So, with Chelski’s cash card being flashed around to melting point
again (about £50 million and counting), all and sundry are crying and
weeping on street corners, claiming that the end of football is nigh.
Fans are also being priced out of the game, and players are becoming
spoiled little oiks. Is that really true?
It is obvious that Chelsea’s fortunes have taken a turn for the better since a Roman turned up, and turned money into something that wasn’t an object. It would seem, judging by last season at least, that ManUre, Arsenal and Liverpool aren’t able to catch up with those with the giant chequebook. But is it really the end of football as we know it?
For years, the English have derided the Scots for being in a two team league, and for years, us Englishmen have failed to notice that only a very small handful of clubs have ever challenged for the league of late… and guess why? They’ve had the most money. Once upon-a-season it was because they had the most fans, and therefore, the most cash from the gate. This is an exception when you look at ‘big clubs’ like Newcastle who have been sleeping giants for about half a century.
People have suddenly started to declare that players are also money grabbing greedy babies, but by the same token, you don’t hear anyone whining about the amount of money earned by actors (ie, someone who works in entertainment). Its hard to say no if you’re in a job, and someone offers you £120,000 p/w (and part time hours).
It’s not money that’s ruining football, it’s football that’s ruining it for the fans. People remember watching games from the terraces and players being ‘one of the lads’, but football, like the rest of the world, has moved on and progressed. Hands up if you want to see referees waving play on as you fave playmaker gets his shins snapped in two. Chelsea may well have ‘bought’ the league for the past two seasons, but remember Liverpool winning everything in the seventies and eighties. Money doesn’t buy everything, and buy the same margin, doesn’t spoil everything either.
Mof Gimmers