Never been so wealthy, widely watched, and so unpopular - true of football today?

[dazzer6666]

Be that as it may dazzer's comment is correct, it IS a much broader church. Back in the pre-prem days football was played in run-down stadiums in front of crowds that were largely white, male, working class and prone to bouts of violence - and the sport was dying on its arse as a consequence. Whatever peoples' views are on Sky and the Prem (and they're usually unfavourable, sometimes without justification) thanks in no small part to their efforts football survived, went from strength to strength and is more socially inclusive now.

Personally however I do feel something has been lost and football isn't as 'popular' with me as it used to be. I would willingly swap the larger number of wealthier people sitting quietly in their posh stadia for a 1970s crowd any day. However I'm happy to admit I'm an old dinosaur whose time has probably passed.

Thanks, exactly what I was getting at......and this bit in particular is a major contributor to the general lack of atmosphere

 

[GT49er]

Many thanks for your reply. Yes, I too have always been unconvinced as the merits of this argument which you often hear as an excuse for thousands of pounds a week. They have approx. 30 years of their working life left, and whilst they presumably will not earn the same amount, they can try and live on what most of us are paid. They can also save wisely during their10/15 years of relative wealth and invest cash accordingly - whether they do or not, is another matter.

Starting a new career at, say, 34 is likely to put them at a comparative disadvantage, income-wise, to those who started in the same line of work 15 years younger, so the payment of high wages for the short length of a footballer's career isn't unreasonable.

What I do find objectionable though, is the notion that they should be paid so much that on retiring they never need to work again - which should easily be the case of someone who has been on £10K a week (half a million a year) for ten years. £5 million (even after taxes) is way more than most of us will earn in a lifetime.

 

[RexCathedra]

There is much criticism on here of the "corporateness" of football, but modern stadia do not seem to be the intimidating places that, say, 1970s grounds used to be,

Attendances were plummeting, most grounds were complete sh*t heaps, police treated loyal fans as potential criminals and you took your life into your hands if you went to an away game

Amazing, albeit from far away, to hear people today wax nostalgic for this era...
I've been in big demos and found them intimidating enough.
That's without drunks, or GBH artists out for the day.

 

[beorhthelm]

Yes, I can't remember a time when I was less enthusiastic about football despite the grounds being more comfortable and the "product" being of higher quality than n times gone by. I think one of the problems is that I feel disconnected. How do these highly paid players from elsewhere managed by a Finn represent me? Would Dunk, March and JFC (at a stretch) be our only homegrown talent?

here it is. the desire for football to be somthing beyond what it is, a sport. why do you need to be connected to or represented by the players? how many home grown players (something i do love to see) where in the Brigthon teams of decades ago? for example 1983 FA team had none, so do you not feel that was your team or something? we dont hear of this in other sports, fan complaining there the grounds are too nice or they aren't connected to the sportsman. they enjoy the sport, anything else (such as representing local area, nation etc) is secondary.

i think whats at the root of this is over exposure. too many games on TV, too much non-game coverage, some people are saturated by football and the media circus around it. i wonder if just swtiching off from it a bit and just going to the game, reading one paper's news might help those suffering fatigue?

 

[Hastings gull]

Starting a new career at, say, 34 is likely to put them at a comparative disadvantage, income-wise, to those who started in the same line of work 15 years younger, so the payment of high wages for the short length of a footballer's career isn't unreasonable.

What I do find objectionable though, is the notion that they should be paid so much that on retiring they never need to work again - which should easily be the case of someone who has been on £10K a week (half a million a year) for ten years. £5 million (even after taxes) is way more than most of us will earn in a lifetime.

Thanks for this. Of course you are right in that they would have to start from scratch, so to speak, at a later date, and this would affect income, though it would be an income nonetheless for ,say, 30 years. I do therefore not object to them earning higher salaries as such, than I would ever have done -sporting talent is a rare commodity, I don't have to pay Sky each month, and 28,000 people would not want to watch me play football. In fact my limited talents would never have attracted 28. It is, as you say, a question of degree.