The Big TV Football Rip Off

It is 18 years since the Premiership took over from the old Football League Division One as the top tier league in English football. That was the point that Sky Sports won the bid to show live games each week and effectively changed the game in England forever. If you listen to Sky Sports commentators, other sections of the media (usually those that benefit financially from Sky through advertising and sponsorship), and even a significant number of fans, you’ll hear nothing but gushing praise for Sky, its ‘wonderful’ coverage and the huge benefits it has brought to English football The actual truth is that Sky needed football far more than football needed Sky.

RTG recognises that Sky has contributed a significant sum of money into the English game. The original deal in 1992 was worth £191 million over five years. The most recent deal starting at the beginning of this, the 2010/11 season is worth £1.72 billion. However, for all the plaudits Sky receives for its contribution to the game in this country in making it the richest league in the world, this money has just gone straight into the pockets of agents and in players’ salaries. Precious little of it has gone towards developing the game at grass roots level. Few supporters would argue that the England team has grown steadily worse during this period and there are fewer English players playing at the top level than there has ever been.

Those of us who grew up in the days when the only live domestic football on TV were the FA Cup Final and England v Scotland, can remember the excitement that was generated when live football league games began to be shown in the 1983/84 season. There was one match live per week and coverage alternated between ITV and BBC. RTG accepts that we can’t go backwards now, but that was probably enough to satisfy the needs of the average TV watching football supporter. In the modern era, where there is so much more live football available, this model, that forces us to watch the games they choose, at times that they also choose (often inconvenient to the travelling spectator), is not meeting the needs of supporters. For this ‘privilege’ we are forced to pay in excess of £50 per month to watch (probably overpaid) ex-players sit around a table analysing controversial incidents from 20 different angles interspersed with as many commercial breaks as is humanly possible. After which we then subsidise minority sports like Nascar Racing and Darts to fill up the airwaves when football isn’t on.

Supporters might have thought there was some light at the end of the tunnel when, in 2007, the European Union decided Sky’s monopoly on football on TV was unfair and forced them to open up certain packages to other companies. As usual, when politicians get involved, they messed it up. What happened was that supporters had to pay yet more money to watch every game in which their club was shown live on TV, while matches were scheduled at even more inconvenient kick off times.

In years to come, people will look back on this era in amazement that we were ever prepared to go along with it. It will rank up there alongside the astonishment felt by younger generations now that TV used to actually shut down during the daytime. The fact that pubs in England are being forced into the courts by Sky for showing games live on TV, via foreign satellite channels, at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, shows that supporters in the modern era want to watch their own team live, or the match of their choice, not that of the TV channel. That’s something that RTG believes supporters would be happy to pay for and could be done, whilst generating equally as much money to the benefit of all clubs and the grass roots of the sport. We know there will be problems in implementing what supporters need rather than what they are being served up but it is better that it is controlled by supporters’ needs rather than those of the TV channels. This goes towards illustrating what RTG has always advocated which is that TV is wagging the football dog rather than the other way around.


“I think it’s unjust. I think it’s a greedy private company trying to dictate to the small people what they can and cannot do, purely for profit. The law needs changing. If I don’t fight who is going to fight?...

...If I wanted to go and buy a car, I could go to any garage I like. Me, as a publican, if I want to show football, I can only go to the Sky garage, and have to pay 10 times the price of anybody else [in Europe]. I don’t believe that’s fair.”

Karen Murphy, Landlady of the Red, White and Blue pub Southsea, Hampshire, 5th October 2010

We’re being held to ransom and it is time that the myth that, supposedly, lucrative football TV deals have been a revelation for English football and a real bonus for supporters, is finally put to bed. We’re paying all this money, so give us what we want. At the very least, the powers that be could ask us how we would like to watch our football on TV rather than giving us Hobson’s choice. Without us there is no professional football and as long as this status quo is maintained we’re just going to be ripped off yet again.

The Keeper
....still doesn't understand offside!

The Keeper was one of the few who didn’t believe that Wayne Rooney would ever leave Manchester. It’s long been known that Wazza is one of those gentle souls who like the comfort and security of knowing that a loving family is close at hand. Close by too are the familiar hookers (young and old), the old watering holes and urination spots…….Still the Keeper is sure that United’s lack of ambition will be more than compensated by the doubling, or trebling of his pay.

Yet more news of financial transgressions by FIFA officials were revealed by a Sunday Times newspaper sting, alleging that world cup votes could be bought from voting FIFA officials. For once Sepp Blatter has sprung into action, suspending the officials concerned and ordering a full investigation. The Keeper does recall previous FIFA investigations being conducted by FIFA themselves. The old jokes about Dracula investigating a theft at the blood bank, or, Bernie Madoff looking into Wall Street financial irregularities, spring quickly to mind.

Apparently, John W Henry’s wife, Linda Pizzutti, was the driving force behind her husband’s successful takeover of Liverpool Football Club. Her pestering of her husband to buy was inspired by her love of the Beatles. Subsequently, after doing a tour of the city and discovering Abbey Road wasn’t actually in Liverpool, she’s changed her mind!

The Keeper used the recent international break for a spot of his own R and R in sunnier climes. Imagine the Keeper’s surprise when he bumped into a less than sober Joe Hart dancing on the table of a Spanish bar. This less than 36 hours prior to the game. Still, after the deadly dull offering of the England team those few hours later, the Keeper was happy to give up his Club England seat for a cold beer on a beach. Clearly, Joe Hart was longing for the same.

