Found this cut and pasted onto another messageboard from a Leeds fan; Can't be arsed getting into any in depth discussion so if anyone wants to disagree, thats up to them, its just my opinion but one thing I will tell you is if we stay up, if we go down, if we go down and never come up again or if we ever back into The Premiership, I couldn't really give a **** at this moment in time. I have spent this season watching the game that my old man introduced me to around 1974 and the game which most of my life has revolved around since then and I have realised that I don't even particularly like it anymore. I can't remember the last time I left a game involving Leeds and was bouncing with happiness and got back to the pub and everyone was in a top mood - even after one of our rare wins. I can't remember the last time I sat in the ground and had a laugh with my mates without worrying about upsetting someone or other. I can't remember the last time I went to an away game and wasn't treated like someone on the run from MI5. I can't remember the last time I watched a game on Sky and thought "wow, what a game" and I certainly can't remember the last time I saw any of the England "superstars" who earn more in a month than a lot of us will earn in 10/15 years pull on that England jersey and do us proud (well, I think it might have been 5-1 Germany in 2001 but might be wrong) and I can't remember I saw a game when I didn't think "****ing cheating, soft ****" every 2 minutes when a player went over like he'd been shot by a Japanese sniper. Everyone is banging on about a protest or about carrying on at the ground but I have seen the deterioration of the game we all knew and loved to the point of it having no resemblance at all to what it was so why the **** should I go jumping up and down screaming when from the chairman down through the manager down to the players right down to the stewards/bar staff, nobody gives a **** about us? Money, money and more money, nothing else matters. **** the lower half of the Premiership, **** the Championship and certainly **** the other 2 divisions which I don't even know their name anymore - how can Division 3 be Division 1? It's all about qualifying for the Champions League for the top 5 teams and it's all about television money for the also rans and paying obscene wages to obscene players for everyone. Ask a scum fan about the FA Cup and he'd say he would want to win it every year, ask a scum director and he'd say it would be nice as long as it didn't detract from the Champions League. The next TV deal is so ****ing obscene it is unreal. If we want England to compete then why the **** are we making 20 clubs so ****ing rich and so reliant on foreigners and letting the rest of the country go to the wall? Why the **** don't the Government get involved and stop this? They're quick enough to jump in and stop companies like BT/British Gas or the supermarkets or the brewers having too much of a stranglehold so why the **** do they let 5/6 football clubs dictate what happens to the other 86 or so? There should be a salary cap per club, there should be some kind of system in place to ENSURE the best young players have the chance to play for the smaller clubs and not simply snapped up, stuck to rot in the reserves for 5 years and then cast aside cos they didn't make the grade just so some other club didn't have the opportunity of having them. Most players in the top 2 or 3 leagues now can actually retire when they finish playing football - ****ing RETIRE! These are players that might not have ever played in the top flight, never played in Europe and sure as Hell never played for their country yet they can ****ing retire - players like Hunter, Giles, Madeley, Clarke, Jimmy Case, Ian Callaghan, Peter Osgood, Stan Bowles, Frank Worthington, Tony Currie, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore etc etc etc - dozens of genuine world class players who finished the game and then had to start selling insurance, running a pub or opening ****ing shops in their home towns just to get by must sit and shake their heads in disgust everytime they hear of another crazy transfer deal or another story in the press about someone wanting £125k a WEEK or they're off - ****ers like Lee Hendrie earning a million plus a year!!! It makes me want to ****ing vomit. Just watched the League Cup Final and yeah, not a bad game but come on, who the **** can relate to any of them? Relate to them? I can't even pronounce half their ****ing names. Imagine this lot going into a pub in London tonight and sharing the win with the fans - the fans are kept as far from the players as possible - players are untouchable and the fans are lepers - you'll never ever see players sitting chatting to fans in pubs now like they used to - I've even heard of players walking out of a place if a fan dares walk up and ask for a pic or an autograph. I also know for a fact that Stephen Gerrard went to a kids event at Crewe (PAID for by the boot manufacturers) and he didn't sign a single autograph or have a single picture with any of the kids afterwards, in out like the ****ing SAS - I know that cos I was in a meeting when a senior official from Crewe told us about it and how nobody could even get close to Gerrard apart from his entourage - at a ****ing KIDS football "clinic". Sorry for the rant of all rants but I am sick and tired of people on here slagging down fans for not going anymore or for accepting Bates/Wise or whatever shafting us - football has been shafting fans for ****ing years and maybe lads like me aren't just sitting back and accepting it, maybe lads like me are just at the point when we just do not give a **** anymore. Bought 4 tickets for 4 gigs in the next 2 weeks or so and have spent less than £30 on all 4 - why the **** did we allow football to become so expensive? Fans made their bed, now its too late to start ****ing moaning about it. Its become boring & predictable, too many foreginers & too much money, plastic fans, all seater stadiums etc!
I got bored of his whinging after half of it, yea some of it might be true but if he doesn't like it he knows where to go. Gigs ?? What a dreadful comparison, i think the reason is that millions of people want to watch football week in week out where as there's only a limited amount of people that are going to pay to watch a gig in hammersmith. Woeful comparison. As i said if he doesn't like it then he can go and watch Rugby or something.
Not sure about you guys, but I'm tempted to e-mail it to everyone I know!! He's spot on. Which Board? I feel obliged to going and posting a bit of support...
Will anyone take any notice of it though? I think its a spot on article from a supporter that is not just concerned with his own club,but football in general. Ive been saying for ages that the prem has become boring,stale and very predictable and very patronising towards clubs outside the top 6. My view may not be agreed with here,but for smaller clubs like ourselfs it just feels like,go up get the money,clear the debts,make improvements then back to reality,and alot of my friends who are not watford supporters agree with me. AB is brilliant but its all their to see,we cant compete with big money signings and huge wages,and if we dont offer them those wages,players will not come.Its not AB"s fault its all down to money in most cases. We can compete with effort but when 1 player of each prem team costs more than your whole squad and in some instances half the value of your ground,what hope is their for any side coming up thats in debt and needs to start afresh.
Who is there to stick up for the smaller clubs? they should be doing something to help bridge the gap.
An excellent article from a person who has seen the changes from the seventies. agree with his points.
