Where Are The Fans?

We are constantly told, by a self serving and self interested media, that the Premiership is the 'best league in the world' - the definition of 'best' is rarely quantified. However attendances are down at the majority of Premiership clubs so what's going on or wrong?

What defines best?

1)Fastest? Yes

2)Most Competitive? Definitely No

3)Most Technically Adept? A Big No

4)Most Expensive? Hell yes

Fastest -
Oh yes, we love to hear that expression 'the game here is played at 100 m.p.h' don't we? Well no actually we don't. Last season there was a phone-in on TalkSport asking why attendances were down, caller after caller phoned in saying it was because the Premiership had become boring. I phoned in and defended Liverpool and, would you Adam and Eve it, Chelsea.

I said that those of us on the intellectual wing of the football supporters XI had been crying out for years for English teams to play the sort of football we had grown up watching on old 8mm and 16mm films of European football matches and then lately courtesy of Channel 4, Channel 5, Setanta, Bravo Channel etc. We actually liked the idea of players being able to pass, control and keep the ball. Okay, some Chelsea fans may get all dewey-eyed when Mickey Droy's name is mentioned but come on, surely you'd rather have Dickie Carvallho, West Ham fans might sing the praises of Harry Redknapp but we'd rather have Yossi Benayoun.

Competitive?
Absolutely not. The gap between the teams at the top end of the league and those at the bottom is the biggest out of all the 'big five' leagues in Europe, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Championatt, Premiership. The team in fifth place and guaranteed a UEFA Cup place is closer to the bottom team all in the other leagues - that for me shows competition and therein lies the first problem.

As discussed with Six earlier in the year, we want to see winners but to be honest knowing that your team is not going to be involved in the chase for Europe or the battle against relegation reduces enthusiasm for most fans. Remember that old rot about teams at the top being beaten by teams at the bottom - has anybody told Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United that? Alan Curbishley pointed out last season that there is something fundimentally wrong with a league where a team can draw more games that it has won or lost and still not be relegated - mediocrity is rewarded.

Even success isn't a guarantee of big crowds, look at Chelsea's home attendances for the Champions League over the past two seasons (although that could be down to cost rather than Chelsea's supporters growing bored with top class football).

Technical or Skillful?
Gab Marcotti said earlier in the year that it would be a good idea if we dropped the word technical from football language in this country as it has become an intimidating millstone - he's right. Okay, I accecpt the theory that in cold latitudes skill is less prevalent than those further south but Thierry Henry comes from Paris not Peru, Michael Ballack is from Gorlitz not Gambia and Wayne Rooney is from Toxteth not Tanzania

After all it was Brian Clough who famously said that a footballer should treat the football like his wife and caress it and hold on to it for dear life, remember George Best's dismay at Graham Taylor picking Carlton Palmer? He said Palmer could trap a ball further than he (Best) could kick it.

The technical level is frankly appalling - there are probably only five players in the Premiership who get you out of your seat on a regular basis: Henry, Rooney, Robben, (Joe) Cole, Ronaldo by doing things out of the ordinary beyond that you are struggling.

Most Expensive? Yes, Oh yes

Last Saturday I watched the best game I've seen since the FA Cup Final. It was the Milan derby won 4-3 by Inter, in terms of technical ability, chances, atmosphere etc it was streets ahead of anything the Premiership has to offer. If I had wanted to attend the game at the San Siro I could have bought at ticket at the ground, for the second tier of the Grandstand opposite the technical area for £18.90 - combine that with a budget airline ticket and going to watch Serie A is cheaper than most Premiership games - incidentally West Bromwich Albion charge £40 for some of their seats and they aren't even in the Prem any more!

Why haven't football clubs used the television money they receive to subsidise their supporters rather than pay inflated wages? After all supporters are the only constant in football - players, coaches, managers all come and go but we cling on grimly in the face of overwhelming evidence that we should walk away. Newcastle will receive £500,000 for tonights game against Colin's team - that's £10 per head they could have reduced prices for the game.

Okay, Chairman could say that whilst their grounds are 90% full there is no need to cut prices but actually there is, 11 out of 20 teams in the Premiership are playing to lower attendances than last season. Perhaps Sky should follow their American cousins and introduce the radical idea that where games are shown live on TV clubs won't get paid if the ground isn't 100% full and if the pre-sold attendance is below say 90% the game won't be shown at all. It works with the NFL, just as Salary Cap's and video evidence work.

Wigan, who are one of the more user friendly clubs in the Country, reduced their prices for their last game after consultation with the fans and saw their crowd increase. It doesn't need the accountant in me to point out that 30,000 paying £10 a head actually generates the same through the turnstile as 20,000 paying £15 - the point is that the additional 10,000 spectators will actually pay an average £5 per head on merchandising - so you have 30,000 x £5 instead of 20,000 x £5 - which I make £950,000 a season extra income achieved by actually dropping your ticket prices - not exactly rocket science is it?

Anorak Corner

The average Premiership attendance fell every season from 2001/2 to 2004/5.

Six years ago it was 35,464. Last season it had dropped to 33,875.

That figure has risen to 34,084 so far this season, but the increase is almost solely down to Manchester United increasing their capacity from 68,174 to 75,828 and Arsenal moving to the Emirates Stadium, which has over 20,000 more seats than their former home at Highbury.