The Death Of The People's Game · Premier League Football is a high priced spectacle played by...

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New editionpublished March

2010

The Death Of ThePeople's Game

The Great Premier League swindle

By John Reid

London Socialist Party publication

2009

First Edition August 1992

Second Edition September 1992

Third Edition August 1993

Fourth Edition August 1994

Fifth Edition September 1995

Sixth Edition November 2001

Seventh Edition March 2005

Eighth Edition October 2009

Acknowledgements

Thanks to NJ Cross for layout, editing, design, tea

and lots of typing.

Thanks to Sylviane Martinon for proof reading.

To Big John Viner for inspiration.

To Alison Hill for additional layout and to all at the

Socialist Party.

This book is dedicated to my lovely granddaughter

Caitlin Rose Martin.

Dedications also, to Sylviane Martinon for putting up

with a grumpy old git and to her daughters Nathalie

and Stephanie.

To Dennis Buckley for a lifetime friendship.

About the writer

I was born in Paddington General hospital on 17

March 1954 and was brought up in Ladbroke Grove,

North Kensington. I was educated at Cardinal

Manning’s Secondary Modern School.

I attended my first match at Loftus Road in 1961, a

0-1 defeat at the hands of Portsmouth.

I have watched QPR play at 80 of the current League

Grounds and at 10 Conference grounds. Three trips to

Wembley, including the League Cup win in 1967.

I am a lifelong Socialist and Trade Unionist and am

currently a local RMT representative.

Selectedhighlights

How to Orderfrom SocialistBooks

ISBN

0-906582-58-x

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Football: Reclaim the Game http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/ReclaimTheGame/ReclaimtheGame.htm

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RECLAIM THE GAME

FOOTBALL BOOM OR

BUST

Reclaim the Game was first written in 1992 at

the outset of the Premier League; or the 'Greed

is good League' as it was named by many fans.

The Socialist Party (or Militant as it was then) book

predicted that the gap between the top clubs and the

rest would further widen. Now 17 years later the

Premier League is a four horse race between

Manchester United, Chelsea Arsenal and Liverpool.

You can safely say that there are no other challengers

for the English Championship, although Manchester

City are spending millions to attempt to break into

this exclusive club.

The billionaire/millionaire owners of the Premier

League would argue that the Premier League has

been a resounding success. It generates over a

£billion per year, games are played in new all-seater

stadiums before the biggest crowds since the 1950's

and hooliganism is virtually a thing of the past.

Premier League football is beamed into 600 million

homes in 202 countries across the World. The three

year television deal which runs until 2010 is worth

£1.7 billion for domestic television, £625 million for

overseas television rights and £400 million for

internet and mobile 'phone rights.

One billion people watched the season before last’s

Manchester United versus Arsenal game.

But for mass opposition at home led by the Football

Supporters’ Association coupled with anger worldwide

at the arrogance of those that run the Premier

League, we would have seen a ‘game 39’.

This would have meant Premier League teams playing

an extra game, for worldwide television in exotic

locations such as, Dubai, Kolkata, Beijing, Cape Town,

Sydney or some other location. This proposal, shelved

for the moment, would have been for one reason

only-money!

The games would have taken place in front of crowds

of 60,000 plus, paying hundreds of dollars for a

ticket. The matches would be for the rich and

privileged. The masses in these countries would watch

on pay- per- view television as would the loyal

supporters back home in England.

The Premier League wants to take greed to a new

level. They already take the best players from

Europe; they also rob Africa and South America of

their rich vein of talent.


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The Premier League and the other top European

Leagues have for over a decade bought up the best

talent from Africa and South America including

commercial rights over children. It is a new variation

of colonialism and bonded labour.

WHO WANTS TO BE OWNED BY

A BILLIONAIRE?

Premier League Football is a high priced spectacle

played by millionaires and owned by billionaires.

English football reflects English big business and neo

liberalism, at the outset of the Premier League, Martin

Edwards the then chairman of Manchester United,

declared: "The smaller clubs are bleeding the game to

death and ought to be put to sleep"

Russian gangster capitalists, such as Roman

Abramovich, who looted the ex Soviet Union economy

have taken over clubs such as Chelsea. It is in the

main a money laundering exercise, switching dodgy

money out of Russia and into 'respectable' businesses

in Britain.

Big businessmen from the USA have taken over both

Manchester United and Liverpool. Manchester United

are now £700 million in debt due to the Glazer family

transferring company debts into Man Utd plc.

Manchester City is owned by a United Arab Emirates

investment group.

Portsmouth has been taken over by UAE businessman

Sulaiman Al-Fahim. Although non payment of wages

to players, casts doubts over the whole transaction. It

now looks likely that Ali Al Faraj, a Saudi tycoon, will

take control of Pompey.

These gentlemen join a long list of dodgy owners both

British and foreign who have run and ruined English

football for generations. Racists in England say it is

Jews dominating English football, but those who have

taken over English football, whether Jewish, Christian,

Muslim or atheist have one thing in common they are

parasitic capitalists who are trying to get their snouts

in the trough of the multi- billion £ football industry.

Allegiance matters not a jot to these gentlemen, the

new billionaire owners of my club, Queens Park

Rangers, first looked at two bigger clubs before

deciding on QPR. Chelsea, Manchester United,

Manchester City, Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Fulham

are all owned by tycoons who picked them off a menu

of portfolio opportunities.

The Premier League was investigated by a police

operation, Quest and by the City of London police.

This involves the alleged illegal payments of

substantial amounts of money from transfer deals into

the pockets of managers and football agents. Football

agents robbed £46 million out of the game in season


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2001/02 alone. Manchester United paid agents £13.4

million in 21 deals between January 2001 and January

2004. Football agent Jason Ferguson, son of

Manchester United manager Alex, received very

substantial payments through his company Elite

Sports Agency.

The agent involved in the deal that took Wayne

Rooney from Everton to Manchester United received

£2 million.

According to the Observer, 17th October 2004, the

deal taking Rooney to Manchester United was very

shady. "It was a tale of gangsters, blackmailers, a

young British player (Rooney) already approaching

legendary status….London’s most notorious gangster

family and a crooked solicitor."

In the past George Graham manager of Arsenal was

banned for taking illegal payments. It is almost

certain that a number of high profile managers in

English football are making huge sums from illegal

payments. All this money is being robbed from the

pockets of football fans, who pay hard earned money

to watch their favourite team.

Agents need to be driven out of football. The players

union, the PFA should negotiate wages and

conditions; collective bargaining for all players would

be a big step forward.

EVERYTHING IS PERFECT IN

THE MOST PERFECT OF ALL

WORLDS

To paraphrase Pangloss from Voltaire's Candide, those

who run English football would say 'everything is

perfect in the most perfect of all worlds' But at what

cost? Stadiums have been rebuilt, they are

comfortable and safe. Standing areas have been

destroyed and replaced by very expensive all seating

areas. In Season 1990/91, 20,000 people stood on

the Stretford End at Old Trafford, home of Manchester

United and paid £4 per game, at Arsenal in the same

season, thousands stood on the North Bank, Highbury

and paid £6. These prices were around the same price

as attending the cinema. Now it costs between £30

and £40 plus to watch a Premier League game, a

cinema ticket in London costs £8 to£12. At my

favourite French/Breton club, Rennes it costs around

£8 to see a top League match. In Germany, safe all

standing areas remain and football is relatively cheap.

Due to television money coming into football, even

the side finishing bottom of the Premier League is

guaranteed £60 million. The television deal means

that many clubs could allow supporters into games for

free and still make a huge profit. Some clubs have

already reduced prices, the early effects of the

recession are hitting poorer areas of England, also


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because of the domination of the Big Four some

matches are becoming non matches, also because of

the cost less fans are travelling to 'away matches'.

At QPR our new billionaire owners have increased

prices by between 30% and 50%. It will now cost

around £20 to £30 a match to watch QPR in the

second tier of English football, the Championship

(which is the third best attended League in European

football)

Working class fans are being priced out of the game;

especially young fans. Only 7% of season ticket

holders in the Premier League are aged 16 to 24.

