- Everything that is wrong with football: you just have to read the headlines…
- How much is the Arsenal team worth, and an asterisk for the Mancs
By Tony Attwood
As far as I know, there is no way that fans of Premier League clubs can make their feelings known about this extended and then ever more extended shutdowns of the Premier League schedule. We play five games, the crowds turn out in as big numbers as ever, no one takes any notice, the shutdown is announced, and that’s it. The Premier League is shut.
And if there is no way that clubs and players can make their feelings known, what about those of us who pay to watch football? Did we get consulted? No, of course not. So can we make our feelings known now? Absolutely not. Not a chance. The dates are there and perhaps most offensively of all, the FA which dictated the shutdown, tells the League, “it’s your problem.”
Are there, I wonder, any other forms of business in the country that run on this sort of take it or leave it basis? I really can’t think of any. Of course we could let our clubs know what we think. Except they will probably say, sorry, not our fault. Blame the FA, so we do. Games have been shut down with the league just five games old.
Indeed, there is a good reason to be more than just annoyed that our regular process of watching football has so ludicrously and grossly been interrupted. This season has been great so far. OK, from our point of view, that doesn’t include the last game, but there have been lots of goals, with players trying shots from all over the place. The football has been worth watching. What’s the betting the players will come back from the internationals, and this new approach will have been drilled out of them? Goalless draws anyone?
And so under the rules laid down by the FA, but on which us supporters are never once consulted, everything stops. Professional football in England surely is the entertainment business that cares less about those who pay its wages than any other form of entertainment in the UK. Really, we should do something about it.
Worse still, this shutdown has come not just when we have been enjoying more and more goals, but also as we have enjoyed more and more unexpected performances.
So what a stupid time to shut it all down! I mean, even Tottenham Hots have managed to score three goals and get two points, and how often does that happen?
But no, what annoys me most is that I didn’t see any consultation on this. Maybe there was some when I was on holiday, but if so, I guess they kept it quiet. As ever there certainly was not something like a survey of fans to say, “What would you feel if the Premier League was shut down for three weeks after everyone had played five matches?” No, they didn’t ask because they knew just how negative the answers would be. And besides, fans don’t count for anything. Indeed, given the chance I think the FA would like football played without any crowds at all.
At least some of the newspapers, so rarely in touch with the way that actual supporters who pay actual money to go to actual games actually feel, have realised that all this might be a very bad idea. I mean, I know the FA won’t do a survey asking fans of Premier League clubs what they think of this shutdown lark, but if they did, the number in favour would, I am sure, be very low. But that is how it is. We fund the League by going to matches, and no one takes any notice of us at all.
Worse, the league has chosen to make this change and bow down to the demands of the FA just at the moment when there are more goals being scored in Premier League games than ever before. The games seem to be moving from one end of the pitch to the other; everyone is having a go (except Tottenham, which makes it all the more amusing).
Goals in the Premier League are up. Chaos is returning. End‑to‑end football is back. The division is more open, in more ways than one. OK, at the moment the number of extra goals this season is small, but there was a trend in terms of scoring. What a time to stop it all.
The figures show a rise from 2.75 goals per game last season to 2.82 this year, a small average increase but one that could easily widen. And of course I know the smaller teams are still playing in things like the Football League Trophy, and there is women’s football. One can only hope that some people who might have gone to league games, had they been allowed to continue, will try somewhere different.
The Guardian defined this season so far as, “You attack, we counter, and everyone runs further,” and yes, although that means we might see fewer gorgeous 25-yard passes, it has been fun.
Trust the FA, Uefa, Fifa and the like to see an exciting trend and find a way to stop it. Let them take a decision, and you know it will be the wrong one.
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