Football is broken!!

[Gingeletiss]

I have been saying for some years now, that there needs to be changes, or football as we know it will die. Many of us laughed at th SPL, with only two teams in contention each year, now look at the the PL, same old teams in the top four. Below I detailed some changes I would like to see, and thought this would be a subject for discussion, so please fill your boots.

 

Solution:-

 

Handicap them, like in golf. Each year start the top half on minus points....champions -15, runners up -14 third -13 etc etc. A wage cap is a must. The play offs must be between third/forth from bottom, against third and forth in the next league down. 3 points for a win, 2 points for a score draw 1 point for a no score draw. An extra point awarded for scoring 3 goals or more. A sin bin should be introduced as in rugby. Get rid of penalty shoot outs, the teams should play extra time, and every five minutes, have to reduce their team by one player......golden goal applies.

[ladysaint]

One change I would like to see is ticketing prices. Each division should have their own ticket prices i.e. PL = £30, Championship = £20, League 1 = £15 and League 2 = £10 with half their prices for concessions i.e. children, oaps etc.

[Flyer]

Cap the wages, cap the prices and have a maximum squad of 25 players available to play. U20s dont count as part of that squad so teams can still develop youth.

 

Look at Middlesboro, they had a must win game to give them a chance of staying up, there was thousands of empty seats, complete rows of them.

 

The bosman ruling started this, rather than pay £5m for a player and keep that money in the game. The club will get him on a free and massively increase that players wages so the money goes to him and his agent. The club losing the player gets nothing and has to recover the money elsewhere, usually ticket prices.

 

You can go to watch Bayern for £10, its disgusting the prices we have to pay.

 

Something is wrong, but unless it affects the top league clubs, it will never be fixed.

[OldNick]

The main way for football to get back on course would be for the fans to join and ALL boycott SKY subscriptions until they changed it.The PL fans wouldnt be interested but fans from all the lower leagues would be a big figure.It would dent SKY and they just might put pressure to change things.

[eelpie]

I have been saying for some years now, that there needs to be changes, or football as we know it will die. Many of us laughed at th SPL, with only two teams in contention each year, now look at the the PL, same old teams in the top four. Below I detailed some changes I would like to see, and thought this would be a subject for discussion, so please fill your boots.

 

Solution:-

 

Handicap them, like in golf. Each year start the top half on minus points....champions -15, runners up -14 third -13 etc etc. A wage cap is a must. The play offs must be between third/forth from bottom, against third and forth in the next league down. 3 points for a win, 2 points for a score draw 1 point for a no score draw. An extra point awarded for scoring 3 goals or more. A sin bin should be introduced as in rugby. Get rid of penalty shoot outs, the teams should play extra time, and every five minutes, have to reduce their team by one player......golden goal applies.

 

Handicaps could be linked to players wages. The more a squad costs the greater the handicap.

[Barry the Badger]

 

The bosman ruling started this, rather than pay £5m for a player and keep that money in the game. The club will get him on a free and massively increase that players wages so the money goes to him and his agent. The club losing the player gets nothing and has to recover the money elsewhere, usually ticket prices.

.

 

It also leaves smaller clubs terrified of losing their players for nothing, meaning they have absolutely no realistic chance of holding onto players once an offer comes in.

 

Don't agree with the idea of handicaps, but some sort of salary cap/budget cap would make a more level playing field. Also liked the idea of setting ticket prices within each division.

Edited 17 May, 2009 by Barry the Badger

[stardustonmyfeet]

They should give points penalties for lack of attendance. That would fill the grounds

[docker-p]

1. A maximum squad size of say 16 first team players, thus spreading the talent around more.

2. A certain number of players, say 4, to have been born within 40 miles of the club.

3. The FA to tell the 'big 4' if they want to go and set up a european league to **** off and do it.

4. Stop the 'reward for failure' 2nd, 3rd,4th Champions League places.

[jawillwill]

I have been saying for some years now, that there needs to be changes, or football as we know it will die. Many of us laughed at th SPL, with only two teams in contention each year, now look at the the PL, same old teams in the top four. Below I detailed some changes I would like to see, and thought this would be a subject for discussion, so please fill your boots.

