Have I Fallen Out Of Love With Football?
Surely it is too early in my life to feel so disillusioned? I'm too young to be cynical, but I've been bruised, battered and spun around by events at Newcastle United to the point where I think I might have fallen out of love with football.
It isn't just what has happened at St James' Park since I became a sports reporter ten years ago, although that clearly hasn't helped, it is everything the game has become. From Sepp Blatter and Fifa to the conniving, money grabbing agents who get rich off the talent of others.
From the hype and hyperbole of hours of Sky Sports coverage, to the constant failures of England's preening, pampered stars. From greedy, arrogant and selfish players to dishonest owners, via self-serving managers and deluded, irrational armchair fans.
At the end of the January transfer window, Newcastle and Sunderland have both sold their top, English goalscorers for a combined fee of £60m to rival Premier League clubs. A lot of money has been received, a lot of hope has disappeared.
Both players were adored by fans and both players made all the right noises about loving them back, in Andy Carroll's case, even after he had agreed to sign for Liverpool.
In both cases, Darren Bent claimed he had been forced out by the Black Cats and Carroll said the same thing. Yet, in reality, all this "forcing out" amounted to was a refusal to offer them a lucrative new contract to replace the lucrative one they already had.
Regardless of semantics, it basically boils down to the argument pay me more or I'll go elsewhere. It is cold, hard, brutal and calculating. There was no love there, there was no special relationship and there was no biding contract. There was just money.
These are market forces at work. This is capitalism. It is ruthless and unforgiving. It is not kind, it is not emotional. It does not care about anyone's feelings, it only responds to cold currency.
Football does not care about you and it does not care about me. We are customers, but cash cows would probably be a more accurate description. Football clubs see us in terms of balance sheets and cash flow forecasts. They see us as bums on seats and add on sales, refreshments and merchandise.
They see players as assets and commodities to be bought and sold. They see profit margins and bank balances, not talent and ability.
Football is not a sport anymore, it is big business, an entertainment industry. The players are just looking for their slice of the pie and they want to make sure it is a wedge not a slither.
Can we blame them? Well, if somebody offers to pay you more to do the same job you are doing for a rival company, nine times out of ten as a young man in your twenties, without any family ties, kids in school or wives to think about, you will accept that offer.
Pay me what I want now or I'm off. The threats were made and subsequently carried out. Yet, I do not only blame the players for this. There are the agents whispering in their ears, unsettling and disrupting, looking to get things done, looking for an opportunity to make some money while the transfer window is open.
Agents make money by making their clients money - it is why players love them - but to do so they can often do things which the players did not actually want to do until the agent suggested it.
For all of the words about regret, sadness and the crocodile tears, Bent and Carroll left because they wanted to. Sunderland might have fought a little harder to keep Bent and Newcastle were ridiculous to sell Carroll on the final day of the transfer window without a replacement lined up after weeks of insisting their star player was not for sale at any price.
But everybody lies in football, everybody pretends and it is the lies and pretence that hurt. We are angry at ourselves because we allowed ourselves to believe what we were being told.
I don't believe Carroll wanted to leave Newcastle, but neither do I believe he went to Liverpool kicking and screaming, devastated to leave his hometown club. If he was so upset, he did not have to sign. There was no gun to his head and he would have been welcomed back by manager Alan Pardew with open arms.
He had a choice to make and he took it. From what I can gather from what I've heard so far, he wanted more money and he wanted it straight away, did not get it and handed in a transfer request.
Other players have done that before and stayed, others have been sold when they actually wanted to stay, some have simply got their wish.
As for Newcastle they saw the size of the bid in front of them and they took it. They did not fight to keep Carroll, they could have rejected the request, they allowed him to leave because they felt the deal was too good to turn down and then leaked information about transfer requests to protect themselves from the backlash.
It was a business decision, not a football one, but when football clubs are run as a business are we really that surprised? Did we honestly believe Mike Ashley wouldn't be willing to sell a homegrown player for a huge profit and buy three or four new ones with the money, hopefully to sell each of these for a profit somewhere down the line?
I'm not picking a side in this argument, I'm just wish I did not have to stand between them in the whole ugly mess, tainted by their greed and deceit, sour and bitter because of it.
Football saps your energy and your optimism and there are times when I wonder whether I should find a new job and a new pastime to enjoy.
And then you see that Leyton Orient, the club I love and cherish, the club that does not even own its own ground as the chairman bought it and built flats in each corner, the club that is under threat of extinction from two Premier League clubs who want to move next door into an Olympic Stadium far too big for its own modest needs.
A club that has constantly struggled to keep its head above water, a club that will never play in the Premier League, a club that has always had to sell its best players when a bigger one calls, has drawn Arsenal at home in the FA Cup Fifth Round and I love it all over again!
I'm addicted, I'm hooked and even though I know football is not good for my health, I will always want more and I will always keep coming back.... it's what football counts on and gets.
