Football is losing sight of reality
19 September 2011
In the weekend just gone, Sunderland Manager Steve Bruce made some valid points about the greed seemingly taking over top flight football. As a manager who feels Darren Bent and Asamoah Gyan moved away from his club purely due to the lure of riches elsewhere, you can understand his frustration.
Talking to the Sunday Mirror, Bruce said "Do you think we wanted to lose Bent and Gyan? If Arsenal and Liverpool can't hold on to their top players, it shows how difficult it is for Sunderland".
"For all the greatness of the Premier League, money and greed now spirals out of control.
"I can understand anyone who wants to better themselves. Ambition is what makes the great players great players.
"That's normal. That's what makes the best. The rest? They're driven by something else, which I can never come to terms with. If we're not careful, we're going to alienate the man in the street."
And it's that last point which will strike a chord with many football fans, certainly those supporting teams in the Premier League. Many will argue that their clubs have already alienated the man in the street – chasing the pound signs and losing sight of football's roots – and the reality of what the game is about, in the process cutting ties with core support and placing longer term support of their clubs in jeopardy.
At Arsenal we were torn from our spiritual home so we could become one of the biggest clubs in the world. The move would see us raking in huge money and being able to compete with any club in the transfer market. Yes we were already a big club, but we were sold the vision of becoming "a European Super Club". Without the move, we simply couldn't keep pace – the move had to happen.
Of course since the club decided on the move, we’ve seen the sugar daddies come in and completely change the face of football in this country and abroad. The goalposts moved, and it was up to other clubs to try and keep them in their sights. With the silly money thrown around by Chelsea and more recently Manchester City, player wages have once again spiralled skywards. Less than ten years after the outrage of Roy Keane’s new £52,000 per week contract at Manchester United we have footballers earning four times as much, and even average players are coining it in with multi-million pound contracts.
But off the pitch, the money has also been flooding the wallets of those in power at clubs. Thanks to Arsene Wenger’s ability to achieve Champions League football on a shoestring budget we have seen Arsenal breaking club profit records, while hurrying to repay the debt we took on for our stadium move. With the club’s debt falling fast, the value of shares in Arsenal rose. Arsene Wenger for all his talent in helping the club achieve this was rewarded with 20% pay rise, putting him on £6 million a year as Arsenal Manager. Didn’t matter that the team wasn’t winning trophies any more – success was judged on the club ‘s balance sheet.
Lots of mutual back slapping in the Boardroom at our continued success in monetary terms was communicated to the fans. Record profits, self sufficient, sound business model blah blah blah. And as predicted by us at ‘Where Has Our Arsenal Gone?’ the major shareholders in the club then sold up, pocketing huge personal profits.
Going back to Steve Bruce’s comment about the man in the street being alienated, this is exactly where we are at Arsenal. Other clubs are either with us or certainly on the way there.
Our already sky high season ticket prices were bumped up by 6.5% with a ‘pay up or piss off’ attitude from the club. No offer of workable repayment schemes, no benefits or breaks for long-term fans. Recession and hard times for everyone… can’t afford an inflation-busting increase to your season ticket? See ya. The club have the buffer of the season ticket waiting list. A list, coincidentally, that’s being demolished year on year from what we’re told by the numbers of supporters being offered seats.
No longer is football that important to some clubs. What’s important is maximum revenue generation from corporate ‘followers’ (yes, followers – they’re not fans in our eyes) coming into stadiums, sponsorship deals, merchandise and any other avenue you can tap into. Our manager now tells us that fourth place in the league is more important than winning the FA Cup because of the money it brings in. Is that what football is about?
But when the team fails and when poorly struck commercial deals threaten your bottom line, what do you do? Hit the man on the street – the general admission punter who’s been with the club through thick and thin. Work on their loyalty, the love of the club they grew up watching. The club their parents, and parents parents grew up watching.
And what happens when the man on the street can take no more? Sod him, let’s fall back on the waiting list or the day trippers and bandwagon jumpers who are caught up in the hype of Premier League football. When they start to filter away, when your top players still demand big money, what do you do? Whack prices up again, and so on and so forth.
In the end where does that leave our man on the street? Probably still following his team but from the pub with mates who’ve also been forced out, or from his armchair at home. While there’s still a flame just about flickering, it’s almost out and the hurt still outweighs the love he once felt. He won’t be taking his kids to watch his team and right there, future generations of support have gone. The Johnny Come Lately mob will have more than likely filtered away, leaving thousands of seats unsold. Core support down the drain, all because those running his club were so short-sighted and simply craved the pound sign. Where is the long term benefit for the club through all that? Those who cashed in won't give a toss... they'll be long gone.
We set up the group ‘Where Has Our Arsenal Gone?’ because it was becoming apparent there were more and more Arsenal fans who felt betrayed by the club and felt they were being taken advantage of. Therefore we set about doing something to ensure that this didn’t continue, and so our kids and future generations could continue to feel part of The Arsenal family, just like we used to.
Football is losing sight of reality. Let’s Kick Greed Out Of Football.
