Time For Change?

[gemarriott]

Given the power the various authorities have over football is it perhaps time the fans stood up and were counted and insisted on change?

Currently we are having our game p1ssed about from pillar to post by SKY, FIFA, UEFA, the FA, the Premier League, and the football league. If you follow a Premier League team and to a lesser extent a Championship team you have no idea when you are going to be playing. It can be any time from Friday to Monday in the league and god knows when in the various cups. On top of that there are 4 or 5 International breaks. The FAcup and League Cups are of secondary importance and European competitions are a joke.

My own view is that it is time to stop chasing the dollar and give football back to the fns. Play all league games on a Saturday or a Wednesday. Return to 3 European competitions with only the League champions playing in the European Cup and all gameas in Europe a 2 leg straight forward knock out.

Live matches on the telly for armchair fans if at the same time as the other games are being played, real fans will still go and watch their clubs as telly footie is no substitute and we are being bored to death by SKY now, 2 live matches almost every day is surely going to kille the golden goose by boring us to death.


As for International football, bin it, it isn't worth watching anyway, how many games can any of you remember from this world cup? I can remember every game from 1966 because we didn't get football rammed down our throat every time we switched the telly on.

 

[Ex-Bay]

Well put, Gem.

And all because of money, I think. And who pays for it ?

We do!

 

[Shugster]

The world cup fiasco is reason enough for a change.

The most corrupt country in the world wins purely because they weren't caught.

 

[propersplitbrainme]

Given the power the various authorities have over football is it perhaps time the fans stood up and were counted and insisted on change?

Currently we are having our game p1ssed about from pillar to post by SKY, FIFA, UEFA, the FA, the Premier League, and the football league. If you follow a Premier League team and to a lesser extent a Championship team you have no idea when you are going to be playing. It can be any time from Friday to Monday in the league and god knows when in the various cups. On top of that there are 4 or 5 International breaks.

The variety of kick-off times is a grade A pain in the ass, last night we were at Anfield welcoming Villa the 80 or so miles up the freezing M6 for another Sky Sports armchair fan match. Two seasons ago the monday night fixture saw Portsmouth fans sent all the way up the country to Newcastle; a crass, ridiculous arrangement that nobody who follows football could have reasonably made. BUT, the money that Sky and ESPN bring to the table would be sorely missed by the PL clubs if the arrangement were ever stopped. When we head up to Newcastle ourselves for a 5:30 kickoff on Saturday we have to remember that.
Its the governing bodies that are the biggest laugh. The FA is a metaphor for uselessness, it is utterly incapable of policing its own rules. Disciplinary decisions take eons to make (in the NFL they are made a day or so after a game is played), rules and codes of conduct for players and managers are not enforced if they get ignored, the list goes on.
UEFA is a puppet of the shambling caricature Frenchman in Michel Platini who seems to spend every waking hour, and probably in his dreams as well, trying to think up ways of preventing the English teams from having such a strong presence in the last 4 of the Champions League.
And FIFA! Well, as one newspaper columnist said yesterday, their decision to stage the World Cup in Qatar is proof positive, if proof were ever needed, that the FIFA exco is certifiably mad and cannot be taken seriously any more. We should limit our dealings with FIFA to affairs that are absolutely necessary because we know we are dealing with lunatics and cannot reasonably expect them to take sensible action over anything.

The FAcup and League Cups are of secondary importance and European competitions are a joke.

The FA cup is devalued, true but the Cocacarlingleague Cup is very devalued. That said, the latter is still a great final for the fans if their side gets there.
The Champions League is becoming a joke, but it is still the premier football competition in the world. If winning the PL is out of reach, the main aim for top flight clubs is to qualify for the champions league; perhaps that is part of its problem - qualification should be for champions only. But Platini's aim of getting clubs from minor nations into the league phase has predictably resulted in games that the bigger clubs will win easily.
The Europa League is a joke in the group stages as is the World Cup. Group stage games result in tactical cat-and-mouse games that are a turn-off for all but fans of the sides competing. The EL at least should be straight knockout.

The money bubble that football has surrounded itself with is bound to burst eventually. Abramovich at Chelsea is showing signs that he no longer has the stomach to go out spending top dollar on marquee players; he'll have even less to spend once he feels Putin's hand on his shoulder guiding him into the pres's office to discuss the billionaire's contribution to World Cup 2018!
Man Utd are being more coy in the transfer market and only their noisy neighbours are still splashing the cash, although they will be roally screwed if the Sheikh decides to walk away.