‘WE ARE BLESSED TO PLACES COMMUNITY
WITH no actual Stoke City matches to discuss this week, thoughts turn to the wider state of football currently. And its parlous in many ways, isn’t it?
No supporters in the stands, fans up in arms about pay per view and yet many clubs are spending millions of pounds on new players, both in transfer fees and wages, and then leaving out high rollers from their 25-man squads for some competitions.
Bizarre, and an empty-headed example of how the bloated Premier League cocks a snook at your average supporter. Yes, the fans that pay for the satellite TV subscriptions that then pay these extortionate wages and agents fees to the very, very few who happen to be fairly talented (at least in some cases) at kicking a ball around.
Even more outrageously, they have simultaneously, in a few, high profile cases, taken the step of making a welter of staff redundant.
Utterly appalling. Especially since the club in question – oh, go on then, let’s name them: Arsenal – have been serial underachievers season after season recently.
Only since they splashed yet more cash to rid themselves of Unai Emery and bring in former player Mikel Arteta as coach have their fortunes upturned.
In fact, they seem to have taken the same approach that cast our own club into the dark shadows of the lower reaches of the Championship; namely a belief that simply throwing pots of cash at a problem will resolve it.
When, in fact, other factors are much more important such as thought, dedication, commitment, care and hard work.
How have we allowed the game to reach the point when in the same week that the Gunners signed a player whose total package, including fees and wages, will amount to over £150m over the course of his contract, their mascot, Gunnersaurus, one of the most beloved in football, was sent packing?
Appalling, and to say that a fuss was kicked up by that dreadfully misdirected decision would be to underestimate the derision more than the Gunners used to underestimate their need to compete during their visits to ST4.
Social media was lit up like a Premier League CEO’S eyes at the thought of a new TV deal.
Even more so when Mezut Ozil (remember him?) said he’d use some of his £350,000 a week basic wages (poor lamb doesn’t get appearance fees at the moment as he is left out of every squad going) to fund Gunnersaurus’ rather more meagre pay packet.
Imagine the bile that came his way – and for once, even in a week that contained #Worldmentalhealthday last Saturday – you could understand why.
The very definition of excessive waste making a belated and frankly pathetic gesture simply served to wind up Arsenal fans quicker than you could say ‘Rory Delap long throw’.