Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

Know Your Place

? And stay in it!

It is difficult to talk about ?how things were? when referring to my beloved Everton Football Club without being accused of overzealous nostalgia. Most football fans today seem to accept the status quo of a game awash with money. As the driving force of the game money has hijacked what used to be a very competitive league and turned it into a circus where everything is for sale. Not only is everything for sale but the clubs that have the most saleable assets (Chelsea, Arsenal, United, City, and our lovable cousins across town Liverpool) are protected and insulated by their giant revenue streams due to their yearly involvement in that other circus: The Champions League.

In the past what defined a club as ?big? or ?massive? was its fan base and trophy cabinet. Now that definition is based purely on a clubs bank balance. Manchester City entered the domain of the ?big clubs? before their FA Cup triumph last year due solely to the fact that they were being bankrolled by oil rich men from Dubai. Arsenal and Liverpool?s collective trophy haul since 2006: one (very lucky) Carling Cup back in February. They too, are constantly referred to as being part of the big boys of the Premier League. Chelsea and United have enjoyed more success in recent years but their ?big club? label, again, has more to do with their global branding appeal than winning. In short, if you want to be a 'big club' just buy yourself one. This climate of money first and everything and everyone else can sod off is deeply troubling.

Keeping with the theme of mislabeled goods is also the pervasive claim that the Premier League is ?the most exciting league in the world?. The people who are hawking this idea seem to forget that this very exciting league is set up in such a restrictive fashion that realistically only three teams have a chance to win it (and they clearly haven?t sat through 90 mins of a Stoke City match). Excuse me for asking, but how the hell is that exciting to anyone?

To make matters even more difficult, if you do want a chance to be competitive you have to buy your way into the big game. It is these monetary parameters that have left a bitter taste in my mouth. The environment that football now exists in has no respect for its history, fans, or the long?term well being of its clubs. Just look at Plymouth and Portsmouth. The only thing that matters is the bottom line. (Remember Dalglish saying that Liverpool are having a successful season because they are profitable?! Can you imagine him saying that in the 80s? Hell no.)

The current financial climate has left Everton, along with a host of other Premier League teams, in a state of disrepair. It is hard to stomach each preseason knowing that finishing in the top half of the table is labeled as ?success?. Remember the days when August would roll around and you felt genuine excitement at the prospect of another season because Everton had a chance to win something? We didn?t need to win every year, but just the notion of having a chance to win was enough to get the blood flowing as the opening day fixtures loomed on the horizon. Now, with our expectations limited to mediocrity every year the ?big clubs? can continue to pillage and plummet the league?s best players while the rest of us tread water. The status quo will be maintained if the ?big clubs? continue to reap enormous profits while everyone else fights for the scraps off the table (Darron Gibson anyone??). This state of affairs is akin to living in purgatory: waiting to get into heaven (please anonymous billionaire buy my club!) but dreading that the trap door opens and we disappear into the hell that is lower league oblivion.

As each season goes by the influence of money increases and, as a result, Everton?s play on the field has become more symbolic of its financial position off it. Never has this depressing situation been more apparent than at the beginning of the current campaign. Unhappy with the team?s play and all the speculation regarding our weak financial status the fans began to direct their frustration at individuals. Moyes, Kenwright, and even Tim Cahill had fingers pointed at them. Now while I can understand the frustration, especially after the fiasco at Anfield, to level the blame on one person is to not see the forest because there are too many trees around. If there is an entity at fault for the current system in which the rich prosper and the poor fight amongst themselves it is the increasingly malignant influence of television and advertising. It is these two facets of professional football that enables certain clubs to fatten their wallets at the expense of the rest of the league that are there simply to make up the numbers.

Again, it is really important to stress the fact that with each season in which the ?big clubs? spend another year reaping the profits of Champions League money, the gulf between the haves and the have-nots increases exponentially. One depressing example of this gap in funds was watching Liverpool spend a total of £75 million on Carroll, Henderson, and Downing while we spent £500,000 on Darron Gibson. If ever there is an example of a game gone mad it is that statistic right there.

I would also like to make the point that this article is not a veiled defense of Moyes or Kenwright (or any individual for that matter), but it is a condemnation of the Barclays Premier League and its current obsession with money. The fans need to demand that the game we love be given back because it belongs to us. This is not a utopian or sentimental goal. If we cast a covetous glance at the Bundesliga we can get an idea of how things could, and should, be. Reduced ticket prices, terraces, huge crowds, and an open and competitive competition (between 2007 and 2011 there have been four different champions) mirrors the demands of its fan base.

Until we make those demands clear the cash cow that is The Premier League will continue to stumble from one money making scheme to the next, drunk with its own sense of self-importance and trampling on the very same people that are lining their pockets with the almighty pound. All the while they assume that we know our place on the financial ladder and that we are happy to stay there. I think we are better than that.

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