10. Pele and Maradona are always mentioned as the greatest players ever. Messi and Ronaldo have now joined them.
The dizzy heights that both Pele and Maradona reached mean that they have forever established themselves on the highest pedestal. Although other players are mentioned among the greats, these are the two who are continually mentioned as the top two – until now. The achievements of both Ronaldo and Messi have ensured that they have leapfrogged every other player and become only the third and fourth players to reach such heights. No longer will it simply be deciding between Pele and Maradona; Messi and Ronaldo are just that good that they now need to be considered.
11. Europe’s star appeal is waning.
Years ago, Europe seemed like the promised land, with bigger wages and a platform to play on the biggest stage offering huge appeal. Today however, despite the majority still seeing it as desirable, money seems to have gained a pull elsewhere, with many older players are now venturing to other continents for one final pay day. But it also seems now that several younger players are remaining at their clubs to truly complete their footballing education and avoid become another failed ‘wonderkid’. Many do move, but perhaps the most high profile case right now is that Neymar is still plying his trade in Brazil. Can Europe hold onto its club dominance much longer?
12. Reforming and encouraging a country’s youth policy is vital for the future.
While a club can spend big in an attempt to be successful, international teams can only use the resources that are available to them, and so if a nation has a lack of talent coming through, then there is little that can be done to immediately improve their fortunes. However, a way of preventing this is by ensuring that money is put in towards creating state of the art youth facilities. With clubs willing to spend so much on transfer fees, why not make an initial investment that could support you for life? We have seen how successful Barcelona’s ‘La Masia’ has been in producing world class talent, while Germany have recreated themselves with a complete overhaul over the past decade. Youth policy is certainly the way forward and needs to be encouraged to produce even more top talent.
13. The cost of supporting your club has become silly.
It is unfortunate that, with increasing amounts of money involved in today’s game, that it is the fans that are paying the price. With match day tickets exceeding £50 for Premiership clubs, alongside travel and food costs, it is becoming increasingly difficult for fans to continue supporting their club from inside the stadium. The ultimate kick in the teeth is that most of the players they are watching earn more in one week than we do in a year; so why should we have to pay so much? Unfortunately it doesn’t look like a trend that is set to stop, and is discouraging fans from the sport regularly. At least it gives us a reason to go to the pub to watch the game, while discussing goal line technology… But wouldn’t it be nice to go back to the past when seeing a game wasn’t an expensive treat, but affordable and common.
14. TV and media coverage is amazing today.
As technology has rapidly improved in the last two decades, the access that we now have to football is incredible. From the BBC and ITV channels, through to Sky Sports and ESPN, we have the opportunity to watch so many different matches both from home and abroad, along with internationals. Throw in Sky Sports News and many other football based shows (Soccer AM for instance) and football fans can easily get their fix. But there’s more; websites have a constant stream of news and other stories, while the ‘boom’ of phones and tablets now allows us to download apps on the go. We’re even ‘lucky’ enough to hear directly from the players and clubs courtesy of Twitter. Happy days!
15. FIFA have become a joke, while they clearly hate England.
It is no secret that there have been some ‘questionable’ decisions coming from the powers of be that FIFA; Bendtner’s pants being worse than racism, choosing Qatar as hosts of the 2022 World Cup despite temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees, or simply likening transfers to slavery – they really don’t seem too convincing to take charge of our game. Throw in the fact that they have a dislike for England (summed up no more perfectly than calls for goal line technology as a necessity after a decision went our way versus Ukraine at Euro 2012, despite being against it after our ‘goal’ against Germany just two years earlier) and I can’t help but want to see them all leave. Like most businessmen, it seems that they are only interested in making money, and not about caring for the game. With too much corruption, the anti racism campaign’s motto seems appropriate here: Kick It Out.
16. Seeing clubs falter through financial difficulties is such a shame.
There is no bigger disappointment than seeing a club implode due to financial difficulties, but unfortunately we have seen it many times happen. Portsmouth, Leeds, Wimbledon and Rangers have all had to effectively rebuild from scratch after multiple relegations from top flights, having seen board members take out unrepayable loans to cater for extortionate player wages and transfer fees. The saddest part is that the fans, who have stuck by the club through thick and thin their whole lives, are seeing their clubs destroyed by people who don’t have the same passion, yet they are the ones who end up suffering. Since when did football get so complicated?