Money Can’t buy my Love , but it’s killing it.....

[NorthfieldsFox]

First Time poster so apologies if this isn’t the right place for my point. 

 

For many years prior to promotion we all marvelled at the cash in the Premier League and we all desperately wanted a piece of it , so much so once we got it seems we would sell our soul to remain in this league , the rise of player power and the rise of cash in the league is intrinsically linked , neither has been good for football.

 

Football, its history and culture are and always have been indivisible from its blue collar supporter base, us the working men of this island , Our Kop Spion , Liverpool's Kop End , Manchester United's Stretford End, Arsenal's North Bank, and Aston Villa's Holte End were just a few of the legendary fan strongholds within the grounds that are almost as famous as the players that graced the stage before them, now the average working class man on minimum wage can’t afford to sit with his family in these grounds, all because of the lust and greed for money. 

 

It looks like the Chelsea boss Conte is going to be sacked or replaced at Chelsea and if that happens it will be the 3rd season in a row that The Manager of the champions of England has lost his job within months of wining the title , that is a shocking indictment on football and us all that make up the football community. 

 

It seems in the Premier League Nothing matters more than Money , the Mahrez situation is a key point to how money consumes all , right or wrong no one wins in the Mahrez situation and ultimately one way or the other the only people paying for that mess is us the Fans. Out most gifted player ,probably ever,  is Now openly hated by many of us , the same people I believe owe him a huge gratitude for helping delivering us to paradise , he is a young man who is obviously very poorly advised , he has behaved terribly,  but none of us know the full story , but what ever the background I can tell you this mess has been caused by one thing ...MONEY 

 

We won the league with a squad that cost 1/3rd of what Man City offered us for Mahrez , Pause and think about that , we won the premier league with a squad that cost the current price for Mahrez’s torso !!! 

 

Right now every lower league club is sinking , how can that be happening ?  In a football world that an agent can be paid £40m for helping to arrange a transfer (pogba), how is possible that so many clubs are facing financial ruin ? it’s obscene and that’s just my opinion and I make no apology for that, but it seems you cannot criticise the Premier League these days , we are conditioned to be accepting and not to challenge the carnival of filthy cash that the EPL has become. 

 

3 or 4 decades ago I regularly stood on the Kop eating a nasty burger after supping a couple of pints of flat Carling soaking up the heady intoxicating atmosphere of professional football,  it was a time where your footballing hero could still be found in the local nightclub smoking Marlborough and drinking a Bottle Of Two Dogs, Back then  I near dreamed that one day Money would make me so disillusioned and awkward about following a premier league club , I fear elite professional football has lost its soul , our communities connect with our football club is all but eroded , it’s now a business offering entertainment for an inflated fee no different than the Odeon charging £13 each for a movie that you can stream online for free.

 

And where does this all end ? I fear in melt down , Because money is the glue that is holding all this together right now when that money dips , runs out or dries up I believe LCFC and many clubs like ours will be left Line Dancing at a funeral. 

 

Love is a readily traded commodity these days , and because of that it dies all too easily , my love for elite professional football is dying and I’m afraid it is being killed by greed and money. 

 

And I suspect I’m not alone 

[Fox92]

Sky / The Premier League has killed it.

 

I love football, our club and going every week but money has ruined it. The league is shut off to all but 2 or 3 teams - usually the team with the most money. We've got big/historic clubs in this Country that haven't won the top flight for years and probably, without major investment, won't again. That rest of the league outside the top 6 is poor.

 

But drop down to the Championship and you've got Wolves, walking the league, having bought players for £15mill+. Sheffield Wednesday have splashed the cash for the past few seasons - one of the reasons I'm pleased Huddersfield with their tiny budget beat them in the play offs. The likes of Rhodes and McCormack going for £10mill+ as second division players. It's unbelievable.

 

But do I want Leicester to play in the top flight? Of course I do. I want the best for the club. And although there are great away days in the Championship, I love going to places like Anfield and Old Trafford watching great players every week. So I never want to see the club relegated again.

 

With all the money clubs make ticket prices and merchandise should be much cheaper. People praise our owners left right and centre yet they still have expesnive ticket prices and merchandise, when they probably contribute little to the clubs overall income.

 

My love for football will never stop but I'd love to have seen sides get built up and get promoted to the top flight and then have a go at winning the top flight. Unreal to think managers like Chapman took average sides and made them Champions of England, Clough turning an average side into Champions of Europe.... I'd love to see what Clough/Paisley/Shankly etc would make of football now.

