I have had this post boiling inside of me for a long time and I just can't ignore it anymore. Football fans are a captured market because of the affinity that they develop with their teams. They'll put up with all kinds of crap because they absorb the team into their life. This fact is being exploited by the football fat cats. The media moguls behind the sensationalist media, the owners of the sports channels that ramp up the game beyond reality and, of course, the football clubs owners, staff and footballers - they are all taking the pee out of the football fan. Big time.
Why should anyone follow football anymore, bearing in mind the following points?
1) Professional football, at the elite end, anyway, is uninterestingly uncompetitive. Everyone knows this but nothing, it seems, can or will be done. The Champions League teams, with their tidy annual pay packet, are drawing further and further away from the rest. They have the best resources in virtually all departments. But for the English game's recent injection of foreign capital (which is unsustainable) the Premier League would already be a glorified version of the SPL. It basically is. The aristocrats of the Premiership are busy hoovering up any player that shows a bit of promise, leaving any attempts by the underclass to bridge the gap futile. Meanwhile, the bumbling managers of the rest go and repeatedly punch themselves in the face by, for example, signing goalphobic forwards (Heskey and Elmander).There isn't just one fault line in English football. The gap between the Premier League and the football league seems to be growing too, making promotion to the top an increasingly unappealling tryst with long ball football and scrapping for survival - for a year or two.
2) The professional game, generally, is becoming less skill-focussed and more physical strength focussed. The lesser, non-Champions League sides are resorting to a brawny game of physical strength to cling onto the coat-tails of the leaders. David Moyes and Martin O'Neill are demonstrating that the only way to even try to compete, it seems, is to build your game around brutish forwards and accurate set-plays. Skilful play is, it seems, in serious decline.
Wingers aren't very popular these days. Alex Ferguson has almost converted one of the world's most exciting wingers into a prosaic goal-machine - whilst Ronaldo's dancing feet do still sparkle from time to time - how often? You're more likely to see him converting a point-blank range header these days.
What has the Premier League come to when Gary Megson and Tony Pulis, members of the anti-skill society, are now celebrated British managers? (Kevin Blackwell may soon join them). We are at an unprecedented low, in terms of skiful play. Whilst there are idealistic sides that still play skilfully, notably Arsenal and the leading Spanish clubs, they are increasingly in the minority as Mourinhoism surges on. Boro and West Brom, two sides that try to play football, are leaving the Premier League, so the skill levels are only going to go down.
3) The modern player is outrageously overhyped - they aren't actually that good. Carlos Tevez was player of the season in Brazil a couple of times, he comes here to much fanfare and is rumoured to be valued at £25 million. Is he THAT good? Not really. He's a workaholic with a good all-round game for a forward but I would not call him a genius. But, maybe you think I'm being harsh - in that case, let's reluctantly turn our eyes to the other, lesser Premier League clubs. Amongst the more eulogised Premier League footballers is Tim Cahill. Effective but what is he but a tough, brave, strong competitor. He's not what I would call an exciting talent that I would like to watch as a neutral. You look through the Premier League, objectively, and you see scores of average, mediocre or worse players who are primarily playing because of their physical strengths.
It's not just England or the lesser sides. I had heard great things about Barcelona this season before the Chelsea tie. Even though Barcelona didn't exactly overly impress - I admired their style and the trio of Messi, Iniesta and Xavi are genuine geniuses. But, I was horribly disappointed by some others, especially Dani Alves. Whenever he plays, all I hear is what a superstar he is and how attacking blah blah blah. I do not follow the Primera Liga but I can say with near certainty that the guy is simply a decent all-round player with excellent fitness and admirable eagnerness to go forward. Anything more is hype.
Most of these footballers are efficient but very rarely are they the geniuses that they are portrayed as. Many of them may be talented but ferociously complacent. The likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovich and Dimitar Berbatov patronise the fans as they bestride football pitches as if they are God's gift to humanity, rarely deigning to break into a sweat. They do a few flicks and backhills, address their headband and then expect to receive unconditional adulation.
When the world's best footballers assemble for an international tournament, do we get a sumptuous feast of the brilliance of football? No. Judging by the last however number of tournaments, the players flag under the pressure of the tornado of hype that precedes these tournaments. But for a few teams that do play well (Argies, Spain) the majority wander around like lemons.
The international tournaments are tedious and talentless, generally. Any interest retained is soley on the psychological level of partisan nationalism. If they weren't representing your country, you'd feel sorry for them and then switch off. I do that now regardless of my nationalist instinct.
4) The modern game is riven with cheats and egomaniacs. Everyone knows this, so I need not expound too much. Diving, feigning injury, petty gamesmanship of walking off with the ball etc, petty squabbling, thuggish aggression, self-obsessed celebration and so on. Why do they carry on like this? Because the fans continue to cheer them. Sadly. What they need is a good slapping. There is very little honour, dignity or respect in the game.
So, Skysports, Kelvin McKenzie, the FA, the Premier League, FIFA, the footballers, the newspapers and the rest, how do you justify taking money from fans when your product is sub-standard? You may build it to be the height of drama, the very epitome of the divine union of bullish strength, balletic skill and erudition but that is a load of old egotistical, manipulative doodah and if you had more shame, you'd stop the pretence. You are exploiting the fans' blind loyalty. Correct football's sharp decline. If not, I hope the day comes when you are left without an audience and fans clock onto your complacent, avaricious exploitation
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