 

Solution:-

 

Handicap them, like in golf. Each year start the top half on minus points....champions -15, runners up -14 third -13 etc etc. A wage cap is a must. The play offs must be between third/forth from bottom, against third and forth in the next league down. 3 points for a win, 2 points for a score draw 1 point for a no score draw. An extra point awarded for scoring 3 goals or more. A sin bin should be introduced as in rugby. Get rid of penalty shoot outs, the teams should play extra time, and every five minutes, have to reduce their team by one player......golden goal applies.

 

 

I'm impressed at how much stupidity has been squashed into this one post, but the bit I've highlighted is something special.

[Gingeletiss]

jawillwill........I was going to pm you, but it seems I can't, so alas, I will have to respond in kind, and resort to insults.......

 

An honest post, which I opened up for discussion, but no, some halfwit like you, has to come on and infect it with his hate. Sorry if your intellect doesn't allow you to give an opinion rather than an insult.......I suggest that if you don't like the context of this thread, then p*ss off and find one that you do.

 

IMO of course

[Dalek2003]

I think that a European Super League is inevitable and then the domestic league should find a bit more equilibrium.

You coul have promotion and relegation into the Euro super league.

[sidthesquid]

Football isn't yet broken, but the first little hairline fractures are showing. Setanta are stuffed. Sky is surely suffering a dramatic reduction in income. And like everything else in our world, the internet will finish it off. Footballers are the new popstars. And remember what happened to them. There was a guy on tv a few weeks back, pushing a free download of his reasonably well known (but not so much so that I can remember its name!) band's single. He said nobody goes into music to get rich any more - those days are gone. He could make a living, have a good time, but the megabucks had gone. And a free single might encourage people to see them on tour.

Football will go the same way. Anyone tried JustinTV? Quality is not great, but give it a few years & how the hell will Sky stop people like that in faraway countries, just like the record companies can't stop the pirate file-sharers.

And when it does, I will be pleased. Money has corrupted the game I love. How can a thug like Joey Barton be worth twice the average annual wage per WEEK?

If a wage bill league table is drawn up for the Prem, with the odd incompetent North-Easterly exception, it will entirely reflect the league placings.

How can it be right that clubs going up have to gamble it all and hope, or accept relegation as an inevitable price to pay for balancing the books?

How can it be right that the finances are so skewed by wealthy egomaniacs and those keen to churn some money in exchange for respectability that success can be bought rather than achieved?

And how can it be right that clubs like our own or Charlton, run for many years on (reasonably) sane lines face ruin when they slide out of the promised land? How much money on Middlesborough in League One within 3 years?

And how can it be right that talented young lads, nurtured by their club's academies, here and in the rest of the world, have them whisked away for a fraction of their later woth at sixteen or seventeen? Am I alone in feeling cheated by never seeing Walcott or Bale develop in our team over a few years rather than half a season?

I don't blame the players - who wouldn't want £100k a week - but it can't go on forever.

And when Sky realise their monopoly is worth a quarter of what they paid out last time, & no-one wants to take them on for it, the money going to the Prem will stop, the glamour will stop, the oligarchs will get back on their yachts and sail away to somewhere warmer & the whole money-laundered, over-leveraged edifice will come tumbling down.

And maybe we will get our game back. Maybe all the games will be played on a Saturday afternoon, and if you want live football, you will have to put your coat on and go and watch your local team rather than merely change channels. Maybe a provincial team, with a British manager will mould a team (rather than just buy it) to challenge for the title or the cup. And maybe a local lad will come through the ranks again and get to play for England whilst still a Saint.

Football needs to be broken and rebuilt and as far as I concerned, the sooner the better.

[Lord Duckhunter]

The Premiership needs to be more competitive. All the other leagues(in England) are, but we can all name the top 4 next season, and proberly the season after that. Even in America the home of free enterprise the govening bodies realise the NFL works because its competitive.Although we have nothing like the draft system, merchendising and gate money could be spread evenly around the league.

