ayrshire_blue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 1 May 2008
- Messages
- 6,219
Its all about the insidious Americans. It started with Murdoch and the Sky deal (and it will ultimately end with him deciding the future of football based on what Sky do). Then came the Russians, Thais and Middle East sovereign states, who bloated the fatted calf. But the current game changer are the Americans: Glazers, Kroenke, FSG and our own Silver Lake. At least the oligarchs and Sheiks have always pretended to care about the game - not true at all of the Americans - they only see soccer as a cash machine - after loading their clubs up with debt, they were always playing a long game - and this is it - a NFL 'light'. I can promise you if this happens, in the next decade - a 'franchise' like City will move to London, or the South of France. They simply don't care. Its never been about the fans - its about the pay-per-view subscriber, and this season, with fake crowd noise and empty stadiums has taught them the show can go on. The great tragedy here, is that the there are no 'good guys' - FIFA, UEFA and FA are either cabals of corruption or utterly hopeless. For me, if this happens - which is allegedly very likely - its the end of football for me. It is not about being a nostalgic dinosaur, or standing in the way of change. Its about the essence of what football is. Which is about live, real and emotional engagement - its about being in the moment - and it makes no difference, as a City fan, if its Dickov's goal in extra time at Wembley in the second division playoff final or Sergio's winner to clinch the title a decade ago. Same emotion - same commitment - same passion. From 'tunnel clubs', to VAR, to the fact that over the past year, if you wanted to follow your club, you were forced to pay for Sky, BTSport, Amazon Prime - we are now more than ever, football 'consumers', not football fans. Another step into the 'NFLism' of football. RIP Football.
Great post. Fully agree.