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.

Media Myths and the Pub Bore

Having focused, quite rightly, in our last posting on the Premier League’s 39th game abroad idea, it now appears that the one factor that everybody, bar this blog, overlooked is that local and regional football authorities are none too keen on the idea of a big fat bloated Premier League pitching up on their turf. Even Sepp Blatter managed to tear himself away from the Ann Summers catalogue to stick his oar in and ominously implied that there needed to be consultation before such a venture could take place. Bernie Ecclestone, part owner of QPR and supremo of Formula One, probably summed up the ridiculousness of the Premier League’s proposal stating that he would be prepared to take the Big Four, only, abroad for a one-off tournament. Enough said. Let’s hope this one gets put to rest once and for all. One of the curious side effects of this proposal is that it has generated rumours of established teams being targeted to be bought and moved lock stock and barrel to foreign parts. Chelsea for Dubai anyone? At the moment we are able to laugh at what seem ludicrous proposals but, depending on how things progress in our beloved game, let’s hope we’re not soon crying.

So, with that put to rest for the time being, RTG is turning its attention on the media and the pub bores that feed off the myths largely generated and propagated by them. What does RTG mean by this? Well let’s have a look at some popular misconceptions that the lazy media people and ex-players, such as Richard Keys, maintain, and then become folklore the length and breadth of the country.

Great Football Pub Bore Myths of Our Time – Part 1

Terry Venables is a great manager. RTG does not doubt that he has done some good work, most notably at Barcelona, but if you analyse his actual record you’ll see a tale of financial woes at virtually every club, and national association, he’s ever been associated with. In addition, he’s often been cited as the best England manager of recent times and many have asked for him to return. The reality was he had the lowest win percentage of any England manager – all be it with one of the lowest loss percentages also – at a time when England played no qualifiers for a tournament that was held on home turf. Indeed, virtually all his games in charge were played at home. England won two out of the five games in Euro 1996 and his, and the media’s, obsession with one, by then overweight and unfit, individual caused us to limp out at the semi final stage.

Talking of Paul Gascoigne: well, he’s an England legend isn’t he? Is he? Let’s look at what he won for England, or indeed any of the teams he played for. Aside from some good performances against Oxford United and Portsmouth (then in the second tier of English football) he’s widely accepted as winning the cup for Spurs in 1991. Well, as far as anyone who stays on the pitch for ten minutes before injuring himself in a reckless challenge can be said to win the cup. A foul, by the way, that led to Nottingham Forest taking the lead. Italia 90 is still regarded by the media and pub pundits alike as the ‘Gascoigne’ world cup. All he actually achieved was to be filmed crying for his own misfortune at not making the final had England gone through. Which of course we didn’t. Likewise, six years later, he was too unfit, following his exploits in the ‘dentist chair’ (which he mocked the media for criticising) to get to a cross that would have been the golden goal that saw England through to the final of Euro 96.

Speaking of Terry Venables’ record, one of a succession of forgettable draws, during his tenure, was against Colombia at Wembley in 1995. The only memorable moment came in the form of Rene Higuita’s ‘scorpion’ save from Jamie Redknapp’s over hit centre. Many still wax lyrical about the ‘crazy’ Higuita’s antics. However, if you can see the whole of the footage, the linesman clearly raises his flag for an offside long before the ball gets to the goal. Spectacular maybe; but not as risky and ‘mad’ as the media would have you believe.

The unique factor in Higuita’s dive, is that it is the only time that the English media ever spoke fondly of a ‘diving foreigner’. After all, it is the ‘nasty foreigners’ that have brought this aspect into the game isn’t it? Anyone who saw Rodney Marsh or Francis Lee in the '60s and '70s will remember that these two in particular made diving an art form. Not to mention Michael Owen’s crafty efforts for England and Liverpool (the ones against Argentina in 1998 and 2002 are remembered with particular fondness but never spoken of).

Part 2 to follow. Watch this space.

Reclaim the Game. The Week’s Events

One of RTG’s major fights has always been against drug use in football. Many serious luminaries of the game believe it is not a point worth worrying too much about because drugs don’t have a major benefit in team sports. Wrong. Many of Juventus’s trophies in the 1990s were achieved using drugs, a scandal we still know only a fraction about. Arsene Wenger’s first great Arsenal team were taking a now banned substance, Creatine. RTG mentions this because Dwain Chambers’ return to athletics competition by threatening to take the UK governing body of athletics to court is a stark reminder that, the richer you become through sport, the better drug dealers available to you. If it is not a problem in English football now, it soon will be.

