Is the Football bubble about to implode

snowman1962a

snowman1962a

Member
Seems to me the current football cycle is about to implode. I find myself losing interest in the game more and more. I'm not the only one. The costs of tickets, merchandise, tv subscriptions, the amount of money these greedy players and their agents demand. The over saturation of live games. It is out of control. When I read the pending walk-out at the Riverside, Arsenal fans furious about their already high ticket prices going up another 10%. It seems there is more fans becoming disgruntled about the whole thing. Once upon a time football was for the working class. I don't believe that is the case anymore. I would be really curious the average age of a season ticket holder is now.

I really believe real fans are fed up. What would happen if fans stopped paying for sky and the rest. What would happen if fans actually did what they say they and voted with their feet and stopped going. Easy to say well it would hurt the club but the clubs don't seem to care they are hurting their own fans with their high ticket prices and stupid money for a shirt.

I really fear for the game in its current format. Football is not about money. Seems to me that FIFA in their thirst of money have ruined the game that it was and clubs have jumped in with two feet to be part of the corruption. The game is no longer the same game it use to be IMHO. I believe the day of reckoning is close.

Curious what others think of the state of football these days?
 
There's nothing like going to see your team play live.
On top of that I always looked forward to watching live footy on tv 3 or 4 nights a week. Apart from the odd game most of the games are on in the background while I do something else now. England games no longer have the excitement for me they once had. I was thinking about ditching the Sky sport part of my package but I love the F1 (although that's becoming less appealing as seasons go by). Maybe I'm just becoming more miserable in my old age. 😄
 
Professional football at the elite level is about money. The very big clubs generate huge revenues , and players take a big part of that in salary. The players themselves deserve to be well paid, but the amount some get now is ridiculous. I was reading the other day Kylian Mbabbe gets €180 million annually.

I personally still watch a lot of non-Boro games and enjoy it. Big international tournaments still get me really excited too.
 
My only real issue with the team shirts is that they carry advertising and are sooo expensive. So basically it means I'd be paying $54.59 (that's the price it tells me on the website they'll cost me if i order from NZ so I'm assuming it's US$ not NZ$) to advertise a fookin betting agency, when I'm totally against gambling, due to the effects it had on mine, and many other families with an old man addicted to it.
If these big companies want their name on a shirt I'm wearing they should pay me, not get the club to charge me $54.59.
At the very least it should mean that the sale price to the fans is lower given there is pre-paid advertising on it.
It's why I generally buy the cheap knock-off versions with no advertising on it. If the club had cheaper official versions without the advertising (and they should be cheaper to produce as they don't have to have the advertising logo on them) then I'd buy them.
 
bungydinsdale said:
My only real issue with the team shirts is that they carry advertising and are sooo expensive. So basically it means I'd be paying $54.59 (that's the price it tells me on the website they'll cost me if i order from NZ so I'm assuming it's US$ not NZ$) to advertise a fookin betting agency, when I'm totally against gambling, due to the effects it had on mine, and many other families with an old man addicted to it.
If these big companies want their name on a shirt I'm wearing they should pay me, not get the club to charge me $54.59.
At the very least it should mean that the sale price to the fans is lower given there is pre-paid advertising on it.
It's why I generally buy the cheap knock-off versions with no advertising on it. If the club had cheaper official versions without the advertising (and they should be cheaper to produce as they don't have to have the advertising logo on them) then I'd buy them.
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It’s about time the authorities started looking at betting the same way as alcohol and tobacco advertising too. Betting just as destructive.
 
I think attendances are still holding up, with a steady increase?

I've wondered how long football can sustain it's model of high ticket prices and every increasing live games, but it is so far it seems.
 
Don’t see any sign of it personally. TV revenue is still rising in real terms. Wages are still rising in real terms. Ticket Prices are still rising in real terms. Even if this last one is producing some complaints, the emirates is still full, and we had the biggest number of season ticket sales ever in the championship this year, so either the complainers are still buying or someone else is. If individuals are getting disillusioned, they are being replaced.
 
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Wages are the single biggest issue in football for me. You can never justify the percentage of annual income that goes out in wages that reach hundreds of thousands per week for some players. Until some sort of wage cap - which FFP still isn’t addressing is introduced right across all football leagues the game will continue to head towards the Mega leagues for Mega clubs. Maybe we should just accept that and create a new system for teams like ours in a more sane world.
 
I really hope so - but, I doubt it.

Chairmen, governments, the authorities have the game exactly where they want it.
A huge global reach with the wealthy and egomaniacs in charge.
They smell the £££££

The paying fans remain convinced it is ‘their’ club as they compliantly trot up week after week lapping up what is served.
 
snowman1962a said:
Seems to me the current football cycle is about to implode. I find myself losing interest in the game more and more. I'm not the only one. The costs of tickets, merchandise, tv subscriptions, the amount of money these greedy players and their agents demand. The over saturation of live games. It is out of control. When I read the pending walk-out at the Riverside, Arsenal fans furious about their already high ticket prices going up another 10%. It seems there is more fans becoming disgruntled about the whole thing. Once upon a time football was for the working class. I don't believe that is the case anymore. I would be really curious the average age of a season ticket holder is now.

