Apologies from RTG for a distinct lack of activity during the summer but outside of Euro 2008 there was little to get excited about and the constant transfer claims and counter-claims were, frankly, tedious in the extreme. All be it, perhaps, they only went to highlight, once more, one of the many ills that are currently dragging our beloved game into the abyss.
Let’s start with a quick congratulations to Spain who, for once, actually lived up to expectation and won a major international tournament. Perhaps, most pleasing of all, was the fact that they were the best team from the outset and thoroughly deserved to lift the trophy rather than acquiring it by being better defensively, or at taking penalties. And, regretfully, it pains RTG to admit, once again, that it was nice to appreciate the tournament purely for its football rather than having to pin ones hopes on a bunch of under-achieving, overpaid idiots who would have happily spread themselves liberally across the pages of the tabloids, alongside their useless WAGS, while telling us nothing insightful about how they intend to finally lift some silverware and answer the expectations of a long-suffering nation of football supporters.
But that’s all behind us now and season 2008/2009 is upon us already. The prospect of a new league campaign for our clubs, and a new World Cup qualifying campaign for the national side, fills us with wild anticipation for the coming months ahead.
Or does it in fact? The season is only a few games old, depending on which league your team plays in, and already RTG is beginning to feel the uneasy rise of acid bile in our stomachs.
Sky TV kicked it all off with, as ever, a completely over the top trailer to the new season featuring what looked like a string quartet of scantily clad women marching across a stage. Very relevant. Someone should, perhaps, mention to Sky that we don’t need sensationalist trailers to make us watch football on TV. What we really want is not to have to pay over the odds to watch teams we have no interest in. What we want is not to have to bow down and accept gratefully whatever matches Sky or Setanta choose to show us. What we really want is to watch matches at times that don’t involve us having to travel at ridiculous times of the day—on trains that aren’t running properly due to engineering works. Strange, but we’re simple folk like that! But no. We’re also football supporters. So we get what we’re given and pay a fortune for it.
But don’t fret if you thought the money wasn’t going to a good cause. It will help to furnish the pockets of the badge-kissers extraordinaire who spent all summer dropping hints that they might like to move away from their clubs if the price was right, only to beat and kiss the badge on the first day of the season once their team gave in to their ludicrous monetary demands. When Frank Lampard runs towards the banks of loyal supporters, jersey pulled toward his lips, he fails to realise that those people are having to cough up for his ridiculous wage demands and to fuel his burgeoning ego at a time when they can ill afford it. But, because of Roman Abramovich’s seemingly bottomless pit of money, the process goes on and on. Some clubs are barely running to stand still in their bid to simply compete. The likes of Lampard will continue to make obscene demands in the name of so-called Chelsea success until somebody puts a stop to it. The Premier League do not seem even remotely concerned about this situation and while we as supporters continue to let them get away with it, so nothing will change until the sport of football ceases to exist. The likes of Frank Lampard will have millions in the bank to cushion that blow should it happen. Your average supporter will have nothing but a huge void where once the game of football sat.
But what of England? Cause for optimism there maybe. Well, RTG has already stated that the decision to build the national development centre at Burton has to be a good thing. And so long as Capello is relatively untested as England manager we can still live in hope that he can turn the national team into winners.
But already we’ve had a huge, but completely unnecessary debate in the press about who is to be captain. The fact that John Terry has been given the nod suddenly seems to be more important than the success of the team. The media seem to have built him up as this colossus who would give his life for England and for who every player would happily die also. But where exactly is the evidence other than what drivel is written on the back pages? In RTG’s humble opinion JT is not even the second best centre back in England let alone the best. May we remind folk out there that he skippered us to our worst qualifying campaign since 1994. To use his record as captain of £300 million worth of Chelsea squad hardly counts and is not such a glowing record either given the resources at their disposal. If the position of captain is such an important factor in how the team performs, surely this was the time for a change.
But insignificant matters such as this, when blown up out of all proportion, fill pages in papers and time on largely irrelevant sports news channels. Hence, the media obsession with it continues. All it serves to actually achieve is to make it difficult to drop him without a major national debate for weeks in advance when they should be getting on with the job of winning matches and picking the best side to do it. But don’t worry all you England fans out there. At least it gives JT another lucrative money earning channel through being the England skipper. If the team continues to perform like a bunch of rabbits in headlights, whenever put under pressure, we can take solace in the fact that JT is making a bit extra on the side. If there is a quiet confidence in the nation that England will suddenly turn it around and qualify for South Africa 2010, by way of the old adage that lightning never strikes twice, RTG does not share that optimism. We could be in for another long haul.