Capping Foreigners Not the Answer to a Better England

Sir Alex Ferguson has come out in favour this week of a cap on the number of foreign players allowed in each Premiership squad. Given that only four of Manchester United's starting line up last Saturday were English (though four more than Arsenal it should be noted), it is likely that there is more than just a hint of tongue in cheek here from the maestro of the mind game. Sir Alex is a genius when it comes to winding up his rivals and this comment is more likely a reflection of a man with a growing confidence in his team's ability to see off challengers to United's Premiership title this year. Let's face it English football would be a sorrier place without him whether he is being serious or not.

But what would a cap actually achieve? Premiership football is where it is. It has attained a high standard and entertains supporters the World over. At least three of the big four usually qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League and last year we had three semi-finalists. The point is we can't go back and lower the standard now. Putting an artificial restriction on the number of foreign players would almost certainly do exactly that. Rather than helping English players to get better, it would more likely create an artificial situation where clubs would have to pay a premium for them to keep their quota at the required level - whether they are good players or not.

There is an argument in Scottish football that when Sky pulled out of its coverage deal with the SPL, it meant that expensive foreign imports could no longer be afforded by the clubs. The result has been that more younger, home-grown players get to play at the highest level than would have done previously. Hence, the more impressive performance by the Scottish national team in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. It certainly seems a reasonable argument but if you actually look at the stats, there are no more Celtic or Rangers players in the Scotland team now than there were in 2002, 2004 or 2006 when Scotland finished third in their Euro and World qualifying groups. You could argue that perhaps there are more Hearts players present than there were and Hearts were certainly one of the clubs who went for East European imports in some numbers. But what is not mentioned is that two of Scotland's star performers in their current run, James McFadden and Duncan Fletcher, rarely start for their clubs. And while it has to be said that Scotland have certainly surprised everybody by their current position in what is a really tough group, they haven't actually qualified for anything yet.

At RTG we actually believe that football has moved on to take on the status of a truly global sport. There is, therefore, a big argument in favour of Premiership teams employing players from places like Africa as it might actually help to instil some sort of regulation in the movement of players. With the huge spoils that are currently on offer in leagues such as the English Premiership, the procurement of a young African player's signature by an agency and his subsequent movement overseas can be likened to something little short of people trafficking or slavery. If English football can help improve the transparency of deals involving non-European players then perhaps we can see an end to the farcical situation that occurred over the Tevez affair. Of course, FIFA-affiliated national football associations could all help in this with more co-operation, transparency and less corruption involving transfers across borders. But at RTG experience leads us to suspect that this will never happen.

If we care about the development of the game overseas, then there is also a lot to be said for developing players from China, India, Korea etc. in the best European leagues, to encourage the game abroad. Let RTG stress again, we are not against the operation of football as a business. It is too late now for it to be anything else. We just want to see that genuine competition is maintained.

It is true, that there is something frustrating about seeing players like Jermaine Pennant or David Bentley struggle to break into the Arsenal team when they are clearly more than capable of holding their own in the Premership. And perhaps their attitude, that Arsene Wenger could not seem to come to terms with, was borne more out of the frustration of being highly paid millionaires sat in the reserves week after week. But the real way to develop English players is not by artificially raising the value of home-grown players. English footballers would benefit more from a proper coaching and education programme backed by the FA. That way, they would earn the right to be in their club starting line-up as skillful and intelligent footballers rather than being there because the club has to pick them. While the responsibility to develop players rests solely with the clubs they will continue to operate in their own best interests and not those of the England national squad.

Reclaim the Game - The Week's Events

• It is early days and we shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet but there are worrying signs of yet more polarisation in the game - this time in the Champions League. Is it our imagination or do teams appear to be achieving qualification for the knockout stages earlier this year and does there appear to be a bigger prevalence of teams at the bottom of their group struggling to maintain the required standard? Let's hope not. The last thing Europe's elite competition needs is for the group stage to become a meaningless bunch of games simply to see the predictable 16 teams march comfortably through.
• Rumours have reached us that Steve Maclaren actually visited LA Galaxy, not to watch David Beckham (because he didn't even attend the game in fact), but to attend an interview for the vacant manager's position. Well, all we can say is jolly good luck with that Steve. Though sources today seem to suggest that Ruud Gullit is likely to be appointed very soon. Oh well!