 

Edited 4 February 2018 by Fox92

[1972 Fox]

For the love of money is the root of all evil.

 

Great post above @NorthfieldsFox. We all like money and we all need money but it doesn't necessarily bring you happiness. It just makes it easier to live, especially in the world we live in today.

[Trav Le Bleu]

That's a rubbish song title.

[Donut]

Not really sure how to react to these kinds of thoughts.

 

I just accept some teams have more money than others, and some teams are better than others.

 

I personally dont think the enjoyment is diminished by having big teams around. I enjoy going into those games as an underdog looking to cause a big upset a lot of times.

 

And fundamentally, money wont change my enjoyment of what is essentially seeing Leicester put the ball in the net more times than the other team.

[Livid]

I can’t see it changing unfortunately. 

 

The top clubs aren’t going to surrender their financial advantage, they will never accept any kind of standard cap. 

[adam]

Top post. I completey agree with all of that. Top level football is depressing now. Slowly falling out of love with it. 

[GloverFox]

... interesting post, I sadly think you may be correct that others are also finding it hard to balance the love of the game with the frankly obscene demands of some players and their agents.  I personally don’t find top level football depressing, more frustrating that we have come to a point of a top six team league and then the rest in the Premier League .... but then we achieved the impossible dream in becoming Champions which for me made us winning the Premiership ever more special and memorable.  Simply pumping so much money into a team that the end result becomes a forgone conclusion destroys the ‘sport’ but not the spectacle ... now the cost to the fan is another debate, I for one have been eased out of holding a ST (which I had managed to budget for for many years) and so I now often go to local non-League football to get my live game fix but it hasn’t diminished my love and passion for Leicester City and the game.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Great post that covers the facts neatly, Well said sir.

[Guest Col city fan]

One of the reasons I’ve not attended a home game this season. I’m sick of the fookin greed in the game. It seeps from every pore of the top flight.

Its all the kids know. It’s what they’ve been brought up with.

I still remember when Steve Walsh would have moved mountains to make City successful. Not crying because 100 grand a week wasn’t enough.

At a time when people I know are suffering with cancer and finding it difficult just to get through the next day, the actions of some of our so-called elite footballers (not all of them, but some), make me want to puke.

[JamesWelshFox]

Couldn't agree more. Can't afford to go and watch Leicester very often, can't afford Sky to watch them very often. I go and watch Hereford at the moment cause it is closer to home and considerably cheaper. I don't have the love for Hereford that I do for City, but I respect the very basic, down to earth nature of the football at Hereford. Will Hereford survive, who knows. What I do know is that a small fraction of the weekly salaries at City would keep Hereford going all year. Money has ruined the game I love, stripped it of its fundamental identity and turned it into a play thing for the super rich, and the only way it will come back to us is when it all goes bust and the fans deep to begin all over again. Wouldn't it be interesting if all the money that came into the game was divided equally amongst all the league clubs and they were all allowed to spend only a certain percentage of that income annually. Healthy clubs, healthy competition, and a game that belonged to the fans again.

[Farrington fox]

I agree 100%. But how can things change now. I can only see things getting worse. The divide between the EPL and everything below will only get bigger. 

[Rogstanley]

People have been saying this kind of thing for decades. Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be and all that.

 

The premier league is great, that’s why it’s so successful. The title has changed hands more often in the last 10 years than in any other 10 year period in history. 

 

Mahrez doesn’t want to go for money, he wants to go and win trophies and play in the champions league which is something he knows he can’t do at Leicester. That’s nothing new, Leicester have never been a club that regularly wins trophies. We aren’t now and never have been. So while everything has changed, nothing has changed.

 

The only thing that annoys me about the modern game is the reductive punditry and the big club bias of pundits. Luckily the worst of them like the talksport trolls are easy to avoid, but it’s very disappointing to see the same awful quality tabloid punditry being represented even on the bbc by the likes of Savage, Crooks and Murphy.

Edited 4 February 2018 by Rogstanley

[KingsX]

I’ve asked myself something many times, I should be asking you all.  Why don’t more disillusioned Prem fans turn to non-league football?

 

I know there is no substitute for following your one and only club.  Almost a sacred bond to many.  But there’s no room for a small attachment to another one that is truer to your memories, your budget and your ideals?

