Archive for March 1st, 2007
William Somerset: Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.” I agree with the second part.
They say no news is good news, so that’s positive. The media are wondering about football ticket prices, and Blackburn, Everton and Bolton (I think) have all said that they’ll be at least freezing theirs. I think this is a reasonable approach. If all these extra millions are flooding into the game they should be put to good use. What would clubs rather have? Full grounds or a squad of players who have even more money in their “more money than I know what to do with” vaults? How many sportscars, helicopters, tacky earrings and other dubious luxury items do these people need? Exactly. And if the world isn’t that simple it’s only because we’ve let things get that way.
It needs some clubs to not just make a stand, but to Take a Stand (capitals to emphasise just how serious this is). Suppose one of these clubs with a big stadium and lots of empty seats said “frig it, we’re going down to £15 per ticket next year, every goddam game. Let’s see what happens”. What’s the worst that can happen? They miss out on a few hundred thousand pounds in gate receipts. But that’s covered by the telly money, and they’ll have a full house, the goodwill of all men, and the knowledge that they did their bit in bringing the game back to the people.
Never happen, of course, but something needs to be done. I think the clubs realise that they’re nearing the point of no return now. Realistically people aren’t going to spend much more than £40 for a football match, it just doesn’t add up. I walk past CDs I want because I’m economising, I spend a pound a day and no more for lunch (soup), but whoopee, I spend £98 for me and my girlfriend to watch the Whites at Chelsea. And great fun it was too, but it’s not an expenditure that can really be justified. If prices go up by much I believe there’ll be a disproportionate exodus of disgruntled fans. And these fans won’t easily be re-gruntled either. That will be that. And then where will we be?
Where indeed? Watching games via Chinese satellite linkups in the backrooms of daring pubs, I expect. There has to be a correction at some point, things have got out of hand. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins, as Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman reminded us in the film Se7en. And if that’s not enough to scare people, nothing is. If a Premier League chairman is found in some dingy New York appartment having been force fed to death by Kevin Spacey we’ll all know what’s happened.
