The news that broke late last night of Manchester City being banned from the Champions League for cheating had to be the least surprising news in years. You cannot honestly say you were shocked by the fact that they had breached FFP rules with the way they have spent money in the past decade. It means nothing though, because they will appeal and win as have PSG and others when caught doing the same thing. Why? Because money talks and always has.
I have no sympathy for the people that own and run that club, my sympathy's are with the fans. Not the new ones that have attached themselves to the coat tails of their recent success, but the ones who were going when they were in League 2. They got sold a dream bought into it and have now got to face the total destruction of their club. What they believed in is now gone and it wont be back.
Forget jealousy and fan rivalries for a moment. Let me give you a scenario. Joe Lewis decides he's had enough of not winning things and unleashes his full financial weight onto the Premier League. We are suddenly buying the bets players in the world and paying 500k a week in wages. We start winning the league by record points totals and dominating all competitions. We are untouchable. Be honest how many of you would complain? That is exactly what has happened at Manchester City.
No one had heard of Sheikh Mansour before he bought Man City and signed Robinho on the very last day of the transfer window in the summer of 2008. Everyone was shocked and lets be honest pleased that there was someone else who was potentially going to take over from the money Chelsea had been throwing around the previous few seasons. It was fun and exciting. Except football had finally sold its soul.
People will blame SKY for footballs ills, that's fine you are entitled to, but what they did was transform the game, in the beginning, for the better. As much as we harp on about the 'good old days' football was dying. Decades of football hooliganism, crumbling stadiums and governments trying to destroy us. Football was not in a good position. Football was controlled by the 'Big Clubs' back then, five or six clubs who always looked after themselves and their own interests. We were one of them, and if has been reported recently, we still are.
Football sold its soul a long-time ago for money. The problem now is that some of us older ones are being priced out of going and we don't like it. Tough we started it when we all bought into the Premier League. We watched as SKY made football 'sexy', turned it into the cash cow it now is and watched as the foreign money rolled into the game. We got wonderful new stadiums, that not only hold football matches but concerts and NFL games. We lost our history and out tradition in the process. To nick a phrase, the prawn sandwich brigade took over.
Do I sound angry? That's because I am. I'm tired of people moaning about how money changed the game when we all stood by and watched it happen. We watched Portsmouth go almost bankrupt a decade ago, we saw our own club almost go to the wall 30 years ago and yet we learnt nothing. We did nothing, we stood their with our hands on our dicks saying "Not my club not my problem" instead of looking at the bigger picture. We were warned and did nothing about it. So don't stand there moaning about it we created it. We hoped we would be the club taken over by the money men and success would follow. We lost our way, our traditions, our history for the next bloke who was going to throw millions at us and sod the rest.
Manchester City will win their appeal. Then they will carry on doing what they do. Spending money they don't have in a system that is mean to protect the top clubs as its always done. Talk of point deductions and bans is paper talk and nothing more. The FA and Premier League are absolutely toothless. UEFA haven't been able to make a single FFP penalty stick in any of the ones they've handed out. Why? Because money talks. It always has.
The fans suffer and the money men get richer and no one does anything about it. Its too late now. Stay away? Fine well ship in a load of cooperate fans to replace you, they spend more money than you anyway. Don't buy the shirt? That's okay we sell more in Asia than we do in the UK anyway. Don't pay SKY or BT Sport? That's okay we sell the rights abroad anyway. You cannot change a system that is set up to do whatever it wants and is awash with money.
Football will never be the game you remember or grew up with. Its changed. The game you dreamed about playing when you was a kid. Now players go to Chelsea and Man City who pay them fortunes to sit on the bench and never play. Do I blame them no not for the money they earn but surely a little pride must kick in? You spent all that time getting there and now don't want to play and just take the money? Shame on you.
What wont ever change is the love you have for that club, the more you are pushed away from it due to finical constraints, the more you will swallow your anger and attach yourself to the reflected glory that may one day come your way. I miss the club that we once had. I miss meeting friends and going to games. We are all but priced out now, so we meet in pubs or homes and watch games that way. Does our passion diminish no it doesn't, but we aren't wanted by the money men who run football because we cant spend the money they want us to, so we are pushed aside.
Manchester City may suffer for a while but they will find away around the rules. As others have done before them and others will continue to do. FIFA was rife with corruption, has anything changed? No. UEFA had a corrupt President, has anything changed? No. Football isn't run by governing bodies no matter what they tell you. Its run by money men and lawyers and that's never going to change. The game I grew up watching has gone. Things have improved, stadiums, pitches, and better players. But at what cost? Ask yourself was it worth the price you paid?
The FA Cup is now a micky mouse competition that no one wants to win in all honesty. Destroyed by money. The Premier league is now split into three. Those battling relegation, those fighting for the Champions league, and those you make the numbers up. Fans will always buy into the promises of their Chairman and the lies they are sold. Its called hope. Yet once hope is gone you have nothing left. Ask a genuine Man City fan how they are feeling this morning and Ill bet they'll say all they want is their club back. Too late mate that ship has sailed.
Money talks, it always has and always will, you're a fool if you think otherwise.
