Everything that is wrong at the top level.
Discussion
Taken from the Engalnd forum,spot on in my opinion.
[quote] 'I hate the Premiership. There, I’ve said it. It hurts to say it, but at the same time, I am so relieved to do so.
I turned on my television this evening to see that Wigan were winning 1-0 at Arsenal, with about ten minutes of the game remaining. Now, I hadn’t watched the game because I believed it would be another easy win for the “big four” side at home to a smaller club. When I saw the scoreline, my interest flickered.
It didn’t flicker for long.
As a Wigan player lay injured on the floor, Sky showed a replay of a penalty incident. Emile Heskey was fouled, albeit a fairly soft foul, in the penalty area when through on goal. No penalty was awarded, even though it really should have been. It would have been given as a free-kick had it occurred outside of the penalty area, of that I am sure.
Minutes later, Matthieu Flamini, the player that fouled Heskey and should have been sent-off for a last-man foul, managed to pick up a pass whilst in an offside position. Play was allowed to continue, and it led to an Arsenal equaliser. All the time play continued the injured Wigan player was refused permission to return to the pitch by the referee, for no apparent reason.
Arsenal captain Thierry Henry took the opportunity to “celebrate” the goal by taunting Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland, apparently unhappy with Kirkland for “time-wasting” during the game.
With credit to Arsenal, they proceeded to score a second goal soon afterward to win the game 2-1.
What is wrong with the above?
On a pure technical level, it is absurd that a player has to leave the field having received treatment ON the field. I believe the law was originally brought in so that players that had minor knocks could be taken from the pitch to receive treatment to let the game continue, instead of sucking the life out of it with a long delay when it is not really needed. Now, you could have a very bad knock, be treated on the pitch for five minutes, be allowed to continue playing, but have to leave the pitch in order to come straight back on to it. What’s that about?
But on more important levels, there are two major problems. One, the gap in quality between the “big four” and the rest of the leagues “competitors”, and two, the total loss of morality and respect.
Thierry Henry may well have been annoyed by Wigan’s slowness in taking goal-kicks, throw-ins etc. I’m sure Barcelona were in the 2006 Champions League final, Thierry.
But when Wigan come to a ground such as Arsenal’s sponsored-name stadium, they are not going to play wonderful football, outplay their opponents and win comfortably. The gap in quality, which has developed because of money, not footballing merit, means that Wigan have to work harder on their tactics to try and get a result. As it happens, I am led to believe they got their tactics spot-on and were the better side. They may not have rushed to return the ball to play, but there is nothing to say they have to rush. Remember, Arsenal employed the same tactics in the Champions League final.
However, obviously upset that he was being denied chances to show off his skills that have led him to be dubbed the “best player in the world”, Henry took out his frustrations with a totally disrespectful outburst.
It is born from the fact that Thierry is totally detached from reality, which is true for most Premiership footballers, especially those that play for the bigger sides that also play in the “Champions” League.
He does not understand what it is like for a team of lesser ability to try and get a result against such a superior team. He has no respect for that. Instead, he is upset that he can not have things all his own way. Also, note his reaction after his team lost the Champions League final in 2006.
His manager has no respect for this, either. He bemoaned teams that came to his teams ground with negative tactics, as if he expects them to just sit back and allow his team to be allowed to play wonderful football and win comfortably because, simply, they are the better team and the other players don’t actually matter. They don’t matter, of course, except for when they tackle with some aggression, which also should not be allowed, it seems.
Is it their fault that they think like this?
When you are paid such ridiculous amounts of money, allowing you to have what you want, when you want, all for playing football sometimes twice a week, which is once too many for some of them, are you not liable to lose touch with the real world?
Obviously, you are.
I mean, do they not realise that doctors, nurses, policeman, school teachers and emergency services are INFINITELY more important to this country than they are, yet can not even dream of making as much money in a year as these guys do in a week?
But then, is it their fault that they are paid so much? Surely that problem lies with their employers.
And this is where the loss of morality and respect in top-flight football finds its core.
