OK, my two-pennyworth (for what it’s worth).
I confess to not knowing enough about the decision making structure of football, apart from the fact the FA and EFL basically run the run the two main ‘competitions’. This is probably through losing touch a bit with being in Aus for almost 20 years now. I do know that there has been an enormous rise in the last couple of decades of overseas owners and those who put so much money into the game (and many other sports) that they have become a rich persons play thing. The money that is ploughed into ‘sport’ these days (tennis, cricket, golf, Formula 1, American football, baseball and basketball, etc) is obscene - how can you possibly justify paying over 100 million (dollars/pounds/Euros) for one player when there are wars going on and people are starving around the World. I do wonder though whether words of anger are enough and maybe it’s time the fans, the clubs and the public in general stood up and fought back against the ‘authorities’ in sport. In this particular case, the Premier League as the people that run the league have over the years been involved in ways to devalue the wider game and all it stands for the benefit of ‘elite sport’. It’s changed from a working man’s game/pleasure, for the benefit of all supporters, to a massive money-making business. The Premier League gets richer and more powerful and influential, to the detriment of the lower leagues and grass roots football. How about actually going one step further than words and finding a proper organised (peaceful) way of getting at the authorities and decision makers? There must be those in influential positions who can organise a proper ‘revolution’ against these people/organisations, legally or organisationally. Is being on the FA/EFL a democratic process (does the Premier League have its own decision makers? Why does it need to have one - that sets it apart from the rest of the football pyramid anyway - if so let’s find a legal way of changing the system and kicking them out of their positions and ‘electing’ people who have the best interests of the game & the fans at heart. Do they make any money from their positions (possibly not unless they get kick-backs from sponsors, etc
). Hit them in the pocket. Mass demonstrations outside the FA and EFL (PL?) HQs - swamp them with anything and everything to show what a bunch of ruinous, selfish, manipulators they are.
I know people from other clubs will say that it seems almost hypocritical that our beloved ‘little’ club LCFC has taken on US and South African investors in the last few years. I would make the point, however, that (as far as I am aware) these lovely people seem to be the exception rather than the rule as they have demonstrated that they have the best interests of the club, the fans and the community at heart and have built the club up in a wholly responsible, sustainable and accountably open way (and I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me in the the next few years - seems unlikely given the wider public recognition the club and it’s officials, owners and investors have consistently received on a regular basis).
The whole thing has become a lot more complicated than my simplistic and maybe naive view, but I just hope that others more knowledgeable than me can develop and add the necessary thought process to a serious wider conversation to change the ‘people’s game’ for the good of the people instead of the big business /individual mega-money ‘influencers’. There has to be a far more balanced, equitable and sensible approach than currently exists
Rant over. Up the Imps and football (non-Premiershite).
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