Those of us who support clubs in the Championship (Division 2 in old money) are impatient more than most as we want Premier League Football and to see all the big names play at our stadiums.
The task of promotion is made more difficult every year due to the fact that relegated teams bring with them the riches of parachute payments. If these clubs have been financially prudent during their time in the top flight, they can afford a further two years of outspending the other clubs in the division. To put this in perspective, a few weeks ago, Blackburn Rovers, had on the substitutes bench, Danny Murphy. Murphy's wages are claimed to be more than twice that of the entire Derby squad.
The Premier League breakaway in 1992 created massive gaps in revenue between the member clubs and those in the other three tiers of English Senior Football. The shareout of TV money by the ninety two clubs was massively changed to enable the Premier League teams to get their snouts in the trough first and the others were left to scramble for the leftovers.
The millions, soon to be billions, paid by Sky TV has created a championship now that is only won by big spending teams owned by Billionaires. Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea are now set to fight it out for the title of English Champions foreseeable future. That is unless some Sugar Daddy decides to adopt another club.
The days of Derby, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and even Leeds United winning titles are long gone. That's unless the powers that be move towards stricter financial control. It's worth mentioning that Chelsea were close to going out of business until Roman Abramovich decided to purchase them as his new toy.
I have never begrudged players getting a big wage as its a short career, but when you hear of £250,000 a week going to certain players and their own supporters struggling to purchase tickets to cheer the team on, the game certainly needs to get back in touch with its fans!
I have heard certain ex-players now working in the media (Not Stan Collymore btw, he does stick up for the fan) brag off that the fans are not needed to pay their wages anymore! How disrespectful is this? So those fans who supported these players during their days of playing in the lower leagues don't matter anymore? I'm sure the people won't need to be Sherlock Holmes in working out whom I'm referring to. I like the guy himself, he's a nice bloke and always gave 100% as a player, but you don't gain fans by telling people how much it costs to fill your Mercedes. It's also worth remembering who pays subscriptions to Sky!
Wayne Rooney signed his latest contract at Manchester United at the same time that thousands of people across the country were fearing for their jobs! Fearing how they will feed and cloth their families!
Many players spend too much time nowadays looking through glossy magazines at their wedding or holiday pictures.
Paul Gascoigne is one of the most gifted players to pull on an England shirt in the last thirty years and what did he earn at Tottenham? £2,000 a week! Thats what he said on the Piers Morgan TV Show. It's madness to think current players can earn 125 times that amount!
American Football is not everyone's cup of tea, but the NFL and other sports leagues over there such as the NBA, NHL and MLB do share out TV money equally! Being Champions actually gives you last pick in the Annual College Drafts! Their sports titles are won by good management!
To get back to the English game, why do we have a so called Golden Generation of players who can't perform for their country? I don't claim to know the answer, but back in the days when players didn't earn megabucks, they did appear to put in a better shift.
I think we have to look at Germany! Lower ticket prices, good standard of football and nearly always competitive at a world level. Time our so called FA Premier League/FA took a good hard luck at how to run a league and national team successfully without fleecing the fan.
If you are interested in the game and the years of Sky splashing the cash and want a good read about what's wrong with the game, I highly recommend 'Reclaim the Game' by John Reid. It is a Socialist Party published book, but I know of people with very different political views who agreed with the many issues discussed. Whatever your politics give it a read!
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