[Tony2005]

I think two things have spoilt football.....


Firstly SKY TV who have swamped the game with cash at the highest levals and that has made the top three or four clubs in many of the European leagues out of reach of the rest...


This injection of cash has allowed these clubs to spend money in the transfer markets and unfortunatly this money doesnt go to the other league clubs but out of the country especially here in England where we have mainly foreign players now in the premier league.


Alot of the players who have come to the premier league are either not that great or are here to take a nice payoff before returning to their countries to see out their careers..


With the SKY money has come big investers like we have at Man City and Chelsea who are fortunate enough to be able to fund as much cash as the club needs without really being worried about a return financial return...


BUT....


There are also lots of new owners who just want to rip the heart out of clubs by investing and then re borrowing the cash......Liverpool....Man Utd are two of these examples....


Also players have now become bigger then the game and their demands of 150k plus a WEEK are just rediculous for maybe 120 mins of football a week...


The whole game is being ruined by MONEY.....


The gap between the "rich" clubs and the rest is getting bigger by the season and in the end this will only spell trouble for these lesser clubs in the top leagues who try to compete...


We have seen this with LEEDS...FOREST...PORTSMOUTH and a few others who have fallen out of the premier league and have lost 80% of their income but still have to pay players large contracts.....


The other thing that is wrecking football is THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE which is just another cash cow for the big teams and with the input from SKY etc for that its crucial to many top clubs to qualify for the league stages of that comp to bring in the extra cash they need....


In my opinion THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE is many of the top teams priority before winning their league or their cup comps....


Football will never be "A working mans" sport again as its priced itself out of that market nowdays......


Also with most stadiums in the top leagues now being all seater the prices have gone up and also the atmosphere at football has disappeared with most games being played in virtual silence...


Yes your right Herbie....Football has really had its day and the only way to get back to the real heart of the game is to watch lower division matches where they have no money but still have the passion for the game....