In the weekend just gone, Sunderland Manager Steve Bruce made some valid points about the greed seemingly taking over top flight football. As a manager who feels Darren Bent and Asamoah Gyan moved away from his club purely due to the lure of riches elsewhere, you can understand his frustration.
Talking to the Sunday Mirror, Bruce said "Do you think we wanted to lose Bent and Gyan? If Arsenal and Liverpool can't hold on to their top players, it shows how difficult it is for Sunderland".
"For all the greatness of the Premier League, money and greed now spirals out of control.
"I can understand anyone who wants to better themselves. Ambition is what makes the great players great players.
"That's normal. That's what makes the best. The rest? They're driven by something else, which I can never come to terms with. If we're not careful, we're going to alienate the man in the street."
And it's that last point which will strike a chord with many football fans, certainly those supporting teams in the Premier League. Many will argue that their clubs have already alienated the man in the street – chasing the pound signs and losing sight of football's roots – and the reality of what the game is about, in the process cutting ties with core support and placing longer term support of their clubs in jeopardy.
At Arsenal we were torn from our spiritual home so we could become one of the biggest clubs in the world. The move would see us raking in huge money and being able to compete with any club in the transfer market. Yes we were already a big club, but we were sold the vision of becoming "a European Super Club". Without the move, we simply couldn't keep pace – the move had to happen.
Of course since the club decided on the move, we’ve seen the sugar daddies come in and completely change the face of football in this country and abroad. The goalposts moved, and it was up to other clubs to try and keep them in their sights. With the silly money thrown around by Chelsea and more recently Manchester City, player wages have once again spiralled skywards. Less than ten years after the outrage of Roy Keane’s new £52,000 per week contract at Manchester United we have footballers earning four times as much, and even average players are coining it in with multi-million pound contracts.
But off the pitch, the money has also been flooding the wallets of those in power at clubs. Thanks to Arsene Wenger’s ability to achieve Champions League football on a shoestring budget we have seen Arsenal breaking club profit records, while hurrying to repay the debt we took on for our stadium move. With the club’s debt falling fast, the value of shares in Arsenal rose. Arsene Wenger for all his talent in helping the club achieve this was rewarded with 20% pay rise, putting him on £6 million a year as Arsenal Manager. Didn’t matter that the team wasn’t winning trophies any more – success was judged on the club ‘s balance sheet.
Lots of mutual back slapping in the Boardroom at our continued success in monetary terms was communicated to the fans. Record profits, self sufficient, sound business model blah blah blah. And as predicted by us at ‘Where Has Our Arsenal Gone?’ the major shareholders in the club then sold up, pocketing huge personal profits.
Going back to Steve Bruce’s comment about the man in the street being alienated, this is exactly where we are at Arsenal. Other clubs are either with us or certainly on the way there.
Our already sky high season ticket prices were bumped up by 6.5% with a ‘pay up or piss off’ attitude from the club. No offer of workable repayment schemes, no benefits or breaks for long-term fans. Recession and hard times for everyone… can’t afford an inflation-busting increase to your season ticket? See ya. The club have the buffer of the season ticket waiting list. A list, coincidentally, that’s being demolished year on year from what we’re told by the numbers of supporters being offered seats.
No longer is football that important to some clubs. What’s important is maximum revenue generation from corporate ‘followers’ (yes, followers – they’re not fans in our eyes) coming into stadiums, sponsorship deals, merchandise and any other avenue you can tap into. Our manager now tells us that fourth place in the league is more important than winning the FA Cup because of the money it brings in. Is that what football is about?
But when the team fails and when poorly struck commercial deals threaten your bottom line, what do you do? Hit the man on the street – the general admission punter who’s been with the club through thick and thin. Work on their loyalty, the love of the club they grew up watching. The club their parents, and parents parents grew up watching.
And what happens when the man on the street can take no more? Sod him, let’s fall back on the waiting list or the day trippers and bandwagon jumpers who are caught up in the hype of Premier League football. When they start to filter away, when your top players still demand big money, what do you do? Whack prices up again, and so on and so forth.
In the end where does that leave our man on the street? Probably still following his team but from the pub with mates who’ve also been forced out, or from his armchair at home. While there’s still a flame just about flickering, it’s almost out and the hurt still outweighs the love he once felt. He won’t be taking his kids to watch his team and right there, future generations of support have gone. The Johnny Come Lately mob will have more than likely filtered away, leaving thousands of seats unsold. Core support down the drain, all because those running his club were so short-sighted and simply craved the pound sign. Where is the long term benefit for the club through all that? Those who cashed in won't give a toss... they'll be long gone.
We set up the group ‘Where Has Our Arsenal Gone?’ because it was becoming apparent there were more and more Arsenal fans who felt betrayed by the club and felt they were being taken advantage of. Therefore we set about doing something to ensure that this didn’t continue, and so our kids and future generations could continue to feel part of The Arsenal family, just like we used to.
Football is losing sight of reality. Let’s Kick Greed Out Of Football.
