Ok, so I am angry. It’s a feeling
that has been bubbling for a while, threatening to explode up at the surface
the moment something tips me over the edge. Project Big Picture has proved to
be the catalyst for my misery and utter disdain towards the footballing
authorities, and a couple of our big clubs that to be honest, I had a heck of a
lot of time for before their unbridled greed reared its ugly head at the
forefront of the English game.
I’m angry with EFL Chief Executive
Rick Parry, whose proposal to hand over the complete control and what would be
unrelenting power to six of the country’s biggest clubs, despite the long-term
ramifications for the wider football world, would be a long-term disaster of
epic proportions. By the way, those six clubs are to be exclusively selected by
United and Liverpool themselves. Messrs Glazer and Henry have drawn up that
particular piece of criteria. I’m angry with United and Liverpool for cooking
up such a blatant power grab in the first place. Unfortunately, it hasn’t
surprised me in the slightest. I said back in 2013 that football’s bubble will
inevitably burst, and it looks like it has taken a global pandemic to do just
that. However, a dictatorship of the English game from our biggest clubs is to
be avoided I think, don’t you?
I’m also angry with FA Chairman
Greg Clarke, for proposing a Premier League 2 and for B teams to join the EFL;
seemingly at the expense of smaller clubs going to the wall. Greg, it may have
escaped your attention, but we already have a Premier League 2; it already
exists in the U23 game; and as for B and U21 teams? Do me a favour. Has Clarke
seen the state of the EFL Trophy in its current format? It is a complete mess.
Managers don’t want it (some treat it with the utmost of contempt), and the
fans don’t want it. Attendance are often in the hundreds rather than the thousands.
That should tell the authorities all they need to know about any concept
involving B teams in any English football structure. Clarke is living on a
different planet to me. This is what happens when you give businessmen
prominent roles in our national sport. Even Arsene Wenger has said this week
that we have too many clubs. Come on Arsene, the 92-club league structure is
the envy of the rest of the footballing world. What are we supposed to do?
Allow the smaller clubs in our English towns to simply crash and burn?
Destroying the communities that rely and depend on those very clubs? What about
the supporters? The lifeblood of the game? What a ridiculous thing to suggest. Are
there any prominent figures that have their fingers on the pulse at the moment?
Gary Neville has said this week
that he believes that there should be an independent regulator to manage our
game in this country. He believes it is time for action, and has joined the
‘Manifesto For Change’, along with seven other high profile figures who aim to
govern English football in a way that the likes of the FA and EFL seem
incapable of doing. According to Sky Sports, the group lays the blame firmly at
the door of the Premier League due to its ‘financial power.’ (£14.95 to watch a
TV game anyone?) As we know, the Premier League are playing a different game to
the rest of us. Their clubs spent £1.2bn on transfer fees in the latest window,
while at the same time making ordinary people redundant, including a club
mascot; it beggars belief. For now, I’m somewhat sceptical, but I think it’s a
welcome move and hopefully well-intentioned. I do hope that this can be a
positive step towards proper regulation of English football, particularly from
a financial perspective. Football is in danger of eating itself.
A little voice in my head cannot
help but think that these individuals are pushing their own agendas, looking to
use this new group to boost their own profiles. Particularly if it is a success,
they will welcome the credit and praise that comes their way. How can we trust
Neville? This is a man who has just fired Graham Alexander from his role at
Salford City. Alexander won promotion with Salford, reached a Wembley final and
didn’t lose a single League Two game this season, yet Gary Neville wants us to
put our faith in him to drive positive change at the top. I would welcome that,
we all would. But who would this independent group be answerable to? Is it just
another blatant power grab akin to United and Liverpool’s? Shouldn’t the
government intervene to save the EFL? They have given billions to the Arts
industry, so why can’t they give EFL clubs and other sports in difficulty the
financial help they need? Thank god the Project Big Picture proposals were
rejected; for now. The big boys will no doubt return to the table with a diluted
blueprint in their quest for ultimate control. The irony is that they haven’t looked
at the big picture at all. Only time will tell how this game of chess will play
out. Time though, is quickly running out.