What's There to Celebrate, Liverpool Fans?

Liverpool Football Club continues to dominate the financial pages with a series of measures and counter measures to decide the future ownership of the club. Later today, club chairman, Martin Broughton goes back to the high court in an attempt to overturn the ruling of a Texas court that yesterday halted the original high court ruling which effectively allowed the club to be legally sold. Apparently, the case all boiled down to a legal precedent set by some poor soul who locked himself out of his hotel room and who subsequently sued and lost his case for damages against the hotel.

This continuing farce reinforces everything that RTG has been trying to illustrate about the dangers posed by the corporate world in threatening the very future of football as a Sport. More and more of the influencing factors that affect football are discussed in the financial pages, rather than the traditional back pages. The sight of a handful of Liverpool fans emerging from the high courts as if celebrating a cup win disturbs RTG even more. What exactly are they celebrating? Are these the same supporters who welcomed Gillett and Hicks as saviours to the club just over three years ago?

These were, after all, owners who in their time have bankrolled, after Chelsea and Manchester City, the highest spending in English football history. Why exactly have these scarf waving supporters, yet again, satisfied themselves that a new set of saviours are waiting in the wings? The prospective new owners come with their PR led platitudes of humble intent and, supposedly, a commitment to a debt free future. Really?

How will a new football stadium, so prioritised as an essential step for Liverpool FC’s future development, be financed? Maybe, the prospective new owners, New England Sports Ventures (NESV), will do what they did for the Boston Red Sox, and CANCEL the development of a new stadium – despite Fenway Park, the Red Sox’s stadium, being the most antiquated ball park in Major League baseball with a paltry 37 thousand capacity. The CEO of NESV, John Henry, has a successful track record within several sports, including another baseball team, the Florida Marlins in maximising revenue streams for his ‘franchises’. He also has a reasonable track record of delivering success on the proverbial pitch (or diamond, court, rink etc). Not a dissimilar reputation, if slightly less sporting success, to a certain couple of other gentlemen of LFC’s recent acquaintance.

Until football and its powers recognise the futility of successive takeovers and the corporate machinations enveloping the game, this will just be one more bean fest for lawyers and other football hangers on, paid for by us supporters. It has to be recognised that any future prosperity of a football club has to be away from the corporate interests that are continuing to ebb away the spirit and essence of our beloved game. All those scarf wavers and “walk alone” warblers have also to realise that you cannot continue to welcome with open arms the next ‘big thing’ – just because their PR agency say they’re good blokes with tons of money. Whatever happens with the high court rulings, it is unlikely that much will change in reality for Liverpool in the next few years.

The Keeper

.…it’s a lonely life between the posts

In those difficult and tedious afternoons in between spit roasts and training sessions, the Keeper likes nothing more than a nice relaxing round of golf. Naturally then he was delighted with Europe’s Ryder Cup victory over the US last week. One of the interesting things about this victory was that European Captain Colin Montgomerie banned all the European team from Twittering during the tournament. The Keeper couldn’t help thinking modern day football managers could learn from this. I mean who wants to be party to the trivial outpourings of disillusioned millionaire footballers. “The Gaffa’s dropped me for Saturday. He’s a c**t.” or “Think we’re going to get stuffed this weekend.” Perhaps what we’re looking for is more along the lines of, “The Gaffa’s just stuffed my mobile phone up my aaaaaaaah!”

No such treatment from within the England camp where early signs were looking good ahead of the Euro qualifiers. Apparently after Robert Green’s recall following his gaff against the USA in the World Cup, he kept a clean sheet in training despite 100 shots on goal. The not so good news was that Rob and Kevin Davies were in a one to one training session together. Looks like Kev’s vow to England fans in The Sun this week that he will comfortably fill Emile Heskey’s boots is beginning to bear fruit.

Emile, of course, will no longer feature in Fabio Capello’s plans but who knows if the next England manager may also try and persuade him out of retirement. Early indications from whoever is in charge at the FA (and the Keeper certainly doesn’t know!) are that the next manager has to be English. I mean there’s a whole crop of eager English guys out there just itching to be given the chance. Stuart Pearce and Sam Allardyce for instance… well, it certainly is probable the next England manager will possibly be English…Steve McClaren and Ian Holloway, to name a couple…I mean he doesn’t have to be English by any means, that would just be the preferred option! Harry Redknapp (assuming he’s not otherwise engaged in rough sex at Her Majesty’s pleasure)?...we’ll do whatever we have to do to get the best manager….English or otherwise!

What is in no doubt at all is that the next Olympic Games will definitely be an English affair. It seems that West Ham (not really from around there) are still favourites to pip North London rivals Spurs (definitely from nowhere around there) to taking over the stadium as their home when the Olympics is finished. Ed Warner, Chairman of UK Athletics said that the West Ham bid was more sensitive to the Olympic Legacy in that it involved retaining the running track around the stadium. Well, if the Keeper had to watch West Ham in their current form every week, he’d want to be as far away from the pitch as possible also. Not only that, the original ‘innovative’ design actually intended to make the top tier of the stadium easy to dismantle and be recycled after the games. What football fans in the 60’s and 70’s would have given for such an opportunity to be able to wreck a ground so easily!?