Stadiums and Self Indulgence

Naming Rights and New Stadiums

When your club moves house, is it ever the same?

I just can't see how it would be. I love London Road. They say sometimes you need to move to progress which I don't personally agree with - why? Personally, if Posh moved from London Road which holds approx 14,000 to a 20,000 all-seater stadium - how have we progressed? We don't bloody fill it as it is!

Arsenal fans - The Emirates is an absolute peach - it really is - but it's not Highbury is it? When you start losing your history I think you start losing what's important, memories can worryingly be quickly forgotten and a 'new era' can begin. If we keep it with Arsenal, has the move to the Emirates changed the type of supporter that is there every week? Has the atmosphere changed or improved? From a financial aspect though it makes sense - more season tickets sold and higher ticket prices in general equals more capital made... money is making Sport become secondary.

Manchester City’s new 10 year £400m Etihad Stadium deal is plain scary. UEFA have insisted that they will make assessments to see if this is fair value – but then I suppose City’s owners can’t be blamed for using their Abu Dhabi contacts can they, contacts are there to be used. Man City are a different animal, different clubs hate them for their money but expect to get their unwanted players on the cheap… Jerome Boateng and Bayern, anyone?

Naming rights for a stadium is just another step away from it not being home. What I’m saying is if you sell the rights to the name of your clubs ground you're ultimately selling your soul. Can you imagine Liverpool playing anywhere other than Anfield? I can understand the board's financial justification for it, but yet again this is just another demoralising step towards an English Football League without a soul.

I’ll keep this short as it’d be nice to get in to a discussion about this. Personally it’s something I feel very strong about, to lose a club’s history is to lose a clubs soul, to lose a clubs soul is to lose a clubs purpose.

What makes a good stadium?

…Apologies for self indulgence – please add your own.

Mine comes down to memories as much as anything. For example I’d imagine not many people would have Cheltenham Town's masterpiece

Whaddon Road

as one of theirs but it’s certainly one of mine – the first time me and my nephew went to a game together and there were 10 goals with Posh coming out 6-4 victors.

Firstly - I'm not one of these who massively resent the "soulless bowl" although I’m glad that my own club are without one. Atmosphere is important - it's well known that vocal support always appears to be better away from home than it does at home, and that in itself is understandable. However, I must admit that I do love seeing a big home crowd get on their feet and roar their team towards the goal even if it is against my beloved Posh.

West Brom comes to mind. I love the Hawthorns, I really do. West Brom is a club I’ll always look upon favourably due to the football they've played against us in the cups and in the league over the last 5 years and I’d hope that respect would be returned. Sitting in the Hawthorns with 4,000 other Posh faithful in the FA cup 3rd round, 2009 The Baggies had a frustrating season up to that point and, as a rule; you could tell that with the generally low levels of noise that their fans contributed to what I thought was quite a noisy following from Posh.

As the game wore on the Baggies fans frustration grew, but then so does the sound. Wave after wave of Baggies attacks were greeted with a humongous roar before the inevitable happened and they scored. But it got better. From this the baggies didn't sit back, they went for a second, which encouraged counter after counter attack from Posh in front of their travelling faithful. I can't think of many better moments than the 87th minute when Mackail-Smith put in from close range to (hopefully!) secure a replay.

Anyway, after that minor bit of indulgence on my part my questions are... What's better than that feeling? That last gasp goal, that delirium, it changes your whole mindset and depending on you attachment to the club can change your whole week! At the same time - I can't think of many better experiences (albeit not enjoyable ones) than that of a passionate home crowd willing their team on. Kicking and heading every ball, willing their lads desperately for that willing feeling, that moment you can tell your mates about and say "I was there".

Make no bones about it, money is killing sport, i'll try and keep my thoughts on that short enough in my next blog......

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Championship Preview + Lower League Money...

