PREMIER LEAGUE?
You`re Having a Laugh
I think that any disenchantment I may have with with football right now stems from the antics of the Premier League, where excess abounds in all respects. Despite the commercial success of `the product,` I see Premier League clubs largely in the hands of an assortment of foreign owners - anything from oligarchs, porn barons to chicken farmers - `managed` by an assortment of foreign managers of questionable personality and with teams stuffed full of foreign mercenaries.
The wall-to-wall coverage it gets in the newspapers, tv, etc. all gives the illusion that it is worth watching if not actually supporting, whereas in reality the development of the `product` has all been about commercial excess and so has merely produced a caricature of what football and football clubs should be about. The Premier League is now beyond parody - an Alice-in-Wonderland fantasy world with its own cast of characters, its repertoire of scamps, malcontents, plots, sub-plots, dramas and melodramas and has seemingly become a law unto itself both on and off the pitch.
So, whilst I remain wedded to the cause of Southampton FC, you might understand my uncertainty, reluctance even, about Saints getting promoted back there. We will never be a Manchester United, an Arsenal, a Chelsea or any of the others steeped in avarice and self-delusion. We`re simply not big enough to compete from our limited provincial base. But for all that, I do want Saints to succeed and that is where individuals like me must define their own version of `success.`
Accuse me of lacking ambition if you must, but my own personal ambition for Saints is for the club to be financially secure, managerially stable, playing attractive football, winning some, losing others, but having a reputation as a friendly club, representing the city and the community of Saints in a manner which brings credit and respect. I don`t ask for much.
The wall-to-wall coverage it gets in the newspapers, tv, etc. all gives the illusion that it is worth watching if not actually supporting, whereas in reality the development of the `product` has all been about commercial excess and so has merely produced a caricature of what football and football clubs should be about. The Premier League is now beyond parody - an Alice-in-Wonderland fantasy world with its own cast of characters, its repertoire of scamps, malcontents, plots, sub-plots, dramas and melodramas and has seemingly become a law unto itself both on and off the pitch.
So, whilst I remain wedded to the cause of Southampton FC, you might understand my uncertainty, reluctance even, about Saints getting promoted back there. We will never be a Manchester United, an Arsenal, a Chelsea or any of the others steeped in avarice and self-delusion. We`re simply not big enough to compete from our limited provincial base. But for all that, I do want Saints to succeed and that is where individuals like me must define their own version of `success.`
Accuse me of lacking ambition if you must, but my own personal ambition for Saints is for the club to be financially secure, managerially stable, playing attractive football, winning some, losing others, but having a reputation as a friendly club, representing the city and the community of Saints in a manner which brings credit and respect. I don`t ask for much.
Right now, even though Saints are still well placed to challenge for promotion to the Championship and although the effort, time and expense I put in may be for too little reward on too many occasions, I still enjoy my visits `back home,` seeing good friends, revisiting old haunts and hoping for a good result. At the end of the day, to be fair, que sera, sera.....and having been chosen by the Saints to be one of their supporters, I`m not sure there`s a hell of a lot I can do about it anyway. Maybe I`m simply content to carry on enjoying my days out while I still can.
But I can do without the Premier League, thank you very much. And I`m pretty sure it can do without me.
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