Nearly half are aged 25 to 44 and 24% are aged 45 to

54. The average age of fans attending Premier League

football is 44 for season ticket holders and 39 for

those buying tickets on the day.

37% of season ticket holders earn over £30,000 per

year (the average wage in Britain is £26,000,

although it is much lower for young workers). To

quote one of the greats from English football, Stanley

Matthews, in an autobiography written shortly before

his death; "The money that has arrived from

television has definitely helped the game, but more at

the top than the lower leagues....although those that

market football tell us football is once more a 'family

game' I think it is one of the biggest fibs currently

being told. Football has rid itself of the hooligans, but

how many ordinary working people can afford to take

their family to football match these days. Too many

clubs having worked hard to rid their stadiums of

racism and bigotry are now simply practising

economic bigotry"

"The low earner, with two children for whom football

is an escape from a harsh working life, have to all

intents and purposes, been forced out of the game

especially at many Premiership clubs.

Football is massively expensive, who is to blame? the

greedy players? In the Premier League players 'earn'

an average of £700,000 a year and some in excess of

£5 million, often paying a percentage of these wages

into offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes. But if

wages were reduced the fans would not benefit,

directors and corporate owners would just pocket

more money.

John Hall of Newcastle United sold just 9.8% of his

shares and made £16 million. Martin Edwards

received £100 million on selling his shares to the

Glazer family (his father bought them for £1 million)

Ken Bates of Chelsea bought Chelsea and its debts for

£1, he sold Chelsea along with its debts for £17

million. Even Peter Ridsdale while he was bankrupting

Leeds United still managed to pay himself £645,000

in 2001.

PROCESSION OF WEALTH


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So another Premier League Season comes to an end,

and yet again the top four is made up of the same

four clubs. The four clubs, who generate the highest

revenue, have yet again finished in the top four. The

Premier League is a procession of wealth rather than

a League. Manchester City are now splashing the cash

in an attempt to break into the top four.

The latest smart idea, although a rehash of an old

idea, comes from Bolton Wanderers Chairman Phil

Gartside, who wants a Premier League one and two.

This would consist of 18 teams in each division,

including Celtic and Rangers from Scotland. This

would effectively end promotion through the pyramid

of English football and would also seriously damage

Scottish football. Also on what basis would the 36

teams be decided? Would it be on average

attendances? If so I guess Leeds United would be

elevated to Premier League 2. Why stop at top

Scottish clubs being invited into the Premier League,

why not invite the top Dutch sides in as well?

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY.

The Premier League is the highest revenue generating

league in the world. Its clubs generated revenues of

2.4 billion Euros in 2007/08 season. (Up 26% in

Sterling measurement). Over 1 billion Euros more

than its nearest rivals the Bundesliga and La Liga.

The overall revenues of the top 92 English clubs

increased by 21% to £2,458 million. Total Premier

League revenues increased by £402 million to £1932

million. The average revenue for a club in the Premier

League is £100 million.

Total wage costs in the Premier League increased by

23% in Pounds Sterling to 1.5 billion Euros. Wages as

a proportion to revenue in the Premier League was

62% (The ideal ratio is 60%). Chelsea’s wage bill was

the highest at £172 million, newly relegated

Newcastle’s wage bill was fifth highest at £75 million.

The revenue of the 72 Football League clubs exceeded

£500 million for the first time.

Premier League Clubs received £767 million from

central broadcasting distribution. Extra revenue

primarily from the UEFA Champions League pushed

this revenue up to £931 million. Premier League clubs

commercial revenue increased by 12% to £447

million. Match day revenue only grew by 3% as a

number of clubs froze or decreased match day ticket

prices. This decrease took place as the recession

loomed and was also an attempt to increase the

attendance of young people which has diminished,

due to the cost. Blackburn Rovers is offering tickets at

£10 per game! At Burnley, the Clarets handed out

7,000 freebies to 2008/09 season ticket holders for

season 2009/10 as part of their ‘premier league

pledge’. Season tickets for general sale were also


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frozen in price.

Increased television monies meant that even the

bottom club in 2007/08, Derby County, received

£29.5 million compared to Watford’s £16.7 million

when they finished bottom in 2006/07.

Premier League revenue probably broke through the

£2 billion mark in 2008/09.

Operating profits for the Premier League increased to

a record £185 million in 2007/08. However operating

losses for the Championship clubs increased from £75

million to a record £102 million, this despite increased

parachute payments to clubs relegated from the

Premier League, and the first solidarity payments to

the rest of the Football League from the Premier

League.

Championship Clubs wage bills rose by £32 million

(12%), the wage revenue ratio is 87% up from 72%

in 2005/06 season, as clubs attempt to spend their

way into the Premier League.

Transfer spending is up by 35%, £664 million of the

£779 spent was spent by Premier League clubs, much

of this on players from abroad. Chelsea spent £80

million (the cost of one Ronaldo!) Liverpool £70

million and Manchester City £62 million, although

Manchester City look to exceed this, they may even

spend £60 million plus on one or more players.

(Portsmouth were the only other English club to

spend in excess of £50 million)

Since the creation of the Premier League, £2.5 billion

has been spent on ground improvements or new

stadia, although am I alone in thinking many of the

new stadia are soulless. £2 billion of this has been

spent on Premier League grounds. Capacity utilisation

of Premier League grounds stands at 92%, aggregate

attendance continues to be very high, 13.5 million.

For the 72 Football League clubs attendances were

above 16 million for the fifth year in a row, with a 1%

year on year increase to 16.4 million. The

Championship increased attendances by 5% and is

now the third best attended league in Europe after

the Bundesliga and the Premier League.

Net debt in respect of Premier League clubs at the

end of 2007/08 season increased to £3.1 billion (This

however includes £1.2 billion of non interest bearing

soft debts)

Roman Abramovich injected a further £123 million

into Chelsea in 2007/08 season. His overall

investment in the club now stands at £760 million.

The economic crisis will push many more of the 72

Football League clubs into insolvency and

receivership.

Figures from Deloitte Annual Report on Football


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finances

THE RICH GET RICHER AND

THE REST GO BUST

Due to television, money coming into football; even

the side finishing bottom of the Premier League is

guaranteed 60 million pounds.

Working Class fans are being priced out of football,

especially younger fans. The low earners have to all

intents been cleansed from the game, especially at

Premier League Clubs.

In the 17 years of the Premier League almost a half of

all the 92 League clubs have gone into administration.

Notts County, the oldest professional club in the

world, almost ceased to exist (They too have since

been taken over by Middle Eastern billionaires, the

Shafi and Hyatt families). Wrexham, the oldest club in

Wales, have now fallen out of the League because of

serious mismanagement and debt. Leeds United, who

at the start of the Premier League, were a top three

side and also one of the top sides in Europe, again

due to serious mismanagement, have twice gone into

administration and have sunk into the third tier of

English football. Luton Town were docked 30 points

for going into administration and effectively relegated

into the Conference League, fans were made to suffer

for the mistakes of the rich owners. Last Season

Chester City, Darlington, Southampton and Stockport

County entered administration.

This chaos caused by the big business nature of

football has led to the rallying of fans to save their

beloved clubs. The first independent supporters club,

the Queens Park Rangers Loyal Supporters

Association, of which I have the honour of being the

elected Secretary, was formed in 1987 to fight a

merger between QPR and Fulham. Since then there

have been many movements of fans to protect and

save their clubs. The independent fans' organisations,

fanzines, supporters' trusts, the Football Supporters'

Federation (which represents over 100,000 fans) and

the Professional Footballers’ Association have all

intervened to save clubs, which are an integral part of

working class communities and culture. Supporters'

Trusts have representatives on the board at over 25%

of clubs in the third and fourth tier of English football

and almost 50% own a proportion of their clubs.

Unfortunately it is limited control, even at AFC

Wimbledon, which was set up when Wimbledon was

moved against the wishes of the fans 50 miles away

to Milton Keynes and became MK Dons.