I really believe real fans are fed up. What would happen if fans stopped paying for sky and the rest. What would happen if fans actually did what they say they and voted with their feet and stopped going. Easy to say well it would hurt the club but the clubs don't seem to care they are hurting their own fans with their high ticket prices and stupid money for a shirt.

I really fear for the game in its current format. Football is not about money. Seems to me that FIFA in their thirst of money have ruined the game that it was and clubs have jumped in with two feet to be part of the corruption. The game is no longer the same game it use to be IMHO. I believe the day of reckoning is close.

Curious what others think of the state of football these days?
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There have always been old gadgies just about to exit the stand, taking one last look at the pitch, saying "That's it. That's me done. You'll have to find some other daft b***r to pay your wages now."
 
Football is not a sport now it’s a business and you go into business for one thing, to make money.

The clubs have to remember though that without the fans they are nothing, the same as other businesses without their staff they are nothing. I’m all in favour of people power, it gets people talking and those in charge to listen. People just want a fair deal. If everyone voted with their feet and stayed away from the stadium then the club would have no choice but to act.
 
Fat_Dragon said:
Football is not a sport now it’s a business and you go into business for one thing, to make money.

The clubs have to remember though that without the fans they are nothing, the same as other businesses without their staff they are nothing. I’m all in favour of people power, it gets people talking and those in charge to listen. People just want a fair deal. If everyone voted with their feet and stayed away from the stadium then the club would have no choice but to act.
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Football has been a business ever since the owners of clubs in the Lancashire mill towns of the 1880s started giving Scots pretend jobs in their mills so they could play football on a Saturday and soccer ceased to be a predominantly public school/ upper class/ Southern game. So we shouldn’t knock that aspect of it too much unless you’re an ardent Old Etonians’ supporter.
 
Just a couple of points to chuck into the "It's all gone down the capitalist pan" debate. Exhibit A, Charles Amer - ask your dad. Exhibit B, Steve Gibson - if he's using football to line his own pockets he's doing a spectacularly poor job of it.

That said, the thread yesterday showing photos of Ayresome in 1972 was interesting. 30p tickets in the Bob End ("Thirty pence that's six bliddy shillin"). If those ticket prices had risen in line with prices generally they'd be less than three and a half quid. Someone is getting rich from the game that's for sure. I'd take a look at the players first. Not driving round in Austin Montegoes sponsored by local garages any more are they?
 
speckyget said:
Just a couple of points to chuck into the "It's all gone down the capitalist pan" debate. Exhibit A, Charles Amer - ask your dad. Exhibit B, Steve Gibson - if he's using football to line his own pockets he's doing a spectacularly poor job of it.

That said, the thread yesterday showing photos of Ayresome in 1972 was interesting. 30p tickets in the Bob End ("Thirty pence that's six bliddy shillin"). If those ticket prices had risen in line with prices generally they'd be less than three and a half quid. Someone is getting rich from the game that's for sure. I'd take a look at the players first. Not driving round in Austin Montegoes sponsored by local garages any more are they?
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Blame Wilf Mannion! If it wasn't for him they'd all still be on a capped wage and making the tea at ICI after they retire!😃
 
Football is following the american system. The middle classes pay more and more until the working classes just cant afford to go anymore.
Lets face it - it was traditionally a male dominated working class sport. It wasnt for families. It just wasnt. When I was a kid first starting to go regularly, there was no chance of my sisters being allowed to go because of the language being used etc. It was me and our Dad. Lad and Dad. No need for season tickets because it never sold out with the occasional big game that was all-ticket. Our record signing, at the time, lived in a nice 3 bed semi in Normanby near my uncles house.

It has moved on to big advertising with sky. We loved the influx of foreign players and the PRemier league became the richest in the world. It was slowly, but surely, gentrified. Families go to the game together. Families watch the games on Sky. Gambling companies pay fortunes to advertise on shirts. Very, very ordinary players are multi-millionaires. They drive cars that cost more than most fan's homes.
almost 100% of the club's money is spent on players wages. Totally and utterly unsustainable.

The problem is that all clubs are operating in the same market. Our wages for players are in the same market. The town in which our club lives, unfortunately, has suffered from unemployment, under investment and general government neglect for 40 years. Our fans do not have the disposable income that other club's fans have. Our club has to operate on the same player wages with much a smaller income from advertising and television money.

Year on year, english football costs more and more and more. It has to be paid for. In our case, the owner runs it at a loss(and still gets flak for not spending more and more) but lots of fans think we should be making vast profits that then can be used to subsidise ticket prices.

It is this simple, for me.
 
FishofContemplation said:
Football has been a business ever since the owners of clubs in the Lancashire mill towns of the 1880s started giving Scots pretend jobs in their mills so they could play football on a Saturday and soccer ceased to be a predominantly public school/ upper class/ Southern game. So we shouldn’t knock that aspect of it too much unless you’re an ardent Old Etonians’ supporter.
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Good post. I always mention this, but I have read many books about football written in the 70s. From cover to cover they're mostly about how money is ruining the game. :ROFLMAO:
 
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