Someone asked me the other day if I was excited for the new season, and this got me thinking.
Am I excited? No... Do I want it to start? Yes.
I'll give you my reasons as to why I'm not excited for the new season. Football isn't what it used to be, some readers won't even remember what it was like last time we got promoted, and will only know football since Sky got their hands on it. It has now become to full of overpaid, over-hyped players, who the majority couldn't care less if they played for Newcastle United or West Brom, as long as they get their money at the end of the month.
The grounds are half full, no standing and because of this the atmosphere has been sucked out of the stadiums up and down the country. Then you have the ticket prices spiralling out of control to the extend parents can't take their kids to the game and ruining any chances of the next generation of fans being in touch with their club.
To me the match day was more than just the 90 minutes played on the pitch; it was an occasion where friends met up before the match, parents and grandparents took the kids along for something to eat. Then everyone regardless of age, location all went up to the stadium together. It was a real "family" environment, Football now is not what it was when I started going.
I'll give you an example of what I am getting at. On 17th September 1998 you had Newcastle 3 - 2 Barcelona. Now every Newcastle fan remembers that match and where they were when they watched it, be it at St James' Park, in their local or even at home watching it on ITV. Personally I was one of the lucky ones to be at the match, courtesy of my Grandfather. This man that introduced me to the highs and lows of being a Newcastle United fan.
That was the one and only match we were at St James' Park together and from a personal stand point that was much more important to me and which is why that game will always have a special place in my heart. It is moments like that the current game is missing and I am willing to bet any fan thinking back over the games they have went to, will have at least one where it wasn't just the match that you remember the day for.
Even if you're one of the few who can't recall one of these moments, think back to the match itself, think back to the atmosphere inside the stadium. It was somewhere we could stand, shout and sing with our friends, without fear of being banned or ejected from doing what we loved or for some minor misdemeanour or comment. The match day atmosphere had a read "buzz".
Today's game has become all too "corporate"; clubs now fleece the fans for as much as they can. From pens and pencils to credit cards with the club emblem on it and from loans to charging £350 for your child to be a mascot.
I admit I am one of them, because I still continue to pay these spiralling costs as I am one of the fortunate ones who can still afford to. The thing that sickens me is I know I am having the mick taking about of me because of my loyalty to my club. Some of the people I sit with, have banter with, struggle to keep going, some can't go due to the cost and some have to pick and choose the games to go to. Which is something else that is missing, gone are the days where you looked forward to the opening home game of the season as it gave you a chance to see all the familiar faces, the ones you have sat with for the past however many seasons and would be there 30 minutes before kickoff and you could talk to about the club in general. Now their seat has been taken by someone who will leave 5 minutes to avoid the traffic.
The problem with football is that it is not like life's other luxuries; common sense goes out the window when it comes to your club. No matter how badly you wanted to give it up, once the season started you were there at 4:45 on a Saturday if you weren't at the match (yes kids nearly every game was a Saturday) waiting for the results, or picking up The Pink on the way home to see how they faired.
This pull is being eroded, and the fans from the heart of the club are dwindling away as they have either been priced out or are just completely fed up with the game in general. These fans are being replaced by "customers" who the clubs feel they can bleed dry and try to convince them to buy anything as long as it has the club crest on it.
Remember when clubs used to represent the area, they used to be the focal point for local pride. Think back to how proud you were when we beat Grimsby 2-0 to secure promotion to the Premier League, or how proud you were when we beat Manchester United 5-0 and then the years when everyone was willing us to break the domination of the usual suspects.
Am I looking forward to the new season? No, not right now. Ask me that question on the 14th August and the answer will be, yes! Am I stupid coming back season after season knowing it's going yet another disaster after another? Probably. I even have my stupidly optimistic pre-season prediction of finishing 11th place.
Personally I think part of me is falling out of love with the game, and I never thought that would happen. However this is down to the game in this country being slowly destroyed for the time being, it has become too uncompetitive. Too many foreign billionaire's bank rolling clubs and bringing anyone they like at vastly over inflated prices. While the rest struggle to survive, praying to God that the sky gravy train doesn't dry up and put them all out of jobs.
