The futility of being a Forest (or non top 4 football) fan..
I’m sure folks spotted this ludicrous notion in the news this week, which basically boils down to West Ham’s chairman - Eggert Magnusson - babbling on about the wonderful opportunities that could be had by staging English, yes, English Premier League matches in the United States. Can you imagine anything more ridiculous to happen to our once beautiful game?
But that got me thinking further. I’ve long since lost a lot of interest in the top flight, partly of course because the mighty Reds have spent so long away from it - but whenever I do tune in to catch a game or some coverage, there’s so much soap-opera style nonsense going on it’s not really very engaging.
I’m not interested in diving and playacting (not that this is the preserve of the top flight by any means), it infuriates me to see a bunch of overpaid primadonnas mithering the referee to try to influence his decision-making. I’m not interested in a competition where you can pretty much nailed on state which four teams will make up the ‘Champions’ League places.
And it will only get worse. Which makes you think, obviously we support our teams because we feel affinity and loyalty to them - not because they will win stuff - but of course the inherent nature of a football fan is that we want our team to win, to get promoted, to have a cup run - any sensible Forest fan, no matter how unrealistic it may seem, must surely want to see us back in to top flight at some point?
But you see, I’m not sure I do - because if we were to attain top flight status in the next five or ten years, imagine the carnage. Do I really want to pay even more cash to see my side more than likely get spanked every week by better teams? Sure, we bank some money to make the next season’s promotion drive a bit easier, but the imbalance is such that it’s never enough to make a serious bid at anything other than survival in the Premier League.
That level of non-competitiveness is, well, it’s not interesting is it? Which does make me wonder really what the point of being a fan of a lower league team is! Gone are the days that a club like Forest could rise from the second tier and go on to win the title - let alone then triumphing in Europe. Gone even are the days where a Jack Walker style investment could deliver a league title to a provincial club like Blackburn.
Top flight football has become so obsessively cash focused, and increasingly controlled by foreign investment and televised schedules that frankly, the fans on the ground don’t really matter any more - so it is feasible for the chairmen of the richer clubs to seriously consider relocating games to another continent, in order to exploit an extra market to raise more revenue.
It makes me sick to the core, but it also makes me realise that there is at least a significant part of me that wouldn’t like to see Forest in this kind of arena. Certainly I still long for promotion from this league, but I’m not sure I’d want to go beyond the Championship given the state of play in the top flight - which does rather bring into question the purpose of continuing to be a Forest supporter!
Of course, life is never black and white - and the lot of the football fan is certainly rarely subject to logic or clear thinking, so obviously this pasttime that has made up such a significant chunk of my childhood and adult life will not just be set aside for the sake of mere principles - but it does seem a fairly futile sport to follow when you start to realise that even the vaguest of fantasies you may harbour of glory days returning are not only insanely unrealistic, they’re actually impossible.
28 October, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Wow NFFC, a very intriguing article! It certainly stimulated me into deep thought and generally I agree with what you say.
Without doubt, the gulf between the “haves” and the “have nots” is ever widening and yes, Im sure Forest, IF they ever made it back to the top division, would struggle to survive.
Whilst I dont ever see a Premisership match being played in the US, I do see a European League soon. The European Cup has now gone this way so its only a small step to having this on a weekly basis.
I think, and again sooner rather than later, smaller clubs will start to “die out” through natural wastage as finances dictate their demise. Once the first club collaspes thru financial ruin, I think it will like a huge house of cards.
The next 5 years will be very interesting (and very depressing) for a lot of smaller clubs and their loyal supportewrs.
28 October, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Well, we could get bought out by some rich foreigner and end up with a team with no English people in it. Welcome to multiculturalism and globalism. There’s no escape, as our history and our people are buried by Coca Cola and immigration, football is just one of many casualties.
28 October, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Dammit, you lot were supposed to reassure me!
28 October, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Don’t normally bother doing this, but a very intresting post, and i’ve been having similar thoughts, especailly nowadays, when the youngsters have forest (or Another lower league club)as a secong team to one of the top 4
28 October, 2007 at 8:58 pm
I really don’t know what to say to this frankly? I know many in the business world would like this amalgamation since it works so well in the movies but this is a not movie. That won’t stop the idea however. As technology becomes more users friendly I can see this working on a couple of fronts. Those who cannot make it to a game, and those who just stay at home. Let’s not forget there is a huge market out there that turns on the TV for results.
I think they are more likely to turn on the PC or whatever device they use to watch a sport providing the financial aspect is within their reach?
The casting of live games to each teams supporter cannot truly be far away at this point? The technology is there and so are the supporters. It could however decrease a crowd? We all know that but if advertising were in place to make the event work? There would not any empty seats either.
I’m not saying I like it. But as more clubs get bought up I can see it as being the next craze.
28 October, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Could be right… it’s a horrific thought.
I kind of hope that either the Euro League or whatever it is that happens does so, and then the remaining English teams can form a new competition based on more traditional values… at least Forest are likely to feature in the non-European league teams, so selfishly that would suit me.
