Television has too much power - Ferguson

[Win2Win Racing]

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes television has too much power over the English game.

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[barneymather]

He might be an old grump at times but he's right. To me, football was all the better when matches were played on Saturdays only at 3pm and there were no Ashley Coles almost crashing their car because they were offered a paltry £55,000 a week.

The Yanks of course have long had their major sporting events run by TV companies, and dumbasses that we are, we follow every lousy decision they make, in cultural terms at least.

[Win2Win]

I think for what Sky pays for the footy every match should be available to watch instead of selected ones. Plus players are paid so much it can't be that difficult having to kick-off at 12:30 on a Saturday, although I do feel sorry for them having to work at weekends

[scoobydoo]

I reckon Ferguson has been put up to this...its a sign that greedy premier clubs are going to be asking for more at the next (Sky) TV auction. I think I am right that conference teams get £5000 a TV game on that obscure channel on Sky. Football has gone mad and the older I get, the more I am falling out of love with it at the top level. It used to be a working mans game, now it costs a small fortune to take your family to a game, only in the UK could we let this situation happen.

[Win2Win]

I've never been to a match in my life.... I always ended up at a racecourse instead

[barneymather]

Whatever Ferguson's motivation for these comments, the problem with football now is that it's ruled so much by TV, fans who actually go to matches and who built these top clubs into institutions are very much by the by, except when it comes to forking out inflated admission fees and buying replica shirts of course.

Otherwise genuine supporters merit diddly squat when it comes to consideration. To give an example, a midday kick-off to suit TV north of the border in, say, Aberdeen means a dawn start or earlier for those punters in Glasgow who've followed their teams for many years and prefer to see them live rather than in the pub, quaint old custom though that is.

Flogging it up to the frozen north at 6am in January to suit a sports editor after a hard week at work will eventually lose its appeal and genuine fans will feel it's not worth it, financially and otherwise. They're bound to vote with their feet - as some already have -and feel that clubs are taking them not just for granted but taking them for a ride as well.

Don't expect the suits with the pasty faces in the boardroom or executive boxes to suffer indigestion on their foie gras ruminating on that piffling detail of the football business though. You know summat's up when you're in a stadium with 40,000 people in it and feel as if you're at a reserve game, such is the lack of atmosphere from the assembled 'fans'.


I can't help feeling that the wheels are going to come off the football racket in the not so distant future, as they do with every gravy train. Despite the vast amounts of telly money sloshing about in the game, guys better qualified than me will tell you the game's present financial model is unsustainable in the long-term. There are only so many billionaires out there who desire a Premiership team as a trinket and their patience and interest won't last forever. The debt the likes of Chelsea are servicing is almost surreal for a football club.

[barneymather]

I've never been to a match in my life.... I always ended up at a racecourse instead

Did you never think about turning this hobby into a business?

[Win2Win]

Did you never think about turning this hobby into a business?

Well blow me off with a vacuum... what a great idea

[barneymather]

Don't be trying that with a vacuum, as it can be a very painful and humiliating experience getting the bus to A&E.

So I'm told.

[Win2Win]

Especially if it's Henry!