Supporters Lose Out as Fat Cats Eat the Pie

Recent events have brought many of football’s various power blocs, and their differing agendas, to the fore. For the English game, the big issue right now is its bid for the 2018 World Cup, over which, for once, the government, FA, Premier League and supporters seem to be in agreement. We all want it! And things, from that angle, started to look up this week when FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, gave tentative support for the English bid by suggesting that it was England’s 'turn' to host it - 'maybe'. Hardly drawing a breath, he then poured cold water on the 39th game proposal by the English Premier League. No surprise then that Jack Warner, head of CONCACAF and long-term ally (or is it conspiritor?) of Blatter, came out in support of England’s 2018 bid – although that might have been ‘bought’ from Warner already by England in agreeing to hold a friendly in Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Warner’s native land, this summer.

Add to this, Blatter’s recent 6+5 proposal, regarding the rules governing the make up of club sides’ nationalities – a proposal that will most likely affect the English league far more than any other in the world today, given the high number of foreign players at all levels of the game here. It’s clear that there are a number of far-reaching proposals that will impact on all genuine supporters. It’s clear also that these issues are being addressed by people who have their own agendas and that ‘horse trading’ by national associations and confederations is being conducted without the interests of supporters at heart. Or, for that matter, any supporter involvement or voice.

Frankly, RTG does not trust these bodies at all. There are already a number of current investigations by both governmental financial ombudsman and by the serious investigative side of the media into their financial affairs which has already destroyed their credibility. Supposedly, these organisations are run democratically and, on the surface, they would appear to be so. But one only has to look at Sepp Blatter’s last re-election, where he ruthlessly overrode all opposition and, indeed, managed to get one of his main detractors kicked out of his FIFA job. His crime? He brought to the attention of FIFA and the world press, Blatter’s financial improprieties. Policy gleaned straight from the pages of ‘Dictatorship for Dummies’!

That’s how we ended up with the final of the ‘World Game’ in 2006 being played out in front of £500 seats stuffed full of bums of over-fed dignitaries, corporate hangers-on, real and tenth rate celebrities and, oh yes, as an afterthought, a handful of genuine supporters so that the TV cameras can bring the colour and excitement of the spectacle into your living room. Needless to say, this last group was forced to buy travel and accommodation through companies run by FIFA officials’ families and friends. Oh, and if you wanted a black market ticket, they probably came via a FIFA official also.

These ’90 minuters’, as RTG likes to call them, because they only turn up to big finals at the expense of real supporters, are not the lifeblood of the game. They may ensure that a few people get rich from the game, they may also ensure that an average professional footballer can upgrade his Bentley to a Lamborghini, but they do nothing to nurture the long-term future of the game.

The day football falls out of fashion, as it has done before and surely will again, they will be disappearing in their droves leaving us, the genuine supporters, to pick up the pieces – if there are any left.

The football financial ‘pie’ grows ever larger, as does the voracious appetite of the administrators of the game looking to secure their own slice of it. At the moment, genuine supporters are increasingly being left the crumbs of that pie. RTG is not under any illusion that to change this situation will take time. Unfortunately, it will have to be done through elected officials, i.e. politicians, and we all know that is a long process. Just as in the same way as we have needed government legislation to protect our environment, so we need legislation to protect the soul of the game of football.

So, if you want to support your team through the opening rounds of competitions, and through the bread and butter of the league, only to end up seeing your final or semi-final seat being occupied by a Big Brother runner up, whose only contribution to life was to flash her moist minge to the nation, then ignore what RTG says. If you don’t, join us by signing up!

Reclaim the Game – The Weekend’s

• Proof, if you ever needed it, that the bookies always come out on top, sad news emerges that Angus ‘Statto’ Loughran has been declared insolvent. He apparently has large debts owed to a number of unnamed creditors.


• More hysteria ensued at the weekend over the state of the FA Cup. This season’s competition looks likely to result in a Manchester United v Chelsea final again or, due to probability, a very one-sided final: either United or Chelsea against a Championship opposition. This will once again raise issues about giving a Champions League place to the winners and other such ‘solutions to the FA Cup problem’. The trouble with the image of the competition and the place that it occupies in genuine supporters’ hearts is “you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t”. Four years have passed since Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have had a sniff of the Premier League title and they have current holders AC Milan in the Champions League this Wednesday. Can you really blame Wenger for resting a few players even if their performance was woeful to say the least? A practice, incidentally, replicated by both Sir Alex Ferguson and every single team across Europe playing this week in the Champions League. Arsenal supporters would not be pleased had Wenger played a full strength team to continue in the competition at the expense of the league title or further progress in the Champions League.
  

Hat’s Off, Take a Bow (Or Not)!

Player of the Week – David James. Kept Portsmouth in the FA Cup, including a penalty save, and deserves great credit for his recent England comeback. However, if Pompey get to the final, look out for that one gaff a game moment that is his trademark.

Hero of the Week – Luke Steele. Man of the Match, by popular acclaim, in a game that proves ‘the romance of the FA cup’ still exists.

Villain of the Week – Arsenal. RTG has spent many column inches defending the Big Four and their team selections for the FA Cup. However, the Arsenal players showed complete indifference and total lack of regard for the competition and their 9,000 travelling supporters in their performance on Saturday.

Shock of the Week – Liverpool 1 Barnsley 2. Though perhaps not as big a shock as you might think when you look at Liverpool’s FA Cup performances this season. While RTG supports Liverpool supporters in their fight against Hicks and Gillet, they seem to be venting their spleen entirely in that direction without looking at the performance of the manager and team anymore.

Cliche of the Week: Motty and Lawro's side splitting humour. If RTG doesn't hear another shit 'wise crack' from these two, it'll be a better world. Motty clearly needs to be put out to pasture. What's Lawro's excuse?