Football. "This will not make me popular"

[KateLMead]

The Pure hysteria ...I would think the money made from football and it's fans would actually speed up the economy.
Our supposed English teams are certainly not made up totally with English players, they come from everywhere, and as for those obscene contracts with the monies paid to footballer's today are beyond a joke, inspite of which we learn that Lineker is being done for tax evasion.
Now if that isn't enough, we also learn of the endemic corruption and fixed matches from top to bottom of clubs world wide, and I certainly dont imagine that we in the UK are lilly white and exempt from these shameful crooked shams.....Finally the self glorification public hysteria and performance when a player gets a goal....Yuck.

[Workingman]

There is a report on BBC Sport comparing the English and German leagues.

Premier League
Formed1992
Clubs 20
Av. attendance 34,601
Av. ticket price £28.30
Transfer spending £550m
Revenue £2.3bn
Operating profit £68m

Bundesliga
Formed 1963
Clubs 18
Av. attendance 44,293
Av. ticket price £19.55
Transfer spending £253m
Revenue £1.6bn
Operating profit £154m

The Bundesliga, with fewer clubs, generates only half the income as the Premier League. Its tickets are only 2/3 the price and its attendance per game up 10,000 Its transfer spending is less than 1/2 yet its profit is more than double. It has a financial framework that all clubs must stick to otherwise they get relegated, and it invests in its football academies.

The Premier League = Money. The Bundesliga = Football.

What is noticeable from the BBC comments is that the idiots who follow football cannot see the wood for the trees.

Another big difference, football wise, is that in England the second tier, the Championship, is one of the better supported leagues in Europe; in Germany the second tier is nowhere, so teams do not want to go there for financial reasons.

[Diflower]

The finances are ridiculous.
I don't really watch football any more, and also think the hysteria is daft, but it's human nature isn't it? From the gladiators onwards, and no doubt long before that, people have gathered in large numbers to watch others' sporting activities and cheer for their favourites.

[TheOstrich]

The finances are ridiculous.
I don't really watch football any more, and also think the hysteria is daft, but it's human nature isn't it? From the gladiators onwards, and no doubt long before that, people have gathered in large numbers to watch others' sporting activities and cheer for their favourites.

Couldn't agree more. I'll not spend a minimum £30 watching Aston Villa when I can see a reasonably decent standard non-league contest, without the histrionics, for a tenner or less.

But non-league football is dying; the spectators are mainly elderly, you rarely see kids; attendances locally are down by up to 20% in some cases this season; finances are parlous, clubs can barely afford ground maintenance or travelling costs, and there's a steady trickle going bust.

Television is the problem, it has long since bought football's soul ......

[JoM]

If I want to go and see my team without having a season ticket I'm looking at paying between £40 and £57 for a ticket. I used to go regularly up until 15 years ago and still have ticket stubs from that particular season and the most I paid then was £16.
I will admit to getting drawn into the hysteria though, it's hard not to when you're passionate about something and in amongst 70000 people who feel the same.

[Diflower]

Totally agree Jo, being there, or even watching on TV with a big crowd, is quite different to watching at home on your own