I hope the top level of football eats itself. It's now utterly transparent that money is the only thing that matters. **** the fans, **** having a sensible world cup format, **** human rights violations, how much cash can we get? I genuinely think people in this country are gradually being turned off but I don't think it's enough to effect positive change. I know a lot of people who no longer have sky subscriptions due to rising costs and the availability of streaming services. Unfortunately even if Sky were to fall I don't think that would be enough to bring it all crashing down. There is an increasing focus on growing foreign markets and those markets will contribute a larger and larger share of the cash over the coming years. As the premier league becomes increasingly dependent on this money it will begin pandering to those markets - matches abroad, some matches at even weirder kick off times etc. The gulf between the Premier league and those below will also continue to grow as there is so little foreign interest in the lower leagues. In short I predict things will only get worse in the short to medium term and English fans will feel increasingly alienated by the game they love.
I know i'm massively against the grain here but I enjoy football now more than I ever have. Perhaps not compared to when I was a young kid, collected sticker books and idolised footballers, but during my adult life I enjoy it now more than ever. I understand some of the concerns about money, identity etc but i'm in my early 30s so for pretty much all my football-watching life, money has played a big part in the game. It's more profound now with the foreign investment etc. but I don't really remember the pre-premier league era so don't have these memories of the 'good old days'. A lot of people complain about Sky, BT etc ruining the game but if you're ok with a computer and have no moral objection, you can find pretty much any game from any league online for free. I'm a football geek so being able to watch this amount of games, to me is awesome. I also spend a lot of my time overseas and since the introduction of I-follow, I can now watch every Barnsley game Home and Away. Of course it's not the same as being in the stadium and I still attend as many games in person as I can, but being able to watch pretty much every game a season...I haven't been able to do that since I was in my late teens.
Sick of greed, sick of cheating (you don't 'draw' fouls, you don't 'earn' penalties, you don't 'take one for the team' - you fkn CHEAT. end of.), sick of selfishness and arrogance. Love Barnsley - hate football.
Let the top six go to play in some European WWF style super league circus. Disband the FA. Disband the Football League. Rip up the regulations book and start again. All tv rights equally shared. All gate receipts shared 50/50 by the two clubs involved. Any clubs that don't like it invited to **** off and beg at the door of the Super League and see if they get in.