Older/Newer
« Football And Sex......ism | Newcastle Gained Far More Than Just A Point Against Arsenal »
18 Comments
Blog Authors
Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Spot on Luke. I think both parties are to blame here. It is too simplistic to lay the blame at the feet of one or the other. Newcastle didn't have to accept. Carroll didn't have to sign. Simple. Both parties were reluctant to start with but money talks.
I agree with your comments except they've broken my addiction. I'm not bothered anymore and he can stuff his season ticket renewal form when it drops through my door where the sun dont shine.
Finally a sensible summary of the situation.
The club were greedy, impulsive and stupid.
Carroll was greedy, arrogant and stupid.
The agent was a self-serving, nasty piece of work who knew how to make both of the above happen and make several million in a day.
What's not to love, eh?
Correct to a point Luke, but more blame lies with Ashley and his cronies as far as I'm concerned. I totally accept the argument that if Carroll loved the club so much he'd have declined the move, but why did NUFC think he was worth no more than £30k per week? How does that reflect his status as our most valuable player? Smith is on £60k pw for a start, and offers us nothing! So for NUFC to refuse to make him the highest earner, when he's clearly the most valuable player, suggests that they fancied having Carroll's talent but didn't want to pay for it. Or more accurately, they fancied £35m.
Carroll was probably influenced by his agent, but his importance to the club was not being properly recognised, so he left to go somewhere where it would be.
Someone could have said "No"
Carroll, Ashley or Pardew but no one did.
Pardew should have been the one to say "No, I've promised the fans so many times this wouldn't happen, you must stick to you promises yo made to me Mike, he's under contract, say NO or will be forced to resign as a matter of honour"
Instead Pardew let the fans down and joined Ashley and Llambias as proven liars.
I just wish they would all go and leave us alone.
Chelsea have spent £75M but gained Torres and Luiz. Liverpool have spent £59M but gained Carroll and Suarez. Newcastle have £35M in the bank - football is won by players on the park not by money in the bank.
not bad print however i noticed in another blog you had a little dig at newcastle at the end not very professional at all...
Yesterday's orgy of sickening greed put me in mind of Mr Creosote from Monty Python's Meaning Of Life. One day soon someone's going to have a little nibble on a wafer thin mint.
I agree with sentiments Luke, all I've got left is apathy, and I have to look hard for that.
It's sad to see him go, and even sadder that we didn't bring a replacement is...I may only be young but i remember the 90s and the Newcastle glory days. I really started to believe we were on our way back to those good old days...however...Newcastle are not a 1 man team...to be honest..Carroll wouldn't have scored half the goals if it wasn't for Nolan and Barton...but then again Nolan wouldn't have scored some of his if it wasn't for Carroll...I think all we need to do now is focus on the squad we have and hope that the added confidence of more first team football for Ameobi, Best, Lovenkrands and Ranger now that Carroll is gone. I think they've all had it in the back of their minds that as soon as Carroll was fit again they'd be thrown back on the bench. I hate that people are talking about boycotting the games again...we are the geordies, and we will support our team regardless of whose in charge of it, or the decisions they make...we will always be the toon army, and we will always love and cherish the players that go out onto that pitch every week and play their hearts out for us. We are the 12th man...and we will help pick our club up from a massive blow to the stomach with Carroll leaving.
Its sad to see him go, and even sadder that we didn't bring a replacement in. I may only be young but i remember the 90s and the Newcastle glory days. I really started to believe we were on our way back to those good old days, however, Newcastle are not a 1 man team, to be honest Carroll wouldn't have scored half the goals if it wasn't for Nolan and Barton, but then again Nolan wouldn't have scored some of his if it wasn't for Carroll, I think all we need to do now is focus on the squad we have and hope that the added confidence of more first team football for Ameobi, Best, Lovenkrands and Ranger now that Carroll is gone. I think they've all had it in the back of their minds that as soon as Carroll was fit again they'd be thrown back on the bench. I hate that people are talking about boycotting the games again, we are the geordies, and we will support our team regardless of whose in charge of it, or the decisions they make, we will always be the toon army, and we will always love and cherish the players that go out onto that pitch every week and play their hearts out for us. We are the 12th man, and we will help pick our club up from a massive blow to the stomach with Carroll leaving.
Prithee tis but a miniscule melancholy curse decorating the diligent, its spell cast on by a despicable mischievous sprite, a small smoke screen wither mathematical magical conjuring trick, to perplex a puerile populous with nifty numerical nonsense.
Can the dewdrop ever recover from his shallow mealy mouthed condemnation? Twas seen as the clear sky, and his master's had made a knave of him! A knave a rascal, an eater of broken meats, a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave!
If the current incumbent head coach guy thing, brings in four new players, will the combined wages of those players exceed the wage demands of Carroll, will their combined height match that of Carroll, and can we play with fourteen players at the same time anyway.