Somewhere along the line, football clubs have forgotten that they are there to provide a beacon to their local area. They have forgotten that they are there to represent the people of their community, something the people can support and get behind.
They have now, simply, turned in to greedy, money-making profiteers, only interested in themselves and the adulation they get from their brainwashed fans after they win a trophy.
It’s disgraceful.
Your football supporter used to pay more-than-affordable ticket prices to support their team, cheer them on, celebrate their wins and commiserate their losses. The fans came from the local area and could chat with the players, have a laugh and enjoy an afternoon out.
Now, in the Premiership, fans, who have been attracted by nationwide and global marketing of the clubs “brand”, are charged extortionate prices to sit (and dear me, don’t even think of standing up for more than two minutes), politely applaud where appropriate and moan to high heaven when their club doesn’t win. By the way, if you have ever found a club that has WON every single match they have played in a season, you’re lying.
They buy the shirt, the calendar, the scarf, the pencil case, the tax disc holder, like the customers they are.
They get their favourite players name on the back of their shirt. Their favourite player doesn't care for them, just the money they get for it, as part of their “image rights” contract. They then drive their Bentley home to their suburbia mansion, whilst the public services, who work hard for the benefit of these players as much as me and you, sweat away on minimum wage.
Seem fair?
The chairmen get together and make a competition work in a way that allows select clubs to earn more and more money, and try to pass it off as “competition”. The Champions League is not “competition”, it’s an old boys love-in. The Premiership is not “competition”; 16 clubs start the season with the aim of staying in the division to, simply, keep making money. Is that competition?
Average players come from every country across the world to take their money, and run.
The true fan pays the money, travels for hours, supports their team, lives and breathes every minute of their life around their club.
The player takes his money, and plays well when he wakes up in the morning and decides whether or not he can be bothered, despite earning tens of thousands of pounds a week which means they SHOULD be bothered EVERY game, because if a paramedic turned up one day and couldn’t be bothered, he’d be out of a job.
Players can, however, not only decide whether or not they feel like actually EARNING the money they make, but they can show no respect to their match official, swearing and calling him every name under-the-sun if he doesn’t give them a corner when he should have. They can shove two fingers up to the fans if they feel like it, even though those fans are paying their wages. They can refuse to talk to the media about issues in which they are in the wrong, even though some are contractually obliged to.
They can because they are overly protected, because they are making some fat cat in a suit a whole lot of money.
How ridiculous is this?
Don’t forget, fans are now having to forget their Saturday afternoon football. It can now be 12.45 or 5.15 on a Saturday, or 1.30pm on a Sunday. Television wants to show Fulham away at Bolton. What about the true Fulham fans who have to travel, on a Sunday, all the way up to Bolton to watch the game? Don’t they matter? No, because the club is making millions for being on the box and Sky are raking in the advertising money.
And to be honest, what difference does this game make?
The top four are going to be the same top four. The other sixteen are arranging deckchairs on the Titanic. Competition, remember?
Jock Stein once said “football without fans is nothing”.
Well, football is no longer about the fans. The REAL fans.
It is about a select group of greedy, selfish men making themselves richer and richer, and quite frankly, s*d everyone else.
It is not football. It is theatre. You buy into the “brand”. You pay for a seat, you watch the show, and then maybe even go home before the end to make sure you can get the train home. Okay, that’s not the Premiership’s fault. But that’s the attitude that the new “customers” take. They’ve had their fix, they can brag they were there, but they do not have to involve any emotion in to their afternoon.
Sooner or later, the fans will give up. Fans will lose interest when they realise they are basically replaying the same season, year after year, and being ripped-off for doing so.
They will get bored with having to “sit down” and keep quiet.
They will get bored of the top four being the top four, getting bigger and bigger and leaving no competition whatsoever.
They will get bored with watching their money pay the wages of someone who can not be bothered to invest any effort.
I just can’t wait until it all comes crumbling in on top of the suits, and the fans reclaim the game.
I live in hope. [/quote]
[quote] 'I hate the Premiership. There, I’ve said it. It hurts to say it, but at the same time, I am so relieved to do so.
