Don’t Look Down

There’s no doubting that the focus on the modern game is on the Premiership, and equally no doubting that lower division clubs, although moderately prospering in certain cases, are relatively worse off in terms of income and support than big clubs. It’s very difficult to ignore this inequality, and although it hasn’t had the destructive effect we feared, it’s an issue the game should not ignore.

You could be forgiven for thinking that it took little less than a takeover bid or a good cup run to get any serious media focus on a club below top three Championship, but how personally should we take it? The Premiership is where the mainstay of the footballing fan base is, very much like Serie A in Italy (where I can state with confidence that the media coverage is even blinder to the smaller clubs). It is therefore inevitable that this is where most TV cameras and journalists will be sent. Aside the financial rewards on offer, this becomes an additional incentive for smaller clubs to climb the ladder.

When this happens however, the astute supporter picks up on the covert hypocrisy that only becomes evident with success. When we at Crewe were still unaware of the impending change in fortunes, we would be pleased to make the old Third Division playoffs every season. The attitude from the terraces was not atypical... we were fed up with the attention given to the big clubs. A few promotions later and perhaps we’re still fed up with the lack of focus on our success, but what also strikes me is that we too are no longer interested in the lower divisions. From as early as our first game in Division Two in 1994, the Third Division half time scores meant little, or nothing!

I’m not trying to justify it, the grass roots of the game are equally as important as Abramovich’s millions, but if an honest club like Crewe – who up until Dario faced more re-elections than the Italian Parliament – can let go of the lower divisions in the blink of an eye, surely we can have no complaints if your average Arsenal season ticket holder has but a passing interest.

In football, the experience is relative to the expectation. No doubt about it, the higher up they get the more they seem to whinge, but it’s because they want more, expect more. In contrast with success, failure at the top level is stark.

And take York City, in dire straits, but how many York fans didn’t revel in their team’s Wembley victory over us at about the same time Aldershot and Maidstone were waving the League goodbye? By the same token, losing to York was a bitter pill for us to swallow, but now a fair few Alex supporters couldn’t even name the teams in the hunt for the playoffs that season (excepting of course the four who made it), while a few short years ago we knew each one, their goal difference and games in hand.

To put it into perspective, yes, football has a very selfish side which in essence is doing nothing but harm to the prospects for the wider game. For a club like Wrexham to go out of business would be a tragedy and it is imperative that the sport learns that it has a duty to its foundation as well as its market. While football is a business, it differs from free market business in that in football, a competitor is also a fundamental partner. And while self-interest in the game is more generally counterproductive, when it comes down to it, there’s little to choose in principle between us all.

Cast your minds back... you may remember the very good point Danny Baker made on Fantasy Football League about the misinformed arrogance of the Premiership. We don’t all support top flight clubs, we don’t all know their squads inside out.

Strange as it may seem to those used to the glamour, the silverware, the Champions League, there are those who care just as much about Brentford and Lincoln as Manchester United fans do about their team. Coca-cola 1 and 2 sides make take exception to the Premiership lack of empathy, but then there are those who care about Borehamwood and Northwich, the likes of whom are left to fend for themselves to a far greater extent.

© Chris Trickett February 2005