Everybody seems to think the play offs are a good idea, therefore, why not have play off's between 4th,5th,6th and 7th for the final Champions league spot? Not only will it generate interest it will also share some of that money around.

 

However nothing will change, because the FA are too concerned with the big 4, breaking away.

[aintforever]

What the English game needs is a fairer distribution of the money, at the moment the Premier League is just so predictable it's dull beyond belief. Everyone knew who would be the top 4 at the start of the season, we know what it will be next year.

 

I think the English leagues would be superb if the Sky money was distributed evenly to all 92 clubs, so Bournemouth get the same cut as Man U. Would never happen because of the greed of the big clubs but would make the whole thing an exciting competition.

[Leicestersaint]

Sky is to blame alongside the greed that infects many of those invovled in the game. I find that people i know increasingly don't care any more. Well done the FA!

[bridge too far]

Rather than quote it all, can I just say:

 

Well said Sid - couldn't have been better put.

[bungle]

One change I would like to see is ticketing prices. Each division should have their own ticket prices i.e. PL = £30, Championship = £20, League 1 = £15 and League 2 = £10 with half their prices for concessions i.e. children, oaps etc.

 

Sadly, that would be illegal.

[Weston Super Saint]

I think that a European Super League is inevitable and then the domestic league should find a bit more equilibrium.

You coul have promotion and relegation into the Euro super league.

 

I hope so.

 

I also hope the big four bugger off and join it too.

 

I would feel sorry for their 'real' fans, the ones that grew up in the area, supported their 'local' team for life, as they would lose out on pretty much all of the away games I'd guess, but that's the price you pay when you buy success....

[jawillwill]

jawillwill........I was going to pm you, but it seems I can't, so alas, I will have to respond in kind, and resort to insults.......

 

An honest post, which I opened up for discussion, but no, some halfwit like you, has to come on and infect it with his hate. Sorry if your intellect doesn't allow you to give an opinion rather than an insult.......I suggest that if you don't like the context of this thread, then p*ss off and find one that you do.

 

IMO of course

 

 

Seriously, can you imagine if that rule was put in place. You'd have everyone from 6th or 7th (i.e. not in Europe) downwards to those who are just safe from relegation trying to lose on purpose to avoid a points deduction.

Also, you'd have similar situations at the top. This year for example, now Man Utd have won the title, Liverpool and Chelsea would both be pretty eagre to finish 3rd. Punishing teams for being better than other teams, is simply a rubbish idea. Sorry.

Why not switch the prize money around instead? For example the team which finishes bottom should receive the amount the champions do, and the Champions would recieve nothing. That would allow the lower teams to catch up a bit. Brilliant.

 

 

P.s. Have you heard about the rules in the SPL. They're nuts! Just look at the table. 7th has more points than 6th. Irrelevent to this thread, I know, but I thought it my duty to let you all know.

[Give it to Ron]

Yet another poor club has gone into administration today - Chester City. Its going to be the same for quite a few this summer

[IamLeGod]

jawillwill........I was going to pm you, but it seems I can't, so alas, I will have to respond in kind, and resort to insults.......

 

An honest post, which I opened up for discussion, but no, some halfwit like you, has to come on and infect it with his hate. Sorry if your intellect doesn't allow you to give an opinion rather than an insult.......I suggest that if you don't like the context of this thread, then p*ss off and find one that you do.

 

IMO of course

I have to admit, whilst i don't neccesarily agree with all your suggestion's at least they are ideas, and as you have said, it does beat mindless remarks like that! It's very easy to criticise, yet so much harder to contribute. I really do have to question who it really is who highlights stupidity here?

 

Wage caps should be introduced, and perhaps we should look at the possibilty of a drafting system? Young English talent (which we should have quota's of) distributed amongst lower placed teams first, giving an opportunity for an even spread of talent and the prospect of a more competitive football league.

 

The original point made is very true, football is broken, and the greedy money grabs fat cats at the top are without doubt responsible

[Weston Super Saint]

I have to admit, whilst i don't neccesarily agree with all your suggestion's at least they are ideas, and as you have said, it does beat mindless remarks like that! It's very easy to criticise, yet so much harder to contribute. I really do have to question who it really is who highlights stupidity here?

