Opinionated News

I admit it, I have absolutely no right to blog about footie.  Why because I hate the game.  It’s such a part of the UK culture that we know about it from almost the moment we open our eyes, and if, like me, you happen to be born in the North East of England, then you soon learn that football (soccer) is more than just a sport.  It’s part of the cultural blood that runs through the streets of our part of the world.  We have a few good teams in the area, but where I’m from, if you’re not a Magpie supporter – that’s someone who supports Newcastle United Football Club, also known as NUFC - then you better keep your head down and your mouth closed on Saturday night after the game.

I grew up with the notion that football was completely boring, a few players running around a piece of grass trying to kick the ball into a little box whilst the other team did their best to prevent it.  As an adult working in Newcastle however I could physically feel the energy surge that ignited the city just before a home game.  The expectation.  The excitement.  The way the people smiled at each other and said “Should be a good game tonight!” or “Shoulda won last night, ref must be blind!”  As a premiership team NUFC has had some of the best football players on their books throughout the years, but suddenly the team is up for sale and all because of money.

You see the current owner of the team appointed a manager, Kevin Keegan (wor Kev – local dialect of “our Kev) who the fans adore.   Kevin Keegan wasn’t just an ex member of the team, having brought glory to NUFC in his younger days, he’s a living legend in the area.  He’s returned to St James Park on more than one occasion and in varying capacities.  Appointing him as manager was one of the best boosts to fan energy in the North East of England that anyone could do.  Unfortunately the owner didn’t think about local culture, or care about folklore where King Kev was worshiped by the Toon Army (AKA fans of NUFC), instead he cared about his balance sheet and didn’t think that a manager should have any say in where the money went when it came to attracting new talent into the club.  Of course, like any sporting manager worth his salt, Kevin Keegan said he wasn’t working under those terms, and left.   Long story short:  the fans were in an outrage, the team in disarray, the owner sulking and the team up for sale.

Now to my main point, the team will be bought and have a new owner, but from what I can see the new owners will not be from the UK.  As with other clubs in the UK that have been sold in recent years, the people/consortiums who are bidding in order to take over ownership of NUFC will be from overseas.  They are injecting millions of UK pounds into the UK’s football teams and making this not a competitive skill game, but a business transaction where the team with the most money can attract the highest skilled players simply because the team can afford to pay what the selling team wants.  In turn the team that has sold a player to another club can then use this bonus money to buy higher skilled players for their own team.   I know that this is something that happens regularly in the NFL/NHL/NBA but it’s just starting to become more noticeable in the UK.  To me it seems crazy and not in the spirit in which sport is supposed to be played.   Maybe I’m naïve, but I don’t think sports people should be held as commodities, creating “super teams” for the richest owners.  

Call me old fashioned but bring back the days when Kevin Keegan first walked among the fans as a great football player and players were sold/exchanged for standard amounts – oh and bring “Wor Kev” back to the North East that adores him!