To me, football appears to be in a crisis that will soon approach mammoth proportions; yet the football world and its followers seem either not to be aware of it or believe that football is somehow detached from the rest of the world’s affairs, that it is somehow cocooned in a world of its own, blissfully riding on a cloud above all the mayhem that is developing beneath it.
Here we are, in the UK, being pushed into frightening cuts in government expenditure (let’s forget, for now, how we got ourselves into this mess). While the unemployment figure rises, the bankers still seem to think they are a breed above everyone else - that they should ‘deserve’ their bonuses. And last night a TV programme told us how university heads receive all kinds of extra incomes ex officio their station in university life. Though not nearly on the same scale as the bankers, it is clear that education has turned into a massive commercial enterprise.
Footballers, bankers, university heads and politicians seem to remain immune from the sufferings of ordinary working people. So much for “we’re all in it together” (Cameron).
So, in the midst of all that is happening locally and in the rest of the world, the football subset – for the moment – remains impervious. Perhaps it is waiting to see what happens next and surely that ‘next’ will come to a head after this season and when the ordinary football punter stops to evaluate whether he can afford the next season ticket.
Back in the early ‘80s, the West Midlands went through a deep depression, and the result for the Villa – even during some of their most successful exploits – were gates often below 20,000. It was not until the early/mid-90s that the gates started recovering.
I can only see average gates going down again, but to what extent remains to be seen. I can see the Villa doing well if the average stays much above 28,000.
The question is, how can the Villa or any of the top clubs survive as they have been doing in the new economic conditions? Surely they cannot, for incomes from TV sources and merchandising will also be greatly reduced.
Will players soon be driving to Bodymoor Heath in electric cars? Will players soon be charged for every swear word they utter?!
And the key question – will there be a return to the maximum wage for footballers?
Here we are, in the UK, being pushed into frightening cuts in government expenditure (let’s forget, for now, how we got ourselves into this mess). While the unemployment figure rises, the bankers still seem to think they are a breed above everyone else - that they should ‘deserve’ their bonuses. And last night a TV programme told us how university heads receive all kinds of extra incomes ex officio their station in university life. Though not nearly on the same scale as the bankers, it is clear that education has turned into a massive commercial enterprise.
Footballers, bankers, university heads and politicians seem to remain immune from the sufferings of ordinary working people. So much for “we’re all in it together” (Cameron).
So, in the midst of all that is happening locally and in the rest of the world, the football subset – for the moment – remains impervious. Perhaps it is waiting to see what happens next and surely that ‘next’ will come to a head after this season and when the ordinary football punter stops to evaluate whether he can afford the next season ticket.
Back in the early ‘80s, the West Midlands went through a deep depression, and the result for the Villa – even during some of their most successful exploits – were gates often below 20,000. It was not until the early/mid-90s that the gates started recovering.
I can only see average gates going down again, but to what extent remains to be seen. I can see the Villa doing well if the average stays much above 28,000.
The question is, how can the Villa or any of the top clubs survive as they have been doing in the new economic conditions? Surely they cannot, for incomes from TV sources and merchandising will also be greatly reduced.
Will players soon be driving to Bodymoor Heath in electric cars? Will players soon be charged for every swear word they utter?!
And the key question – will there be a return to the maximum wage for footballers?
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