But yes, I can definitely forsee a time when the fan of football will be forced to revert to the non-professional level to get their kicks in the none-too-distant future, which is wholly depressing.
28 October, 2007 at 9:16 pm
I remember thinking your way around 10 years ago. I wondered if I could ‘give up’ on Forest [much easier to do in those pre-internet days] and Premier football and go and watch the lower-league local teams just for fun [I live in Sunderland].
Given that those teams are Carlisle and Hartlepool that plan is showing its age.
Though here’s a thought - kind of related to your original point - the last 2 matches I have been to were the Reds at ‘uddersfield and Sunderland at home to Reading. Both cost me 18 of our English pounds to get in.
Sorry, now I’m rambling.
29 October, 2007 at 10:36 am
Was thinking exactly the same thing NFFC a couple of weeks ago. Football is now about “entertainment” rather than sport. Its about bringing a brand of ‘football’ to the consumer and if the consumer doesnt get what they want then the man responsible - the manager - is sacked.
I have heard though that it is in the interests of the Premier League for 1 of the top four to keep winning the league and the cups. Of course much of the revenues come from TV rights and much of that is from abroad - in particular Asia. You’re average Chinaman is less interested in a ‘Blackburn’ winning the league - they don’t know who they are or any of the players. They’d rather someone win who they’ve heard of. The problem is there are more people in China than there is in England, thus more money to be made.
I agree with your thoughts on the Euro league though. Get em out and let the rest of us get along with the football!
29 October, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I took a friend who is an Arsenal fans to see the Emerates stadium 2 weeks ago as a 50th birthday present. For the top 5 matches West Ham Spurs Man Utd Liverpool and Chelsea the seat price was £94. In this section of the ground they make more in one game than they did in the whole of Highbury.
On a positve note the tour guide was Charlie George and he made reference to his 4 match period at Forest by stating Clough and Wenger used the same methords -keeping it simple.
29 October, 2007 at 12:55 pm
I’m in sympathy with your thinking……the root cause of the decline is surely the F.A.
I quote “This time, Sky shelled out £1.314bn for 92 games per season (£4.8m per game), while Setanta paid a further £392m for 46 matches (£2.8m per match).” So the F.A. pick up nearly TWO BILLION PER SEASON in TV rights. Now some of this obscene amount of money filters down to lower divisions but most goes to sustaining the Premier League circus and the consequential media hype which surrounds it. Maybe if I lived in Moss Side and supported Man U and unlikely though it was, if I had enough brain cells to think, I’d be more than happy with the status quo, But I don’t - I support a team living off it’s past with little or no chance of regaining the “top flight” and if it received much more of the FA’s money then it could grow by increasing its academy, getting more & better home-grown talent to feed itself and bigger clubs….and maybe dropping admission charges to lead to bigger crowds.
Pipe dreams of course….it will continue to be sweet F.A. from the F.A.
29 October, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Perhaps it’s time we looked over the pond to see how they do things in the NFL? At least quite a few teams have a decent chance of winning the Superbowl, rather than just the 4 that we have in the Premier League. They share their TV revenue equally between all teams, unlike the greedy gits in the Prem!
29 October, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I’ll be the lone voice of dissent here. I would love to see Forest in the top flight again. That way I could actually see a forest game again. Neither early round cup matches nor lower league games are broadcast here in Canada.
29 October, 2007 at 8:07 pm
I think JG is right. Although there are favorites it does seem that everyone has a shot at it and that has to be good for the game. I’m not too certain how money pans out over here but you rarely hear of a team looking for it to buy players. Again another good thing.
I think if you could watch the game live online and have a packed stadium only the club would benefit in the long term through sponsorship deals.
Just a thought.
Best.
30 October, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Well, NFFC, you’ve managed to put to writing many of the thoughts which have been flying around my head for a few years now.
On JG’s point about the NFL, they also have the drafting system, where teams with the worst record from previous seasons get the first picks of the top young talent coming through. This helps even things out and really places a lot of emphasis on scouting the next generation of talent. Quite how this would work over here with each club having their own youth systems and investment being made that way, rather than through a system of colleges, I’m not quite sure.
But, yes, something does have to change lest we are left with a total of only 4 teams in this country.
31 October, 2007 at 3:07 pm
The draft system is not what makes (keeps) the league competitive. It is the contract system.
Depending on the sport, it works slightly differently but the gist is almost the same throughout. In essense, you cannot give any player a contract longer than x years (lets say 3). And you can only renew y contracts each season. Net effect, it is impossible to retain more than 2/3rds (ish) of your current squad for a prolonged period.
Stripping this to an extreme, you have a team of 11 players, all on 3 year contracts to begin. Next season, you can only renew 2. Same year after, and so the next. So in 3 years time, you have 5 players without renewed contracts and they leave. Same applies to all teams so there is a constant merry-go-round of players.