 

Wage caps should be introduced, and perhaps we should look at the possibilty of a drafting system? Young English talent (which we should have quota's of) distributed amongst lower placed teams first, giving an opportunity for an even spread of talent and the prospect of a more competitive football league.

 

The original point made is very true, football is broken, and the greedy money grabs fat cats at the top are without doubt responsible

 

Did you read Jawillwill's post two above yours?

 

She makes quite a good rebuttal I thought.....

[John Boy Saint]

Its funny that everyone blames Sky, yes the contract prices beggar belief everytime they circulate. But in reality the football has improved overall. They are prepared to delve into the lower reaches of football when the internationals are on, they got behind the FA Cup lower rounds (before Sultana and ITV got it).

But the criminals in all of this are the Mandarins of the Premier league, Dave Whelan chairman of both Wigan Football and Rugby League teams highlighted this a while ago.

In Super League Rugby the rights are owned by Sky and like in Football the rights are sold around the world to the countries with a Rugby League interest. The teams in the Super League, like the Premiership, have a Piggy bank that gets smashed open at the end of the year and divvied up around the teams in the league, the big difference is that unlike the Premiership there is no reward for position: every team from the top to the bottom gets an equal share.

So when you add to the equal divide of TV money and the the players salary cap, at the start of the season no one really knows who will be the top dog, yes there are the leagues big teams by tradition, but when you look at Wigan a few years ago they were a Juggernaut in Rugby League but now they are mere mortals, if the Premiership division of money had been introduced to Rugby League Wigan and St Helens would have been the only runners in the race to the silverware.

 

As Dave Whelan says why should the teams who get into the Champions League every year get such a big slice of the domestic league cake because every year barring a catastrophe those top 4 teams are just going to get further and further ahead of the rest.

 

The only thing that will make things change would be if one of the Big 4 were to crash and burn through their owners (ok Arsene persisting with nippers) going bust, walking away, or falling out. and the Monopoly threat of the European superleague would evaporate for the rules to change.

 

But then the FA have their faces alternating between, the big 4's backside, the trough, and having their self importance polished, so this imbalance will never be acknowledged or acted on.

[Kenilworthy]

>The original point made is very true, football is broken, and the greedy money grabs fat cats at the top are without doubt responsible

 

To our shame though, Saints were one of those 22 clubs in 92 that signed up to create the Premier League, having forgotten that we came from the lower leagues we were casting aside.

 

You could almost believe in Hoddle's idea of karma. Since of that original 22, 10 clubs have gone on to play outside the top two divisions. And league one next season (if we are lucky enough to still have a side) will contain four or five founder members of the Premier League, depending on the fate of MK Dons in the play-off final.

[Wiltshire Saint]

This is a matter very close to my heart and I have given it a great deal of thought.

 

I think that all teams should be ranked, from 1st to 92nd (I think that's how many teams there are in the league) based on their past 30 years. Each team will be given points for wins, promotions, cup wins and progress and so on. So the top club may end up, for example, on 36,728 points and the next one down on 36,654. Each season, starting frm now, points are added (or taken away as appropriate - for example if a team loses all their games or gets relegated and so on). So each year we end up with a slightly changed ranking. Now, the twist comes in. Those teams who are scoring above the average (so you have to adda ll the scores together and divide by 92) get money taken off them and placed into a big pot. The clubs scoring below the average then play their league games as usual with the same goals in mind BUT the team that scores the most using the other points system (wins, cup progress and so on.....we could include goals scored and cards etc) then gets a share in the money taken from the other teams. This will eventaully even up the league.

 

There should also be a rule that players are fined directly by the FA for each misdeamour. For example, if they are booked for taking off their shirt they should be fined straight after the game (taken to a cash point by police if needed) say £100. If they take their shirt off again then their fine should be increased and they should be made to play in their pants or something, so they get the message that playing in less than the appropriate clothing is not acceptable.

 

Teams who have more than the average number of players booked in a season should be made to play the first game of the next season with all youth players. This would encourage teams to invest in youth, especially the dirty teams.