Fans raised money and formed AFC Wimbledon the

true inheritor of the history of Wimbledon. AFC now

attracts crowds of around 3,000 and has worked its

way back up the 'non league' structure to the

Conference League. FC United of Manchester was


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formed by fans angry at the takeover of Manchester

United by the Glazer family. The AFC movement

represents a massive opposition to franchise and

corporate football.

TRANSITIONAL DEMANDS

We must fight to reclaim our game, the money

coming into football is concentrated into the hands of

the Premier League clubs, very little is percolating

down to the lower Leagues or grass roots football.

Many would say that the football industry needs to

self regulate itself. For example, spending should be

curbed; a good idea would be a rule that limits a club

to spending only 20% of its yearly income on transfer

fees. The total wage bill should also be limited to a

maximum of 60% of club income. To curb clubs

buying success, total donations from benefactors and

sponsors should be limited to £20 million per season.

(UEFA rules would also have to be changed to curb

the spending of all European clubs). But it is more

likely that a camel will pass through the eye of a

needle than the owners of the football industry will

self regulate.

Under capitalism any self regulation would only

enshrine the domination of Europe’s aristocracy. 20%

of Manchester United’s income would always be

considerably more than 20% of Burnley’s yearly

income.

The only way forward is to fight for clubs to be taken

out of the control of big business. Clubs should be

owned, controlled and run in trust by supporters as

non profit making sporting institutions. The

controlling bodies of clubs would be democratically

elected by the method of one vote per club member,

and fans would become members for a nominal

annual fee. Supporters would not just turn up to

watch, they would be involved in the day to day

running of their clubs. It would be a sports club, with

fans, if they wished, playing in Leagues based on

their ability. People of all ages, men and women, the

able bodied and the disabled, would be able to play

for their club. Players and club staff would be well

paid. Players however would receive wages tied to the

average wage of a skilled worker with differentials

based on the division they play in, they would not

receive the massive wages they now receive.

Many argue that the numbers of foreign players

should be limited. Arsenal regularly field a side totally

made up of foreign players. However, foreign players

have in the main greatly added to the domestic game.

There should be no restrictions, footballers like other

workers should be free to ply their trade in the

country of their choice. There should be investment in

sports training at schools and colleges to develop the

skills of home grown young people.


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WORKING CLASS FANS PRICED

OUT

Thousands of tickets are now sold to the rich and to

businessmen as part of corporate hospitality deals.

Ticket agents sell match tickets way above the printed

price.

The real fans are the losers. Thousands of Spurs,

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United

fans have long been priced out of the game. They find

themselves cut off from the team they love, unable to

take their children, the next generation. A survey a

few years ago stated that 30% of Chelsea season

ticket holders earned an average of £50,000 plus per

year. If you want to take yourself and three children

to a Premier League match it will cost between £100

and £200. If you were to attend the cinema it would

cost the four of you around £40.Pre Premier League

football used to be cheaper than the cinema.

Price rises are beginning to affect crowds. Price rises

have meant a fall in ‘away’ travel. Why travel ‘away’,

paying £40 plus for a match ticket, plus coach or rail

travel, to watch your team at Chelsea when you can

watch ‘live’ or extended highlights at home by

subscribing to digital television.

Undoubtedly, the predictability of the outcome of the

Premier League affects attendances, with only four

contenders for the English Championship; games

between the other non contenders are becoming

more and more non events. To all but the die-hard

fans of the clubs.

THE GOOD OLD PRE

PREMIERSHIP DAYS

I attended my first match in 1961, to watch Queens

Park Rangers in the Third Division, a one nil defeat at

home to Portsmouth. I was taken by my brother Alan,

his friend Barry and my bother in law Ron, all on

relatively low wages. However they could afford to

take me as football was a cheap form of

entertainment. Me and my friend Dennis, a Chelsea

fan used to go and watch Chelsea’s European matches

and England games out of our pocket money, which

coming from working class Irish families in Ladbroke

Grove was only a few bob a week.

Back then there was little or no advertising, no

sponsors’ logos defacing the club shirts, very little

television money either. But were fans worse off? Is

football any better now than it was then? Between the

mid 1960’s and mid 1980’s England won the World

Cup and Manchester United, Liverpool (four times),

Nottingham Forest(twice) and Aston Villa all won the

European Cup (now the Champions League).


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Between 1954 (the year I was born) and 1981, the

year the rule was changed allowing clubs to keep all

their ‘home’ gate receipts, fourteen different clubs

were Champions of England. Liverpool (7 times),

Manchester United (4 times), Wolverhampton

Wanderers (3 times), Everton, Leeds United and

Derby County (two wins apiece), Chelsea, Burnley,

Tottenham Hotspur, Ipswich Town, Manchester City,

Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa (1 win

apiece) Between 1981 and the advent of the Premier

League there were four different winners, Liverpool

(six times), Everton (twice), Arsenal (twice) and

Leeds United.

In the seventeen years of the Premier League there

have only been four winners. Manchester United (11

times), Arsenal (three times), Chelsea (twice) and

Blackburn Rovers.

RECESSION

During this recession many clubs will go even deeper

into debt. Many more clubs will be put into the hands

of the receivers or even go bankrupt as they attempt

to stay on the spending treadmill to keep their place

in the Premier League or attempt to buy their way

into the Premier League.

At the moment, football is seen as a trendy fad; large

numbers of tickets are bought in large blocks by

businesses for corporate entertainment. In a

recession many of these new, better off fans will lose

their jobs and be unable to attend. The buying of

corporate tickets and possibly even corporate

sponsorship will be reduced.

The vast increase in football finances was driven by

the commercial exploitation of ‘brand loyalty’. This

loyalty was built up over generations of working-class

fans, passing their club allegiance from generation to

generation. The transformation of the game away

from working-class support is cutting the new

generation off from watching live football. The bubble

is starting to burst.

A recession will also see unemployment rise amongst

working-class fans, including skilled workers, who

make up the largest proportion of those attending

football. Grounds that are now oversubscribed could

rapidly see an increase in the number of overpriced

seats remaining unsold.

TV revenue would also be hit. In a recession, luxuries

such as digital subscriptions would be one of the first

things to go. Companies such as Sky could see their

revenue massively reduced. Digital companies could

even go out of business. TV revenue on offer in future

deals with the Premier League would be vastly

reduced.

It isn’t good for the game that all the money is


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concentrated into the coffers of just the top few clubs.

The boom for the few has led to a widening gap not

just between the premier clubs and the lower

divisions, but also a widening gap within the Premier

League — a league within a league — Man Utd,

Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea (maybe Man City)

dominate. Spurs and Everton, which used to be part

of the big five, have slipped out of the elite.

So this football renaissance has left the rich clubs

richer and the poor almost bankrupt. It is a mirror

image of society in general. The economic boom (now

turned to recession) left Britain as the fifth-largest

economy in the world, while the gap between rich and

poor is the widest for over a hundred years.

A CARNIVAL OF AVARICE AND

GREED

Let us nail a few myths. The big business tycoons

have not saved football — for a relatively small

investment they have made millions of pounds out of

the game — none of them have lost out from football

investment. Even loans to clubs are usually loans

made at a high interest rate and have to be paid back

by us the fans.

We, the fans, have not gained from football becoming

a billion pound plus industry. Our pockets have been

emptied by the massive price hike. What was a cheap

form of entertainment now costs a fortune.

Football has been transformed from the people’s

game into a carnival of avarice and greed. The

football renaissance has left the majority of clubs in

debt; some in massive debt. Many clubs have only

achieved a stay of execution because of the massive

campaigns by supporters. Thousands of fans took part

in mass actions against the boards of their clubs

(‘Sack the board!’ has been the refrain at grounds

around the country).

Football clubs are not like other businesses, they are

part of the community and are dear to the hearts of

the many thousands of people who support their

teams. The attempt to merge QPR and Wimbledon in

2001 was met with hostility by both sets of

supporters. This hybrid team would have meant

nothing to the real fans of both these clubs, but the

directors of football are cut off from the true feelings

of the fans. The autobiography of veteran

ex-footballer, Len Shackleton, contained a section

called: ‘What the average director knows about

football’ — it was a blank page.

