The Mail Bag
A Distraction...
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I offer up the following as a distraction from our own footballing crisis, if you don't mind. I am posting a few sentences from a Wall Street Journal article by Joe Queenan entitled ?What We Really Need Is a Skybox Bailout,? published in the October 18-19, 2008 issue on page A11. Probably absurd to many, still the message is valid in the current environment. I sliced and diced some of words/sentences to make it relevant to our club.
As a result of the financial crisis, ?the status of sports as a psychological buttress is now under ferocious attack. Sports franchises cannot survive without immense support from corporations. An overwhelming source of revenue is generated by leasing luxury boxes. But now, with some of the most revered corporations (think AIG at Man Utd) going under, sports teams can no longer count on the inexhaustible revenue generated by these behemoths.?
?Because the government has already committed itself to bailing out (banks), it will soon find itself obligated to bail out many of the ancillary enterprises that depend upon (them) to survive.? Because ?without the emotional uplift provided to the people by the (likes) of (Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, and yes, even Everton), this society could descend into a maelstrom of depression.?
Maybe these arguments can be used to get the local government to invest some money in our club or participate in the construction of our new stadium?
Sur Jo, Posted 19/10/2008 at 21:34:14
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Gordon Ramsey, the SAF of chefs (I wonder what he would be like as a coach) says he pulled his money out 10 weeks ago, how nice of his rich mates to tip him the wink.
This credit crunch thing will run and run. Everybody is trying to ignore the depression-shaped elephant in the room, hoping it will go away.
All the experts over the years agree what went wrong in the 30s. The actual drop was in Oct 1929, then a bounceback but back with a vengence in the 30s. Cut backs, save don?t spend... That, or so the experts say was were we went wrong, but there is no proof that doing the opposite and all the bail outs will work.
Bill has the truth of it... Watch this space
We are now so shit that even the Kopites I know can?t be arsed taking the piss anymore!
WTF is happening to our club? All that hard-won prgress thrown away in a matter of months.
No matter the result this coming weekend against MANURE... We then get Cahill back, and a whole load of teams down the bottom of the scale to boost our confidence with a fine run of games leading up to a team on our level (ASTON VILLA) then the other threatening teams of MAN CITY and CHELSEA.
Now if in all these games leading up to December, we can manage to get our team sorted, some semblance of belief and balance, we might finally make some damage in the league and perhaps topple a few giants.
The newcomers might still be needing more adjusting but the likes of :
BOLTON
FULHAM
WEST HAM
MIDDLESBROUGH
WIGAN
TOTTENHAM
Should be more than enough to help work out where everyone is at and who deserves a first team spot!
It is blatantly obvious what is wrong with the team yet no one has done anything to right it. Unless there is major investment around the corner, we are going to be as we have been for the last twenty years bar one a team with no hope of a trophy.
When I was a kid, even when the team did not perform, you just knew that there was someone in the background who would make the needed changes to right the situation. Now we just seem to be sailing along with no direction. I understand that continuity is important but when the team seems as limited as ours isn?t it time to make changes. Our standards and expectations are now so low that we are quite happy to keep the status quo. If we were as we were the present scenario would not be acceptable.
Not many people realise the massive potential of Everton Football Club ? not even some of the fans who post on this site. Forget your QPRs your Charltons your Fulhams your Man Citys or even your Chelseas ? if Everton had the same kind of backing it would be unbelievable!
Everton have huge debts, future loans secured against other assets and more importantly a ground which generates little revenue hence the need for a new stadium. That’s alot of funding to be pumped into a club as it stands. For those reason’s you would have to say NO.
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1 Posted 20/10/2008 at 01:26:19
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Not sure I agree with the argument of the third paragraph. The author seems to be suggesting that we could be heading towards social fracture (inner city riots anyone?) if structures like football clubs start to feel the real brunt of the ’credit crunch’ etc.
Can’t quite see the stockbrokers of Chelsea village, the RS herring merchants of Norway, or the Manure car salesmen on a corporate freebie running amok in the streets if their adopted clubs start to falter financially!
It could be argued that such a collapse in corporate support might actually bring back the level playing field we all crave, and be suitable punishment for the debt-ridden high flyers we seem to be struggling to match. Wow - think about it - a club financed on attendances, club shop sales and MOTD appearance fees alone - players on just above the average pay of the spectators who come every week to support them. The best teams arising from a combination of good management, hard graft from the players, and local youth players coming through the system - without a business tycoon or investment group in sight!
If that’s what the economic downturn threatens, then from the point of view of EFC, English football and respect for the fans coming through the turnstiles, I say bring it on!