 

Teams that win by ten goals or more in a game should be awarded double points. They can either accept the double points (6) or take normal points (3) and be allowed to take the next 4 penalties with the other team not being allowed to have a goalkeeper.

 

I am firmly with Ginger fella in that we should be looking for innovative solutions to the game.

[IamLeGod]

Did you read Jawillwill's post two above yours?

 

She makes quite a good rebuttal I thought.....

 

yeah quite annoyingly that was written while i was busy writing mine, making me look a fool, thanks for that

[RedAndWhite91]

A sin bin should be introduced as in rugby

 

I heard the FA/ FIFA were thinking of introducing this anyway?

 

 

the teams should play extra time, and every five minutes, have to reduce their team by one player......golden goal applies.

 

They done this in a 6-a-side tournament I played in once, it was the semi-final I think, and it ended up our keeper versus their keeper, it was absolutely ridiculous, and we lost. Devastating. It's not a great idea imo.

[Saint_clark]

A points deduction on that scale would be ridiculous. Where would United be now if they had a 15 point deduction? That simply ISN'T fair, because they ARE the best whether you like it or not.

Papering over the cracks isn't the answer. To sort this out you need to go to the source of the problem - the massive amounts of money being spent.

[Gorgiesaint]

I have to admit, whilst i don't neccesarily agree with all your suggestion's at least they are ideas, and as you have said, it does beat mindless remarks like that! It's very easy to criticise, yet so much harder to contribute. I really do have to question who it really is who highlights stupidity here?

 

Wage caps should be introduced, and perhaps we should look at the possibilty of a drafting system? Young English talent (which we should have quota's of) distributed amongst lower placed teams first, giving an opportunity for an even spread of talent and the prospect of a more competitive football league.

 

The original point made is very true, football is broken, and the greedy money grabs fat cats at the top are without doubt responsible

 

A draft system would not work within the structure of English football at present. You need a closed shop environment to allow it to work - unless you are happy to seal the Premiership off at the end of this season so we can never get back there?

 

My suggestion (FWIW) is this:

 

No salary cap in the Premier League. Allows the top clubs to still compete with European teams on a level playing field.

 

Salary Cap in place from CCC downwards - in return for this, league clubs get a greater share of Premier League money.

 

Clauses inserted into all players contracts that they take a pay cut if relegated.

 

Increased penalties for administration - any club must start back in L2 - this will act as the deterent to Premier League clubs to spend beyond their means.

 

 

Overall it will mean that clubs in the lower leagues have better income but tighter financial control so less opportunity to screw it up & go bust. More opportunity for risk in the Prem but severe penalties if you don't live within your means.

[Born In The 80s]

Interesting ideas posted throughout this thread. One thing is for sure and that football is seriously shooting itself in the foot as far as the embarrassing amounts of money that are being dished out at the top of the spectrum are concerned. I see another club (Chester City) have gone into administration today. Extremely sad times and it appears the FA couldn't really give two ****s about anyone in the championship and below or they would have made far greater efforts to help the lower leagues.

 

When you hear rubbish about this 39th game abroad it proves that the only thing that tosser Scudamore and all his cronies at the FA care about is money. It wouldn't surprise me at all if in the next decade or so we see a complete structural change to english football where the 20 premiership clubs break off and form one league without relegation. Each club having one rich sugar daddy foreign owner and maybe even introducing a draft system as they do in the USA.

 

Either way though, football is currently in serious freefall. Fans are being pushed out by the embarrassing ticket prices and the FA has shown to sign of attempting to change this.

[kpturner]

Football isn't yet broken, but the first little hairline fractures are showing......

Several nails hit squarely on the head IMO. Football in its current guise (i.e. the way it is all financed) rather reminds me of the sub-prime mortgage market collapse leading to a global meltdown of the banking sector. It is a huge unsustainable bubble of mounting debt and it will inevitably burst...then everyone will sit around scratching their heads wondering how such a thing could possibly have been allowed to happen. In a perverse way, it may be a good thing that SFC has hit rock bottom now (if indeed we have). If we survive this and start again on a decent sustainable footing we might actually be one of the clubs to survive the impending football apocolypse.