The formation of the Premier League has been like

year zero; previous football history did not happen.

The new owners and media would like to forget

football’s working-class roots.

According to the Pictorial History of English Football,


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"football today is dominated by chairmen who often

boast larger personalities than those of their players.

And by the constant need to see a return on

investment. So when delving into the origins of many

of today’s biggest clubs, it is frequently intriguing to

find their formations dominated not by financial

concerns but by the principles of Socialism,

Christianity and togetherness."

Arsenal, Stoke City, Man Utd, West Ham, Crewe

Alexandra and Coventry were all originally works

teams. Club nicknames show the connection between

clubs and the industries that their fans worked in,

when we still had a manufacturing industry in this

country. Sheffield United are the Blades, Luton Town

the Hatters, Northampton Town the Cobblers, West

Ham are the Irons.

The great manager of Liverpool in the 1960s and

1970s, Bill Shankly, would have been very angry

about the transformation of the game. He once said:

"The socialism I believe in is everyone working for

each other — everyone having a share of the rewards.

It’s the way I see football, it’s the way I see life."

ABRAMOVICH, THE BLUE TSAR

How did Abramovich make his billions? On August

20th 1992, Yeltsin (then Russian President)

announced a la Thatcher that Russia was to become a

‘stake holding society’. Every citizen was to be given a

voucher worth 10,000 roubles, equivalent to £30 in

1992 (the average month’s wage in Russia at the

time). They could exchange them for shares in their

company or in any state enterprise. Vouchers could

also be invested in saving schemes. Echoing the

neo-liberal propaganda of the West, Yeltsin

announced there would be "millions of owners rather

than a handful of millionaires….everyone will have

equal opportunities in this new undertaking….the

privatisation voucher is a ticket for each of us to a

free economy."

Abramovich moved in. As a 20 year old in 1987 he

had taken advantage of the legalization of private

business introduced by Gorbachev (then leader of the

USSR) to set up an oil trading business. For five years

he had bought cheap Russian oil for a few roubles a

barrel and sold it abroad, making a large profit.

He then allegedly bought up blocks of vouchers from

oil workers and converted them into shares in

Western Siberian energy companies. The collapse of

the USSR and introduction of capitalism through large

scale privatization from 1992 onwards consolidated

Abramovich’s position.

There was a massive fall in living standards. The

rouble plummeted from 230 to the dollar in January

1992, to 3,500 to the dollar by December 1994. This

wiped out most people’s savings. Life expectancy for


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men fell from 65 years in 1987 to 59 years by 1993.

Suicides rose by 53% as more than one third of the

population fell below the poverty line. Stalls appeared

in Siberian towns offering a handful of kopeks

(literally pennies) for vouchers. Abramovich has never

denied being involved.

By 1995 the majority of Russians were worse off than

under Stalinism, and the ‘Communist’ Party began to

gain support. To keep power in the 1996 Presidential

election, Yeltsin leant on the new breed of Capitalists

such as Abramovich, whom he invited to participate in

the so called ‘loans for shares’ scheme in return for

financial and political backing. In effect, the

government auctioned off its share of the state owned

economy for financial backing. Abramovich and

Berezovsky won a ‘loans for shares’ auction winning a

51% share in Sibneft. They won the auction despite

the fact that other bids were higher. They allegedly

had links with the company that managed the sale.

Yeltsin won the election financed by a war chest of

£140 million in donations from the Oligarchs, or as

they are more commonly known in Russia, gangster

capitalists. In August 1997, Sibneft issued 45 million

new shares in one of its most profitable subsidiary

companies. Abramovich and his partners were able to

increase their stake in the subsidiary from 61% to

78% in this closed share issue.

In 1998 Abramovich and Berezovsky were allowed to

keep their share of Sibneft as the Government

announced it wouldn’t be repaying its loans. For £117

million, the pair had control of a multi-billion dollar oil

company.

When the Russian economy collapsed again in 1998,

Sibneft said it couldn’t pay wages but would buy up

remaining vouchers. Company shops sprung up which

exchanged food, fridges and other goods for

vouchers. Workers were literally robbed by the

company. By 1999 Abramovich had ‘bought’ out

Berezovsky and won control of Sibneft. From then on

he paid himself record dividends in 2000 £28 million

was paid out in dividends, £552 million in 2001,£612

million in 2002 and £696 million in 2003, of which

Abramovich received the lions share.

A TALE OF TWO WEST LONDON

OWNERS

On 5 July 2008, The Times reported that Abramovich

admitted he paid billions of dollars for political favours

and protection fees to obtain a big share of Russia’s

oil and aluminium assets.

Again from The Times, Abramovich "famously

emerged triumphant after the "aluminium wars", in

which more than 100 people are believed to have

been killed in gangland feuds over control of the


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lucrative smelters. He avoided the fate of a rival

oligarch who annoyed the Kremlin and ended up

being transported to Siberia for ten years"

Briatore was banned indefinitely from Formula 1

racing, for his part in race fixing.

One of these gentlemen is deemed a fit and proper

owner, the other may be deemed to be unfit-

Personally I would drive both of these gentlemen out

of the game.

TAPPING UP AND DIVING

Chelsea is appealing the FIFA transfer ban imposed

after their alleged illegal inducement of Gael Kakuta

from Lens, of France.

If Chelsea is guilty then so are a lot of other top

European clubs. ‘Tapping up’ has been going on in

football both in England and abroad for years.

And so has diving for penalties. This is not a foreign

introduction, Rodney Marsh at QPR and Francis Lee at

Manchester City gained many a dubious penalty in the

60’s and 70’s

DISASTERS

29th May 1985 saw the death of 38 Juventus fans at

the Heysel Stadium in Belgium. The deaths occurred

before the European Cup Final between Juventus and

Liverpool.

The Liverpool fans were penned into a dangerously

overcrowded section of terracing and, in an attempt

to gain more space, they broke down a flimsy barrier.

Unfortunately they clashed with Juventus fans who

were in the next section. During this clash an unsafe

wall collapsed, with fatal consequences.

Evidence at the time suggests that fascist groups and

active fascists incited trouble amongst both Liverpool

and Juventus fans before and during the game. If the

game had taken place in a stadium where adequate

safety checks had taken place nobody would have

died.

As a result of this avoidable tragedy Belgian sports

and Government officials were forced to resign. In

Britain, hysteria was whipped up, putting all the

blame on the Liverpool fans and leading to the

rounding-up and imprisonment of many innocent

people and a ridiculous and lengthy ban for all English

clubs from European competitions.

The press used the tragedy to portray the people of

Liverpool as murdering scum (which the Sun

resurrected after the Hillsborough tragedy). This was

not unconnected to the Militant-led struggle of

Liverpool City Council against the Tory Government


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being at its height.

In May 1985, three weeks before the Heysel tragedy,

55 fans were burnt or crushed to death in a wooden

stand (seated area) at Bradford’s Valley Parade. The

view of many fans at the time was that the fire was

due to criminal negligence by the club, who had failed

to upgrade or even maintain an old, unsafe wooden

stand properly. The official enquiry found that the fire

was an accident-no action was taken against the

owners of the club.

In April 1989, 96 people died at Hillsborough-another

avoidable tragedy. Firstly, it occurred because

Liverpool was allocated the smaller Leppings Lane end

of the ground. Secondly, because a gate was opened,

which then allowed fans to unwittingly rush through

into the already overcrowded centre ‘pens’.

Disgracefully, the FA allowed major games to take

place at Hillsborough while Sheffield Wednesday

whose ground it was, had failed to comply with the

Green Guide- The Home Office Guide to Safety at

Sports Grounds, introduced in 1973 to prevent a

recurrence of the Ibrox Disaster (When 66 Rangers’

fans died in a crush on the dangerous stairway 13 in

1971).

The Guide forced clubs for the first time to have

safety certificates, itemising the layout of their

grounds, their capacities, crush barriers, entrances

and exits, and methods of counting fans in via

turnstiles to monitor when the various parts of the

ground were full.

