Still the football doesn’t grab me. I know it’s only a few days since various leagues resumed without crowds and I suppose I should give it a bit longer, but at the moment every time I tune in, I couldn’t care less.
It probably doesn’t help that I don’t much care who wins the majority of games. Instead, I’m more keen on teams losing, like fake fairytale Bournemouth and their mysterious funding, or Newcastle against anyone really. The Newcastle of obnoxious tat clothing salesman Mike Ashley or, potentially, the head-choppers of Saudi Arabia. But then ‘the Toon’ play Sheffield United, who are owned by an actual Saudi prince, Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdul Aziz, and I find myself wanting both teams to lose, something that will leave me completely unsatisfied whatever the result.
I tuned in briefly to Cardiff City v Dirty Leeds on Sky and the fake crowd noises, which oddly enough work quite well in the Australian NRL, really pissed me off. It wasn’t a hubbub, it was shoutingly loud, complete with pro Cardiff chants. And anyway, I could not make up my mind as to which team I wanted to lose most. I quickly gave up.
Contrary to the fake enthusiam of the presenters and pundits, the new normal doesn’t yet work for the TV viewer. Sky are doing their best but to be honest, you can’t polish a turd and football without crowds is the biggest turd of the lot.
I have one theory as to why I am without enthusiasm which is that we all know the only reason football has come back is for the money. The clubs rely to a huge extent on shedloads of Sky and BT subscriptions being funnelled in their direction via that great printer of money the Premier League, or it’s little brother, the Championship. No football, no money, so Mesut Ozil wouldn’t be able to trouser his weekly wage of circa £350,000. (Other greedy bastards are available.)
I am not interested in any of the other games today, apart from Everton v Liverpool which I shall watch because I like Liverpool. But most days and evenings, I can live without football. After all, it’s bloody summer, isn’t it?
