So what does this mean for us lot not in England? Anyone have an idea? I already have next wednesday off coz I am moving so this would fit right in with her unpacking boxes and me going AWOL for a few hours.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Answers

Divvent all ansa at wonce mind!

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Nee idea, bonny lad - but aal be there leyk. Selfish git aah knaa!

;-{)

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Clarky can ye knot use yer mammoth web of connections to pull some strings fer us poor folk awer 'ere. Wouldn't gan as far as to call ye selfish, mind. A little bit lite on yer feet, but nowt wrong wi that.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Information on the new PL ppv packages are out. While the "normal" cost has been set at £8.50 per game, the packages (called season tickets!) are available this season at £60 for all 40 games - ie £1.50 per game.

Presumably they've got the message, but by enticing people in at a low initial cost they will undoubtedly then jack the price up next season when a lot of people by then will have been conditioned to the ppv concept. Clever b@st@rds, in fact tossers!!

Unfortunately, the schedule has some good games, and while the entire ppv concept is to me like a garlic bread starter to Count Dracula, I'm ashamed to admit that I'm sorely tempted. Footy or principals, what a pig of a dilemma! As Shanks said "football isn't life or death. It's more important than that!"

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Ahhhhhhh Clarky lad, you'll be an American before you know it. England is fast losing it's hold on spectator sports, soon, like in the USA you'll be able to see every toon game live on TV. They won't care about filling the ground because the real money will be from TV endorsements. I can watch every single cubs game, bears game, bulls game and blackhawks without even leaving home. Advertisers don't care about the punter who goes to watch the game, they want the one that is sitting at home in charge of the remote. Captive audience. Football won't be a game of two ninety minute halves it'll be 3 30 minute periods. It'll happen by 2010

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

....well on the way already, syme. They call it progress. Tossers!

Where's "Minnesota Slim" anyway - he's not trying to kid us he's working, surely?

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

I was just thinking about what's been happening, and it's all so clear now that the major investors in English football are in the advertising/commercial game. They are buying stakes in clubs to position themselves for such a takeover.......how sad it is. The next generation of kids won't even know what's it's like to go a live game, just like the kids now don't know what it was like standing in leazes with 20,000 mates.

Minnesota slim? oooh...you mean the sheep farmer, dunno where he is, he's probably checkin out the local talent doon at the sheep shearers convention.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

".......just as the kids now don't know what it was like standing in The Leazes with 20,000 mates".

How terribly poignant syme, and yet how very true.

Different game: different generation. Life moves on, but how much for the better?

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be 'ol son.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Josh, Aah think theyor taakin' aboot ye up in Minneapolis lyek. How's it gannin'?

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Ah, it's the man himsel, Minnesota Slim - how's tha deein bonny lad?

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Sheep shag..er I mean screacher son how'y deein. Ready for the apple the morra

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

PS. clarky , I am all depressed now. Bollix, somethings should remain the way they were. The price of progress is steep if you're reluctant to make the emotional sacrifice.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Hey syme, what could I possibly say that might cheer you up from your melancholy? "Life's a bitch: then you die!" Nah, guess not!

Beunos noches me amigo - et uno Whopper con queso!!!

;-{)

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Disagree folks. Audiences for live matches are getting bigger. Our history (we have one) shows we love to spectate, we love to be there. True a lot of American trends hit our shores 10 years later but i think Football is bloodier than the blood in our veins. We will always go to the game.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

WE would still attend, but what of those made of a lesser cloth. It's cold and raining and the match is on the box many will stay at home. Just because we on this board love it doesn't mean everyone does.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

The game's on U.Direct, the company that gave us the woefull England / Finland game. Hopefully I'll have my two tickets by then. Has the deadline for season ticket holders passed? I sent my application in yesterday.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Is it not the case that in America you can travel for 100s of miles before going anywhere near a big sports team? While in the UK there are dozens within relatively close distance. Also, in the US I understand teams are run by franchise, so they can up sticks and piss off to another town (e.g. Los Angeles Raiders went back to Oakland, Phoenix Cardinals left St Louis). Here there are only a few teams based any distance from their home town support (Wimbledon springs to mind). The argument is that UK sports fans tend to identify with a locality / city / town more than US sports fans since the teams take their names and are largely based in these centres (ok, centers).

No? Please yourselves...

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Good points, I guess many Americans don't identify with locality since the shear size of the place dictates the contrary. Every organization is set up differently to maximize profits in their own local market.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

I think most people living within 50-100 miles of a major sports team do identify with it. Those who live farther away may pick whoever is popular or cool. There's usually much wailing and gnashing of teeth when a team is moved to another city, but I think it's become so common now that people aren't as shocked as they were years ago. They just get angry at the money grubbing owners who have no loyalty to the fans who showed loyalty to the teams.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001