In 1981, at the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough

between Wolves and Spurs , there had been a near

fatal crush, caused by fans arriving late onto the

Leppings Lane terrace, 38 people were treated for

various injuries including broken limbs and ribs.

As a result of Hillsborough, the Taylor report was

commissioned and put forward many useful

recommendations, including the overdue rebuilding of

grounds. Unfortunately it was also used as an excuse

to get rid of terraces.

As early as 1991 a report by the Institute of

Structural Engineers published a detailed report,

which concluded that terracing could be made safe.

Indeed, safe, cheap terraces exist in Germany.

CRYSTAL BALLS

Foul magazine, the grand-dad of fanzines, writing

almost 40 years ago, seems to have had a crystal

ball, in their humorous but serious warning about the

purging of the terraces. "The more we try and make

the middle class frightened of coming to games, the

more they are excluding us, fencing us in and

restricting our movement on the terrace. So bad is


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this getting that they have put up barriers on the Kop

to stop that famous, glorious surge. What next? A ban

on singing? No scarves allowed? No standing room?

It’s coming unless we do something about it. What

the hell is this we keep hearing about family football,

more seated accommodation, and restrict movement

on the terraces? Is this the fate of football in the

future? The game seems to be turning its back on the

real supporters in favour of the season-ticket family

and their money.

"But will Mum, Dad, Auntie Doris and the children go

to a game in the middle of winter at the other end of

the country when there’s a rail strike? Will they hell!

Gordon Jago and Jimmy Hill will destroy football if

allowed any sort of administrative power. Their utopia

is a spotless, concrete bowl lined with thousands of

little plastic seats, lots of clean toilets, a restaurant, a

sports complex, piped muzak and 22 clean-cut,

goal-hungry young zombies playing the game in a

spirit of friendship and sportsmanship on a

plasti-grass pitch.

They want matches which end in 7-7 draws watched

by packed crowds of middle-class parents who have

each brought their 2.4 children, who cheer

enthusiastically every goal, applaud every exhibition

of skill from the opposition and who go home

afterwards in their family saloons, all agreeing that

they’ve been thoroughly entertained. Bollocks to their

visions. It’s on those cold forbidding terraces that you

find the central nervous system of football from which

the adrenaline rises and the lifeblood flows"

GREED IS GOOD

Football totally embraced the ideology of Thatcherism.

Since the early 1980s the big clubs have attempted to

secure most of the game’s income for themselves. In

1981 they threatened to form a ‘super league’ but

were bought off by an agreement that they could

keep all their home gate receipts. A further attempt

at a breakaway in 1985 was quelled by the ‘Heathrow

Agreement’. This allowed the First Division clubs to

keep 50% of all TV and sponsorship revenue.

The final breakaway came in 1991 with the Premier

League. The motivation, according to A Game of Two

Halves by Hamil, Mitchie and Oughton was the desire

of the leading English clubs to control a larger share

of the rapidly growing revenue from television

contracts, shown by the signing of the five-year £304

million deal between the Premier League and BSkyB.

The state of football has mirrored the state of British

society. To quote A Game of Two Halves: "Although

average incomes grew in Britain by around 40%

between 1979 and 1994-95, the richest tenth of the

population saw their income grow by 68%, while the

poorest tenth saw their income fall by 8%."


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The gap between rich and poor in football is even

wider. The August 1998 Deloitte and Touche Annual

Review of Football Finance states: "The gap between

the Premier League and Football League is turning

from gap, to chasm to abyss."

A Game of Two Halves superbly sums this up: "There

appears to be a ‘trickle down’ effect but mirroring the

wider development of British society, it is one of

percolation of poverty, rather than the distribution of

wealth."

RACISM AND FOOTBALL: A

RETURN TO THE BAD OLD DAYS

The monkey chants that greeted Black English players

at the November 2004,Spain v England game were

sickening. A significant number of Spanish fans were

involved in this odious behaviour. It followed Spanish

Coach Luis Aragones earlier racist remark that Thierry

Henry was a "black shit".

There was outrage in England as scenes reminiscent

of English football 20 years earlier were played out on

our screens. The players should have been called off

the pitch by the England management team. This

would have been a clear statement to the racist fans

in English and European football that racism and

racist abuse of Black players will not be tolerated.

A week later Birmingham City player Dwight Yorke

was racially abused by a small section of Blackburn

Rovers fans. Yorke's Chairman David Sullivan accused

him of over reacting; this shows ignorance of the

problem. Yorke should not have to put up with racist

abuse on or off the field of play.

John Barnes ex England International and Black,

commented that the response of the English media

was hypocritical. When Barnes played for Watford and

Liverpool he suffered monkey chants and had

bananas thrown at him by opposing fans, as did all

black players at that time in the 1980's. At an Everton

versus Liverpool derby match in 1987, Everton fans

greeted Barnes and Liverpool with chants of

‘niggerpool, n*********, n*********’ every time he

touched the ball. At this time Everton and a whole

number of other clubs did not sign or pick Black

players.

In the mid 1970's, football manager Ron Atkinson

received abuse when he picked 3 Black players,

Laurie Cunningham, Brendan Batson and Cyrille Regis

in the same West Bromwich Albion team. Later in that

decade, Viv Anderson was a key member of

Nottingham Forest's great side, and was the first

Black player to play for England.

Yet all of these players received vile abuse, including

being booed by a section of England fans when they

played for their Country. At many grounds at this time


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fascist groups openly sold their papers and leafleted

fans. My best friend Dennis Buckley stopped going to

Chelsea in the 1980's because matches were like Nazi

rallies, with vile racist abuse being hurled at their own

Black players.

Ron Atkinson is an enigma; he was instrumental in

promoting Black players, but never shook off racist

language or racial stereotyping. He said of Brendan

Batson, his player at both Cambridge United and

W.B.A. " He had typically a chip on his shoulder"

Commenting on an England versus Cameroon match

he criticised a Cameroonian player then said "I hope

his mother is not listening up in a tree back in Africa"

He was sacked from television when he described

Marcel Desailly of Chelsea as a "Fucking lazy nigger".

There were exceptions, the late Bobby Robson,

stated, when he was England manager, that if the

best 11 players in the country were black, that would

be his England team.

Very few Black players are appointed as club

managers or coaches, there are currently only 4 Black

managers amongst the 92. Keith Alexander, Lincoln

City, Paul Ince, Milton Keynes Dons, John Barnes,

Tranmere Rovers and Chris Hughton, Newcastle

United.

Only a handful of British born Asian players are

playing in the four divisions. Zesh Rehman then of

Fulham was the first English born Pakistani to play in

the Premier League. Hopefully, in the future Asian

players will add to the rich skills of their fellow Black

and white players.

The average Black and Asian make up of a crowd is

still very low. 83% of potential Asian fans and 77% of

potential Black fans still do not see themselves

attending a match because of fear of racism; this is a

legacy of the 1970's and 80's. This, despite the

excellent campaigns by fans and players, through

‘Let’s Kick Racism Out’, ‘Show Racism the Red Card’

and the ‘Stand Up, Speak Up’ Campaigns.

During the 1970’s and 80’s Managers were often

quoted as saying Black players lacked the moral and

physical toughness, the ‘bottle’. Or that they couldn’t

play in the cold or the mud. Black players themselves

have hammered these racist myths and racism by

their brilliance on the pitch; many of the best players

in football are black. Cyrille Regis, Viv Anderson, John

Barnes and many other Black players in the 70's and

80's, deserve credit for the stick they endured and for

coming through it with dignity, brilliance and pride.

Ian Wright became an icon to Black fans: he refused

to take any racist nonsense from players, managers

or fans, and that is probably why Arsenal has the

biggest percentage of Black supporters.

