World Cup Corner

The reasons for playing English football have now drastically changed as its 120th year dawns. The new age ushers in the effects of inflation, which even football is apparently vulnerable to. This had dramatically changed the reasons why more and more people are investing time and effort into the game. More so than winning, people are into English football apparently to get rich. English football has certainly gone a long way from its roots in 1888, when the team to beat was Preston North End, bagging the first two leagues and even the FA Cup of 1988 without losing a game.

As inflation raises the bar of player value, the worth of money also starts depreciating. With the humongous TV fees paid out to the Premiership clubs, the monetary talks in football have changed a lot. What used to be just the amount of an extra moustache comb as an offer to make a star player stay in a team, taking into consideration Preston North End and its star player John Goodall, has now reached the twelve to thirteen million mark. A recent example would be Frank Lampard’s rumored decision to leave Chelsea after being declined a whopping 140,000 pounds a week. Based on this extremely huge difference, we can just see how much role money now play in English football. It has now, sad as it is to admit, become a money sport.

Such changes may still be quite beneficial, needless to say, but only for two entities in English football. The first benefactors are the premiership clubs, who are sweeping in endless streams of money from television fees alone. The second benefactors are the players who get paid a lot more money and attention than they are obviously worth. Although beneficial for the players themselves, this has, however, a negative effect for football. Even after underachieving, taking for example Dyers who was offered 13 million pounds by West Ham, mediocre and even below-average players are now getting a rather handsome amount. To add to that, even players with no former league experience are also valued more than they are supposed to be, such as Man City’s recent thrusts. The quality of football, unfortunately, is on the line.

As the overall Premiership expenditures edge toward 200 million pounds and the big earners in this game may sit too idly and comfortably to notice, but what has been happening to English football is actually a threat. Aside from the short-term negative effects, there may also be long-term implications. Commonplace English players are now getting extraordinary amounts, while better foreign players are actually available for considerably less. The reasons for sticking with English players are slowly lessening. Obviously, this can lead to an invasion of foreigners in the English league.

Aside from this, only the top four Premiership clubs are bound to do well, despite conditional changes. Those below the top four, however, face a huge amount of risk if the TV contracts drop within a couple of years. Without the money supply from TV fees, the quality of football players playing in the league is bound to drop. Top players will be priced minimally, and below-average players may be taken in.

Indeed, what is now reaping a lot of benefits for some people is actually a looming storm that poses hazardous effects on the Premiership clubs. This, of course, is not a good thing, given the great importance of Premiership clubs to English football. Having diverted from playing just for the love of the game, English football is bound to take a few nasty turns if it doesn’t manage to straighten out these few mistakes.