Football's appeal is fading.

[The Artful Shrimper]

Due to the high cost of entry into games many people are turning their backs on the beautiful game. This prompted Joe Cole to appeal to football bosses and rethink admission charges.
Excuse me Joe but when poncey players demand poncey wages to keep their equally poncey girlfriends in stacks of designer shopping bags then who pays for that?
It wasn't the fans whose spending power caused the supply/demand graph to spiral out of control.
It was greedy agents and greedy chairmen who saw the rewards of SKY and all its Satanic offshoots. The Newcastle chairmen branding the geordies idiots who'd buy shirts religiously. The Scum at MK Dons who though that locality and history and community doesn't matter, football is just a brand ?  The players who demand a weekly wage in excess of reality, how Jimmy Hill must rue the day he fought tooth and nail for the maximum wage cap to be abolished.
Poncey players who earn so much that when they get called up for England it is for reasons to increase their advertisement rights rather than being able to play their heart and soul for Queen and country...and pride.
B@s****s !

The lot of 'em.


  I apologize for this rant, my workmate has been feeding me doughnuts and i'm sure the jam content has too many e-numbers

 

[Mr Wooly]

No, no good post. The only thing I would say, is that perhaps your title should read 'Premier$hite football's appeal is fading'. A combination of the gross amount of TV football and the escalating ticket prices has eventually caught up with the authorities responsible. I heard that Spurs fans will have to pay £50 a ticket for their match at Chelsea. £50! to see 90 minutes of football, and an inevitable defeat. I mean its not as if Chelsea need the money is it?!

The Daily Express had a good article in todays edition about the fall of attendances. It rightly states that their should be a reduction of the amount of live TV games from the present level of 138 per season, back to 106 per season, the number broadcast two years ago, and to slash ticket prices. Its a simple solution but will it happen? Well TV football may be cut, but its questionable as to whether clubs will slash their ticket prices, what with the precaurious financial state of the game.

Also, Ive found that the entertainment value of Premier$hite football is waning. Their was a time when I used to look foward to the Sunday or Monday games no matter who was involved. But take Sky's last two live Sunday games. Bolton vs Blackburn last Sunday. A supposed local derby with passion galore, the odd controversial moment and perhaps a few goals. Passion? I've seen more passion at a car boot sale. And then Sundays Liverpool / Man Utd clash. I got up especially too watch it (i've been working nights all summer) and fell asleep mid way through the second half it was so boring.

The good news is that, for clubs in the Football league, it does give us the chance to entice some of the fans who have become disillusioned with the Premier$hite. Last season, I believe saw the highest attendances ever recorded in the Football league and, for me, while the Premier$hite continues in its current state they'll rise further.

...and right on cue. BBC link

 

[The Artful Shrimper]

yes, you're right it's the premiers%&te at fault in the main, but can we say that Uncle Ron doesn't dream of being handed that cheque from Sky or discussing a liucrative sponsorship deal with a multinational?
The Standard yesterday did show the cost of c supporting a team home and away on average and Orient were the cheapest in the London area, would have been nice to see if there's a national statistic so we can see how Southend Fare.
I hope these dissolussioned supporters come to our ground/ or other league clubs and desert the Premier$hite.

 

[sufcintheprem]

It's not football attendances falling as almost every story on this would have you believe, just Premier$hite attendances.

Last time I checked, the football league was increasing average attendances year on year. The Premier$hite's boring. Look at the Championship and league 2 last year. Won by a whisker from the next two clubs.

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

The Taylor Report recommended that a reasonable admission charge for a top-flight football match should be around £6. That was in 1990. Adjusted for inflation, the charge should still only be around £11. The Premiers%&t fleeces the fans and now they are running a little scared. Did you know a father can take his two kids to watch Bayern Munich in Germany (inc. flights) for LESS than he could take them to see Chelsea?!

