Now I do have to declare upfront that Crystal Palace are, and always have been, my team. They were my local team when I was a lad, the first team I ever saw play live, and they were a big part of my life for many years. Not so much now. Like Jordan, I am somewhat disillusioned with the beautiful game, and pick and choose my games rather than blindly attend every game. Getting older and having responsibilities opens your eyes a little, but the comment I want to make here is that I believe football at the top level in this country is living in a bubble. How long can it be before supporters realise that they are being ripped off. Ticket prices are high, the cost of very average food and drink is excessive and once economic hardships start to hit home, football is one if the first luxury items that will go. And I don't think people will miss it nearly as much as they might think.
Football has changed in my years of watching it. As I wrote in a previous post, the days when any one of a dozen teams stood a chance of winning the league have gone. Winning is as boring as losing. The excitement in sport comes from the outcome being unknown. How exciting can it be for a Chelsea fan watching a home fixture against Hull City (and nothing against Hull City - they have done fantastically well in the last few years, and I wish them well) knowing that anything less than a solid win would be a disappointment?
And the Big Four are just going to get bigger. Read the latest transfer rumours to see what is happening. And the Big Four is really the Big Two and the Not Quite So Big Two. If Chelsea and Manchester United don't finish first and second in the Premier League, now what a shock that would be!
I for one am disillusioned with it all at the top level. Lucky for me that Palace aren't up there I guess, (I can enjoy seeing my team as a relatively big fish, but not so big as to make games irrelevant) but am I the only one who now takes far more interest in the non-League game than ever before?
Admittedly a lot of this is because from a betting standpoint there is far more value to be found non-league, but the leagues are competitive and games are fun to watch.
We are approaching a 'Tipping Point' and when we do reach it, the drift away from top-level football will be fast.
Simon Jordan speaks a lot of sense. The 'people's game' is not their game any more, and one day they will realise this. Football needs more people like Simon Jordan.
