THE NICK ARMITAGE COLUMN

On its Knees

Many fans of the beautiful game lament its passing and I have to agree with them.  Football as a competitive sport has been dying a slow death for a decade and now it is just about finished.  The game at the top level in this country is a farce, and it is pretty much the same in most other major footballing countries.

I have accepted this for a few years now but the realisation hit home with a vengeance when we played Manchester United last week.  They played a reserve team yet still cantered to a 3-0 win without breaking sweat.  At the final whistle, such was the depressing inevitability of it, I didn’t even care.

That night the Sky Sports website ran the following headline; “Manchester United and Chelsea strengthened their grip on the title race with wins over Everton and Bolton respectively, while Arsenal were beaten at Fulham and Liverpool drew with Portsmouth.”  There was another Premiership fixture that night but it wasn’t of sufficient financial interest for Sky to bother mentioning it. 

The Premiership is now a walk in the park for Sky’s chosen ones, the top four spots are as good as guaranteed.  The majority of the Premiership are left to fight for scraps while they are lined up to serve as cannon fodder and cheap ‘entertainment’ for the Sunday afternoon and Monday night glory hunters. 

How has it all ended up like this?

A lot of the blame lies squarely with Uefa.  Since football was commercialised by them a few clubs have grown unchecked into entities that now effectively rule the game.  If anyone doubts this look at the G14 website.  If ever there was a more clear cut case of self-protectionism, I haven’t seen it. 

We are told it is easy to get into this elite, and it must be because Rick Parry told us, “all a team has to do is win games.”  Have you ever heard such utter garbage?

What Parry failed to add is the truth.  The truth is, those that win games are the teams who have the massive income streams to out compete everyone else, thereby ensuring they keep on winning games to cement their place in Sky’s elite.  Being in the top four means European qualification and untold riches, but Europe is a very small feeding trough that only a select few gluttonous pigs can get their fat greedy snouts into.  The runts starve.

All this has happened under the watch of Lennart Johansson.  He has been President of Uefa for 16 years — and in those 16 years the heart, soul, spirit and stuffing has been ripped out of the game by corporate greed and financial self interests.  Uefa are now a spineless non-entity who are there to serve the self-appointed and media bankrolled elite.  The G14 shout “shovel” and Uefa politely asks which pile of muck they would like to be placed on.

The resultant disparity in the game alarming and worsening.  Any football writer with a degree of honesty and no vested interests will say so, but unfortunately these are few and far between as the vast majority are fully paid up sycophantic members of the Premiership bandwagon.

When fans of massive clubs like us, Aston Villa and Spurs start the season knowing that they have more of a chance of winning the lottery than seeing their team win the championship, you know something isn’t right.  The way things are now going, I doubt I’ll ever see Everton at Wembley again as the stranglehold now also encompasses the FA Cup and the League Cup. 

That is why football as a competitive sport at the highest level is a sham.  Gone are days when a gifted manager could assemble a team from the lower leagues and coach them to championships — I hate to say it, but even Brian Clough would get nowhere today. 

How long are followers of the game going to be hoodwinked into believing that English football is in the best shape it has ever been?  Teams are now so scared of the financial ramifications of defeat, that tactics are generally safety first.  As a consequence, matches are predictable, sterile and devoid of any worthwhile entertainment.  Beside the fat pay-cheques and fairytale lifestyle, how can people who have spent their lives battling in the arena of competitive sport accept this as normal? 

I don’t care how many bums are on seats or how many watch the Premiership worldwide.  I don’t believe the claims that the Premiership is the best league in the world.  As I see it, year after year, one of two teams can win the league and one of four can win the FA Cup. 

Because of this farcical polarisation, the game at the highest level is simply on its knees.  Plenty of other sports around the world are awash with cash but not many of them have sat by and watched pound signs crush the ideals, spirit and competitiveness out of their game.

Responses:

Never before have I read an article and found myself in such utter agreement at every point within, than when I read Nick Armitage's latest offering.

Nick confirms what I have been thinking for at least 5 years, probably longer, that the system in place will never again allow the likes of Everton to win trophies, unless we become beneficiaries of some billionaire oil magnate, or dodgy foreign government (I shudder at the thought).

The sooner the so-called 'Big 4' sod off and join the G14 Super-league, or whatever sordid equivalent UEFA concoct, the sooner the rest of us can concentrate on competing properly again.
Dickie P, Gloucester