I've not watched a single Premier League game this season. To be honest, the Euros last summer destroyed my love for the sport beyond Southend United and I'm not sure where, when or how it will come back.
That said, guys like this joker at Accrington need to take responsibility for their own actions and their own situations instead of begging for handouts. The Premier League is awash with money because a billion people around the World want to watch it. No neutral is paying a huge subscription to watch Accrington Stanley or Southend United. Lower league clubs should cut their cloth accordingly or find new ways to increase their income, like the rest of us have to do. Manchester United and Chelsea do not owe smaller clubs a living.
That is a fair point... however, the whole football pyramid in this country is what keeps the clubs like Man Utd and Chelsea at the very top. Sooner or later, the money from the Far East is going to top the Prem wages and players will go in that direction. Maybe not in their prime, but certainly after they start on the downward path.
Further, there is far too much of a diversity in rewards between the Prem and the football league. It is now likely that a club like Huddersfield for instance, should they win the play offs, will pocket the money and not try and get quality in, meaning almost certain relegation. They would effectively not be able to compete for that season but it will guarantee rewards for 3-4 further seasons with the Prize money and parachute payments. Middlesbrough did the same this season. They thought they could stay there by shutting up shop and keeping sides out. They've only scored something like 26 goals this season.
Where's the entertainment value to the fans? The ones who pay out thousands over a season in tickets and travel costs to follow their beloved club at the top level?
Whilst according to some reports, "football has never been in better financial shape", we are seeing some awful mismanagement absolutely destroying clubs.
Orient, Blackburn, Nottm Forest, Coventry and Blackpool are fairly high profile examples. I'm not sure that fans at QPR, Aston Villa, Leeds, Bolton, Charlton and Morecambe are over enamored with their situation either. All of these clubs are in peril.
The thing is - and while, as you say, Man U and Chelsea don't owe anyone a living - they do need somewhere for their youngsters to ply their trade and come through the ranks.
If you take away the lower leagues, they are the elite of nothing. The Prem would be a one division league. Professionally, no-one else could compete.
Now it may be that instead of having almost 5 professional divisions (most National League sides are now professional), maybe the sport in this country can only support 3. But that's a separate issue. I believe that within the current set up, the Prem
does have a duty to assist in maintaining the lower leagues properly so that they can compete to a better standard, which will actually help the premiership clubs squad players keep fit and get match experience.
As I say, without the football league, The Prem is nothing.
Like others, I too have been turned off the Prem and whilst I'm happy to watch a match if it's on, I don't ever turn on for it. I'm now a Southend fan rather than a football fan, and it seems I'm not alone in that.
