Cruyff
0
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2009
- Messages
- 1,148
I see there are many pats on the back today for the club and Peter Ridsdale for his statement condemning the European Super League.
"Fantastic statement"
"My club could never do that"
"Proper club with proper values"
But do you actually believe that? Do you really think we are any different to any of these clubs now being lambasted by sky sports and the premier league? Is our billionaire owner who lives in a tax haven in it for the good of the people of Preston?
Todays statement by PNE talks about "power grabs" and how "performance on the field of play" should be paramount. Do you remember Project Big Picture from last year? The "rescue plan" by the Premier League elite who would dangle a golden carrot over the EFL in exchange for a smaller Premier League, abolishing the League Cup and more importantly special voting rights for the "Big Six". Well do you remember how PNE voted on that power grab? Take a look, because the clip is right here:
https://www.skysports.com/watch/vid...12102673/preston-supports-project-big-picture
It's all there. We don't like it, but if they are going to pay us 3x the going rate, sign us up. No regard for the fans feeling on that one funnily enough. So why is it different this time? Well guess what happens if the big six walk away from the Premier League, the FA Cup, Sky Sports TV packages? English football suddenly becomes a hell of a lot less attractive on any commercial deal you can name, and the slice of pie coming the way of Preston North End is drastically reduced. So you better believe today we are the spokesperson for fan rights, history, competitive fair play...
Let us not forget, Trevor Hemmings put the club into administration and threatened to let HMRC wind us up if supporters didn't hand over their shares at 5p a go. This is the club that had fans petition the council for a training ground in Ingol, which is now going to be a housing development. This is the club that plasters a betting company across the front of its shirt because the highest bidder wins. And are we unique to that? Of course not. We are just more of the same, another branch on the rotting tree.
The footballing world in this country sat back and watched the Glazers saunter into Manchester United, saddle the club with hundreds of millions of debt and interest, and did nothing to stop it. We all watched Peter Winkleman buy a football club and move it overnight from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes. Bolton Wanderers escaped from the football league into the Premier League and immediately set about campaigning for a Premier League 2 to help pull the ladder up behind them. Remember Chester? Bury? I could go on.
So what's my point? Well for starters can we all stop patting ourselves smugly on the back that our club is different, we are a proper club, proper fans, it would never happen here. If someone offered Trevor Hemmings £100m to move the club to Ireland we would be sold tomorrow so don't kid yourself. We have zero say and zero influence. That's just the reality of the footballing world we have created in this country.
There is a reason why no German club has (yet) signed up to this Super League model, and it's because of two reasons. The 50+1 model means no rich investor owners can ever call the shots over their fanbase. If you want a full in depth look at this I would suggest google or start with this article on Copa90. And the second reason is their fans are organised, not just on a club level but nationwide. They won't accept extortionate ticket prices or Monday night games. They aren't consumers and won't be treated as such.
So I ask you - could you ever see a day when Preston North End is owned by its fanbase? Would you want that or are happy for it to be passed around rich local, national, or international businessmen over the coming decades if it means "success" on the pitch? Would you walk away and say enough is enough? More and more supporters seem to be gravitating towards lower league or non league football, there are alternatives out there.
This could be a seminal moment in English and European football, but don't base your opinion on what should happen next on the words of UEFA (they've just dropped a 36 team Champions League this morning to increase games by over 100 in a year and "new spots for elite clubs who fail to qualify" btw), the Premier League and Sky Sports who don't want their golden goose walking out the door. Fans need to organise and take genuine steps towards fan ownership if we ever want to see "our game" come back to us.
"Fantastic statement"
"My club could never do that"
"Proper club with proper values"
But do you actually believe that? Do you really think we are any different to any of these clubs now being lambasted by sky sports and the premier league? Is our billionaire owner who lives in a tax haven in it for the good of the people of Preston?
Todays statement by PNE talks about "power grabs" and how "performance on the field of play" should be paramount. Do you remember Project Big Picture from last year? The "rescue plan" by the Premier League elite who would dangle a golden carrot over the EFL in exchange for a smaller Premier League, abolishing the League Cup and more importantly special voting rights for the "Big Six". Well do you remember how PNE voted on that power grab? Take a look, because the clip is right here:
https://www.skysports.com/watch/vid...12102673/preston-supports-project-big-picture
It's all there. We don't like it, but if they are going to pay us 3x the going rate, sign us up. No regard for the fans feeling on that one funnily enough. So why is it different this time? Well guess what happens if the big six walk away from the Premier League, the FA Cup, Sky Sports TV packages? English football suddenly becomes a hell of a lot less attractive on any commercial deal you can name, and the slice of pie coming the way of Preston North End is drastically reduced. So you better believe today we are the spokesperson for fan rights, history, competitive fair play...
Let us not forget, Trevor Hemmings put the club into administration and threatened to let HMRC wind us up if supporters didn't hand over their shares at 5p a go. This is the club that had fans petition the council for a training ground in Ingol, which is now going to be a housing development. This is the club that plasters a betting company across the front of its shirt because the highest bidder wins. And are we unique to that? Of course not. We are just more of the same, another branch on the rotting tree.
The footballing world in this country sat back and watched the Glazers saunter into Manchester United, saddle the club with hundreds of millions of debt and interest, and did nothing to stop it. We all watched Peter Winkleman buy a football club and move it overnight from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes. Bolton Wanderers escaped from the football league into the Premier League and immediately set about campaigning for a Premier League 2 to help pull the ladder up behind them. Remember Chester? Bury? I could go on.
So what's my point? Well for starters can we all stop patting ourselves smugly on the back that our club is different, we are a proper club, proper fans, it would never happen here. If someone offered Trevor Hemmings £100m to move the club to Ireland we would be sold tomorrow so don't kid yourself. We have zero say and zero influence. That's just the reality of the footballing world we have created in this country.
There is a reason why no German club has (yet) signed up to this Super League model, and it's because of two reasons. The 50+1 model means no rich investor owners can ever call the shots over their fanbase. If you want a full in depth look at this I would suggest google or start with this article on Copa90. And the second reason is their fans are organised, not just on a club level but nationwide. They won't accept extortionate ticket prices or Monday night games. They aren't consumers and won't be treated as such.
So I ask you - could you ever see a day when Preston North End is owned by its fanbase? Would you want that or are happy for it to be passed around rich local, national, or international businessmen over the coming decades if it means "success" on the pitch? Would you walk away and say enough is enough? More and more supporters seem to be gravitating towards lower league or non league football, there are alternatives out there.
This could be a seminal moment in English and European football, but don't base your opinion on what should happen next on the words of UEFA (they've just dropped a 36 team Champions League this morning to increase games by over 100 in a year and "new spots for elite clubs who fail to qualify" btw), the Premier League and Sky Sports who don't want their golden goose walking out the door. Fans need to organise and take genuine steps towards fan ownership if we ever want to see "our game" come back to us.