8 Honourable Men

[fatman]

For the first time in 50 years, this transfer window has made me question the values of football. In 1982 8 honourable men stepped aside to save a football club. They tore up their contracts. Bristol City survived. Will that happen again? no chance. I have just watched Stephen Ireland leave man city in a car which looked ready to take him to the moon, not villa. Agents have taken over.Money is king and the effects are seen, primarily across the top two divisions. Today, Karl Oyston has stepped down as chairman of Blackpool. Didn't like what he was seeing! Maybe Coppell saw the way things had changed in the year he was away. The money swilling around in football is, in the current climate, obscene. I wouldn't mind so much if the recipients were anything above average but, if our performance in the world cup is anything top go by, most of them simply don't deserve it. It's very easy to join in but Lansdown is an astute businessman and he wont put us at risk. That would be to disrespect the likes of Garland, Merrick, Rodgers, Mann etc. I know i risk being a fogey of the past but, for goodness sake, lets stop the madness. If SL considers players are over priced. Good enough for me. Lets go with what we have got and get behind them.

[stevep38]

Well said sir, i completly agree. :chant6ez:

[bs3]

I'm very disillusion not with City but with football. I don't think I will buy another season ticket and after this season I will stop watching professional football . I will still love Bristol City but I have falllen out of love with the game. The money man, agents , foriegn crimminals who run English football have killed for me and now a foriegn dictorship trying to buy Liverpool it beggars belife. The Liverpool will never forget hillsbrough but they have seem to forgotten the massacare committed by the Chinese goverment at tiagamin (sp) square which happend in the same year.

All the players now are just chav scum look at Bellamy and Stephen Ireland not a brian cell between them are footballers the most money grabbing low life ill educated immoral scum you will every come across and alll the ex footballers and managers who indulge thier disgraceful going ons and most of all Jason Cundy who sums up everything which is rotten in this game.

God help football.

[Red Rag]

I feel exactly the same, come fishing we me instead. The thought of my hard earned cash lining the pockets

of these gread fueled mercenary footballers is giving me second thoughts about renewing my season ticket

for next year, not so sure I even want to use this years. Playing football for a living is a dream most of us had at

some stage of our life. If it meant i would have turned out as a money grabbing self centered individual thank

god I had two left feet.

[chinapig]

I have to agree. Were it not for my addiction to Bristol City I could simply turn my back on football. It now represents all that is worst in our society .

[CityMann]

Agree 100%. No loyalty anymore just money money money.

[Red Ferret]

...All the players now are just chav scum look at Bellamy and Stephen Ireland not a brian cell between them are footballers the most money grabbing low life ill educated immoral scum you will every come across....

[Roger Red Hat]

Have to say I'm probably in agreement with all these posts. I'm beginning to question my relationship with professional footy. FFS, why are people getting so worked up about John Stead( sorry John, if you're reading, I hope you come in and do a good job for us!). I have an addiction to City, and am an International football fan but somethings got to change or I think its the beginning of a long decline in the popularity of our national game.

BS3, love the "one BRIAN cell between them" gag, by the way!!!

[Economou]

Agree with the sentiments. The only way things will change is if people ditch their Sky subscription.

[NifflerNomad]

I think english football has lost the plot

Saw something on SSN today that Real Madrid have signed ozil one of best players in the world cup for £12.4m and man city have signed millner for £26m!

i wish i could back time before the premier league and start watching the football in the 70's, 80's i think thats when it was real football tho i could be talking a load of rubbish

[Red DNA]

As long as people subscribe to Sky Sports etc., and most of that money goes to the clubs in the upper leagues, then ridiculous amounts of money will be available to clubs to pay players high wage demands. It's like complaining about terrorism and soldiers lives being put at risk in war zones then getting some mind bending drug off a local dealer and not realising the money from that deal will eventually find its way all the back to Taliban type of extremists who fund their aims from those drugs. Look at the big picture.

If it wasn't happening in football it'll be the next sport along the line, so I think to overcome footballs image we need to consider the much bigger picture i.e. society a whole and what we want it to be - for everyone's future?

Apologies for heavy first posting

[fatman]

I think english football has lost the plot

Saw something on SSN today that Real Madrid have signed ozil one of best players in the world cup for £12.4m and man city have signed millner for £26m!

i wish i could back time before the premier league and start watching the football in the 70's, 80's i think thats when it was real football tho i could be talking a load of rubbish

Nt rubbish mate, Good sentiment. There is just the beginning here of fan power.Our game has been hijacked and we are hostages of fortune. Enough is enough.