A campaign is required to stamp out racism: this

includes all racist chants, and the xenophobic


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stereotyping of Spanish, German and other

'foreigners'. The disgraceful anti-Jewish chant against

Spurs ' Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz, Hitler's

gonna gas them again' is not funny, unless you think

gassing millions of Jews is a bit of a laugh (QPR fans

held up the disgraceful banner: " Gas a Jew in '82" at

the Cup Final versus Spurs). Chants such as "I'd

rather be a Paki than a Turk/Taff", when playing

Turkey or a team from Wales or "Town full of Pakis",

when travelling to Luton, Bradford or Leicester are all

unacceptable.

Let us make our grounds welcoming to fans of all

colours, races and creeds. Campaigns need to be

mounted against the racist BNP, to stop them

spreading their poisonous ideas.

BLACKS AND ASIANS

EXCLUDED

Many of the country’s best players are Black, and

around 25% of professionals are Black or mixed race

— yet only about one per cent of those attending

matches are Black, Asian or Turkish (Turkish people

are fanatical about football, but virtually none of them

go to Arsenal or Spurs, who play in an area with a

large Turkish population.)

The reason for this is that football support is

perceived as mainly white, male and aggressive.

Fresh in the memory of many Black fans is the

‘monkey’ chants of the 1970s, accompanied by the

throwing of bananas at Black players

Blacks, Asians and Turks are usually lower-paid

workers and the massive hike in ticket prices has

affected them disproportionately. Many of them can’t

afford to go.

Arsenal have thousands of Black fans, but this is not

translated into them going to the match. In 1997 QPR

played a friendly against Jamaica. More than 15,000

Black fans turned up. At a normal QPR match you

would be lucky to find a few hundred Black fans —

this in an area with a large Black population.

There has been no significant tradition of Black people

taking their children to matches. Older Black workers

were put off attending long ago because of racism.

Most people attend live matches because they were

taken along by their parents or older brothers and

uncles. This rarely happened with Black people, for

the reasons given above.

The FA, players and clubs should look at ways of

encouraging mums, dads and their children to attend.

This would have to mean cheaper tickets at all levels.

YOUNG GIFTED AND BLACK


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Black players have featured in English football since

the end of the nineteenth century. Goalkeeper Arthur

Wharton was the world’s first Black professional

footballer, playing for Preston North End in the 1880s.

But they didn’t make a breakthrough until the 1980s

— many clubs refused to sign Black players, claiming

that they lacked the moral and physical toughness to

survive.

How many great Black players have been lost to

football as a result of this blatant racism? Ian Wright

and Les Ferdinand had to play non-league football

before they were given a chance at Crystal Palace and

QPR respectively. Even though QPR could have signed

Ferdinand earlier: he only lived around the corner

from the ground. Black players rarely move on into

management or coaching in England.

Generations of talented British born Black players

were lost to the game because of racist attitudes. It

would be a crime if the same were to happen to

young British-born Asian players. Frank Soo was the

first British born Asian to play for England, he was

born of a Chinese father and an English mother. He

played for Luton, Stoke and managed Scunthorpe. He

was capped nine times for England in the 1940’s (but

these wartime caps did not count at the time as full

international caps).

WORKERS UNITED

Racism in football, like violence in football, is not

divorced from the racism and violence in society in

general. Racists and fascists are still present in the

game, especially at England internationals. Why are

there still problems in English football, particularly at

these internationals? Football, since its inception in

the English North and Midlands and Glasgow in

Scotland, has always acted as a safety valve to allow

mainly working-class males to let off steam- but it is

also a distraction, where workers have given each

other a good kicking, rather than turn on their

common enemy, -the bosses at work, or the club

directors who have hijacked the game for the sake of

prestige and profit. The division between

working-class fans at matches plays into the hands of

the bosses.

In season 2000/01 Wolves fans taunted Birmingham

fans with ‘where’s your Rover gone?’ on the day

100,000 people marched through Birmingham against

the closure of the Rover car factory by BMW. In the

same season QPR fans taunted Luton fans with ‘you’re

going down with the Vauxhall!’ As if thousands of

fellow workers losing their jobs in the car industry is

something to laugh about.

During the Thatcher years, London fans used to bait

Northern fans with taunts of ‘loads of money’. It is the

bosses who have the biggest laugh at this division.

The BNP also play on this division, at a time of


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recession when thousands of skilled white

working-class people are losing their jobs, they blame

the Black, Asian and East European Workers, when it

is the failure of the Capitalist system itself that is to

blame for mass unemployment. The only way to fight

back in a recession is for Black, White, Chinese,

Pakistani, Polish and every other nationality to unite,

organise and fight back together in their trade unions

against job losses, wage cuts and other attacks.

The psyche of a minority of politically backward fans

stems from a ‘racial superiority syndrome’ built up

when Britain had a vast Empire. Derogatory images of

Black and Asian people were prevalent in British

schoolbooks, films and literature up until the 1970’s

and beyond. This ‘syndrome’ was encouraged to

justify Britain’s subjugation of two fifths of the globe,

and also to justify the slave trade when 30 million

black people were shipped from Africa. Around six

million died en route.

The myth was encouraged that Blacks, Asians and

Irish were inferior, stupid, lazy, or even all three!

Continentals were portrayed as ‘shifty’, ‘cowardly’,

‘filthy’ etc. No wonder that some people see it as fair

game to hurl abuse at Blacks, Pakistanis or Arabs

(Muslims). Post Empire Britain is still obsessed with

military imagery and television programmes of how

we won the war. No wonder fans inspired by the BNP

say ‘our colours don’t run’. Events are also portrayed

to show that white people won the war- ‘There ain’t

no black in the Union Jack!’ – when in fact, thousands

of Black soldiers and troops from the Indian

sub-continent fought in the war. Thousands of

Irishmen also fought in the war, hundreds of airmen

in the Battle of Britain were from Poland.

My Dad, from an Irish family and born in Shepherd’s

Bush in West London, left my Mum and new- born

daughter, my sister Josie, in the then Irish Free State

(now the Republic) and returned to fight for the

British Eighth Army for five years in the Middle East.

The ironic thing is the morons in the BNP; the so

called ‘super patriots’, would have been supporters of

Hitler and Mussolini during the war, and would have

been seen as quislings and traitors.

Racism at matches is also tied to the utterances of

‘respectable’ politicians, who try to blame the fact

that we are unemployed, in lousy low paid jobs or

poor housing on the presence of foreigners and

asylum seekers. Simply, this is ‘divide and rule’- get

the working class fighting amongst themselves- and

the fat cats can hold onto their wealth made from our

toil and sweat. The main spongers in society are the

politicians who have stolen millions of pounds in

fraudulent expenses and the Bankers who have given

themselves millions in bonuses, paid for by us the tax

payer.

Racism in football and society divides black and white


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workers. The only way to obtain decent housing,

education and full, well-paid employment, is for all

workers, black and white, to struggle against their

common enemy the big business system which

exploits all workers regardless of their colour,

nationality or creed, and which forces us to live in

lousy housing, put up with poor education and health

and throws us out of work.

HOOLIGANISM

The retro violence between Millwall and West Ham

United fans this season was blown out of all

proportion by football commentators.

As far back as 1885, Preston North End’s players were

trapped on the field of play by 2,000 "howling

roughs". After beating Aston Villa 5-1 they were

attacked with stones, sticks, umbrellas and spittle.

Between 1894 and 1914, 4,000 incidents of

hooliganism occurred at football matches.

Any incident is exaggerated, whereas the hundreds

and thousands of matches that take place without any

trouble do not get any mention. It would be naïve to

think there’s no problem with hooliganism anymore,

but it is a relatively small one. It is not just a football

problem, it is society’s.

The miserable social conditions which exist for many

young people in Britain, including unemployment or

low pay for long shifts, sadly means that, for a small

minority, one of their only ways of getting excitement

is to organise attacks on visiting supporters.

If football didn’t exist, the same people would

probably concentrate on organising rucks in their

town centres. Luton Town once banned away fans for

a number of years, yet violent crime in the centre of

Luton still rose by 14%.

