STANDING ORDER FOR GOALDEN LOTTERY
"REDROBE FAN" POST ON PORT CHAT JUNE 06
Ambitious, and it seems, not so ambitious, small non
league clubs are collapsing all over the country. Basically, the old economics
of the football industry dont work anymore.
There is a concentration of investment and income at the top of the pyramid.
Either the market should be left to itself and there will be a painful
realignment, or the FA, the government, or someone devine needs to intervene to
preserve the grassroots end of the game or the future will be very different
indeed.
Too much money and power is concentrated at the top - the top clubs have to
realise that the pyramid will collapse if the foundations crumble.
Its the foundations that produce the players - though in the quickfix football
industry today, that doesnt matter, for now,
as the big clubs can just go abroad and raid East Europe and Africa. Ask
yourself, how many top class English goalkeepers and strikers are there now?
Where are they going to come from in future?
If trends continue, what would we be left with? a small number of massive clubs,
Man U, Liverpool, Newcastle, Chelsea etc, a few middling strugglers and after
that probably mainly College and amateur clubs - like in the USA, in fact.
Perhaps that is the inevitable result of this extreme US style capitalist
culture that is establishing itself in football.
Top players wages are obscene. You could fund a hospital or two for the wage
bill of 'a Chelsea'. Rio Ferdinand's wage would fund a medium sized university
department. Rooney flies back in a private jet for a scan, but your 80 year old
grannie has to wait for months for one - if she's lucky. The sick thing is that
no-one even seems to want to debate this. What values are we instilling, when
children see the likes of Rooney earning (?) as much in a week as a top surgeon
gets in a year?
Dont tell me that their playing career is short and they have to earn what they
can before they are 35. If they havent stashed enough away by then (after their
gambling and fast cars and women) they can get a real job like the rest of
society and work (!) until retirement age.
If the massive wage demands of the players are to be met, the advertisers and
sponsors want instant and continual success. Money follows success. The rich
will get richer and the poor poorer. Most football fans want a quick fix too.
They dont want to support their local side if it isnt successful. They want the
trappings of success like the big clubs have, they want to wear the shirt of
perpetual success that the industry has convinced them they want to buy.
Throughout the game, fans' expectations (see Portchat!) are usually
unreasonable. The traditional income streams just dont match what it takes to
succeed anymore. Fat cats (often benevolent, well meaning, fat cats) come along
and buy success for a while, but it cant be sustained - ask Hornchurch, Canvey
etc. In my mind, Charlie is right to put survival above all else.
Just what is the future for the small clubs without a massive shift in society's
attitudes?
I am sold on the idea of a dynamic but stable network of clubs of all sizes and
shapes, attracting local fans and sponsorship and the support of local
businesses and the community. The players will be a mixture of talented up and
coming mainly local youngsters, plus journeymen and fading stars. The football
will be usually good to watch. There will be ups and downs but the whole thing
will keep on turning for generations. Is this possible anymore?
Tea break over - back to work.