Football in decline??

[ManchesterCanary 0]

I feel very despondent about the future of football as we know it...some of the reasons;

1.    MegaRich benefactors using football teams as a hobby

2.   Ridiculous salaries for players who, almost inevitably, become less passionate and more interested in their lives outside football.

3.   Very little trickledown of money to lower leagues, meaning less success, less interest from supporters, lower gates, less money...ad infinitum

4.   Too many black boxes for kids, resulting in less talent, inevitably leading to lower standards in the the leagues and in the English team, meaning less success, and more apathy...

I forecast a European league of the rich clubs (almost there now). The rest will play out in almost meaningless low quality leagues with only a hard core of support among the low attendances...slowly but surely to go under

Its depressing, but does anybody see much hope....?

[we8wba 0]

1. very true especially the influx of foreign investors, even worse when the dont have clue about the rules of footie like the glazers didnt for manutd

2. when you think someone like titus bramble was on 40k, i can understand the top notch players i.e ronaldinho, henry etc.. who the best getting top notch but now you got like glen johnson on 60k

3. this is the main area, and the transfer window doesnt help the smaller clubs! and they have to obey this rule like the top teams so unfair. money should be divided equally

4. i can understand why the english teams buy foreign with pricing - kolo toure about 1m if that curtis davies 9m, zat knight 5m and what have these two done excatly?

 

it is going down hill very fast, and i cant see a change, the best we can hope for is the like utd, chelsea barca sod of to their own super league and we get some stablitly back

in all honesty i know going up gets you estimated 60m but is there any point? i mean we all just get whopped like derby unless we spent 40m like sunderland

and to be fair have they spent 40m well? yes if they stay up you could say but gordon 8m jones 6.5m chopra 6m thats 20m on who?

prefer to be a big fish in small pond currently

and i cant blame the like chelsea utd taking more more money and keeping it we would all not be complaining if our respective teams were in their situation 

[InLambertWeTrust! 0]

Wow thats the first post in ages that I actually agree with you on

[king of latvia 0]

this has to be the best post in ages . i agree totally 100%.

 

[Headbanger 0]

One thing I''ve found myself thinking a lot recently which I believe dovetails with this thread quite nicely, is that younger footballers and the next generation of kids seem to be interested in the trappings of being a pro footballer rather than the football itself. In many cases, the motivation seems to be the flash pad, sports car and pop star girlfriend, rather than the desire to win and do well.

I''ll pick Ashley cole as an example - not to single him out as he is no worse than many others but he does illustrate the point - but he is a millionaire in his early 20''s, earning (I''m guessing...) around £50K + a week, with houses, cars and a Girls Aloud wife. When he goes home to all that, how much does a defeat or poor performance really hurt him?

I don''t begrude anyone their money for their job, I just feel the balance is becoming increasingly skewed.

[Syteanric 1]

heres to the lower leagues and the non league game....

 a player working 9-5 then goes training 1 possibly 2 evenings a week... if he loses a game it hurts, he has to possibly arrange time off work with an employer to get to midweek games, very often played on awful pitches, in awful grounds with no support. If he is injured he doesnt have the luxury of private health care,... he sist in Casualty for 8 hours like the rest of us would...

 He probably takes his own kit home and washes it, may well be expected to stay behind at the end of the game to help clean the changing rooms, mow the pitch or tidy the stands...

 When Frank Lampard loses a game what does he do?  goes home and sits on his arse thats what! if he''s injured he gets the best specialist in the world treat him, he doesnt have to fit training and matches round work. he probably doesnt even know how to swithc  washing machine on!

 its my opion that all footballers.. when aged 18... should be sent to play in the non-league for 2 years... during this 2 year period they should be made to find work and support themselves, no pop star girlfriend, no Sports car, no 9 bedroom house.. welcome to the real world Gentlemen!

jas :)

 

[we8wba 0]

i know this idea is hard to do as there are so many more teams and clubs have intevested in youth

but they should do it like amercian sport i.e nfl with drafts

what happens in nfl?

well....