FOLK FOOTBALL

Football historian James Walvin wrote "It was in brief,

a game which at times came perilously close to

testing the limits of social control of local and national

governments…Football, with its wild teams and

violence, like many other apparently non political and

innocent phenomena could easily become the spark

for a whole disturbance"

The London apprentices, Walvin explains, were

traditionally radical and their games of football often

posed a threat of unruliness and often radical

agitation. In 1764 in Northamptonshire, 2,000 acres

of land were enclosed. Local people who objected

were ignored. To flout the law they organised a game

of football on the enclosed land. Shortly after kick-off

the participants tore up and burned the enclosure

fences. The Army was called in, but could not quell


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the ‘political’ game of football. In 1768 the enclosure

of Holland fen in Lincolnshire triggered off three

political football games in just one month. 200 men

and women in the fen played for two hours- the

match was broken up and four ‘rioters’ were seized

and committed to Spalding gaol.

The development of large scale industry from the

middle to late 18th Century onwards saw the

migration of peasants from the countryside into the

new booming towns and cities. Workers often had to

work 16 hours a day. The only break they received

was on Sundays and Church holidays. The State and

Church banned Sunday recreation. Their aim was to

regulate and discipline workers around the needs of

industry and profit. Workers were literally tied to the

machinery. In order to control workers there were

campaigns against sport, particularly ‘folk football’. In

the early 19th Century employers joined forces with

other propertied groups to ban football matches.

Football continued to be played by the children of the

rich in the public schools and universities. It was in

these institutions that the modern rules of the game

were drawn up.

It was only with the growth of trade unionism and the

successful fight for and introduction of a shorter

working week, including a free Saturday afternoon,

that workers were able to indulge in leisure activity

(The Factory Act of 1850 ordered mills to close at

2pm on a Saturday- hence the 3pm kick-off ).

That is why many of the original football clubs were

formed in the industrial and unionised areas Sheffield,

Lancashire, the English Midlands and Glasgow

between 1850 and 1870.

Notts County is the oldest surviving league club in the

world, formed in 1862. Sheffield FC, formed in 1857,

is the oldest team in the world, and is still playing in

non-league football.

The early rules of football were drafted in the public

schools and universities (Cambridge Rules 1848, the

year of revolution), but the driving force behind the

development of football in an organised league form

came from the industrial working classes of England

and Scotland.

Scottish workers transformed the Southern-based,

individualistic dribbling game into the superior

passing game, which reflected the co-operation and

the discipline needed and developed by workers in the

factory transferred to the playing fields. ‘The beautiful

game’ was primarily developed by working men;

Northern teams adopted the team passing game and

soon began to beat the ‘gentlemen’ of the South. The

turning point was Blackburn Olympic’s FA Cup final

victory over Old Etonians in 1883.

Manchester United, West Ham United, Arsenal and


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many other teams were originally works teams. In

The Football grounds of Great Britain, by Simon

Inglis, in reference to Arsenal’s history: "Until the turn

of the (20th) Century it had been run essentially by

exiled northern working men….but the outbreak of the

Boer war in 1899 meant more overtime for the men

and less time spent on the football club, which soon

ran into debt. The organisers had never wanted it to

become a proprietary or capitalist club".

Within a short time, football became hugely popular

and local businessman took clubs over, mainly for

prestige, but also for monetary gain. Stadia were

developed and people were packed in, paying for

admission for the first time. Profit became an issue

and the game became an ‘industry’. Interestingly, this

new form of enclosed, sanitised and organised

football was encouraged as a cheap mass

entertainment by the authorities. The idea was to

congregate thousands of fans in one place, allowing

them to let off a bit of steam, have a good swear,

maybe have a fight and take their minds off the

exploitation they suffered from their bosses.

The advent of the ‘greed is good’ Premiership marked

the final transformation of the people’s game into just

another branch of the big business corporate

entertainment industry. Clubs are projects or global

brand names these days.

WOMEN’S FOOTBALL

Women played folk football for centuries, this was

later suppressed, along with the men`s game.

Women`s football re-emerged in the 1890s, when

Nettie Honeyball pioneered the game with her touring

team. In Scotland in the same decade, a travelling

team under the management of Lady Florence

Dixie,was formed.

At the height of the Suffragette movement to win

women the vote during the early 1900s, crowds of up

to 10,000 used to attend women`s matches. From

the start the authorities did not like the idea of

women playing football. This tied in with the political

campaign against women`s rights, including blocking

their right to vote. On 23 August 1902, the FA Council

banned `Ladies` matches.

It wasn`t until World War One that women`s football

boomed again. With many men away in the war,

women were `drafted` into the factories, and many

formed works’ teams. Dick Kerr`s Ladies (Preston)

was formed in 1917 to raise money for a military

hospital.

After the war they toured the country, playing to large

crowds, including one of 53,000 (with 10,000 locked

out) at Goodison Park. But in 1921 the FA again

banned women`s football being played at any of their

grounds.


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Against all these odds and obstacles from the

authorities local women`s football continued but did

not flourish again until the 1960s. This was at a time

of the growing Women`s Liberation movement, and

also the success of England in the 1966 World Cup.

Women`s football began to blossom.

In 1969 the FA finally recognised women`s football.

The women`s FA was formed and recognised by the

FA in 1971. That year England had 44 women`s

clubs. By 1980 this had increased fivefold.

TV coverage in the late 1980s gave the women’s

game an added boost. The women`s World Cup, held

in the USA in 1999, drew record crowds, larger than

for most of the men’s games in the 1994 World Cup,

also held in the US.

As a result, millions of women now play football in the

USA, as do millions worldwide. Unfortunately, big

business wants to control and market the women`s

game to earn millions of dollars in exploiting the

interest in and love of the game. Big business sees

women players and fans as potential consumers with

major spending power.

YUPPIE PARADISE

The advent of the Premier League spawned a whole

host of books from the literati. Arsenal fan Nick

Hornby’s highly amusing book, Fever Pitch, published

in 1992, when the premiership began, contains some

disturbing conclusions from the Hillsborough disaster.

He sneers at the fears of working class fans that they

would in the future be priced out of the game: "What

if I want to take my children to a game? I won’t be

able to afford it" he says. "But neither can we afford

to take our children to Barbados or to Le Manoir Aux

Quat’ Saisons or to the Opera. Come the Revolution,

of course we will be able to do all those things as

often as we like, but until then this seems a

particularly poor argument…."

He shows total disregard for the future of smaller

clubs. "What about the little clubs who might go to

the wall? It would be very sad for Chester’s couple of

thousand fans if their team goes under- I would be

devastated if I were one of them …If clubs have to

close down because they do not have the money for

the changes deemed necessary to avoid another

Hillsborough, then so be it. Tough".

Hornby is unsympathetic to fans complaining about

price increases: "…using these price increases to swap

one set of fans and bring in a new, more affluent

group is a mistake. Even so, it is a mistake that clubs

are perfectly at liberty to make. Football clubs are not

hospitals or schools, with a duty to admit us

regardless of our financial wherewithal." He agrees

with the Economist magazine article, written just after

the events at Hillsborough, which states: "Having


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fewer clubs, operating out of smarter stadiums, ought

to revive the interest of those who have been driven

away from football during the past ten years"

Nick Hornby, who can afford to go and watch any

Arsenal match he fancies, unlike thousands of

‘gooners’ who have been priced out, puts forward the

yuppies programme for football. The only clubs that

matter are the big ones. Sod the rest! Fortunately,

Nick, the bulk of fans do care about the smaller clubs.

To quote Ed Horton’s Moving the Goalposts: "A

teenage Plymouth fan suggested that the only way to

mobilise outside support (to protest at the proposed

selling off of Brighton’s ground) was to hold a

demonstration at the Goldstone. And on a Saturday in

February (1996) that is what happened. Thousands of

supporters, from dozens of different clubs, descended

on Brighton to protest. Fans from different clubs stood

shoulder to shoulder on the terraces that day to show

their solidarity with Brighton fans.

HOW FOOTBALL SHOULD BE

RUN

We, the fans, can force change. The work of the

Campaign against ID Cards, which organised

thousands of fans against Thatcher’s proposed ID

card scheme, with demonstrations at matches,

meetings of fans at different clubs and a lobby of

Parliament, helped force her Tory government to

abandon the scheme. Tragically, it took the deaths, or

`corporate manslaughter`, of 96 Liverpool fans to

finally force Thatcher to back down.