I turned on my television this evening to see that Wigan were winning 1-0 at Arsenal, with about ten minutes of the game remaining. Now, I hadn’t watched the game because I believed it would be another easy win for the “big four” side at home to a smaller club. When I saw the scoreline, my interest flickered.
It didn’t flicker for long.
As a Wigan player lay injured on the floor, Sky showed a replay of a penalty incident. Emile Heskey was fouled, albeit a fairly soft foul, in the penalty area when through on goal. No penalty was awarded, even though it really should have been. It would have been given as a free-kick had it occurred outside of the penalty area, of that I am sure.
Minutes later, Matthieu Flamini, the player that fouled Heskey and should have been sent-off for a last-man foul, managed to pick up a pass whilst in an offside position. Play was allowed to continue, and it led to an Arsenal equaliser. All the time play continued the injured Wigan player was refused permission to return to the pitch by the referee, for no apparent reason.
Arsenal captain Thierry Henry took the opportunity to “celebrate” the goal by taunting Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland, apparently unhappy with Kirkland for “time-wasting” during the game.
With credit to Arsenal, they proceeded to score a second goal soon afterward to win the game 2-1.
What is wrong with the above?
On a pure technical level, it is absurd that a player has to leave the field having received treatment ON the field. I believe the law was originally brought in so that players that had minor knocks could be taken from the pitch to receive treatment to let the game continue, instead of sucking the life out of it with a long delay when it is not really needed. Now, you could have a very bad knock, be treated on the pitch for five minutes, be allowed to continue playing, but have to leave the pitch in order to come straight back on to it. What’s that about?
But on more important levels, there are two major problems. One, the gap in quality between the “big four” and the rest of the leagues “competitors”, and two, the total loss of morality and respect.
Thierry Henry may well have been annoyed by Wigan’s slowness in taking goal-kicks, throw-ins etc. I’m sure Barcelona were in the 2006 Champions League final, Thierry.
But when Wigan come to a ground such as Arsenal’s sponsored-name stadium, they are not going to play wonderful football, outplay their opponents and win comfortably. The gap in quality, which has developed because of money, not footballing merit, means that Wigan have to work harder on their tactics to try and get a result. As it happens, I am led to believe they got their tactics spot-on and were the better side. They may not have rushed to return the ball to play, but there is nothing to say they have to rush. Remember, Arsenal employed the same tactics in the Champions League final.
However, obviously upset that he was being denied chances to show off his skills that have led him to be dubbed the “best player in the world”, Henry took out his frustrations with a totally disrespectful outburst.
It is born from the fact that Thierry is totally detached from reality, which is true for most Premiership footballers, especially those that play for the bigger sides that also play in the “Champions” League.
He does not understand what it is like for a team of lesser ability to try and get a result against such a superior team. He has no respect for that. Instead, he is upset that he can not have things all his own way. Also, note his reaction after his team lost the Champions League final in 2006.
His manager has no respect for this, either. He bemoaned teams that came to his teams ground with negative tactics, as if he expects them to just sit back and allow his team to be allowed to play wonderful football and win comfortably because, simply, they are the better team and the other players don’t actually matter. They don’t matter, of course, except for when they tackle with some aggression, which also should not be allowed, it seems.
Is it their fault that they think like this?
When you are paid such ridiculous amounts of money, allowing you to have what you want, when you want, all for playing football sometimes twice a week, which is once too many for some of them, are you not liable to lose touch with the real world?
Obviously, you are.
I mean, do they not realise that doctors, nurses, policeman, school teachers and emergency services are INFINITELY more important to this country than they are, yet can not even dream of making as much money in a year as these guys do in a week?
But then, is it their fault that they are paid so much? Surely that problem lies with their employers.
And this is where the loss of morality and respect in top-flight football finds its core.
Somewhere along the line, football clubs have forgotten that they are there to provide a beacon to their local area. They have forgotten that they are there to represent the people of their community, something the people can support and get behind.