 

PS: Handicapping the successful teams with points deductions is a bit of a daft idea - but I haven't managed to dream up the perfect solution either.

[Red&White]

Sid the Squid absolutely spot on mate !

Bloody depressing isn`t it ? :mad:

[Clapham Saint]

Yet another poor club has gone into administration today - Chester City. Its going to be the same for quite a few this summer

 

They should dock points for teams that go into administration. That would sort out all these clubs gaining a financial advantage by ditiching debts in insolvency.

 

Far fewer clubs would go bust and they would all be better run.

 

oh......

[Cabrone]

How about a parachute payment being made when a team gets promoted rather than relegated.

 

This would give promoted teams a better chance to compete in their first season up and open up the leagues a bit more (esp the Coke to Prem jump).

[kpturner]

How about a parachute payment being made when a team gets promoted rather than relegated.

 

This would give promoted teams a better chance to compete in their first season up and open up the leagues a bit more (esp the Coke to Prem jump).

Isn't a parachute only used to prevent you going downwards too fast - not upwards :-)

[angelman]

I would like to see the amount a club can lose in a year be linked to their turnover. That way clubs like Chelsea wouldn't be able to run at £100m losses and when any normal business would go tits up, they carry on year after year. Admittedly their loss is down to something like £75m a year now.

[Weston Super Saint]

I would like to see the amount a club can lose in a year be linked to their turnover. That way clubs like Chelsea wouldn't be able to run at £100m losses and when any normal business would go tits up, they carry on year after year. Admittedly their loss is down to something like £75m a year now.

 

Surely the easiest way around that is for Abramovich to 'buy' his box for the season for £200m, thus increasing turnover.....

[Dalek2003]

Another idea is to Nationalise football clubs and make them one big organisation. This happened when the railway companies were nationalised as British Rail.

Without any competition we can relax and concentrate on eating our stale chees sandwi ches over a luke warm cup of sugary tea.

[rocknrollman no2]

Surely divide all money going into football by 92.If you are 1st then you get a bigger cut of the money,all the way down to 92nd place.At least this is a fairer way to distribute the Sky money,rather than just the top five teams getting it all.

Also do away with football agents.All they do is take money away from the game and into their greedy pockets.

Why not have a department at the FA, where all transfers have to go through.Then maybe the FA could take a percentage and therefore help keep their finances ticking over.

[Saintandy666]

Dunno about the two points for a score draw, couldn't it just be exploited easily? 2 minutes left and it's 0-0...

[70's Mike]

Interesting points of view of a very complex topic.

I do not blame Sky , i blame the old fuddy duddys at the Football League who allowed the circumstances to exist which led to the formation of the greed is good premiership, of which we were founder members.

Everyone gambles on staying in the top flight or returning within 2 years to keep the cash flow up.

How will it end ?

A european super league is being discussed but as i understand it that will run mid week as a replacement of the champions league, it will have promotion and relegation from its 2 proposed divisions, if that means european teams have the same income opportunties as premiership sides perhaps we will not attract the top players.

UnLESS someone at the really top level goes pop , Roman is killed or something, then nothing will change because they will all gamble on maintaining their income.

A draft type system or a levelling of income will never work because of European law on competition.

No looks like we are stuffed with Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool and maybe Man City dominating the game for years to go, unless the Glaziers gRand Children decide to invest only in their Usa based teams

[kpturner]

Dunno about the two points for a score draw, couldn't it just be exploited easily? 2 minutes left and it's 0-0...

:confused:

[Saint George]

The answer's simple

 

1/Cut 28 teams from the professional leagues .....The fact is, England is no where near big enough to successfully support 90 pro clubs in this day and age...sad but true.....The sooner peeps accept it then the sooner football can get cured

 

2/Adopt the same set up as the NFL, with its equal leagues, income sharing, financial stability and draft system.....Would have to put the fingers up to the EU court of human rights though......The NFL obtained a exemption to similar laws in the US to allow them to be able remain a 'Sport' and allowed the teams to maintain control over its players.