Unfortunately, as well as abandoning the ID scheme,

the government accepted the recommendation in the

Taylor Report, post-Hillsborough for all-seater

stadiums. Two years earlier, in the FA Cup semi-final

between Spurs and Wolves at Hillsborough, a similar

tragedy nearly occurred. The authorities had learnt

nothing. We saw a glimpse of the solidarity between

fans as a result of the Hillsborough tragedy when

collections were held at every ground; more than

£1m was raised for the dead fans’ dependants.

This is the real face of football — not the isolated

hooligan problem, which is blown out of all

proportion, to fill the pages of the Mirror and the Sun

and even the `serious` press.

The Premier League and all-seater stadiums have

brought much higher prices. Fans, who see football as

a social occasion, where they would meet up on the

terraces as a group to enjoy the chants and rivalry

with the other club`s fans, have suffered. This is as

much part of the occasion as the match itself.

Supporters have been forced to sit down (although

more and more of us are resisting) and unless a block

of seats can be reserved together, they get dispersed


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around the ground.

In many cases, this has helped to kill the atmosphere.

Many former regulars have stopped going since the

enforced transition to all-seaters, regardless of ticket

prices, which have rocketed into the stratosphere. We

demand that a certain percentage of each ground in

all divisions should be set aside for fans who want to

stand. Terracing can be just as safe as seating if the

clubs spend the money to make it safe.

Governing Body

The game needs to be run by a democratically elected

governing body. This should be on the basis of each

club balloting their members to elect their

representative and the PFA and staff electing one

delegate per club. This would create a truly

democratic governing body, which would have the

interests of football, not the profit motive, at heart.

Democratic Control

At the moment, unelected boards run the different

clubs. If we are to reclaim the game then a

democratic structure is needed. Fans, players, club

staff and the local community should all be

represented on a club`s board.

We would recommend that the fans, who are the

game’s biggest sponsors, should, through their official

and unofficial supporters` clubs — where they

represent a significant number — initiate a democratic

club membership.

This would elect a third of the board. The players and

staff should elect the second third of the board, with

the final third being elected by the local, elected

authority, because the local community should be

represented to ensure club facilities are used for their

benefit. Most clubs were originally formed by

working-class people. We must regain control of our

clubs before they are destroyed by the ruthless quest

for profit.

Bring Back The Terraces

Cheap and safe terracing should be brought back to

our grounds. In Germany fans were consulted about

what sort of stadia they wanted. In England they just

went ahead and got rid of the cheap terracing and

replaced them with expensive seats.

Scrap The Premier League

The ‘greed is good league’ should be scrapped.

Football revenue including the monies from TV should

be shared out more evenly between all the teams in

the four divisions.

Revenue should also go to non-league clubs and grass

roots football. There should be a return to the


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pre-1981 arrangement where ‘away’ teams kept a

share of the gate receipts.

Admission Prices

Prices should be limited to a reasonable amount —

£15 maximum for a game. Prices for children under

eleven should be nominal, otherwise a whole

generation will be lost to the game. School students

between eleven and 18, Senior Citizens, the

unemployed and those on benefits should only pay

half price for both terracing and seats. The

supporters` clubs should be involved in discussions

on price rises and away fans should be charged the

same as home supporters, with half price for children.

Policing And Stewarding

The policing at our grounds also needs to be

monitored and controlled by the fans. Many ejections

from the ground occur for very trivial things and the

police attitude to supporters can be very

confrontational both inside and outside the ground.

Stewards, under the control of the supporters` clubs,

should be used inside the ground with the visiting

club’s fans being in charge of their own stewarding.

Facilities

Priority has to be given to people with disabilities. The

current Green Guide should be implemented. This

would guarantee that fans in disabled areas would

have a clear view of the pitch, even when people in

front are standing. All grounds should provide match

commentaries for blind and partially sighted people

who want to attend.

Clubs are always claiming that they want football to

be a family game, but the facilities that exist for

women at many grounds are completely inadequate.

Decent food, not just soggy hamburgers, should be

available at an affordable price. All fans, men and

women, should be involved in deciding what facilities

are provided.

Crèches should be freely available (mind you, kids

should be inside the ground at as early an age as

possible).

Campaign

We must organise in the Football Supporters’

Federation, which has over 100,000 members, and

through independent supporters’ clubs and fanzines

for the policies outlined above. We must Reclaim Our

Game!

Football came from the masses and the working class.

The only way it can survive is if we fight to reclaim it

as a working-class sport, owned, controlled and run


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by the fans, players and the local community. Fans

united will never be defeated!

Revenue

The tens of millions of pounds taken out of the game

in tax by the government have to be ploughed back

into football at grass roots level. The pools companies

should be nationalised, with the millions of pounds

generated by them put back into the sport at every

level.

Directors are always pleading poverty, yet they are

never short of a few bob or the odd yacht or two.

Football`s financial books must be opened for all fans

to see where their money goes.

Anti- Racism And Fascism

We the fans must demand:

The stopping of distribution of racist and fascist

literature at grounds.

Ejection and banning of known fascists and persistent

racist chanters from grounds — if the clubs do not

take action fans must be organised to physically

confront racists and fascists. Players, clubs and

fanzines should be used to educate fans on the nature

of fascism, how it exists to physically destroy the

rights and organisations of all workers.

Players should visit schools and youth clubs to issue

anti-racist statements and encourage all children,

including Black and Asian children, to attend matches.

Hooliganism

We must also combat hooliganism; a bit of a ruck

with another set of fans might seem a bit of a laugh,

but it’s divisive. Better to organise fans from around

the country to fight racism and fascism, linking this

with the campaign for a reduction in prices and for

democratic control of our clubs.

Pay Television

Sky TV, and all cable, digital and commercial TV

should be nationalised under democratic workers’

control and management. Enable facilities and

technology to be available for all for a minimal cost.

For need, not profit.

Gay Rights

Anti-gay chants, such as ‘Town full of faggots’ chanted

by ‘away’ fans at Brighton and Hove Albion, and

anti-gay sledging by players must be campaigned

against. This is divisive. The tragic suicide of former

Norwich striker Justin Fashanu was a result of the

torrent of abuse he received from fans, players and

managers after he came out.


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The Government And Football

The Criminal Justice Act could be used against fans

demonstrating against ‘our’ chairmen, boards or

managers.

Banning orders, which are used to prevent football

fans from travelling abroad, could be used in the

future against the Left and anti-capitalist protestors.

Kick Big Business Out Of Football

For fans everywhere the match is the highlight of the

week. When your team loses you are depressed,

when they win you are on top of the world.

Football has been transformed from the people’s

game into a multi-million pound arm of the leisure

industry. The founders of organized football, the

Football Association attempted to safeguard football

from being used as a means to make vast profits and

to stop individuals’ asset stripping clubs (including

selling grounds) by drafting rule 34. This rule limited

a director’s income, safeguarded club grounds and

preserved clubs as sporting institutions. This all

changed when the then Spurs Chairman flouted rule

34 by creating a PLC holding company in the 1980’s,

which could be floated on the Stock Exchange.

The Taylor Report in 1990 was used as an excuse to

destroy terracing and to transform our grounds into

yuppie palaces. Most of these grounds are soulless

and have no atmosphere. Clubs also used the report

as an excuse to massively hike up prices.

Grounds should be owned jointly by the supporters

and the local community. This would allow facilities to

be used for the benefit of all.

Players should not be bought and sold in the market

place, there should be compensation paid to clubs for

developing players, but the transfer system should be

scrapped.

At grassroots level in the 1980s, the Thatcher

government’s policy of selling off school playing fields

(continued by Labour) has had a terrible effect on

boys and girls developing their sporting skills. Schools

often do not have anywhere available for children to

play sports. Since 1981, at least 5,000 playing fields

have been sold off nationally, gone over to property

developers, out-of-town supermarkets or fast food

outlets.

The majority of clubs are in a near terminal st

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