[bs3]

FFS it's this iPhone it's a nightmare using it. I make so many errors using it I'm going back to lap top.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

The 3 defensive walls constructed by WBA against Chelsea on saturday, tell you everything you need to know about modern day footballers, 2 goals and 1 near miss, Why because the overpaid cowards in the wall ducked out of the way of the ball. My dad used to shout "don't turn your back it's only a bag of wind", The more these cowardly parasites are paid the less pain they are prepared to endure (with very few exceptions).

Could you imagine Gerry Sweeney, Geoff Merrick, Norman Hunter, Brian Drysdale, Dave Rogers, Terry Cooper or Gerry Gow ducking out the way of a 'bag of wind'.

Overpaid pussies.

[Davros]

For the first time in 50 years, this transfer window has made me question the values of football. In 1982 8 honourable men stepped aside to save a football club. They tore up their contracts. Bristol City survived. Will that happen again? no chance. I have just watched Stephen Ireland leave man city in a car which looked ready to take him to the moon, not villa. Agents have taken over.Money is king and the effects are seen, primarily across the top two divisions. Today, Karl Oyston has stepped down as chairman of Blackpool. Didn't like what he was seeing! Maybe Coppell saw the way things had changed in the year he was away. The money swilling around in football is, in the current climate, obscene. I wouldn't mind so much if the recipients were anything above average but, if our performance in the world cup is anything top go by, most of them simply don't deserve it. It's very easy to join in but Lansdown is an astute businessman and he wont put us at risk. That would be to disrespect the likes of Garland, Merrick, Rodgers, Mann etc. I know i risk being a fogey of the past but, for goodness sake, lets stop the madness. If SL considers players are over priced. Good enough for me. Lets go with what we have got and get behind them.

I can remember a little thing on TV about this not that long ago and I dont think they had much choice and one was quite resentfull none the less they stayed with the club.

[Jordan Tansley]

Agree completely, But blaming Sky is Bollocks.

Sky offer us fantastic coverage of a huge array of sporting events, they pay a shit load of money for the privildge of showing us sport...

the problem was the inception of the Premier League. If Sky paid the FA the TV rights then there would be more scope for the funds from it to be used in a much more productive way.

Unfortunately, The FA are now just a name, they have no control over anything.

If football in this country was run properly, we'd see the money made from the TV rights used to better coaching facilities, grassroots football, help keep the finances of the lower league clubs sound.

Instead farcical amounts are thrown into the clubs who need it least... their requirement for teh money is simply to fund their stupidity.

Its ridiculous, but in no way Sky's fault. It's not their fault they have to buy the rights from such a corrupt business as the Premier League.

[MC Risk]

Taking the balanced view having read all of the above....i was too young to remember 82 but my dad alway tells me about how close we were, that aside i think if it were not for Sky this country would not have the best football league in the world, the entertainment on offer from the best players in the world is fantastic, and while yes their salaries are immoral i guess it is economies of scale where you have the best you have to pay for it, and im pretty sure most people on here talking their love of city aside will want to watch Super Sunday or Monday night football......

Going back to my dad he has always championed a salary cap, i mean who really needs more than 20k per week....whe i tol him yaya toure is reputedly getting 220k per week his head fell off....i think a salary cap aka american sports could be the only way of controlling the greed of the modern day footballer, but then again if they cant get it here there will always be someone else who is willing to pay the obscene ammounts of money on offer.

i think the realisation is that football is the most marketable entertainment commodity in the world right now so money is going to be thrown about to players agents tv channels etc

Just the world we live in i guess

[fatman]

I can remember a little thing on TV about this not that long ago and I dont think they had much choice and one was quite resentfull none the less they stayed with the club.

I was there, my friend. Trust me. These guys gave you a football club!

[bs3]

The premier league was set up so the big clubs could keep all the TV money . Where in the past this money would have been filter down through the divisions.

[Roger Red Hat]

Agree completely, But blaming Sky is Bollocks.

Sky offer us fantastic coverage of a huge array of sporting events, they pay a shit load of money for the privildge of showing us sport...

the problem was the inception of the Premier League. If Sky paid the FA the TV rights then there would be more scope for the funds from it to be used in a much more productive way.

Unfortunately, The FA are now just a name, they have no control over anything.

If football in this country was run properly, we'd see the money made from the TV rights used to better coaching facilities, grassroots football, help keep the finances of the lower league clubs sound.

Instead farcical amounts are thrown into the clubs who need it least... their requirement for teh money is simply to fund their stupidity.

Its ridiculous, but in no way Sky's fault. It's not their fault they have to buy the rights from such a corrupt business as the Premier League.

Please let me know where I can send my donation to the "save Rupert Murdoch charity"

[MC Risk]

The premier league was set up so the big clubs could keep all the TV money . Where in the past this money would have been filter down through the divisions.

