Premier League ...the disease

So in 2030 we’re top of the Championship six points clear on the last game of the season. The FL are about to present us with that famous old trophy to confirm our place alongside the English footballing elite for the first time in nearly a century. The ground is empty because we’ve been bankrolled by some billionaire’s money. Stop kidding yourselves.

The last time we were top of the Championship the news was overshadowed the following day by England beating Germany 5-1.    

Looking at just the football in the Premiership:  did Villa fans enjoy being 6-0 down after 90 mins to Man City? Is this really better than competing on level terms in the Championship?

The rich clubs are getting richer, better and more consistent at winning. Top 6 teams rarely lose these days to teams in the bottom 3.

Liverpool set a points record in the top 5 leagues in Europe, winning 20 out of their first 21 games.   This records includes competing against money-bags Man City, who have also been setting their own records.

Liverpool impresssive record was better than 6 other record-breaking teams in Europe.  All these 7 teams have set points records from the start of the season in the last 10 years. This is no coincidence - they don't award more points per game now.

(Liverpool have taken their performances, consistency and results to another level.  Helped by the expertise of their backroom staff.   They also recruit and coach players better than most clubs..  This is underpinned by them tracking the progress of 100,000 footballers across the world and for all ages).

We all know the PL is about money but we forget what it has done to the likes of us. Buying abroad and using all that sponsor money and foreign owners' money to flood the game with foreign "talent". Even Norwich who have a strict budget policy go and sign Bundesliga reserves instead of looking for talent in UK leagues. Money that should be percolating down the pyramid is just going for short term gains to some agent and no account club abroad.

People pointed to Keith Burkinshaw signing Villa and Ardiles or Chelsea signing Zola in 1996 and said they would raise standards but they were signed to generate money. The PL has never ever been interested in football per se, only the rewards that can come from success and the CL. Now it is killing the game altogether with a technical gimmick called VAR.

Quoted from LH

So in 2030 we’re top of the Championship six points clear on the last game of the season. The FL are about to present us with that famous old trophy to confirm our place alongside the English footballing elite for the first time in nearly a century. The ground is empty because we’ve been bankrolled by some billionaire’s money. Stop kidding yourselves.

No, the ground would be full, of course. But where are those so called ‘fans’ right now?

To respond to your point, I suspect that a percentage of current fans would not be there, me included, for a variety of reasons. Some would simply not be able to afford to buy the season ticket sold at exorbitant prices.

Personally my motivation for supporting town is that it’s my heritage. It keeps me connected with my father and my grandfather and all the other family members that would go to Blundell Park whether the team was doing well or badly, and whether they could afford it or not.

Of course I want Town to succeed, but I want that success to be genuine, and sustainable, financed by new fans whose loyalty has been earned not bought. If that means we never make the Premiership, so be it.

In the unlikely event of the scenario you describe I might as well start going to Leeds. Elland Road is walking distance from where I live and I would feel just as connected to them as I would to a fake Town side bankrolled by some billionaire.

I would of course still follow Town, as once a Mariner, always a Mariner. I suspect however that I would take the easy exile’s option of doing it remotely.

In the meantime I’m looking forward to the trip over to watch us take on Exeter with the current generation of family members. I expect there will be an extra thousand or so on the gate as a result of the Ollie effect, and I hope the team earn their support at the Stevenage game with a passionate performance, win, draw or lose.

Yes, lower-league players like Keegan and Clemence used to be signed by top clubs.  Now this rarely happens and EFL clubs have to survive on limited income.Many clubs used to survive by relying on selling 1 or 2 players each season.

On another issue, it is a myth that an influx of top foreign players was detriment to the national team.  We did not qualify for the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, even when there were hardly any foreign players in the top flight.  

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Yes, lower-league players like Keegan and Clemence used to be signed by top clubs.  Now this rarely happens and EFL clubs have to survive on limited income.Many clubs used to survive by relying on selling 1 or 2 players each season.

On another issue, it is a myth that an influx of top foreign players was detriment to the national team.  We did not qualify for the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, even when there were hardly any foreign players in the top flight.  

Or Town selling Tees, Green, Wright, Croft, Tilson, Oster, Mendonca .........

On the national team, I don't think foreign imports in the 90s damaged the England team as such but they did make it more difficult as the numbers grew for UK players to play in the PL which must have hurt to national team. What really rankles with me is that they were brought in under false pretences of entertainment and even raising standards when it was completely false - these players were purely for financial gain. Imports like Bergkamp, Henri and Vierra made a fortune for Arsenal and in the long run will have ruined the EFL as well as the PL.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Yes, lower-league players like Keegan and Clemence used to be signed by top clubs.  Now this rarely happens and EFL clubs have to survive on limited income.Many clubs used to survive by relying on selling 1 or 2 players each season.

On another issue, it is a myth that an influx of top foreign players was detriment to the national team.  We did not qualify for the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, even when there were hardly any foreign players in the top flight.  

The worst part of this was typified by town losing Burrell to Middlesbrough, decent fee for a young lad but unlike Donovan, Drinkell & Wilkinson our young players rarely get the opportunity to play a couple of seasons for our first team. The academy system just hoovers up any possible talent for nominal sums of money with too few transfers taking place which see L2 players moving straight to the Championship never mind the Premiership. Hard to believe Keegan finishes one season at Scunny and starts the next making his debut and scoring for Liverpool (against Forest if memory serves me well).

There are young lads coming through and there’s evidence of that but now the net goes beyond our own shores...and with what is at stake and the likes who can blame top flight clubs for gambling on someone who may make them cash and equally, if that players goes on to become an excellent player, their rival doesn’t have them unless they pay a premium.

There is a wider issue with young lads earning big wages without ever really playing anything other than a glorified reserve game but then who can blame them for taking it. The clubs have caused that by agreeing to pay it. Plenty of clubs in league 1 in that position and a smattering in ours. Happens up and down the leagues but naturally attention is drawn to the top flight.

As I’ve said in my previous post, the debate against the premier league is one that can happen and valid points are made but it’s futile in the long run because it’s not going anywhere.

People may talk about ‘real’ fans and all that jazz but it happens to everyone...I distinctly remember BP being much busier when we were top of the conference in comparison to now.

It’s a natural phenomenon, people would rather watch a winning side. Clubs know that and let’s face it, it’s those fans that get fleeced and exploited. Whilst ticket prices are high, other than that, if town got to that level would any of us do anything different on a match day? Nope! Tourists do and clubs know that so they exploit them...is it wrong? Probably but no different to other businesses.

There are bigger, more pertinent discussion to be had about football that aren’t about VAR and the premier league.

Whatever my disdain for it all I'd follow Town into the Prem and back of course I would, so much as finances allow. I would hope the prices wouldn't go too daft in recognition of the struggle of the working class in our area.

At least behind the goal say, keep prices just about affordable.

I know they'll be up in the Gods but I believe the plan for Anfields latest expansion is that the tickets will be capped at £25 in new area to encourage their traditional working class supporter.

If the premiership is full of foreign players then that means British players being pushed down the leagues, so in theory today’s league 2 players would have been playing championship/league 1 level years back. Then I look at some of our players over the last few years and sometimes wonder how some of then could even be classed as a professional footballer, never mind playing 1/2 leagues higher.