Paphos People

Manchester United and Chelsea both owe their respective Banks over £750 million other clubs lesser sums and that keeps 20/40 players and others, on groundstaff /office etc., in a job at each club.
Woolworths owed £365 million so obviously 30000 people lost their job and other stores like the Zavvi chain closed. The knockon effect is frightening but who cares.
Northern Rock made a massive loss repossessed a record number of homes,are bailed out by the taxpayers, yet still sponsor a football team who cannot really be doing their image much good.It goes on, RBS Barclays and other banks use customers money and now taxpayers money to sponsor sport so god help those in desperate circumstances needing food shelter etc. They must hope for the best and those in that position in India can see 2 players earn 1.5 million in a few weeks along with others like them. What message does that send out.
Still don't forget they only have short careers.
How do you answer a young man who is thrilled to have a job and comes to tell you "if I keep the job for 10 years John I will earn what David Beckham and others earn a week"

Hold on a minute, they went bankrupt, but we're the ones not doing their image any good??

Seriously though, the only reason they're still on the Newcastle shirts is that they paid the sponsorship up front and we had already long since spent it (it paid for roughly half of Michael Owen's left leg )

I agree wholeheartedly with your overall point about the money in football and lack of perspective - the players are so far removed from the supporter base it really is impossible to identify with them. It's one of the reasons I find myself caring less and less about a game I used to be completely obsessed with.

I am a Spurs fan and first went in 1951 to see the Arthur Rowe side when they played with a proper football not the new lightweight beach ball you can kick around in carpet slippers.
In the first game of Jimmy Greaves career at Tottenham we watched from a seat behind the goal had a programme and a cuppa at half time and for myself, brother in law and his brother we spent a sum of 19s9p (98 pence) in total for the 3 of us and it was far and away better football. I still enjoy football but 90 per cent less than I did then.If there were trouble the crowd would isolate those responsible in the middle of a circle until the Police came to get them pickpockets and all. I remember being lifted up passed over the heads of the fans to the bench near touchline for safety many times especially when there were 65000 plus at the ground and being small you could get crushed.

Well I'm from a slightly later generation, but one of my earliest memories of going to the match is being passed out of the crowd and carried across the pitch to safety by a waiting policeman as they tried to get the kids away from a crowd of rioting Leeds fans! That was the early 80's and we still had all the fences up etc.

Don't miss that side of things so much mind, but the modern game has definitely lost it's soul. Might recover one day, but I really can't see it.