Black Country Argos and Southern Casuals Speak

 Why ? As we watch football on telly and the Supporters seem to be exempt or extinct in this confusing time we carry on blindly wondering what the future holds in the game and life in general.

Over the past 18 months times have changed views have changed politics have changed we are dealing with Covid the death of George Floyd which was tragic in every sense of the word and a world that's going through a change like its never seen before in the modern day. But division is a thing that seems to be a word that can be used easily in many parts of society today with Brexit and covid which has brought about both division and unity, unity in the way the country came together to protect the NHS and then division on mask wearing and soon the division on the vaccine and is it safe or not and then Black lives matter or all lives matter. So wherever  you stand on any of the issues there is one thing we can agree on and that's footballs nothing without fans or Supporters.

 As we look at the game today at the top of the game it seems to be able to function with little or no financial pressure at all because of the vast sums of money pumped into the game by TV subscription. But as we move down the leagues it becomes even more prevalent that the supporters in the stands are needed more than ever before. But as we rewind the clock to not so long ago when the prem was division one and the FA cup was what all youngster's dreamed of winning in a Wembley that had twin towers and where England lifted the world cup a certain group of people stood on the terraces and the game was within reach of anyone who wanted to attend and fall in love with everything that's Football atmosphere excitement anticipation joy and heart ache all rapt up in 90 minutes of play or a day with all that wrapped into one. A youngster could pay to watch for the price of fish and chips and a Dad didn't need a small fortune to take his kids to watch the game. At this time Football was looked down on by a big group of society and it was predominantly a working class sport and not very glamorous to stand on certain terraces where let's say the drainage over flowed a little but it was the working class that turned up every week home and away to support there team.

 So in 1985,1989 Football changed with two tragic disasters and which everyone would agree the stadiums which we spent many a day or afternoon stood in needed to change and rightly so. At the time Italian football had the  world at its feet being the richest league in the world but the Supporters still came from the same class and the clubs appreciated the working class heritage the game had and even though their league was financially way superior to the English league it's stadiums were to be marveld  at but no price hikes to try and bring in a more wealthy supporter the game stayed accessable to all and surely this is what makes football the great game it is there is no exclusivity. And if the working class need any more hold on the game most premier league clubs started out as factory teams the whole of the English game was not just made for us to watch it was the factory workers that made the clubs and teams and let's not forget how the British press treated the Football supporter back then everyone of us was seen as a yob or hooligan you were nothing else but scum and as the years have gone on who would of thought that the game has been gentrified for the few not the masses and the working classes have been eradicated and priced out of the game. 

So in the dark days of the 80's when you couldn't buy alcohol in grounds now you can have a cocktail party at half time and at no time do you really hear supporters classed as drunken hooligans anymore but I can guarantee that more Supporters leave the ground pissed today than they ever did then and the only trouble back in the day was caused by provocative policing most of the time  and a charge by police horses would be written up in the press as hooligans attack horses when it's the Supporters that would of been off to the A&E. So the introduction of all seater stadiums attracted price increases and that was the first battle lost buy the supporters as Hillsborough and the decision to take away the terrace in the top two divisions and make all seaters compulsory, the supporters argued that the clubs would use this for price increases which was denied at the time but has definitely happened and has carried on year after year so much so that since Hillsborough ticket prices have risen over a 1000%.  If price increases would have followed inflation a ticket  today would cost around £8 at Manchester United the cheapest ticket today would cost around £30 for a prem game. Football teams started as local community clubs and sometimes they were attached to the places they worked and so they were works teams you can't get more working class than that. 

Money in Football is at an all time high with billions been pumped in by SKY and other networks so as the agents and Footballers reap the benefits of this revalution how come the people who made the game and who helped provide it with it's history have been eradicated from the game how come some youngster's find it even harder to watch there national sport and some families can't afford to pay TV subscription never mind attend games the players we watch are more than likely working class how come the friends and family of the players can't afford to watch there working class heroes. The game is becoming more and more a middle class spectator sport it's holding on to it's working class roots in history alone and the game is definitely not accessable to the masses anymore so what will happen in the future when let's say the premier is not looked on as the best league in the world which I know is a thing that would take some doing as even the bottom clubs in the league have squads that would more than likely make European Football in any other leagues in Europe fact. But if this was to happen would the middle classes stick about who knows but what I can say is this the working classes made the league and game and they are still hanging on by a thread sacrificing all manner of things to watch there beloved side but it's to late for most and they watch from afar and try there best to get to the game but just can't and I hear the gloating on some Football related sites on social media with remarks of he only goes so many times or he's an armchair or watches in the pub but the fact is a lot love the game and have father's grandfather's and whole family's that attended the game together but they just can't afford it so just think when mocking a lad who does not attend so much because the true facts are not that he wouldn't he just can't afford it, and that was one thing you could never say about any supporter and that's what Football should be accessable for all not the few and not just the many absolutely all no one should be exempt from the game because of price and then Football would be Football again. If clubs realize this and then bring back rail seating the English game is back and back safe and accessable for all that's what needs to happen when a supporter can not give the excuse it's to expensive then that's what the game is all about. 

Let's look at the German model where supporters must own at least 50% of the club and so German clubs look at things completely differently supporters are a big part of the decision making and they are not seen as cow's to be milked by clubs and it's a league where you can watch Bayern Munich for a tenner. So making the prem so all clubs supporters should have a fifty percent stake is probably out of reach so work from the Football supporters federation is falling on deaf ears and the demonization of the working class is nearly complete as it's not just rubbishing and breaking a once powerful group in society as they are even taking our past times from us soon a prem game will be like Wimbledon with all the frills and no grills champers and strawberry's at half time. This is not an attack on any class but it must be said as the game is keeping the people who actually made it what it is today away and surely that's not cricket I'm not wanting any class excluded I'm wanting the working class included and that's what Football should be about inclusiveness not exclusivity. Let the people attend. Mote to come on thr issue.