Consider this:
Manchester Bankrupt draw two games 0-0, and even Sir Alex F-Word wakes up to the reality of rotational fouling – commenting on the way it is done on C Ronaldo
Milan’s star player says he wouldn’t mind moving to the EPL to play for Man City, while the same C Ronaldo as above is still demanding more money and talking of a move.
Liverpool Insolvency find themselves booed by their own fans despite being top of the league.
CSKA Fulham are finding it hard to sell tickets, and are stumbling through the Champions League, while not being quite so all-conquering in the EPL
These issues all reflect matters that concern Arsenal supporters. The booing that went on at the end of the Aston Anti-football game, the fact that every six months all our players are apparently on the way to Real Mad, BabaBarca and WC Milan, and the way that rotational fouling is now the first thought of most teams in the EPL – all these things affect us.
It feels like these problems keep hitting Arsenal alone, but that is not the case.
In Manchester (to take one example) the tickets for games now tend to go on general sale, the waiting list for season tickets have evaporated, and some supporters are suing the club, and despite what we all have to admit (at least when no one else is listening) is a frighteningly good forward line, they aren’t guaranteed to score every game.
Which for no particular reason made me think of Italy. I can remember watching Milan sometime around 1995 and seeing a full stadium, passion, excitement, and by and large very good matches. It was the best football on TV. Now you can’t get Italian football on TV in the UK – even Bravo (which had it for a few months) don’t want it. Even Eurosport seem to prefer underwater bob-sleigh championships to Italian football.
In 3 years time I suspect English football will be different, and may well be a long way past its high point. Nothing stays at the top forever, and when the decline comes it is worth asking, who will be best placed to cope?
Arsenal, because it will still have wonderful young players and a manageable debt
CSKA Fulham, as long as one man stays interested and keeps the money flowing
Manchester City, if they can actually make a team out of the big name signings they will get
But not Manchester U and Liverpool whose debts will have overtaken them. Not Everton, and West Ham who are all likely to be very close to extinction because of debt.
Just because the world looks as it does today, does not mean that is how it looks tomorrow. I find that rather reassuring.