 

If a sizable minority of The Disillusioned found a second club to follow and took the family several times a year, surely that would repair the finances at that level.

 

In the 1970s, minor league baseball looked dead in my country.  Since then it’s been flourishing.  It was partly financed by smaller cities building new, family-friendly ballparks.  But there are lots of people in and around those parks on game days, and it has often proved a worthwhile investment.

 

[Sir Shep]

5 minutes ago, Rogstanley said:

People have been saying this kind of thing for decades. Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be and all that.

 

The premier league is great, that’s why it’s so successful. The title has changed hands more often in the last 10 years than in any other 10 year period in history. 

 

Mahrez doesn’t want to go for money, he wants to go and win trophies and play in the champions league which is something he knows he can’t do at Leicester. That’s nothing new, Leicester have never been a club that regularly wins trophies. We aren’t now and never have been. So while everything has changed, nothing has changed.

 

The only thing that annoys me about the modern game is the reductive punditry and the big club bias of pundits. Luckily the worst of them like the talksport trolls are easy to avoid, but it’s very disappointing to see the same awful quality tabloid punditry being represented even on the bbc by the likes of Savage, Crooks and Murphy.

I agree with this, it’s awful the amount of money in this league at the moment but frankly the English leagues were pretty dire beforehand. Leicester have benefited since the EPL began as we became a club worthy of investment because of the world wide appeal. 

 

I dont like the widening gap between the leagues and I’d like more money taken out of the top flight to benefit the lower leagues but whilst we are up there with the elite I’ll always take pride in our place. 

[Bluetintedspecs]

Memories from when the game was pure!

[Vlad the Fox]

I think it's a shame that no restrictions were put into place with the latest tv deals to ensure all the money didn't go to players and agents, it is ridiculous how much money agents take out of the game and as a result it's no surprise to see certain players move around so much. If I had the power agents would be removed from the game and all transfers would be negotiated by specialised fa representatives on a salary. This could be paid for by a small contribution from the players wages. 

 

However with all this money coming into the game it has handed some power back to the clubs, it's allowing smaller clubs to reject the advances of bigger clubs after their star players as they are no longer cash strapped and needing to sell to balance the books, it also gives them financial power to not only hold onto these star players but to spend big money to build squads around them. There's always been richer clubs in the top flight, the poorer clubs just aren't poor anymore which for me is a positive about all this.

[ARM1968]

Totally agree. It really has become a soulless scramble for money. They talk about reaching the Champions League, but why?  For the glory of winning it?  Of course not, it’s because it’s so damn lucrative. 

 

Somehow the the whole thing needs shaking up. It cannot be right to be paid £100, £200, £300K a week or more for kicking a damn football. 

 

What now is our connection to these players beyond the fact they play for our team?  I really don’t know. 

[Wolfox]

It’s a great post and, in the main, these are points that are easy to agree with...  potentially, it could be perceived as a little cynical and I still love my club today as much as I always did

 

The money is a distraction, and I remember asking Martin George where all the money had gone...

 

With the money and the globablistion of our league it’s meant we’ve seen amazing players and amazing teams in our league, which I really enjoy.

 

young boys will still dream of scoring the winner at the kop end rather than picking up a £100k pay cheque (I hope!) 

 

There are no excuses for thr fact that the money doesn’t better trickle down through the leagues and it’s a shame that thr premier league don’t work harder to address this issue, but, unfortunately it’s never as simple as throwing money at lower leagues...

Edited 4 February 2018 by Wolfox

[davieG]

There's always been a financial gap previously it was based on the catchment area enhanced by the fact that most fans lived within walking/cycling distance of the ground so even smaller towns like Burnley could attract biggish crowds. Back then it was kept in check by the minimum wage that all players were on so any player movement was based entirely on wanting to play for a bigger, more likely to be successful club. You've also got the effect of the Bosman ruling.

So the big change is the money players can earn and the fact they can up sticks for free ST the end of their contract. All of which has clouded the reasons for moving, sure plenty move for success but so many move just for money egged on by agents.

All this has happened at the expense of the fans who've just become window dressing tolerated and patronized.

Another big change brought about by tv is that post game chat is now almost entirely about referees with hardly any discussion about the actual football. Pre blanket tv coverage we used to spend the whole Saturday night down the pub analysing goals and moves we'd  just witness rarely was there ever any mention of the ref, whose name we didn't even know, likewise there was hardly any chat about the managers  it was all about the actual football.

