The lady’s not for turning
Readers of a certain vintage will absorb that phrase and either shudder or raise a wistful smile. It depends on your politics.
For those unaware of the phrase, it relates to Thatcher’s refusal in 1980 to make a u-turn on her economic policy, despite rising unemployment and the economic recession. Ok, so the point is a touch ironic, but I wanted to focus on the bloody-mindedness of an individual to stick to their principles.
However, this site is not for political diatribe, rather debate about all things yellow and green, consequently the lady in the title is one Delia, rather than Maggie. Incidentally, to be known by your first name alone elevates you well above the normal levels of fame.
So…
Prudence with ambition?
Foresight?
Or did she just get lucky…
I’m referencing the fact that the bloated, saturated, disgusting football bubble that we have all gorged upon, since 1992 is about to well and truly burst.
With media reports that up to 50 clubs could go out of business, the situation facing our beloved game is looking rather bleak. I do not know how, where or when the game will return and in what form it will rise in. Cardboard fans with your face on it for £50, anyone? But rise it will. And what a chance to change it.
I speak as one who, Italia ‘90 aside, has little to no knowledge of football before the Premiership (league). So my football journey has walked hand-in-hand with the evolution of the top flight.
I distinctly remember when £10k a week turned Chris Sutton’s head and being staggered by the sheer amount that someone could earn. I doubt there are many Premier League Under-23 players earning less than that now.
The money in the game is obscene and has polarised the game to an extent where surviving year after year, just to gain TV money, is considered an achievement. How dull.
For only six teams to have won the league since its inception is appalling. And let’s face it, Blackburn and Leicester were mere blips, before the ‘rightful’ order resumed.
There is little to no competition in our highest league. That cannot be right. A quick glance at the winner’s roster, prior to 1992, throws up names that even the most ardent football fan could never realistically envisage happening again.
We need a return to real competition.
Whilst I doubt we could ever have a ‘draft’ as per NFL and abolish transfers, the fact remains that their league system is wide open and any team can dream of winning the Super Bowl.
Imagine little ‘ol Norwich getting first pick of Aguero, Lukaku, Salah etc…
So I for one, am rather pleased with the direction, Delia and lately nephew Tom, have taken the club.
She has steadfastly refused to budge from a position of not gambling with the future of the club for quick positional gain. One ill-fated sojourn aside, we have not thrown the stability and structure of our club into the hornet’s nest for the benefit of instant gratification.
At times it’s frustrated me. I’ve yearned for marquee signings, foreign or domestic, and been gutted when they haven’t materialised. Yet, looking at the decades since she took over, the club has been well run with it’s best interests firmly at heart.
Sure, blips have come along in 2009 and more recently in 2017, however we have ridden the wave and come through the other side.
As football is on the cusp of spectacularly imploding, I am more than glad we have a self-financing model, one where we have put financial stability ahead of throwing the dice and hoping we roll a six.
Sure, the value of some of our squad has been decimated, but to me, that makes it less likely we will sell them and perhaps we can enjoy a few more seasons of that glorious back-line (plus Todd).
We also have some great youth players to still come through, so I feel we are in a position whereby, yes we may feel the post-corona pinch, but that’s it’s one we can get through. The alternative, had we gambled, does not bear thinking about.
So to all those who have chastised Delia et al over the last few decades for not throwing wads of cash, or seeking some foreign ‘here one minute, gone the next’ investor, I hope that prudence with ambition can finally be a mantra we can all unite behind.
‘You turn if you want to, the Lady’s not for turning’.
Thatcher left once she felt the support of her followers waned. Anyway, suggesting football will change is correct, it will come back even more financially driven. Sheer desperation for some resemblance of happiness will see to that and this self funding (aka skint and unambitious) model will be exposed further. The UFC is already taking advantage of that desire for sporting events and they will reap the rewards no end. Starry eyed delusions that self funding will win the day won’t come to fruition in the current throat world of sports. It can’t and nor should it. Sport is the pinnacle of survival of the fittest and that is the way it must and will remain to maintain the spectacle beyond all this anxiety.
Hi Martin
A good take on how city is and has been run.
Over the last few years I think the Smith’s have lost the plot a few times and at present got lucky with recruiting Stuart Webber ha has been able to transfer said nephew ideas into a working plan otherwise we just might have got another Moxley or be where Ipshite are now.
As I commented on the other day an agency that finds investors for football clubs has said that they have a list of potential investors and 14 clubs are at present asking for some sort of investment and there are more in the championship, they were quoted as saying the investors are looking at picking up great deals due to this pandemic so the football landscape can or will change for many clubs possibly city as well
Question for 1 and all
Today SW was on Sky being interviewed on the football show.
Gary Neville asked about finishing the season and he made some good points.
1) Football must finish on the pitch
2) City are prepared to play behind closed doors
3) Relegation shouldn’t be decided by PPG.
4) with the lower leagues being cancelled how will promotion and relegation be resolved.
The point he made is if all lower leagues are cancelled and the premiership plays to a finish how can you relegate 3 clubs that have played a full season and promote 3 on a PPG system when they didn’t finish the season.
A very interesting point from him he also said clubs are all self interested and have been during all conferences calls but are now starting to come together for the benefit of the game, we will see only time will tell.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Keep safe and well
A nice dream scenario, but football is unlikely to change much whilst the TV companies remain willing to pump billions into it.
The only way to stop it is for the likes of you and me (and many thousands of others) to cancel our subscriptions and that won’t happen.
The fact that 50 or so clubs go bust won’t matter. Frankly, new ones will rise in their place funded by a different billionaire.
It isn’t football that’s broken, it’s a the sociological model that allows individuals to have such financial power. But twas ever thus, as they say, and it will never change.
I can’t see the top of the football pyramid changing given the billionaire owners of many clubs. Long gone are the days when Blackpool, Oldham and Carlisle can play in the top flight or Bolton and Portsmouth can reach the Cup Final.
I’ve no doubt some clubs will go under. They will come back as XYZ FC 2020. In many cases they will come back in a better financial position. It will be their creditors that suffer and may go under themselves.
If you want a competition where everyone has a realistic chance of winning the top flight then you do need a major overhaul of the rules. It may well, therefore, lose its international appeal. I would argue that UK Ltd needs to have the most internationally supported football league to help our economy. The Premier League is financially beneficial to the UK economy and the Treasury will benefit from taxation of players and clubs. It also supports a lot of jobs from kiosk staff and security, grounds men, admin and sales, etc, etc.
Turning to NCFC. I want them to be successful but more importantly I want to be entertained when I watch them. Given the number of promotions and near misses in the last twenty years I feel I have been entertained more often than not. So the club has in those terms been a success. I get little satisfaction or entertainment from many Premier League games involving NCFC, particularly during Hughton’s tenure.
The club’s ownership is what it is and I can’t influence it. I could moan about it but to what end. I will support the players on the pitch, as long as they give their all for the shirt.