Let’s start with a quick congratulations to Spain who, for once, actually lived up to expectation and won a major international tournament. Perhaps, most pleasing of all, was the fact that they were the best team from the outset and thoroughly deserved to lift the trophy rather than acquiring it by being better defensively, or at taking penalties. And, regretfully, it pains RTG to admit, once again, that it was nice to appreciate the tournament purely for its football rather than having to pin ones hopes on a bunch of under-achieving, overpaid idiots who would have happily spread themselves liberally across the pages of the tabloids, alongside their useless WAGS, while telling us nothing insightful about how they intend to finally lift some silverware and answer the expectations of a long-suffering nation of football supporters.
But that’s all behind us now and season 2008/2009 is upon us already. The prospect of a new league campaign for our clubs, and a new World Cup qualifying campaign for the national side, fills us with wild anticipation for the coming months ahead.
Or does it in fact? The season is only a few games old, depending on which league your team plays in, and already RTG is beginning to feel the uneasy rise of acid bile in our stomachs.
Sky TV kicked it all off with, as ever, a completely over the top trailer to the new season featuring what looked like a string quartet of scantily clad women marching across a stage. Very relevant. Someone should, perhaps, mention to Sky that we don’t need sensationalist trailers to make us watch football on TV. What we really want is not to have to pay over the odds to watch teams we have no interest in. What we want is not to have to bow down and accept gratefully whatever matches Sky or Setanta choose to show us. What we really want is to watch matches at times that don’t involve us having to travel at ridiculous times of the day—on trains that aren’t running properly due to engineering works. Strange, but we’re simple folk like that! But no. We’re also football supporters. So we get what we’re given and pay a fortune for it.
But don’t fret if you thought the money wasn’t going to a good cause. It will help to furnish the pockets of the badge-kissers extraordinaire who spent all summer dropping hints that they might like to move away from their clubs if the price was right, only to beat and kiss the badge on the first day of the season once their team gave in to their ludicrous monetary demands. When Frank Lampard runs towards the banks of loyal supporters, jersey pulled toward his lips, he fails to realise that those people are having to cough up for his ridiculous wage demands and to fuel his burgeoning ego at a time when they can ill afford it. But, because of Roman Abramovich’s seemingly bottomless pit of money, the process goes on and on. Some clubs are barely running to stand still in their bid to simply compete. The likes of Lampard will continue to make obscene demands in the name of so-called Chelsea success until somebody puts a stop to it. The Premier League do not seem even remotely concerned about this situation and while we as supporters continue to let them get away with it, so nothing will change until the sport of football ceases to exist. The likes of Frank Lampard will have millions in the bank to cushion that blow should it happen. Your average supporter will have nothing but a huge void where once the game of football sat.
But what of England? Cause for optimism there maybe. Well, RTG has already stated that the decision to build the national development centre at Burton has to be a good thing. And so long as Capello is relatively untested as England manager we can still live in hope that he can turn the national team into winners.
But already we’ve had a huge, but completely unnecessary debate in the press about who is to be captain. The fact that John Terry has been given the nod suddenly seems to be more important than the success of the team. The media seem to have built him up as this colossus who would give his life for England and for who every player would happily die also. But where exactly is the evidence other than what drivel is written on the back pages? In RTG’s humble opinion JT is not even the second best centre back in England let alone the best. May we remind folk out there that he skippered us to our worst qualifying campaign since 1994. To use his record as captain of £300 million worth of Chelsea squad hardly counts and is not such a glowing record either given the resources at their disposal. If the position of captain is such an important factor in how the team performs, surely this was the time for a change.
But insignificant matters such as this, when blown up out of all proportion, fill pages in papers and time on largely irrelevant sports news channels. Hence, the media obsession with it continues. All it serves to actually achieve is to make it difficult to drop him without a major national debate for weeks in advance when they should be getting on with the job of winning matches and picking the best side to do it. But don’t worry all you England fans out there. At least it gives JT another lucrative money earning channel through being the England skipper. If the team continues to perform like a bunch of rabbits in headlights, whenever put under pressure, we can take solace in the fact that JT is making a bit extra on the side. If there is a quiet confidence in the nation that England will suddenly turn it around and qualify for South Africa 2010, by way of the old adage that lightning never strikes twice, RTG does not share that optimism. We could be in for another long haul.
Much as we began, RTG would like to end with an apology. If we’ve dampened the spirits somewhat at a time when the season is young and full of promise, then we’re sorry. But we’re beginning another season with just more signs that greed, short sightedness and basic stupidity are gradually stripping away at the foundations of the game we love. Frankly, when you look at the way we’re being treated by the powers that be, we think we deserve better. With the prospects for a more exciting, more equally contested league, more financially secure clubs and a better England team looking as bleak as ever, this season has to be the point where we as supporters say enough is enough. Join us now.
