National football federation on admission prices

The moment people started paying to watch football on TV the wheels were in motion.

But it could all end in tears (see ITV digital) if China carry on as they are going. Then the likes of Ed Woodward and that weasel Ivan Gazidis will be wringing their hands, begging local supporters to come back and protesting that all they ever wanted was to offer the best product possible to their loyal fans.

It is interesting that after all these year we may finally reached the tipping point of what people are prepared to pay to watch football.

Regular working class football supporters were excluded from regular attendances in the top flight years ago - what we're seeing now I think is mainly middle class people being fed up with the prices which is far more of a concern for the Premier League's model.

I've been to 3 Premier League games this year - at Villa Park, the Etihad and Old Trafford.  Only Old Trafford was full - the other 2 weren't even close to being full and I was struck by how little intensity there was in the crowd at all 3 places.  There's a bigger existential question here I think.  The model of football for the Premier League is that it attracts the best from all over the world and people have to pay accordingly.  The relationship between club and fan really is reduced to little more than customer - provider.  The owners are most likely to be mega-rich people from overseas, the players are likely to be hired guns from all over the world, likewise the managers and many of the people running the club on a day to day basis.  So what is it that you are actually supporting? No matter how much corporate money seeps down to the local community you are not supporting an entity that is properly embedded in the community in which it is based on a Saturday afternoon.  You really are just 'cheering for the laundry' ultimately - a bunch of players with no real connection to the club or the fans or the community they are representing and who basically don't care which club they're playing for provided they are making a lot of money.

This isn't neccesarily an anti-foreign player comment - the same thing could equally apply to many of the UK players and it is perfectly possible for overseas players to have a strong bond with a fanbase.  Henry at Arsenal, Cantona at United, Junuinho at Middlesbrough etc.  There are plenty of examples of that.  It's more a general mentality.  Players have more in common with players on the other team than they do with the fans in the stands who they can't relate to because they don't really share a common experience (always true to an extent but now I think there is a gaping chasm). I think it's quite striking in interviews these days how few players (from wherever they're from) actually grew up going to watch games.  To be fair most of them didn't have that luxury - eyes on the prize, working every day to make it as a pro.  But it means they never fully understand the motivations of the people who watch them - if anything they seem a bit baffled and possibly scared by it at times.  Even one generation ago - passion for football would have been formed from watching football, playing it with your mates and then that basic passion for the game steadily developing into a professional talent and commitment - which meant players understood football in a wider context.  These days a player is identified at a very young age, hot housed in an academy and generally motivated by the drive for individual achievement and you can't blame them for that but it means their experience of the game is almost totally different from that of the average supporter.  It takes away the underlying tribal edginess that football has.  Teams used to genuinely dislike each other - now I just don't think they're all that bothered most of the time.

Now I accept that to some degree the community/player/club thing was a bit overstated and something of a myth in itself - certainly in more recent years.  But without that basic idea of some form of pride in the club formed through people meaningfully connecting with the club on a more fundamental level then the only thing that is left is winning.  Because ultimately the product that is on sale is 'results' - I mean I know people talk about entertainment factor etc but ultimately the product fans are ultimately paying for is reflective glory.  No wonder patience is so low among fans of big clubs if that is the only thing that is ultimately left for them to cling on to.  So I think it's part of a much bigger question about what it actually means to support a modern Premier League club.  Obviously as a Gashead I would end up paying whatever really because I've made that link but having been to these Premier League games this season how someone would form the same level of bond from scratch with an experience that just feels so cold and distant - though people obviously do so I guess I'm just wrong.

I agree and I think it speaks to something really fundamental which is that the fan experience has fundamentally changed.

It's all very well people saying 'clubs offer discounted tickets' etc.  But that implies attending games for many people is a one off experience.  That isn't what being a football fan has historically been about.  Being a football fan is about going every week - living and breathing the club you support.  If you can't do that then the idea of a club being 'in your blood' is just not going to be there - at least not in same way.  There's going to be something different - probably far weaker and expressed differently.

I've really been struck since moving to Manchester (arguably England's number 1 football hotbed) how few people I've met actually go to watch United or City regularly.  I think I know 3 season ticket holders and they're all old.  I know no kids who go on a regular basis and you can see it reflected in the way they talk about and react to their club.  It's not like when I was 10-15 when I lived and died on Rovers games.  What they have is a far more distant connection.  Hell, some people might call that more healthy and well rounded! But I really don't think it's the same.

I feel that particular fan culture is under threat.