the worst team get the 1st pick (of all the best youngsters) coming out of college (uni) this is done to help keep the league equal - yes you have your big teams theyre most years who are run effieciently but the worst teams tend to improve over a period of time after they have got better players

i would go on suggestion above and make all players play till they are 21 in league 1 and 2 - this is increasing theyre standard of football - whilst the prem and champ play as normall each summer the worst team i.e playoff winner of league 1 get 1st pick, the runner up 2nd and so on until manutd get the 44th pick then they start again for how many times needed

prob wouldnt work because of forieners etc.. i.e manutd 44th pick wouldnt play so they purchase someone abroad

thats why i thought about 5 foreigners in squad rule or something like that

prob completly riduculous idea - i would like people to question certain areas of this, but not just to have ago at me lol

 

[BigFish 1,986]

[quote user="we8wba"]

i know this idea is hard to do as there are so many more teams and clubs have intevested in youth

but they should do it like amercian sport i.e nfl with drafts

what happens in nfl?

well....

the worst team get the 1st pick (of all the best youngsters) coming out of college (uni) this is done to help keep the league equal - yes you have your big teams theyre most years who are run effieciently but the worst teams tend to improve over a period of time after they have got better players

i would go on suggestion above and make all players play till they are 21 in league 1 and 2 - this is increasing theyre standard of football - whilst the prem and champ play as normall each summer the worst team i.e playoff winner of league 1 get 1st pick, the runner up 2nd and so on until manutd get the 44th pick then they start again for how many times needed

prob wouldnt work because of forieners etc.. i.e manutd 44th pick wouldnt play so they purchase someone abroad

thats why i thought about 5 foreigners in squad rule or something like that

prob completly riduculous idea - i would like people to question certain areas of this, but not just to have ago at me lol

[/quote]

The NFL model only really works in closed leagues, with salary caps and a franchise system. If us supporters of lesser teams were happy  to be excluded forever from the Prem or a Euro Super League that would be ok, but we cling to the hope that City (or Wolves in your case) can creep in and do a Bolton (though not a very good example this year).

How about limiting squad sizes so the Prem can only have 25 players on their books at any time + an academy. Abolish the Prem reserve league. So when a young prospect graduates they are given the choice of adding him to the squad and bumping a pro out or farming him out. It would squeeze a number of quality youngsters out and into the Championship.

[Budgie 0]

The powers that be that receive all these billions from Sky, etc - is it the FA? - cannot be that interested in the future of the game in this country.Logically - to me  at least - all that juicy dosh could be spent in improving the game immeasurably from the real grass roots upwards by sharing it out throughout all the top four leagues.But what happens? It all goes to the Premier League with, as a PS, parachute payment to the clubs who lose their status among the elite.Will this system improve the game in the UK? No way. It will just create millionaire prima donnas. They may occasionally cast an eye towards the beggars outside the locked doors but will they ever throw them a scrap or two?No. And this is why we are seeing the standard of UK players decline with just the fortunate top half per-cent or so that get through the door.The end result? For clubs like Norwich the thought of promotion to the Premier League now is just the dream of one season, £60 million to play with that year and to wipe off their £18 million overdraft. Beyond that the realisation that they will no doubt be the chopping block for 40-odd games - but that does not matter does it? They have cleared their debts.

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="we8wba"]

i know this idea is hard to do as there are so many more teams and clubs have intevested in youth

but they should do it like amercian sport i.e nfl with drafts

what happens in nfl?

well....

the worst team get the 1st pick (of all the best youngsters) coming out of college (uni) this is done to help keep the league equal - yes you have your big teams theyre most years who are run effieciently but the worst teams tend to improve over a period of time after they have got better players

i would go on suggestion above and make all players play till they are 21 in league 1 and 2 - this is increasing theyre standard of football - whilst the prem and champ play as normall each summer the worst team i.e playoff winner of league 1 get 1st pick, the runner up 2nd and so on until manutd get the 44th pick then they start again for how many times needed

prob wouldnt work because of forieners etc.. i.e manutd 44th pick wouldnt play so they purchase someone abroad

thats why i thought about 5 foreigners in squad rule or something like that

prob completly riduculous idea - i would like people to question certain areas of this, but not just to have ago at me lol

 

[/quote]

wouldnt work.. bear in mind in the NFL theres no transfer fees... and also the League pays the wages. not the club... Witness the recent shenanigans involving Michael vick (who is getting just what he deserves IMO)... the Falcons have lost out big time financially in terms of endorsements with not much they can do.

jas :)