Hello! So, you clicked on this blog for a reason. Probably hoping to see me lash out at football in general, why I have no doubt this will happen eventually, now isn't the time for it.
I'm currently a lapsed Liverpool fan and a Dagenham and Redbridge one too.
My whole problem with football (mainly with the premier league admittedly) is the whole foreign ownership.
I'm sitting here trying to think of a good example of foreign ownership but I honestly can't think of one.
Well maybe John Henry at Liverpool but he's not been there long enough for me to make a judgement.
All I can think of is situations where the owners screwed the club up.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Liverpool, Thaskin Shinawatra at Manchester City ,also to a certain extent their new owners but I'll get to that later; The Glazer family at Manchester United too.
The one that really kicks me in the teeth is Portsmouth Football Club. Man they really got fucked up didn't they?
How many players sitting on the bench and not getting on because the club couldn't pay the contract add ons?
The fact that the trouble all happened with foreign influence really grates in my teeth. It's as if they don't understand football to that extent. I get that they know how to run a business otherwise they couldn't afford a football club but look at the situation that Portsmouth ended up in. You're telling me that was a smart group of people that did that?
Portsmouth were a great football club with a proud history, this was a club that came within minutes of beating the mighty AC Milan in what was then the UEFA Cup! Look it up if you don't believe me!
A great club was ruined by absolute idiots and I'm scared that they won't be the last.
Lets look at Manchester United. The Red Devils. The club with the most League titles (not for long hopefully) Malcom Glazer took the club over while a lot of people didn't want him to.
Ticket prizes have absolutely soared since he took over there.
Football the working mans game, where fathers take their sons on a Saturday afternoon has been reduced to the point where you have to be earning a lot of money or making a lot of sacrifices like food, and heat just to afford a season ticket.
That season ticket will only get you into the League games though. So what about the Cup games? What if your team is in Europe? Then you have flights, accommodation in some cases and food and drink. What if your team gets to a final? Then you go out there for a day or so before and after the game. Then you have all the match day stuff. Travel to the game. Parking and petrol too. Then you have food and drink in the ground to buy.
I recently went to the West Ham vs Nottingham Forrest game and I bought half a pint of beer a hot chocolate and a hot dog. It came to roughly eight or so pounds. All that for eight quid? Football is pricing the average Joe out of the game and as a result more and more people stay at home to watch the match and as a result the prices go up and up. The food and drink will get even more expensive not to mention the tickets.
In a way I'm glad I live so far away from my club. It'd cost me too much to be there week in week out as much as I want to.
Now my club. Liverpool Football Club. The Mighty Reds. One of the best clubs in the world until recently.
When Tom Hicks and George Gillett bought the club and promised work would start in a new stadium "within sixty days" I was excited. When work didn't start I was a bit miffed as were a few people. A lot of them however were under the impression that they shouldn't move from Anfield, and it's possible to see their reasoning. Why move from a stadia that's seen so much? Olympiakos and Chelsea in 2005. Liverpool 4 Newcastle 4 which was voted the best game in the PL. Just redevelop they said, and to a certain extent I agree with them. Here's why it just won't happen though, the owners are just too obsessed with money to do it. They want a full gate week in week out, which don't get me wrong is a good thing, but they want more money all the time. So given a choice would you rather have 42,276 people in for eighteen months while a new stadia is built? Or would you prefer, lets say, 30,000 in for a season while a corner of the ground is closed for refurbishment works? I'd choose the latter option but the money grabbing owners want results now. They don't care about the future unless it means more money for them that's why they choose the first option. With John Henry coming in and King Kenny back at the helm things are looking up for us, however, I've been burnt once. I'm a bit wary now.
Manchester City, not a world famous club admittedly but a great one nevertheless ran into a few problems with money. Then Thaskin Shinawatra came along. A billionaire to fund them. Only he wasn't as white as made out to be is he? He was sentenced to two years imprisonment for "conflict of interest" which left the sky blues severely in the shit. He then sold them to the current owners for £200 million. Sheikh Mansour must'veLeague for the first time next season and I hope they do what Spurs did last season and do well in the tournament because it advertises the PL and the greatest in the world which I'm all for!
Anyway that's me done ranting for a few days!
