I am finding it increasingly difficult to get caught up in the “Magic of the FA Cup”. What used to be the “Greatest Cup tournament in the world” has slipped in terms of importance and indeed relevance since the Premier League came along and since the European Cup turned into the Champions League. It can still be great fun, as it was last night when Exeter City drew 2-2 with Liverpool’s third team (and there’s another issue) but money is killing the FA Cup just like it is killing football in general.
Today’s big fairytale story was non league Eastleigh running formerly mighty Bolton close. But was it really a fairytale? Eastleigh are not just some minor non league club who had a good day; their success has come at quite a cost, subsidised by a rich benefactor/investor/call him what you will. And mighty Bolton, nearly £170m in debt without a pot in which to urinate. This is not the stuff of footballing dreams: it is the stuff of footballing nightmares.
And what about Manchester United versus Sheffield United? A minor War of the Roses, perhaps, or a football match played between a legendary football club owned by a filthy rich American family who have made themselves even more filthy rich on the back of it and the wonderful Blades, half-owned by a Prince from our friends in Saudi Arabia. Now I know and understand that the majority of most sets of supporters will not give a toss about who owns their club because they will always own the spirit. I think they are probably right.
I was convinced a decade ago that fan ownership was desirable and ultimately essential, certainly in the lower levels of football, though not exclusively so. Germany’s top division seems to be functioning well enough despite or perhaps because of fan involvement, so what’s different here? Well, the money for starters.
In my early years of supporting Bristol Rovers, it was compulsory to hate the board of directors, something at which I succeeded admirably. As I recall, the main directors were Martin Flook and Barry Bradshaw. The club was always in a mess when it played at Eastville so it must have been their fault, we all concluded. There was probably something in it too. I could never get it out of my mind that rich owners must be owners for a reason and that reason could not be to lose money but to make it, either from the club or on the back of it. I had no idea whether this was true and, to be honest, I never much cared. Anyway, Bradshaw always had a large moustache and an even larger ego. He was the ideal pantomime villain. But I never worried too much about it. Us fans had no say in how the club was run and, in truth, we didn’t really care. That has not changed much over the years.
Today, Bristol Rovers is owned largely by one man, a multimillionaire called Nick Higgs. The supporters have quite literally no say in how the club is run, despite the comedic appearance of two symbolic, token “fans” directors. City are owned by a billionaire tax exile who believes he cannot afford to pay his UK taxes but somehow manages to find the odd few million to throw at the football club. Neither are ideal ownership models, but are both less bad than the Premiership models. At least Higgs lives in this country and City’s owner Steve Lansdown is allowed to visit the country on a certain number of days every year.
I mentioned Exeter and Liverpool earlier on and therein lies another clash of footballing civilisations. Liverpool owned by an American company called Fenway Sports and Exeter owned by fans. Exeter’s heroic draw was still greater when you consider the financial gulf between them. As your classic Liverpool fan – rarely go, no Liverpool connections – my heart was still with “the lads”, but my head wanted Exeter to win or, at the very least, get a lucrative replay at Anfield. And they got one.
And today, fan owned Wycombe drew with American owned Aston Villa.
Everywhere you look in the Premier League, and, increasingly below the Premier League, there are match-ups between foreign owned clubs, but I see little point in fretting about it. My love for Bristol Rovers was all but destroyed by ownership squabbles and aspects thereof, so I completely understand the apathy of fans as to who owns their club. Whether it’s a dodgy Russian oligarch or a dubious American who never attends a single game, it’s probably best to look the other way.
By looking the other way, we effectively condone the way football is being taken away from us and handed to rich foreigners, in terms of club owners and media tycoons, but fans do not hold the power. They’re just needed these days to create an atmosphere in the ground. Even their money is not important these days and their views certainly aren’t.
