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CHEAT OF THE WEEK 30-1-07
James Bassett
It's almost as if the professional footballers of Britain knew that Cheat of the Week was coming back, because their behaviour was markedly better this week than it was for much of 2006.
Still an honest week in professional football is still pretty dishonest by any other standard, so, without further ado, here are the nominees for the first Cheat of the Week of 2007.
Emmanuel Adebayor
He's young, strong and athletic but he went down against Bolton easier than a Bristolian whore. Had referee Mike Dean awarded a penalty, we'd have felt sorry for Bolton, and that's something not easily achieved.
Emmanuel Eboue
He's young, strong and, well you know the rest. but the kind of amateur dramatics that he displayed against Spurs in the League Cup semi-final would've made a the participants in a pre-school nativity play blush.
Nineteen Premier League Chairmen (the exception being Blackburn's John Williams)
With a £625m TV deal recently inked, you'd think a handful of Chairmen might have realised the opportunity to reach out to proper football fans by announcing a price-cut of tickets. John Williams is to be applauded for putting the issue on the table. We can't help but wonder what's keeping the other nineteen.
And so to the panel...
Graham Frankland
Whilst my initial reaction was to go for the nineteen Premier League Chairmen, it then dawned on me that this esteemed group included our very own Steve Gibson and for that reason alone I could not possibly give him that label after all he has done for us over the years.
That means that my vote this week goes to Emmanuel Adebayor who joins our elite list of "outed" cheaters who are a blight on the beautiful game we all love to watch. His actions are more appalling when you consider the size of the man who you would expect to remain standing if a force 10 whipped through the Emirates Stadium. I know Bolton are their bogey team who they struggle to perform against but to resort to cheating is unforgivable. Hang your head in shame, Mr Adebayor!!
James Bassett
Whilst it pains me to do it, I've got to go with the Premier League Chairmen (sorry, Gibbo). Of course, the biggest clubs will continue to sell-out whatever they charge, so let the United fans take their fortnightly drive up from Essex to Old Trafford, and let the Arsenal and Chelsea fans enjoy their sterile atmospheres. The likes of Wigan, Bolton, Manchester City and, yes, Boro need to address ticket prices right now, unless the game is to become an even flatter live experience than all-seater stadia already made it.
Steve Goldby
I have a friend who went to the World Cup and met Wigan's chairman, Dave Whelan. During the course of the conversation, Whelan remarked that fans were getting ripped off and should only pay £10/£5 as clubs make most of their revenue from TV rights.
My response would have been "Why are Wigan charging what they do then?" but to be fair, Wigan did drop prices for the remainder of the season before Blackburn commented.
Of course we are getting ripped off. We all know it and so do the clubs but it's not like the music business where you will have a choice of many different events that all appeal. The high prices are a tax on customer loyalty and the falling attendances are a sign that the ceiling has been reached.
It's up to the clubs. Stop playing on the loyalty of your customer base and charge a fair price for admission; otherwise you'll have to sit in the director's box every Saturday watching the banks of empty seats growing wider and wider.
In other words - stop cheating the fans.
Jeff Winter
At a time when there is more money coming into the game than ever, there are more empty seats in the league than ever, so this recent foreign TV deal is an ideal opportunity to give the game back to the fans. I call it the Greed Is Good League for a reason - the Premiership chairmen are the cheats of the week.
Dave Easson
This week I'm going to go for the nineteen Premier League chairmen, and lump in the blokey from Blackburn as well. It's not like this is some sort of new problem is it? We were all moaning about this at least ten years ago. Now the bums are finally edging off the rather expensive seats at Ewood Park, the JJB and even St.James' Park (shock horror - what do you mean the free scarf thing didn't work?)
Blackburn aren't reacting for the good of the fans, they're shitting themselves that soon there'll be no-one at Ewood to buy their over-priced hot-dogs and actually quite tasty pies. The chairmen of those clubs below the top four or five (are Spurs back in the big five? They seem to have squillions to spend) will soon see attendances plummet because they've let the big four/five get so far away from them.
Come to think of it, how on earth can Hartlepool, good as they are at the moment, justify £18 to get into a League Two game? You'll be saying they're all in it for the money next...
Simon Dixon
Well, with nominations like those there can only be one choice... or should I say, nineteen.
So, stand up the nineteen Indolent Chairman of the Premier League (yes, even you Sir Steve Gibson) - you've got my nomination.
At the best of times, the Premier League lurches around aimlessly with all the directional sense of a Kings Cross drunk chasing his can of Tennants. Now with the unbelievable TV deal about to come into effect, these Chairmen have the perfect chance to make a real difference to the structure of the game in this country, by (cliché alert) 'giving it back to the fans'.
It's alright maximising your profits, charging £45 a ticket and courting the middle classes. But how many teenagers and youngsters can afford the prices these days? And it's those very people who form the next generation of supporters; if you want to get them hooked, you've got to get them addicted first. Even drug dealers realise this.
If the PL doesn't take drastic steps then what will stop the lower attendances year-on-year? Or the increasingly indifferent attitude of fans who would rather watch in the pub with their mates than pay a small fortune to watch at the ground?
So well done to John Williams for proposing the idea. Now, what about the rest of you.? Give the fans back something meaningful (not just the usual token gestures) and slash tickets prices across the board. It's the only way to jumpstart waning attendances in this country. What's the alternative: larger transfer fees, higher players' wages, etc?
Besides which, if you don't do it then the next TV deal will be worth a hell of a lot less - after all, who wants to watch teams on TV playing in half empty grounds with no atmosphere - and then you'll be cheating everyone.
And there we have it - for the first Cheat of the Week of 2007, we have nineteen winners: the Chairmen of the Premier League teams who have yet to announce a ticket price-cut since signing a foreign TV deal that will net them, on average, £40m each.
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Cheat Of The Week is published weekly. No bullshit. No more cheating. Enough is enough. Contact us here with your nominations for Cheat of the Week.
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