[Mr Weller]

In the 70s and and 80s Liverpool won title after title. In the 90s and 2000s Man Utd did the same. 

 

My my point is that it wasn't so different in the past as you might imagine. In fact the gap between top and bottom in the Prem has closed a little in very recent years because of the way TV rights are distributed. 

 

Astronomical wages are a more recent phenomenon of the last 20 years or so but Leicester have had plenty of players in the past who've wanted to leave for 'biggger and better' things but the difference now is that we are very rich ourselves and can fight back. Years ago he'd have just been sold.

 

Football is more popular than at any time in the last 50 years and while some players become too greedy, others such as Vardy, seem to have a wiser head. 

 

 

[ian_marshall]

Good topic which is certainly thought provoking, however whilst the league is awash with money, is money really the issue? 

 

Throughout the history of the game there has always been teams with bigger budgets, whether that be down to demographics, location, population, ownership, success, etc. which has made it difficult for others to compete on a level playing field, so whilst the numbers may have changed I'm not sure that in the grand scheme of things it's actually changed all that much. 

 

There's also the argument that if money was such a factor in determining success we'd never have won the league. Forget the rhetoric that the media spun about the league being weak that season, as that was simply an excuse to cover up for other's failings. Lets not forget that both the Manchester teams spent in excess of £100m in the summer window alone, with United having already spent several hundred million in the seasons preceding. 

 

Also, whilst money has come into the game from TV rights at the top level, virtually every club in the league now has a billionaire owner which to some extent has increased competition. The traditional top 4 is now pretty much a top 6. Whilst we've experienced a difficult week with the Mahrez debacle, this is first time in my time supporting City (over 30 years) that we've been in a position to stand our ground and avoid a so called 'bigger team' from cherry picking our most talented player as the money isn't really that important to us at the current time. 

 

Whilst I certainly agree that the money in the game is excessive and goes against the historical culture of the sport, i.e. being a working man's game, I'd argue from a competition standpoint that the introduction of short transfer windows along with the Bosman ruling have been far more detrimental to the game overall.

Edited 4 February 2018 by ian_marshall

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, KingsX said:

I’ve asked myself something many times, I should be asking you all.  Why don’t more disillusioned Prem fans turn to non-league football?

 

I know there is no substitute for following your one and only club.  Almost a sacred bond to many.  But there’s no room for a small attachment to another one that is truer to your memories, your budget and your ideals?

 

If a sizable minority of The Disillusioned found a second club to follow and took the family several times a year, surely that would repair the finances at that level.

 

In the 1970s, minor league baseball looked dead in my country.  Since then it’s been flourishing.  It was partly financed by smaller cities building new, family-friendly ballparks.  But there are lots of people in and around those parks on game days, and it has often proved a worthwhile investment.

 

I think this is becoming more common mate tbh.

 

I live down south now and play golf with fans of London clubs. There's a couple of West Ham and Chelsea who've become completely disillusioned with the PL and now go to watch non league instead.

 

I also know fans of London PL clubs who can't afford to take their kids so have bought family ST's for MK Dons and Luton instead. They feel it's much better value and still get to see a decent standard. The cost of a ST for an adult and 2 kids at the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea is just crazy money and many families have now been priced out of watching their team sadly.

[Livid]

21 minutes ago, Izzy Muzzett said:

I think this is becoming more common mate tbh.

 

I live down south now and play golf with fans of London clubs. There's a couple of West Ham and Chelsea who've become completely disillusioned with the PL and now go to watch non league instead.

 

I also know fans of London PL clubs who can't afford to take their kids so have bought family ST's for MK Dons and Luton instead. They feel it's much better value and still get to see a decent standard. The cost of a ST for an adult and 2 kids at the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea is just crazy money and many families have now been priced out of watching their team sadly.

I notice that on the TV they show the crowd at certain grounds and there seems to be very few kids or women. I guess it’s cost and a lot of these clubs have long STH waiting lists and the extortionate cost  of taking the family.

[m4DD0gg]

3 hours ago, adam said:

Top post. I completey agree with all of that. Top level football is depressing now. Slowly falling out of love with it. 

Completely agree. Winning the league was special but football these days is just so overwhelmed by money and greed that the foundations of the game are slowly going.