Yes true, but look what can happen if you can get there. Blackpool will get 30m i guess their board know they will not stay up and may not be bothered that much, but just that one season will mean improved training facilities improvements to the stadium and stability for years to come, which means they can improve their status and in years to come can have another go at the premier league in a much stronger position to attract and retain good players

[Jordan Tansley]

Please let me know where I can send my donation to the "save Rupert Murdoch charity"

that's clearly what I was saying.

[Roger Red Hat]

Yes true, but look what can happen if you can get there. Blackpool will get 30m i guess their board know they will not stay up and may not be bothered that much, but just that one season will mean improved training facilities improvements to the stadium and stability for years to come, which means they can improve their status and in years to come can have another go at the premier league in a much stronger position to attract and retain good players

Interestingly, Blackpools chairman resigned today!

[MC Risk]

Interestingly, Blackpools chairman resigned today!

ran off with the 30m??

[fatman]

Yes true, but look what can happen if you can get there. Blackpool will get 30m i guess their board know they will not stay up and may not be bothered that much, but just that one season will mean improved training facilities improvements to the stadium and stability for years to come, which means they can improve their status and in years to come can have another go at the premier league in a much stronger position to attract and retain good players

Fair point but unless you are prepared to accept a season of thrashings and trouser the money without paying silly wages to average players, it doesn't work.Lets see how Hull do this season?

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Agree completely, But blaming Sky is Bollocks.

Sky offer us fantastic coverage of a huge array of sporting events, they pay a shit load of money for the privildge of showing us sport...

the problem was the inception of the Premier League. If Sky paid the FA the TV rights then there would be more scope for the funds from it to be used in a much more productive way.

Unfortunately, The FA are now just a name, they have no control over anything.

If football in this country was run properly, we'd see the money made from the TV rights used to better coaching facilities, grassroots football, help keep the finances of the lower league clubs sound.

Instead farcical amounts are thrown into the clubs who need it least... their requirement for teh money is simply to fund their stupidity.

Its ridiculous, but in no way Sky's fault. It's not their fault they have to buy the rights from such a corrupt business as the Premier League.

Agreed but people who subscribe to skysports are to blame and are under the impression that the premier league has the best players, Which is rubbish over 30 of the top 50 highest earners in the world play in the UK, only about 2 of what you would consider the worlds top 10 best players actually appear in the top 10, Gareth Barry is I believe the 5th highest player in the world, says it all really.

[redsontour]

ran off with the 30m??

No, refused to bankrupt the club to chase the dream. Wage cap of £10k a week. And to think there are players who are being paid more than that and have never made a first team appearance. Shocking.

[CodeRed]

For the first time in 50 years, this transfer window has made me question the values of football. In 1982 8 honourable men stepped aside to save a football club. They tore up their contracts. Bristol City survived. Will that happen again? no chance. I have just watched Stephen Ireland leave man city in a car which looked ready to take him to the moon, not villa. Agents have taken over.Money is king and the effects are seen, primarily across the top two divisions. Today, Karl Oyston has stepped down as chairman of Blackpool. Didn't like what he was seeing! Maybe Coppell saw the way things had changed in the year he was away. The money swilling around in football is, in the current climate, obscene. I wouldn't mind so much if the recipients were anything above average but, if our performance in the world cup is anything top go by, most of them simply don't deserve it. It's very easy to join in but Lansdown is an astute businessman and he wont put us at risk. That would be to disrespect the likes of Garland, Merrick, Rodgers, Mann etc. I know i risk being a fogey of the past but, for goodness sake, lets stop the madness. If SL considers players are over priced. Good enough for me. Lets go with what we have got and get behind them.

100% agree - i was there in'82, stood on the crumbling terrace at Newport thinking it could be the last ever City game.

Today players could afford to do what the 8 did - but they wouldn't.

Those guys walked with basically nothing. Merrick went off to work as a builder, a couple of the others went to be security guards, a couple went to be postman.

Compare that to the millionaires of today.

To be honest I worry more for the future of BCFC if we get promoted than if we got relegated.

CodeRed

[citynut54]

Agree with the sentiments. The only way things will change is if people ditch their Sky subscription.

Very true!!.......i see SSN is about to disappear from Freeview

[Rob k]

So sky pay each club 30m each say so they can broadcast their players, why should'nt the players take a decent slice of that?

Why is it just footballers people bang on about, lewis hamilton and jenson button will earn far more than the average player will this year but nobody bangs on about that. sport as a whole is out of control so i dont know why its just footballers that get picked on.

If you dont like it then get rid of sky and stop paying your entrance fee, i shall do neither.