appears to be scoring points against one another on whichever media outlet is prepared to give them air time.
The latest party political broadcast on behalf of the Hicks party on satellite television trawled through the same old stuff.
Chief executive Rick Parry was dismissed as a "disaster," Hicks promised to rid the club of all debt if he could get rid of Gillett and, no, there was no chance of Dubai International Capital taking over the club.
Hicks said: "We are not doing anything in Asia, the way that Manchester United and Barcelona are, and we have a tremendous number of fans in Asia.
"We have still got the top brand in the world of football but that's no good if you don't know how to commercialize." Not much about England there.
Chelsea - backed by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich - Liverpool, Manchester United, West Ham, Fulham, Aston Villa and Manchester City are all in the hands of foreigners. Foreign owners are here to make money and no other reason.
Not much about England there. Then we have the likes of Mike Ashley at Newcastle who has been supporting the club since may 2007. If he's such a big Newcastle fan why wasn't he going to the games before he bought the club?
Even clubs in the lower divisions are being snapped up by billionaires with little or no interest in football. Just look at whats happening with QPR at the moment.
Im not saying all foreign investment is bad, some of the clubs I've mentioned will of course be very grateful for the investment and so will their fans. (It has bought Chelsea two league titles, an F.A Cup and the Carling Cup). But it is all about money these days.
Don't even get me started on Sky T.V.

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FlyGuy
Posts: 584

21 Apr 2008 11:16 AM
FlyGuy like Gazza when he used to wear fake boobs,

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lGTaAmlDpds

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RegBooster
Posts: 114

31 May 2008 5:36 PM
Financial experts reckon the TV revenue may have 'maxed out', this is because no other broadcaster can afford the huge sum of money that SKY shelled out last time the rights to broadcast live Premier League football. Setanta would probably be the only rival to SKY's recent domination of this lucrative contract. Unless Setanta mounted a bid then there is absolutely no reason for SKY to up their bid from the last time the contract was negotiated. As the wage bill of the majority of the League continues to increase with regards to % of turnover, no increase in TV revenue could be potentially fatal to the finances of most clubs. It would be interesting to see how many of the foreign investors buying up our clubs would hang around if the profitability diminished. In the mid to lower end of the table some clubs are playing infront of falling crowds or stadia only 2/3's full. Some clubs are giving away 100's of free tickets to schools in order to capture the next generation of supporter. The bottom line is that increasing ticket prices and the modern image of a Premier League footballer leaves fans somewhat disgruntled, I for one don't want to watch 8 or 9 foreigners in my teams side. people say, you would if you where winning trophies, well my club doesn't win trophies and never will, I don't think you can argue with players like Ronaldo and Torres plying their trade in the Premier League but some foreigners are signed as cheaper alternatives to the more exspensive 'British' footballer, I can understand the financial reasons to sign such non-descript players but on moral grounds I just don't agree with it. I'm lucky that my club has a fantastic youth set-up and is keen to bring young local talent through, however difficult that task is these days, I think for these clubs who are struggling to sell their tickets, there fans are experiencing something of a diminishing returns situation, high tickets prices, insipid performances by non-descript nomadic footballers who are roaming around Europe playing for the highest bidder. Many clubs cannot finish above Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, that's a fact, it's a real shame in my opinion, Sport in essence is about best performance prevailing on the day, on rare occasions this still happens but it's becoming increasingly a rarity. The 'big 4' have amassed huge squads of players due to thier resources, these factors in some respects are responsible for the Premier League becoming as predictable and mundane as Formula 1. The Premier League needs to find a solution to somehow 'level' this playing field. Im not sure if the 6+5 proposal of FIFA and Sepp Blatter is the answer although I am in favour of it in principle, it would be great to see more English players in the Premier League, the Italians have managed to keep on average something like 7 Italians in their sides in Serie A under the current rulings, I don't know if this has something to do with the fact that the Italian supporters have a 'stronger' voice with regards to decisions made by their clubs and watching 11 foreigners is not something an Italian fan would tolerate. In my opinon if this ruling is passed then English players, especially internationals will cost more both in terms of wages and transfer fee. I don't subscribe to the notion that the 6+5 proposal contravenes EU employment law either, you can purchase as many EU players as you like, ten, 20, 30 or more, it's just that only 5 can play in any one game. The biggest challenge awaiting those who support this proposal is going to come from the G13 of clubs, teams like Arsenal and Man U will vociforously oppose this, like many of these clubs who can afford to buy the best talent in the world, I can't see it getting past these clubs to be honest.
With my SKY Sports subcription cancelled for the summer it will be interesting to see if I re-instate it a the start of the next season, at the moment I'm a little disallusioned with the game so time will tell I suppose.

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