WS

 

[Guest]

Quote[/b] (Xàbia Shrimper @ Sep. 20 2005,19:55)]The Taylor Report recommended that a reasonable admission charge for a top-flight football match should be around £6. That was in 1990. Adjusted for inflation, the charge should still only be around £11. The Premiers%&t fleeces the fans and now they are running a little scared. Did you know a father can take his two kids to watch Bayern Munich in Germany (inc. flights) for LESS than he could take them to see Chelsea?!

WS

That doesnt suprise me.

Cost me a fiver to watch FC Koln v Fernebache in the summer. A fiver. Cost more to watch Harlow v Chelmsford and im not joking.

 

[* ORM *]

I can't think of anything I find more attractive than the fact that the appeal of the Premier$hite is fading. I am not bemoaning the money that has been thrown at the sport (in the name of profit) by Murdoch. What stinks is how little of that filters down to the lower leagues, non-leagues and grass roots. Coupled with the gross inadequacies at the FA on the entire Svengate affairs, in all senses of the word, and the price of getting to watch most top tier games it's not hard to see why the appeal is fading.

In some ways I don't want the bubble to burst because, all things considered, it might spell the death knell for a lot of teams at our level or enforce a switch to part-time but in plenty of other ways getting the celeb and sloanie, 'I'm an Arsenal or Chelsea fan and have been for years 'brigade out of football couldn't come a day to soon.

Just one other point. North of Watford, in the main, the cost of Premier$hite football isn't extortionate. Trouble is when Glazier gets his mits full time into Man Ure and hikes the prices up the Guildford brigade will still jump on the coaches and trains on a Sunday morning.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Pretty much agree with content and comments in this thread, and the points are all well made. We rightly criticise and abhor the cash cow that the Premier$hite has become. Yet we all aspire for our club to be in this league.

It is not before time that the Premier$hite felt the draft that the clubs in the Football League felt after the demise of ITV Digital. I don't want to bang on about what it was like in my days, but football was affordable to most. Now at 30-50 quid a ticket what chance does a father have of taking his kids to support his team like the generations before him?

The EC are trying to break Sky's stranglehold on their broadcasting of Premier$hite games. I for one am not sure how this can happen, at the last bidding round a couple of rivals made bids which were accepted to broadcast games on a PPV basis. One of these companies i recall was NTL, but when oush came to shove they reneged on the agreement and the games reverted back to Sky. So despite the efforts of the EC there will be no other broadcaster with the financial muscle to kick Sky out. With the advent of digital some clubs may try and do their own deals and create their own tv stations as MUTV & Chelsea tv, but again these will be subscription channels.

I think that in the next round of bidding for broadcasting rights the only bidder will Sky, which may well produce a reduced bid from them and even less revenue for the clubs.

I would exhort all so called supporters of Premier$hite football to get out to see football in the football league, conference or where ever but just to get away from this attitude that the premership is the be all and end all of everything. The fact that league crowds are up and are at their highest levels since the war bears this argument out.

 

[CANV]

there is too much football full stop.. too many cups.. too much on telly.. sunday, monday, tuesday games..  


also the modern tactics employed yy prem teams trying to survive make for boring football...  
reduce the gap in money between the prem and div 1 or whatever they call it now, make it 4 up 4 down so relegation isnt seen as the end of the world, make the f.a cup a qualifier for the champions league

 

[lee_sufc]

Quote[/b] (CANV @ Sep. 21 2005,12:08)]there is too much football full stop.. too many cups.. too much on telly.. sunday, monday, tuesday games..


also the modern tactics employed yy prem teams trying to survive make for boring football...
reduce the gap in money between the prem and div 1 or whatever they call it now, make it 4 up 4 down so relegation isnt seen as the end of the world, make the f.a cup a qualifier for the champions league

Spot on!

 

[Guest]

Football at the top level is boring and far too predictable, it's no wonder people are getting disillusioned with it. Why pay 40 quid a game when you know 5th is the best you can hope for?

Football as a whole is overpriced, how can top tier clubs justify their extortionate charges? If this carries on there'll be massive problems at these clubs where people won't be able to afford tickets....