At it’s best football is a beautiful, skilfull, tactical, magnificent game. The problem is that often it’s not at it’s best, and sometimes I’m left wondering what I’m doing watching 22 self-satisfied prima donna pretty boys with £500 haircuts rolling around on the floor clutching their ankles in mock agony. In the unlikely event that the referee picks up on the fact that they’re cheating, they protest their innocence with irritating wide-eyed disbelieving faces, as if this is the greatest injustice since the Birmingham Six. Football needs to get it’s house in order: video referees would be a start, with every penalty-decision automatically going to one.
Football is billion dollar business, and the fans are funding it. Why anyone would remain loyal to a club which routinely takes the piss by hiking up the price of tickets and merchandise and regularly changing its strip just to sell more, I can’t imagine. It really makes no more sense than pledging an oath of loyalty to Coca Cola.
Sorry to those not interested, I just thought I’d take SBBS somewhere John would never go.
Posted by Larry
I was thinking today that in some cases, such as Chelsea, you think well, you’d be nowhere without Abramovich, so might as well stop moaning. But in United’s case there’s a pretty good case to make that most of their wealth is based on their 60,000 fans who turn up every week, and any old fool could run the company profitably. So I’m with the fans on this one.
ps "Sorry to those not interested, I just thought I’d take SBBS somewhere John would never go." It’s a good idea, but far too tame. Let’s try to make SBBS an English version of LGF with similar readers before John’s back…
I was thinking exactly that! People must eventually realise that football clubs aren’t football teams anymore, they’re companies, supporting a team is jst like supporting BT or Halifax or something. its ludicrous. some random businessman from america is gonna buy manchester united and screw them over, against the wishes of all their fans. serves them right.
You could do a nice little redesign of the site to add some footie motifs. I’m sure John would appreciate livening up the background of the site.
Let’s try to make SBBS an English version of LGF with similar readers before John’s back…
Yes, could we turn over the reins to the commenter who noted that Big Ben is only STILL STANDING thanks to torture in Guantanamo?
As companies, they’re pretty small. If I get a bit of time tomorrow, I’ll dig up some companies of similar market cap to put it into context (for example, First Choice Holidays is a more important company than Manchester United; Mitchells & Butlers pubs are about twice as important and Burberry is 2.5 times)
dsquared: you have surprised me. That’s actually very interesting. I’m no economist – is there some caveat to those measurements?
Jez: I like that idea, if I wasn’t a total html-moron I’d have a go, but I fear I might fuck the blog up forever.
John S: I like that idea a lot. Unfortunately (in some sense) I also rather value my friendship with John B, and I think he might be extremely pissed off…
A lot of bloggers think I’m a wind-up merchant! Difficult to believe, I know, so let me make clear that (provisionally) I am in favour of legalised drug use. However, there are difficulties. If you make a product cheaper and more easily accessible, then more people will use it. If at the same time, the state, so to speak, gives its imprimatur of approval to a product that hitherto was frowned upon, then again, usage will increase.
At the moment. there is x% of drug users who are, shall we say, out of control, and who will resort to criminality in order to feed their habit. I do not know what that percentage is, but whatever it is, it will increase as the number of drug users increases, and thus, criminality will increase, too.
I must add that I absolutely disagree with your notion of, presumably, government-run clinics for the supply of drugs. Let the market place distribute and sell, and then the government can tax the profits. Personally, I would then disband all those so-called ‘drug-busting’ agencies and spend the money on a constant and high-powered propoganda campaign warning of the dangers of drug use. However, my quid pro quo for that expenditure is that I would close down all government (and therefor tax-funded) re-hab clinics, on the grounds that if, after all the warnings, an individual takes drugs, then they must take responsibility for their own actions.
(Please don’t tell Jim Bliss about this, he’ll go even pottier than he already is – er, no pun intended – I think!)