With it being the end of June, I understand that you may see this is a bit premature – but who doesn’t love a bit of speculation? Below are my early thoughts on promotion, relegation, the odd team that may just spring a surprise on the championship and a final thought on money in the Championship.

Promotion Hopefuls

West Ham

West Ham, rightfully so, will be the outright favourites to bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. The Hammers have so far reportedly received no bids for any of their star players such as Scott Parker, Carlton Cole or Robert Green. Add to this the fantastic signing of Kevin Nolan for a hefty £4million and Abdoulaye Faye you have a team that will strike fear in to any team in the second tier of English football. Sam Allardyce was not seen as the most popular choice to take the helm this summer but is still a big name for this level and will get results, whether it be ‘the West Ham way’ or not.

Leicester City

The snakey Swede has a plethora of talent already to choose from at the Walkers Stadium – combine this with his football contacts and you can’t help but think this will be a very, very exciting season for The Foxes. After loan signings last season such as Yakubu, Kamara and Kirkland you cannot help but think he will work his magic again. Mandaric always backs his manager (financially rather than with patience!) and I’m sure Sven will be given the funds to launch a serious assault at automatic promotion. Schemeichel seems to be on his way for a bargain at £1m and they have also been rumoured to be sniffing around lower league marksman Craig Mackail-Smith who would command a fee of around £3m.

Nottingham Forest

The unfortunately nicknamed ‘wally with the brolly’ is back in English football – and what an exciting job he has on his hands. After proving himself with a historic season at FC Twente Steve McClaren moved to pastures new with Wolfsburg and failed spectacularly for reasons unknown. Forest are exciting as it is, there’s no doubt about that – with McClaren at the helm I believe things can only get better. I fully expect McClaren to achieve what Billy Davies simply could not – promotion. Forest already has a team more than capable of promotion and with McClaren’s reputation as a fantastic coach this capability is increased. Lewis McGugan, Luke Chambers and Lee Camp are just some of the unbelievable talent that Forest have to offer – if they were to attract Nicky Maynard then they could be a very scary proposition come August.

Birmingham City

Birmingham have brought in the ideal replacement for Alex McLeish in Chris Hughton who has a faultless record in the championship albeit with a Newcastle team that should never have been relegated in the first place. Combined this with the very astute signings of two stand-out players in the championship of Chris Burke from Cardiff and Marlon “of course I’ll stay loyal to Coventry” King and you’ve got a top class championship team. The blues have lost one hell of a player in Seb Larsson and cannot afford an exodus; they simply must hang on to Craig Gardner and at least one of Scott Dann or Roger Johnson. They should be in the playoffs at least, no excuses.

Relegation Candidates

Barnsley

In Keith Hill, Barnsley has a manager full of self belief. Known for his superb man management skills Hill will need to get the very best out of players for the full 46 games for Barnsley to stand a chance of staying up. With signings so far of David Perkins and Craig Davies (both decent enough in league one and two respectively, but not stand-out) they will need to pull in some fantastic loan signings to make a real go of it. Hill is inexperienced at this level which perhaps isn’t a problem, but he needs to gain the respect of a decaying squad. Gone are the days of Neil Redfearn et al.

Doncaster Rovers

Although it is early still in terms of the football summer, Rovers are yet to do anything except reject a bid for Billy Sharp. Rightfully so! If Rovers are to stay up then hanging on to Sharp is paramount; a real threat at this level, Sharp’s goals are of the highest importance to O’Driscoll’s side. For the football they play I hope that Rovers aren’t dragged in to a relegation dog fight, but unless they improve on a squad that survived by the skin of their teeth last season then that’s exactly what they’ll be in.

Crystal Palace

Until Simon Jordan can find someone to take the club off his hands then Palace are going to continue to languish in the lower echelons of the Championship. Palace should have enough individual talent with players like Ambrose and Speroni in their line-up but they only just managed to survive last season. Bringing Glenn Murray in on a free is a very good piece of business regardless of him being unproven in the Championship. I can’t help but think that uncertainty off the field leads to uncertainty on it, and this is my fear for Palace. I hope they stay up, but their big players need to stay and – most importantly – perform.