They have now, simply, turned in to greedy, money-making profiteers, only interested in themselves and the adulation they get from their brainwashed fans after they win a trophy.
It’s disgraceful.
Your football supporter used to pay more-than-affordable ticket prices to support their team, cheer them on, celebrate their wins and commiserate their losses. The fans came from the local area and could chat with the players, have a laugh and enjoy an afternoon out.
Now, in the Premiership, fans, who have been attracted by nationwide and global marketing of the clubs “brand”, are charged extortionate prices to sit (and dear me, don’t even think of standing up for more than two minutes), politely applaud where appropriate and moan to high heaven when their club doesn’t win. By the way, if you have ever found a club that has WON every single match they have played in a season, you’re lying.
They buy the shirt, the calendar, the scarf, the pencil case, the tax disc holder, like the customers they are.
They get their favourite players name on the back of their shirt. Their favourite player doesn't care for them, just the money they get for it, as part of their “image rights” contract. They then drive their Bentley home to their suburbia mansion, whilst the public services, who work hard for the benefit of these players as much as me and you, sweat away on minimum wage.
Seem fair?
The chairmen get together and make a competition work in a way that allows select clubs to earn more and more money, and try to pass it off as “competition”. The Champions League is not “competition”, it’s an old boys love-in. The Premiership is not “competition”; 16 clubs start the season with the aim of staying in the division to, simply, keep making money. Is that competition?
Average players come from every country across the world to take their money, and run.
The true fan pays the money, travels for hours, supports their team, lives and breathes every minute of their life around their club.
The player takes his money, and plays well when he wakes up in the morning and decides whether or not he can be bothered, despite earning tens of thousands of pounds a week which means they SHOULD be bothered EVERY game, because if a paramedic turned up one day and couldn’t be bothered, he’d be out of a job.
Players can, however, not only decide whether or not they feel like actually EARNING the money they make, but they can show no respect to their match official, swearing and calling him every name under-the-sun if he doesn’t give them a corner when he should have. They can shove two fingers up to the fans if they feel like it, even though those fans are paying their wages. They can refuse to talk to the media about issues in which they are in the wrong, even though some are contractually obliged to.
They can because they are overly protected, because they are making some fat cat in a suit a whole lot of money.
How ridiculous is this?
Don’t forget, fans are now having to forget their Saturday afternoon football. It can now be 12.45 or 5.15 on a Saturday, or 1.30pm on a Sunday. Television wants to show Fulham away at Bolton. What about the true Fulham fans who have to travel, on a Sunday, all the way up to Bolton to watch the game? Don’t they matter? No, because the club is making millions for being on the box and Sky are raking in the advertising money.
And to be honest, what difference does this game make?
The top four are going to be the same top four. The other sixteen are arranging deckchairs on the Titanic. Competition, remember?
Jock Stein once said “football without fans is nothing”.
Well, football is no longer about the fans. The REAL fans.
It is about a select group of greedy, selfish men making themselves richer and richer, and quite frankly, s*d everyone else.
It is not football. It is theatre. You buy into the “brand”. You pay for a seat, you watch the show, and then maybe even go home before the end to make sure you can get the train home. Okay, that’s not the Premiership’s fault. But that’s the attitude that the new “customers” take. They’ve had their fix, they can brag they were there, but they do not have to involve any emotion in to their afternoon.
Sooner or later, the fans will give up. Fans will lose interest when they realise they are basically replaying the same season, year after year, and being ripped-off for doing so.
They will get bored with having to “sit down” and keep quiet.
They will get bored of the top four being the top four, getting bigger and bigger and leaving no competition whatsoever.
They will get bored with watching their money pay the wages of someone who can not be bothered to invest any effort.
I just can’t wait until it all comes crumbling in on top of the suits, and the fans reclaim the game.
I live in hope. [/quote]
Edited by ZR1cliff on Tuesday 13th February 10:59
Pretty much sums up what has happend to the game IMO,ruined by money (Sky)
I've voted with my feet & only gone to 1 game so far this season & will not go to any more, no desire to make players, agents & chairman even richer.
