Two sides of Football

[Shay HTFC]

Football is a funny, cruel game.

For 10 years I have gone to the Shay to watch Halifax Town play, going to every home game and plenty of away games. They are a big part of my life and up until a couple of years ago when I moved away, they determined my day to day life, what I would do at the weekends and who my friends were.

But over the past few days we have gone bust and will get relegated 2 leagues minimum from our current position in the Conference.

I remember playing Hull in the league a few years back and now they are in the play-offs for the Premiership while we have just been demoted to the Unibond or some other place.

So while all you Man Utd. fans in London celebrate tonight, bear in mind the many clubs that have gone bust at a lower level leaving their die hard fans in tears and the other multitude of clubs that spend well beyond their means to get just a chance to play in the leagues above. these are clubs that you have probably never heard of seen as though they are not on MotD every week, but they are the livelihoods for a vast number of people.

B Sky B have ensured that the money injected into football is pretty much solely placed into the hands of the top Premiership clubs so we see their wage bills and turnovers get ever more expensive, when at the same time clubs are going bust because they are in debt by the amount of a Premiership players weekly wage.

Sorry if you don't care about football politics and have no concept of life outside the Premiership, but I for one am seriously gutted about what has happened to my team

I just hope we can build up again from the start with no debts and a fresh approach to how we spend our money
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[trevoriv]

It is a shame but sometimes starting again does a club good.

I'm a hull fan and I remember not too long ago we had loads of problems with the chairman locking the gates to the ground and not allowing the club to use 'his' ground!

Thankfully we have a new board/chairman a new ground and could be in the premiership for the first time in the clubs history.
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[Shay HTFC]

Hull are a good side.
I'm always shown them respect as a football fan since the time I went to Exeter away with Halifax. The away stand was pretty empty as it was so far away.
Next week I watched Goals on Sunday and Hull had packed the stand out. I was amazed!

Good luck with the playoffs. I'd like to see you guys go up
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[Skudd]

Do you watch for the football or for the corporate managers pay?

Man U and the like are about the business.

It doesn't matter who you play if it is the football. Doesn't matter what league you are in. just keep the passion for your team.

By the way I can't stand football.
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[Shay HTFC]

[JonB]

I have supported Liverpool ever since I was a child.

However more recently, I feel disenchanted with the whole Premier League system. It's not even like it's part of the English football structure anymore. It's a celebrities playground where people earn more in a week than your average worker earns in five years.

From the age of 15/16 I started going to watch Yeovil Town play at home, I remember watching them get promoted from the ICIS league into the Conference and it was a fantastic achievement, the ground started filling up and playing the likes of Dagenham and Redbridge was a joy to see just down the A30 from my place.

Then they got promoted to the old 3rd Division (now league 2) and thats when I began to see the lure of money coming precedent to what the fans wanted. Instead of turning up on matchday and pay a fiver to stand on the terraces on a cold December afternoon, instead you had to pay £10 in advance for a ticket.

Yeovil Town progressed even further and are now in League one. I don't watch them anymore, primarily cause I live so far away. Yet I know it is now nearly £20 to watch them play on a Saturday, the players haven't changed much, but their wage demands have due to the way that wages throughout the leagues have structured. So whilst Yeovil still play at a 9,000 capacity stadium, of which two stands are still standing terraces, the players get uppity when they don't get decent money.

And so in this age of football, the players don't play for their shirt and their fans, they play for the money. It's no longer a sport it is a corporate business.

I feel your pain mate, luckily none of the clubs I have gone to watch have gone bust, although Coventry came very close a few months back. But literally below the premier league, or I suppose the Championship English football is dying. It needs huge reform.
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[andrew]

I wish you and your club the best of luck. Ron Noades tried to Brentford so that he could get his hands on some prime West London real estate. Although we're not setting the world alight, things are starting to look slightly better these days, a few years ago i thought our time was up.

It does get better, we should end up with a new stadium in a few years time, with the sale of our current ground we should be debt free.

I love football from all leagues including the premier league but there is nothing quite like watching the REAL clubs. In fact i'd rather be at Griffin Park than any Premier League ground any day of the week.