The Last Straw!

Stamford Chidge has his say on the nefarious plan to take a Premier League game overseas…

We have to stop Scudamore and we have to stop him now!

Seven years ago The Premier League ‘Svengali’ mooted the idea of an additional round of Premier League matches to be played abroad –  the so-called ‘39^th Game’. Quite rightly all the major supporter groups were up in arms, and the idea even faced opposition from Sepp Blatter at FIFA and UEFA. The Clubs’ silence was deafening.

Having skulked away for seven years, negotiating even bigger TV deals for the already bloated Premier League, Scudamore is trying again. After all, a man who escapes any serious wrath for a load of inappropriate and sexist emails surely must feel that he is invincible.

I have a feeling that the introduction of the idea to move one of the weekends of the Premier League season overseas is simply a ruse. It is even more preposterous than the original ‘39^th Game’ idea and I suspect that Scudamore knows this. It may well be a way of getting the ‘39^th Game’ in through the back door, as a less onerous idea than the one being mooted now. But what if it isn’t?

We most stop this venal plan. It embodies everything that is wrong with modern football – a game that is now more about the brand; marketing; business; shareholder value and of course greed. A game that is now pandering to the TV audience and the overseas markets and increasingly has nothing to do with what counts and what matters most: history; tradition; culture; the integrity and sanctity of the competition.

But most of all it marks the final and biggest insult to the match going supporters who go week in week out, rain or shine, enduring a massive toll on our bank balances, our time and family relationships and work commitments.  Of course, if we can afford it, we do it willingly. And equally important we do it because it’s about identity and supporting the club whose community you feel proud to be part of. The fact that Scudamore is so brazenly attempting to get this idea traction is the final proof that those who run the game do not give a damn about the match going support – the support that has kept many of the Clubs alive for generations. We simply do not matter anymore. We do not count. We are nothing.

It seems that Scudamore is assiduously copying the tried and tested model so successfully exploited by American Sport. In America it’s different. There is no community based tribalism in their sport – the vast distances make that impossible – sport in America is and has always been about the TV audience. Its reason to be is not for the fan that goes to the game; it is to serve the audience on TV. The first Super Bowl was in 1967, around the time that TV exploded as a commercial entity. The Football League was founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football. The FA Cup was founded in 1872. In America they were still duking it out in the Wild West at that time!

English clubs were born of their community and ultimately that’s what separates them from soulless TV oriented franchises you get with American sports like NFL and baseball, and they belong in their community. They belong in England. To suggest anything else is a vile insult to the passion with which we follow the game in England. If you do not understand this simple concept then there is no hope for you.

I’m appalled that so many in the media, especially Talksport and Sky Sports, seem to think this is a good idea, but then they would wouldn’t they. Perennially out of touch with the ordinary match day supporter, the likes of Alan Brazil should remember who they owe their profile in the game to – the working class blokes who spent their hard earned cash cheering them on every week (although in his case, God knows why!). Sadly Brazil is perhaps too addled on the copious amount of free champagne he imbibes in corporate hospitality boxes to understand why taking the game out of England for a weekend is such an affront to the ordinary supporter. No doubt pressure from Scudamore and the Premier League has been applied to the media outlets whose income depends on its success to spin a positive message about the idea. It is sickening.

We put up with the high cost of tickets; we put up with re-arranged fixture times to suit no body but the TV companies; sponsors and armchair fans. We put up with the infiltration of the swathes of the new breed of football fan, there only to take selfies with a selfie stick and ruin the atmosphere with their complete disregard for football culture. The overseas Premier League game is the last straw and we cannot, must not, allow it to happen.

I’m genuinely sorry if you live overseas and support Chelsea or any other Premier League team. It must be heart breaking not having the opportunity to see Chelsea play week in week out at Stamford Bridge. But then, the same can be said of the thousands of Chelsea supporters born and bred within miles of the stadium, whose parents and Grandparents went to the Bridge before them, who have been systematically priced out of seeing their beloved club play in the flesh.

However, the tail cannot wag the dog. The fact that Clubs like Chelsea have a huge overseas support and the supposed need to market to and recruit more foreign fans can in no way justify moving a game abroad. Ever! If you want to see Chelsea play do what many of you already do – save up and make it a monthly, annual or once in a lifetime pilgrimage by seeing Chelsea play where they are meant to play – Stamford bridge, on a Saturday in the ENGLISH Premier League. I know many who already do this, and they will 100% agree with me.

The match day supporters are what the game is, should be and always has been about. Without the supporters football is nothing. Even Silvio Berlusconi (arguably a more avaricious operator than even Richard Scudamore!) knew this when he proposed in the 1980’s that the hardcore support were let in to games for free in order to create more of an atmosphere for the TV audience to enjoy. Or to put it in Scudamore speak, ‘makes the brand what it is’. Scudamore seems to forget that it is the match going supporters going to games in England who create the atmosphere; passion; colour; noise and excitement that makes the Premier League different and such a marketable commodity to the global TV market. In August 2013 he even said: ‘”One of our unique selling points is the away attendance because it creates the tension, the passion, the show.” We now know how disingenuous those comments were and that in reality he doesn’t give a damn for the match going supporter, unless of course he intends to fund the travel for every season ticket holder (home and away) for each game he proposes being moved overseas!

So how do we stop it?

The only effective way to make Scudamore and his cronies’ get the message is to hit them where it hurts. The only thing that will do this is to organise mass boycotts of a televised game during the season, by each of the Premier League clubs. A mass boycott of a game is the only thing they will sit up and take notice of. Whilst it is true that most Clubs will not lose too much money as they will already have the Season Ticket revenue, it is the effect on the TV Companies that may be more far reaching, and let’s face it the Clubs are more in thrall to the TV revenue anyway.  TV companies will lose their spectacle and the media might just get the message that we are important, we make a difference and that we count.

All the Chelsea Supporter groups must get together and create a plan of action to combat this. We need to survey Chelsea supporters; start petitions; wage a PR war on Scudamore and his supporters. We must add weight to the Football Supporters Federation, Supporters Direct and other Supporters Trusts’ arguments. Even lobbying and petitioning your local MP will help.

And we need to keep up the effort – Scudamore will not stop until we defeat him. If he succeeds it will be the end of the game as we know it – we must not be naïve enough to believe that he will stop at just one game. Before we know it we could be seeing teams being transported overseas to the highest bidder for a season or even forever. Just look at America – the template has already been written and serves as a warning for us all. At the end of the day Scudamore’s real motive has been to promote the legitimacy of the armchair fan and reap the windfall in revenue as a result. Here’s a thought: let them watch it on TV like they have been perfectly happy doing.

For me this is the last straw and an even more serious issue than safe standing; ticket pricing; fixture times; ageing supporter demographics.  I know many Chelsea supporters who have said if Scudamore’s plan becomes a reality then that will that for them. No thanks, over and out, goodbye!

As a Chelsea Supporters Trust board member I will do everything I can to stop this abominable plan from becoming a reality.

First published in cfcuk Fanzine – ‘Urry Up It’s Only A Pound!