I've never had Sky & never will. Rod Liddle has written some great articles (even though he's Millwall) on this matter in the Sunday Times over the last few weeks.
The "game" is rapidly losing its appeal for me (something I thought would never happen) so much so that playing & watching other sports now take priority over footy.
I've voted with my feet & only gone to 1 game so far this season & will not go to any more, no desire to make players, agents & chairman even richer.
I've never had Sky & never will. Rod Liddle has written some great articles (even though he's Millwall) on this matter in the Sunday Times over the last few weeks.
The "game" is rapidly losing its appeal for me (something I thought would never happen) so much so that playing & watching other sports now take priority over footy.
I might watch the big games - Man U v Chelsea v Arsenal etc but I am not interested in watching Charlton v West Ham or Middlesbrugh v Sheff Utd - no matter how much Sky hype it up incessantly from a Friday evening.
Man City v Watford - christ - is this what it has come to? Two very mediocre sides in a match that is 'vital to the outcome of the Premiership relegation dogfight ...'
Unless you're a fan of either why would you watch?
There is wall-to-wall footy on the TV and while my 15yo son thinks this great and it gives him another excuse not to do his revision it is getting so mind-numbingly repetitive it must surely all end in tears. Yes, I have Sky - but I have it for a number of reasons - not just for the sports channels - although I'll avidly watch the cricket World Cup ...
The Premiership is widely touted as the best league in the world - don't know whether that is true or not and of course it matters what criteria you are judging it on but it is the most uncompetitive as a League in the world that's for sure ... as only three clubs stand a chance of winning it. At least ten clubs are fighting for survival every year - the same ten clubs (bar three who get relegated) but they are then replaced with another three that have to fight in their place.
When my son's team (Arsenal) lose to a smaller club (rarely) it's almost as if it's a film and 'that isn't meant to happen' - it's funny really as I alsways cheer on the underdog no matter what.
BBC's coverage of the FA Cup is a joke as well. I forget how much the home club gets from the BBC for a live FA fixture but I know it was £90,000 back in the early 90s when Notts Forest played SOUthampton and that was the BBC's live match. I wrote and complained to the Head of BBC Sport because why should they feature a mnatch with two clubs from the same division when clubs get the large proceeds and clubs from lower divisons get starved of the money. NF and Saints were Premiership clubs in those days. Also, this was the type of match which was on TV every week in any case amd surely matches from the early rounds of the cup being televised should be between clubs from different divisons where there eas some romance, such chance of an upset - NF vs Saints was surely a toss-up and to be honest who cared who won?
Needless to say I got no reply.
I hate i when they say: "It's the tie of the round - Arsenal vs Liverpool or another leading Premiership club.
IT IS NOT - IT IS JUST ANOTHER MATCH TO ADD TO ABOUT THE SIX THESE CLUBS SEEMINGLY PLAY AGAINST EACH OTHER EVERY SEASON.
Something like Gillingham v Arsenal - then I'll watch ...
Man City v Watford - christ - is this what it has come to? Two very mediocre sides in a match that is 'vital to the outcome of the Premiership relegation dogfight ...'
Unless you're a fan of either why would you watch?
There is wall-to-wall footy on the TV and while my 15yo son thinks this great and it gives him another excuse not to do his revision it is getting so mind-numbingly repetitive it must surely all end in tears. Yes, I have Sky - but I have it for a number of reasons - not just for the sports channels - although I'll avidly watch the cricket World Cup ...
The Premiership is widely touted as the best league in the world - don't know whether that is true or not and of course it matters what criteria you are judging it on but it is the most uncompetitive as a League in the world that's for sure ... as only three clubs stand a chance of winning it. At least ten clubs are fighting for survival every year - the same ten clubs (bar three who get relegated) but they are then replaced with another three that have to fight in their place.
When my son's team (Arsenal) lose to a smaller club (rarely) it's almost as if it's a film and 'that isn't meant to happen' - it's funny really as I alsways cheer on the underdog no matter what.