Will these midgets take it in turns to punch Steven Taylor or will they merely attack him en-masse in the bathtub, If I were Ashley (and Iâm not) I wouldnât bother buying them, they sound like the wrong sort to have around the club, Better by far to put the whole lot on thirty five red and spin the wheel.
You capture the feelings of the fans very well Luke, indeed 'spot on', the age of magical creatures has all but gone and this is the second age, that of men, and theyâre all bloody accountants!
First of all Luke, I owe you an apology for scoffing at a blog earlier this month saying that Carroll will ultimately leave. I, like so many others, would've had you thrown in the stocks before tossing you over the City Wall had it been Medieval times, but instead I rallied to question your judgement. Alas, I bow to your superior foresight.
I heard a quote yesterday saying that £35M is good, but you can't play a sack of cash on the wing. True enough. True also that this could be a great piece of business for Mike Ashley, but not NUFC. If all goals dry up and we slip into the bottom 3, will that £35M really be profit? The owner has taken a massive risk, but one that ultimately shouldn't surprise you. I don't blame Ashley for this, I blame Carroll's agent for being greedy and Carroll for being naive. He didn't have to go and he didn't have to sign.
I think what I would do in his position. Living in my hometown, doing my dream job and raking in £20,000 a week. (He makes more in a fortnight than I do in a year, so how does need more money???) You wouldn't be able to shift me and no-one could persuade me otherwise. Maybe that's just me, because I'm not avaricious, I am loyal and I do love NUFC until I die. Just a shame I wasn't good enough to make it as a pro......
I have just been reading the headline that Stuart Rayner wrote in today's Journal.
I will keep that headline pinned to my wall until September 1st to see just exactly how much Alan Pardew sees of it.
Don't get me wrong, as I mentioned in my last entry, I don't blame Ashley, but I don't trust him and have difficulty believing anything he says.
Only time will tell......
What do you means you donât blame Ashley the man is a calamitous cataclysmic, codpiece, and some say he makes decisions on the flip of a coin, and his favourite cheese is feet, all we know is heâs milking the club dry and has just destroyed another season.
What do you means you donât blame Ashley the man is a calamitous cataclysmic, codpiece, and some say he makes decisions on the flip of a coin, and his favourite cheese is feet, all we know is heâs milking the club dry and has just destroyed another season.
watching carroll walk out at Anfield with a big smile on his face is sickening; what money is doing to these young players is a disgrace, dyer, jenus, bellamy- you wouldn't want to spend five minutes with any of them... every team needs a start and carroll was ours. mind you the fans didn't sound that excited by it either, the scousers no how it feels and i bet they'd rather have Tores still there than AC. we're not a one man team but you need someone that can finish the hard work worry the defence so that others can come into the game, to be fair not knocking their effort but the strikers we have left don't worry anyone. However I feel PL MIGHT JUST SAVE OUR SEASON!?! cost nothing and gives 100% everytime, hese just glad hes in the team. play him from the start with Ranger, see what they can do. i tell you what if Padwho is lying about that money he really is going to look terrible come the some because he's telling everyone hes got 35m to spend! hahahaha
Newcastle should have brought in another striker long before Carroll was sold.
He still had another 4 weeks minimum on the sidelines (so we would be in the same situation as we are now with him gone and Shola also injured).
There was also no guarantee that Andy wouldn't have had a set back in his recovery.
We cannot blame his leaving for any "striker shortage" or even possible relegation. Management knew he was injured, and should know from experience (Gosling) that he could have had further setbacks (if he stayed) and therefore should have brought in the extra striker as cover!
I think mike ashley gets a raw deal by the legendary newcastle football following.
i know you wont agree luke... my opinion is that he bought the club so he do whatever he wants with it...if the fans didn't like
him putting dennis wise in charge of signings they shouldn't have sold their club lock stock and barrel.
if i spent a quarter of a billion pound on a club, you'd better believe i would be calling the shots...
he's had you how long now? and you're completely debt free and run financially in the black with a midtable premiership berth which he has bank rolled and business managed.
you can't blame him for taking £35 million for carroll especially after twice turning down £30 million.
You can't blame carroll for tripling his wages either.... i would do the same, i'm sure he'd have rather stayed at newcastle but if someone offered me 3 or 4 times the money to do the same job i was doing now the answer wouldn't be a difficult one to figure out.
the above all applies to my sheffield wednesday too....if mandrake wants to hire gary megson it's his call cos he owns us now....we've tried to avoid this type of crack for years...private ownership...we have tried to stay a public club throughout years and years of debt and freefall...but it got to a point where we were about to not exist...literally winding up orders and liquidation talk....we have had to go the same route and do a deal with the devil......mandrake is a nice guy i like him...but when things start to go wrong i'm sure i'll be saying "serbian mafia out...swfc not for sale" etc etc...just like liverpool man yoo newcastle etc etc....... when all that inevitably happens, i'll try my hardest to remember that when your dancing with the devil....you wait for the music to stop.