Killing The Golden Goose

For years, rapacious, self-serving executives have been telling us that football is primarily a business and no longer just a sport. At last, it seems as if the fans have got the message. It's no surprise that three out of the four FA Cup semi-finalists failed to sell their ticket allocation: why should forty thousand Chelsea fans pay exorbitant ticket prices and travel all the way up to Manchester for a Sunday teatime game when they could stay at home and watch it live on TV? Increasingly, supporters are cherry picking which games to watch, saving their money for important league fixtures at the expense of cup ties, televised or not. The greedy, short sighted chairmen who still believe they can still charge inflated admission prices after signing the latest TV deals are in for a surprise. Blind loyalty is a commodity that few can afford nowadays.