Surprise Packages

Derby County

You can’t help but respect the set-up of Derby County - Fantastic stadium and the crowds to go with it. I find it so refreshing in this cut throat day and age of football to see a manager, Nigel Clough, given time to work on a team; success isn’t built overnight and that’s something that Adam Pearson (former chairman) and Tom Glick seem to realise. Glick seems to be keen to splash the cash and make a bit of a surge this season. Signings like Jamie Ward, Frankie Fielding and Jason Shackell so early on in the summer have shown intent for the upcoming season and with the imminent announcement of a Director of Football it could be a very exciting time to be a Rams fan.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Let’s face it; they absolutely walked League One last season. They were fantastic. Brilliance of players like Kazenga Lua Lua (earlier on in the season) along with a manager that likes to play the right way in Gus Poyet, The Seagulls could be in for a real shout at the top 6 this season I believe. The new stadium must be as exciting for away fans as it was home, I for one certainly won’t miss the Withdean. Brighton will take some stopping with such a team spirit which is vital to be kept intact, they have also added very expertly with the ever-impressive Will Hoskins (on a free, what a steal) and Buckley from Watford, the latter of which needed to be made after losing Bennett to Norwich. Top half for me at least.

Peterborough United

Can anybody tell me the last time a team got promoted after conceding 75 in a season? Scoring 106 league goals helps. The entertainers of League One will be hoping to keep up the reputation again in the Championship; most of the squad who suffered an embarrassing relegation just over a year ago are still intact and will hopefully have learned from the experience. Losing Mackail-Smith (a certainty) will be a massive dent in the attacking threat and it will be interesting to see who The Posh replace him with, but with Lee Tomlin and George Boyd they have magicians that can make things happen out of nothing. I don’t dare to predict where they’ll end up this season; a good start is an absolute must.

Money Matters

The gap in revenue is becoming increasingly alarming between the Premier League and the Championship. The £40m parachute payments you are ‘awarded’ for relegation from the top flight isn’t making it any easier for teams from the lower leagues to enter the Championship with a fighting chance – how can they compete? They can’t. With there already an embarrassing gulf in class in the Premier League (top 6, then 7-10, then the rest) it is a worrying thought that the Championship will follow suit and perhaps even further down!

I know what you’ll say – look at Norwich (over the moon for them, they’ve shown it’s not impossible) but what about other teams who don’t have the structure and fan base that the Canaries already had in place? I’m talking Scunthorpe, Doncaster, Barnsley… The proof is in the pudding with teams like Doncaster, a fully established championship team for years that are simply failing to keep up with the rest of the clubs in the division financially.

 I can’t help but think that with this comes a change in a clubs philosophy - just look at Wolves - a great attacking unit in the Championship that last season in the PL were forced to play a 4-5-1 in the Premier League in hope of getting draws against at least 8 of the teams above them. In comparison look what happened to Blackpool, open attacking football gets you relegated in the Premier League if you can’t afford the big bucks - where is the incentive to play the beautiful game? They’re in for a bumpy ride too, Blackpool, with Adam + Campbell as good as gone and David Vaughan opted to leave on a free. I’m not sure about you readers, but as a Peterborough United fan I can’t see the appeal of that week in week out; even if it does mean a season in the top flight (which you don’t have to tell me is a long way off!).

It comes down to the question - Would you prefer to see your team give it a ‘right good go’ from week to week with entertaining football at a slightly lower level or see your team aiming for damage limitation? I know there are massive highlights of the Premier League, the chance of playing at the Theatre of Dreams, seeing Arsenal tear you a new one – but I’m pretty sure the novelty would wear off after not so long a time.

Next blogs will be on best and worst stadiums and why + other league previews…

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