Buk is right about the money>demand issue with regard to the nationwide league. Even in a world where Marc Van Bommel is worth £20 mil, there's no way Nationwide is worth £300 million - because you can't make it back.
I'm more worried about NTL going down. One because they're my cable service provider (and I don't want to give too much money to Rupie Murdoch) and two because they're shareholders in Villa (and Newcastle and a few others).
With regard to football being the grassroots game, I think a lot of problems have been caused by people's tendencies to support teams that are doing well or fashionable - which are rarely their home team. A problem of the glamour of tv games, I suppose. I support Villa because it was the first match I was taken to, and can get there easily. I can't change, because it would be... just wrong.
Maybe it might be good if footy went off the air. If you want to see your team, go to a match.
More likely, though, that Man U and Liverpool et al would hoover up the kids that have no idea there are other teams, and no idea how good it is to watch your team. I consider it fundamentally wrong to support a team unless you have some sort of connection to it (ideally geographical).
As for the men's club aspect, yes and no.
Yes in the sense that, yup, all that bollocks is still there. Christ, it's not that long ago that Kevin Campbell was called a discoloured cannibal by the coach of a turkish side.
No, because it is getting better. At Villa, if someone even swears out of place and someone objects, the tangomen drag them off. And when we got tickets in the family enclosure, my girlfriend had to sit with her hand over my mouth.
It's definitely better. I remember what it was like in the Eighties {shudder}.
The shorts! God no, the shorts! |