BBC's coverage of the FA Cup is a joke as well. I forget how much the home club gets from the BBC for a live FA fixture but I know it was £90,000 back in the early 90s when Notts Forest played SOUthampton and that was the BBC's live match. I wrote and complained to the Head of BBC Sport because why should they feature a mnatch with two clubs from the same division when clubs get the large proceeds and clubs from lower divisons get starved of the money. NF and Saints were Premiership clubs in those days. Also, this was the type of match which was on TV every week in any case amd surely matches from the early rounds of the cup being televised should be between clubs from different divisons where there eas some romance, such chance of an upset - NF vs Saints was surely a toss-up and to be honest who cared who won?
Needless to say I got no reply.
I hate i when they say: "It's the tie of the round - Arsenal vs Liverpool or another leading Premiership club.
IT IS NOT - IT IS JUST ANOTHER MATCH TO ADD TO ABOUT THE SIX THESE CLUBS SEEMINGLY PLAY AGAINST EACH OTHER EVERY SEASON.
Something like Gillingham v Arsenal - then I'll watch ...
Til Arsenal score of course
Edited by mikeyt on Thursday 15th February 00:02
I got bored reading that, I must admit, so I only read the first bit. That may be because I like Thierry Henry, despite him being a bit of a knobhead to Kirky, but also partly because I hate thinking about that match. I watched it, and the whole comeback was very dodgy. Which is why I feel a little guilty that I'm pleased that the Arse won. But being a Hammers fan, with Wigan running away from us and needing to lose, I'll be happy about it just the same.
The Premiership is still better to watch than any other league. I used not to believe this. La Liga, for example, has a higher level of individual skill and tricks and all that jazz. But the game is stopped every 17 seconds for a soft foul where some weedy ponce throws himself on the ground as if someone's shooting above his head. It is just tiring to watch. The thing which makes me laugh is that these guys would probably think themselves well 'ard if they were in a pub. At least the Premiership, despite the increasing diving problem, still manages to have reasonably flowing games. I'd rather watch it than any other league.
The Premiership is still better to watch than any other league. I used not to believe this. La Liga, for example, has a higher level of individual skill and tricks and all that jazz. But the game is stopped every 17 seconds for a soft foul where some weedy ponce throws himself on the ground as if someone's shooting above his head. It is just tiring to watch. The thing which makes me laugh is that these guys would probably think themselves well 'ard if they were in a pub. At least the Premiership, despite the increasing diving problem, still manages to have reasonably flowing games. I'd rather watch it than any other league.
lightningghost said:
I got bored reading that, I must admit, so I only read the first bit. That may be because I like Thierry Henry, despite him being a bit of a knobhead to Kirky, but also partly because I hate thinking about that match. I watched it, and the whole comeback was very dodgy. Which is why I feel a little guilty that I'm pleased that the Arse won. But being a Hammers fan, with Wigan running away from us and needing to lose, I'll be happy about it just the same.
The Premiership is still better to watch than any other league. I used not to believe this. La Liga, for example, has a higher level of individual skill and tricks and all that jazz. But the game is stopped every 17 seconds for a soft foul where some weedy ponce throws himself on the ground as if someone's shooting above his head. It is just tiring to watch. The thing which makes me laugh is that these guys would probably think themselves well 'ard if they were in a pub. At least the Premiership, despite the increasing diving problem, still manages to have reasonably flowing games. I'd rather watch it than any other league.
The Premiership is still better to watch than any other league. I used not to believe this. La Liga, for example, has a higher level of individual skill and tricks and all that jazz. But the game is stopped every 17 seconds for a soft foul where some weedy ponce throws himself on the ground as if someone's shooting above his head. It is just tiring to watch. The thing which makes me laugh is that these guys would probably think themselves well 'ard if they were in a pub. At least the Premiership, despite the increasing diving problem, still manages to have reasonably flowing games. I'd rather watch it than any other league.
If you actually WATCH these games though between the side who just hoof it up the park so they are just boring. It's ok if you're a fan of one of them as you'll watch any old rubbish but the average English player in the Premiership is let down badly by poor technique imo.
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