Shaunders Shaves Shoccer
July 29th, 2010Nine days until the new football season and the excitement is… almost non-existent. England’s rotten world cup campaign combined with public apathy towards the highly-paid, underachieving thugs we’re all expected to idolise means this could be the perfect time for a revolution! My suggestions:
- £10,000 a week pay cap (this still works out at upwards of £500,000 a year, and players are free to seek out their own endorsement and sponsorship deals)
- £5,000,000 transfer fee cap
- £10 upper limit on match-day ticket prices
Granted, these measures would probably see a mass exodus of players to the Italian, Spanish and German leagues but really, what does it matter? A greater emphasis on home-grown talent would do wonders for the national team and, with lower outgoings, the holy grail of the Champions League will no longer be quite as vital. A transfer fee and wage cap should prevent the financial messes clubs like Portsmouth, Liverpool and <ahem> Ipswich have got themselves into in recent years, through not living within their means.
The third point probably requires more explanation, but the days where a club’s main income comes from ticket sales are long-gone. The cash cow now is television money, but what’s more depressing than watching a game played in a half-empty stadium*? In this age of austerity, why would people pay £35 a ticket when they can sit in and watch it on the box? Fill the stadiums with cheap tickets (and whatever revenue comes from in-stadium merchandising) and encourage people to make noise and get involved with the game. If it looks good on television, people will be more inclined to come along and that’s a win-win!
Anyway, the game’s too far gone for any of the above to happen, but I dearly wish it would. At least wrestling and World of Warcraft are still awesome, eh?
* Within a football context, I mean. I accept that things like cancer, Third World debt and Michael Mcintyre are more depressing.