Even Newcastle has a Billionaire owner, granted possibly the tightest billionaire in existence. Though regardless of this even he can't compete as he is trying to run it like a business, which some of you might think is refreshing to see compared to the standard Billionaire owners. However you live with your club continually trying to survive relegation for a couple of seasons, you won't be saying the same thing then. This is not competition, it is simply a money making machine, and that is why it is becoming all so boring.
Come August 14th there will be 3 major trophies to compete for, I'm willing to place money on the fact that the winners will be from 4-5 clubs. The cup competitions have lost their appeal, now you will see bottom half clubs put out a weakened team as survival is more important than a cup run, as they know they have no chance of winning it. The Premier League started in 1992, nearly 20 years ago, and in that time only one clue from outside the "top 4" have won the FA Cup. Now if you compare that to say the 80's, there were 7 different clubs to win it in 10 years.
Fans had that dream, which is what made the cup so special to us all. Now what have those clubs go to look forward too, the clubs who are the mid to lower end of the league table? Try to squeeze into a European spot or survive relegation and that's it, nothing more. Football has become to sterile, prime example would be the World Cup. This was one of the worst if not the worst one I have seen. The fact that Spain won it despite being the lowest scorers ever to win a World Cup says everything you need to know about the tournament.
The majority of modern day footballers are far more concerned about where the next car, stupidly expensive watch or their next mansion is going to come from. Now don't get me wrong I don't mind them breaking with the tradition of being paid next to nothing while the Chairmen pocketed everything. It has just gone too far the other way now and they are so far removed from reality they can't even remember their roots, that they too were playing in the park with their friends, while they pretend that they are Gazza, Shearer, Linekar etc.. Just like today's generation pretend to be the idols of today.
I would love to see us all boycott the FA Cup 3rd round matches, unless the clubs agreed to charge around £10, just so it was enough to cover costs for the match day staff. If every fan in the country did this, it might, just might show these over paid prima donna's how we all felt about the current state of the game.
Now let's compare football to the other forms of entertainment people pay to enjoy. Let's say you take a family to the pictures, the tickets will be around £30 in total. Usually it will be a film you want to go and see and pretty much guaranteed to be entertain for around 2 hours or so, good value?
Even if you went to see some live music, for example Glastonbury. Tickets to Glastonbury were £185 this year, steep yes I know. When you break it down that's £61 per day for an entire day of music and other events. Entertainment is guaranteed as you will pick and choose the bands you want to go and see.
Now let's take a look at football, the average price is say £40 give or take. That's for a 90 minute match. Let's be honest over an average match which has 5 minutes here and there of entertainment, does it really work out as value for money?
I suppose some of you who are still reading this are starting to think that this is just a rant by a fan who is starting to question his sanity when he continually buys his tickets are over inflated prices, to watch mainly average football matches, with the odd good game thrown in. Then to get home put on Sky Sports News and have to listen to the likes of McCarthy, Allardyce and even Hughton talk about having to prioritise which games they can win and which games they have accepted defeat, when their loyal fans have forked out hundreds, spent half the day travelling, turned up and expected their team to at least give it a go.
Football is a game of desire, commitment, passion, loyalty, devotion and love. Sadly today is it only the fans who put up their end of the deal, while the players know full well if they sit back for the 90 minutes hoping the sneak a draw but still lose, while making it easy for the "big clubs" to get the 3 points to widen the gap further. I didn't really mind when Newcastle were beaten 4-3 at Anfield (looking back at it) as I know they had a go, they didn't set out to keep every man behind the ball trying to sneak a draw.
I guess I just want to be entertained, feel like my club are giving it their all in every game, trying to succeed, trying to be something more than mid-table also ran's. If they lose I will happily applaud them off, as long as they gave it their all. I want my idols not to flaunt their wealth as much but to have some respect for the people that dig deep to pay for the privileged life they lead, to have the respect to come over to the fans who have travelled hundreds of miles on a torrential Monday night at the latest possible notice, not get off that pitch as fast as humanly possible.
I want my club to value the loyalty I and thousands others show and to show their appreciation of us for coming back season after season. Even just simple things like providing a local number instead of a 0845 number for the box office, we pay enough during that phone call as it is. I want to see some common sense used instead of fans being dejected from the ground for showing their disgust at a decision or at the state of the club.
I said earlier on we were no longer fans, but customers. Let me ask you this simple question, would you use any business again, if they showed you the same customer service we get shown by football?