[View From The Top]

The answer's simple

 

1/Cut 28 teams from the professional leagues .....The fact is, England is no where near big enough to successfully support 90 pro clubs in this day and age...sad but true.....The sooner peeps accept it then the sooner football can get cured

 

2/Adopt the same set up as the NFL, with its equal leagues, income sharing, financial stability and draft system.....Would have to put the fingers up to the EU court of human rights though......The NFL obtained a exemption to similar laws in the US to allow them to be able remain a 'Sport' and allowed the teams to maintain control over its players.

 

We don't have a collegiate system so that ain't going to work.

[LestWeForget]

We don't have a collegiate system so that ain't going to work.

 

Don't need a collegiate system, just a well defined youth system.... a la Ice Hockey ...

[Trader]

Football isn't yet broken, but the first little hairline fractures are showing. Setanta are stuffed. Sky is surely suffering a dramatic reduction in income. And like everything else in our world, the internet will finish it off. Footballers are the new popstars. And remember what happened to them. There was a guy on tv a few weeks back, pushing a free download of his reasonably well known (but not so much so that I can remember its name!) band's single. He said nobody goes into music to get rich any more - those days are gone. He could make a living, have a good time, but the megabucks had gone. And a free single might encourage people to see them on tour.

Football will go the same way. Anyone tried JustinTV? Quality is not great, but give it a few years & how the hell will Sky stop people like that in faraway countries, just like the record companies can't stop the pirate file-sharers.

And when it does, I will be pleased. Money has corrupted the game I love. How can a thug like Joey Barton be worth twice the average annual wage per WEEK?

If a wage bill league table is drawn up for the Prem, with the odd incompetent North-Easterly exception, it will entirely reflect the league placings.

How can it be right that clubs going up have to gamble it all and hope, or accept relegation as an inevitable price to pay for balancing the books?

How can it be right that the finances are so skewed by wealthy egomaniacs and those keen to churn some money in exchange for respectability that success can be bought rather than achieved?

And how can it be right that clubs like our own or Charlton, run for many years on (reasonably) sane lines face ruin when they slide out of the promised land? How much money on Middlesborough in League One within 3 years?

And how can it be right that talented young lads, nurtured by their club's academies, here and in the rest of the world, have them whisked away for a fraction of their later woth at sixteen or seventeen? Am I alone in feeling cheated by never seeing Walcott or Bale develop in our team over a few years rather than half a season?

I don't blame the players - who wouldn't want £100k a week - but it can't go on forever.

And when Sky realise their monopoly is worth a quarter of what they paid out last time, & no-one wants to take them on for it, the money going to the Prem will stop, the glamour will stop, the oligarchs will get back on their yachts and sail away to somewhere warmer & the whole money-laundered, over-leveraged edifice will come tumbling down.

And maybe we will get our game back. Maybe all the games will be played on a Saturday afternoon, and if you want live football, you will have to put your coat on and go and watch your local team rather than merely change channels. Maybe a provincial team, with a British manager will mould a team (rather than just buy it) to challenge for the title or the cup. And maybe a local lad will come through the ranks again and get to play for England whilst still a Saint.

Football needs to be broken and rebuilt and as far as I concerned, the sooner the better.

 

Post of the century (so far!)

[SFC Forever]

One of the fairest ways , in my book, to share the money is to limit the number of televised games each club can have per season. As good as they can be Utd seem to be the team shown week in week out at the moment. I know this will upset the plastic Utd style fans who have never bothered to go to their ground but so what.

A fan who can watch his struggling team week in week out has much more right to seeing his club on the box than these plastics.

The big 4 have televised Champions League games and should be restricted in all fairness to aide other clubs get a share.

There are the 4 leagues and I would propose a split of the money between leagues of 30%,25%,25% and 20%. All percentages split equally between the clubs.

Failing that I would offer a 20% of sum total per league. This would leave 20% which could go to the teams seen on the box pro rata the number of games. All leagues getting the same sum in principal.

The poorer clubs could in this way be helped and the larger more affluent clubs in the main would have their bigger gates.

