Has football lost its soul?

For

1 votes so far

THERE IS NO HOPE

Football’s soul has always been its loyal fans, but over the last decade the moneymen have emerged from the shadows of the boardroom into the limelight, stealing the game from the people in the stands. The new generation of billionaire tinkermen in the Premier League are turning the game into a commercial circus, pricing out loyal fans and perpetuating the managerial merry-go-round.

Roman Abramovich’s acquisition of Chelsea in 2003 changed the face of football forever. His arrival at Stamford Bridge signalled a new dawn in the Premier League where the men with the power no longer sit in the dug out. Abramovich forced the greatest manager of his generation, Jose Mourinho, out of his job with his constant pupeteering of the Chelsea squad. The Blues lost their defence of the Premier League title in the 2006-07 season, in part, due to Abramovich’s purchase of close friend Andrei Shevchenko and Michael Ballack without the permission of Mourinho. Neither of the superstars fitted into Jose’s plans and the league was lost. This created a new climate in which billionaire owners believe that because they have the dollar they also have the know how to manage a football club.

Enter the Mike Ashley soap opera. On September 4 2008 Keegan resigned from Newcastle United after 232 days in charge, stating he was unable to continue as manager if he was not in control of who was bought by the club. Cue scenes of protesting Geordies waving ‘Cockney Mafia Out’ banners. Ashley claimed that one of the reasons he bought the club was so that he could take his kids to the game - surely it would have made more sense for him to buy a season ticket. 

At the other end of the ownership cycle, Abou Dhabi swooped into Manchester City with Robinho, and his record-breaking price tag, in tow. As always is the case with new money coming into a club the fans are jubilant. Whilst the Toon Army took to the car park at St James’s, City fans danced in the streets of Manchester with tea towels wrapped around their heads. However, fans should be wary of being swept away by the moneymen, because in reality, the last thing that City need is an out of touch dictator who believes in January he’ll have no problem signing Ronaldo, Torres, Fabregas and Tevez. It’s only a matter of time before Dhabi gets bored with his new subuteo set, leaving City in a mountain of debt.

The working class fan can no longer afford to take his family, as season ticket prices rise season on season throughout the country. Countless statistics make this glaringly apparent. According to a poll in ‘The Sun’ an astounding 43,000 West Ham fans will boycott their beloved team this season due to the ticket price hike. The wages paid to their Premier League superstars are hardly helping to heal the fan’s disillusionment with the game. How can the average fan relate to the likes of Ronaldo who earns £1,809.36 per Premier League minute?

The English game is hurtling towards show business and leaving its soul behind. It’s vital that we remember this while we dance in the streets with tea towels tied to our heads one week and protest in the car park the next.

Against

1 votes so far

STILL OUR BEAUTIFUL GAME

Once again the four horsemen of the apocalypse are galloping over the hills and valleys of This England to burn and pillage every club, manager and supporter in sight, resulting in the dragging of football into the burning depths of Hades. Or so the various commentators, analysts and bitter ex-managers will tell you.

There is, of course, a lot wrong with football at the moment. The wages paid to players are astronomical - Derby Chief Executive Tom Glick leading the calls that player salaries are the biggest threat the stability of the game.

The huge hikes in ticket prices too are not the way our game should be heading. Some do try to buck the trend, but the credit crunch affects football teams too, and there needs to be a balance between getting fans through the turnstiles at a reasonable price and clubs earning their crust too.

The examples of football “going to the dogs’ are endless but this is not the first time that the fat lady has gargled inappropriately from the wings.

Remember when Robert Maxwell was buying, ruining and leaving clubs in the 1980s? What about when the horrific events at Heysel and more notably, Hillsborough, led to the closing of the terraces? Did the campaign to abolish the wage cap system not lead to the end of football as we know it?
These events, the death of the terraces in particular, was greeted with howls and moans from many who said that the game would never be the same again.

Yet here we are. Football has gone from strength to strength. Football is the richest game in the world. Football is the most popular game in the world.
Does the sport still have a soul though? Of course it does.

43,000 West Ham fans will boycott there club? That 43,000 people would care so passionately about their clubs plight they are willing to go without the most important thing in their lives; their club.

As long as the fans back the game, the spirit of football will never die. All the complaining, moaning and pleas for change underline the fact that people care about this little game of ours.

If no one was calling for things to change then things would be different, maybe football would have lost its soul. But it hasnt and furthermore, it never will.

Manchester United fans will set up a new league team in protest to the Glazers, the Toon Army will call for the Cockney Mafia to leave, and QPR fans will boycott their own home matches. What do they have in common? They all care.

It would be ridiculous to try and claim that there is nothing wrong with the state of the game. To try and claim that the horsemen are already breathing down the neck of the FA is equally ridiculous. 29.8 million people watched League football in England last season, across four divisions. It doesn’t matter how many far-Eastern businessmen own clubs, or whether the money behind Chelsea comes from Russian oil. Football’s soul is its supporters, and those 29.8 million haven’t lost the faith just yet.