There has always been a need to
blow away the working week’s cobwebs; there is nothing quite like a game of
football to do just that. After recent events regarding the upper echelons of
the game had driven me almost to insanity, it was time to take a different footballing
approach. So, Saturday 17th October 2020 proved to be something of a
significant date for me; a lockdown milestone if you like. Seaham Red Star
versus Thornaby in Division One of the Ebac Northern League. The glamour. The
first time I’d set foot in a ground to watch a game since 7th March
at the Stadium of Light; Sunderland drawing 2-2 with Gillingham. After months
of turgid, soulless ‘entertainment’ on the box, including watching Harry
Maguire attempt to defend, and reading about yet another England player that had
broken social-distancing measures, it was time to get back to the real world.
“Where the magic happens” as they say. I’ve always taken in a few Hartlepool
games a season, but even that is still not possible. So, for the princely sum
of £6, despite the restrictions in place across the country, you can indeed
push yourself through a turnstile, and propel yourself back into your favourite
pastime. If you haven’t mustered up the courage to do it yet, not knowing what
you will find on the other side then trust me, the magic is still there. It
instantly washes over you. Everyone is there for the same reason. Starved of
their football fix; come 3pm on Saturday is the only way to assuage those
football cravings. New fans. Die-hards, the very lifeblood of local clubs. The
lone casual observer. Kids wanting to take in a game. Is Dad one of the hardy
22 souls on the pitch? Is he here to watch his hero? The rain patters down,
greasing the surface as kick off swiftly approaches. It felt good to be back.
As for the game itself, it burst
into life, as Thornaby struck after five minutes, sending their 50 plus strong
contingent mad. They were a vocal lot. Twenty minutes later, they added a
second. The roar that greeted both goals came somewhat as a surprise. I’d
missed it. That noise. Almost forgotten it. Taken aback by it. It has been 7
months after all! Seaham felt aggrieved at a foul that wasn’t given in the
build up to the goal. They remonstrated with the referee. It stood. No VAR down
here. The assistant referee copped plenty of stick from the home bench and from
the side-lines. Players had another word with the man in the middle as the teams
trudged off the pitch at half-time. Five minutes after the break, a meaty
challenge near the corner flag resulted in a ten-man brawl. Insults were
thrown. Vitriol was directed at Seaham’s number 10. “Just laugh at him” came the
cry from the side-line; a comment almost lost in a sea of advice of a more colourful
nature from the away contingent. Soon after, Seaham pulled one back to please the
home support. Game on. It was getting a little feisty both on and off the pitch.
Some twenty minutes from the end, Thornaby were reduced to ten men and Seaham
cranked up the pressure. Another strong challenge resulted in a second melee ensuing,
this time on the half-way line, yet the home side still pushed for an
equaliser. It was to no avail. The game ended 2-1 to the Teesiders, the travelling
support applauding their team off, hugely appreciating their efforts. Cries of “you’re
getting sacked in the morning” were aimed at the home dugout. I admit, that
raised a smile. It was an afternoon with plenty of incident. It was also an
afternoon of honest, committed football. Both sides wanted to win. Both sides
played to win. The tackles flew in. The goals were celebrated. The players were
appreciated. It was an enjoyable game. The magic was still there. There really
is nothing like seeing a proper game of football.
What worries me; genuinely
concerns me, is the growing lack of connection that football fans have with
clubs during this Covid-19 crisis. It isn’t easy to stay positive when there is
so much hardship around us. Football was always the place to escape at the
weekend from the trials and tribulations of working life. We find ourselves
unable to watch professional football in this country, seven months after lockdown
restrictions began. That has been soul-destroying and heart wrenching for most
supporters. The contempt with which some hold the Premier League, the EFL and the
FA, has forced the hands of some to go along, maybe apprehensively, to seek out
a fix elsewhere. Over the past few years, lot are doing it by choice. They are
turning their backs entirely on the Premier League. A ‘product’ as it was referred
to by Eni Aluko this week. Unfortunately, she is right. We are all treated as customers.
Our clubs are businesses, no longer institutions. It is the harsh reality of
what the billions in the game has done to our beloved sport. Money at the top,
and the lack of it at the bottom, has turned into a national disgrace. It is no
understatement to say that, and for United and Liverpool to try and rub salt
into the wounds of the EFL and its dying members, is scandal of the highest
order. They will be back. They will try again. It terrifies me to think that in
the end, they cannot be stopped. That will be the final straw for many. Up at
the top table anyway. If it means adopting a different approach to get our
football fix, and by that, I mean turning our backs on the Premier League, then
so be it. Football, in its purest form, is still such a great game. Football is,
and always, will be a great game.
Stay safe.