Add to this the limit that Eufa are considering on club expenditure and you have a much fairer system financially.

ALL IN MY HONEST OPINION of course.

[SoccerMom]

If we survive this and start again on a decent sustainable footing we might actually be one of the clubs to survive the impending football apocolypse.

We can but hope.

[holepuncture]

Football isn't yet broken, but the first little hairline fractures are showing. Setanta are stuffed. Sky is surely suffering a dramatic reduction in income. And like everything else in our world, the internet will finish it off. Footballers are the new popstars. And remember what happened to them. There was a guy on tv a few weeks back, pushing a free download of his reasonably well known (but not so much so that I can remember its name!) band's single. He said nobody goes into music to get rich any more - those days are gone. He could make a living, have a good time, but the megabucks had gone. And a free single might encourage people to see them on tour.

Football will go the same way. Anyone tried JustinTV? Quality is not great, but give it a few years & how the hell will Sky stop people like that in faraway countries, just like the record companies can't stop the pirate file-sharers.

And when it does, I will be pleased. Money has corrupted the game I love. How can a thug like Joey Barton be worth twice the average annual wage per WEEK?

If a wage bill league table is drawn up for the Prem, with the odd incompetent North-Easterly exception, it will entirely reflect the league placings.

How can it be right that clubs going up have to gamble it all and hope, or accept relegation as an inevitable price to pay for balancing the books?

How can it be right that the finances are so skewed by wealthy egomaniacs and those keen to churn some money in exchange for respectability that success can be bought rather than achieved?

And how can it be right that clubs like our own or Charlton, run for many years on (reasonably) sane lines face ruin when they slide out of the promised land? How much money on Middlesborough in League One within 3 years?

And how can it be right that talented young lads, nurtured by their club's academies, here and in the rest of the world, have them whisked away for a fraction of their later woth at sixteen or seventeen? Am I alone in feeling cheated by never seeing Walcott or Bale develop in our team over a few years rather than half a season?

I don't blame the players - who wouldn't want £100k a week - but it can't go on forever.

And when Sky realise their monopoly is worth a quarter of what they paid out last time, & no-one wants to take them on for it, the money going to the Prem will stop, the glamour will stop, the oligarchs will get back on their yachts and sail away to somewhere warmer & the whole money-laundered, over-leveraged edifice will come tumbling down.

And maybe we will get our game back. Maybe all the games will be played on a Saturday afternoon, and if you want live football, you will have to put your coat on and go and watch your local team rather than merely change channels. Maybe a provincial team, with a British manager will mould a team (rather than just buy it) to challenge for the title or the cup. And maybe a local lad will come through the ranks again and get to play for England whilst still a Saint.

Football needs to be broken and rebuilt and as far as I concerned, the sooner the better.

 

 

stunning piece of writing, good work!

[Frank's cousin]

Points deductions and handicaps would only be papering over cracks and not solving teh root of teh problem. Its quite simple. there needs to be a better way of leveling the financila playing field that provides all clubs with at least a chance of success. There also needs to be a squad cap IMHO to prevent teh richh clubs hoovering up teh best young talent to sit on their benches. A total FIFA led transfer regulation overall needs to be put in place to give REAL benefit to clubs who develop talent and prevent agents from gaining financially from Player transfers - eg loyalty bonuses for players and agents for players who see out contracts need to be far in excess of lucrative sugning on fees... encouraguing loyalty over successive transfers which undermine clubs stability... not sure what teh answers are, but its about time that teh governing bodies started looking at ALL teh questions seriously, stop pandering to teh top sides and get to grips with this before its too late.

 

Its all evry well pundits and teh media waxing lyrical baout howthe prem is the worlds best league - the worlds best league of 4 teams is nmore like it and they should start by stop being so thick and acknowledging what Platini is real;ly on about. He's not aginst English football as they keep going on about verbatum, hes against the collossal financial rewards available in Englands top devision that means just as know one can compete within teh prem, The CL is becoming equally predictable. His problem is UEFA simply dont have teh balls to take on teh big clubs....