If Arsenal join the European Super League we can wave goodbye to football

If Arsenal join the European Super League we can wave goodbye to football as we know it

By Adam Le Roux

Well, that’s the end of football then. Goodbye, see ya, adios.

The end of Saturdays in the sun, rain or snow thumbing through a programme and munching on a lukewarm pie, that sense of excitement as you hear the teams for the first time, and that sense of disappointment when no one within earshot wants to hear you views on why we were better with Abou Diaby in the midfield.

The end of the nerve-racking final five minutes as you cling on to a hard-fought away win at Burnley, or the ecstasy after fighting back to claim a point against West Ham after being three goals down.

The end of all those emotions, bottled up and released throughout the 90 minutes; the ups, the downs, the joy, the despair, and the end of thinking football really mattered.

 

What is football?

We are nothing to football clubs, and the quicker we accept that the better.

We like to think we are, because we would happily sell body parts to be able to be one of the lucky few that get tickets for Bournemouth away, and buy season tickets year after year, and all the merchandise to go with it, but we are small fry in comparison to the global demand of the beautiful game.

Arsenal Football Club - like all football clubs - is a business, so it is not in the least bit surprising that the Gunners are one of the clubs involved in the European Super League, where money comes first and everything else comes second.

Hell, this club saw over the destruction of one of the most prestigious football stadiums in the country to create the atmosphere vacuum that is the Emirates - you could even call them the pioneers of ruining the game we all fell in love with.

Thinking about Saturday afternoons at Highbury still make the hairs on your arms stand on end, with the Clock End bouncing and the bovril brewing and the beers sloshing as Gooners came together to celebrate a united love of their team.

But those memories are becoming more distant than ever, with the current state of the game taking it to another level entirely - with video screens and monopolistically-minded oligarchs continuing to steer the ship whichever way they fancy in search of the nearest buck to be made.

History doesn’t mean a thing any more, the dollar is king, and we’re all just passengers in the journey to the gold mine for the fabled few - with global leaders and oil-rich ramblers spraying their cash about to wield influence and gain power - this is no longer about two nets and a ball.

This isn’t about the other-worldly emotion of scrambling in a last-minute winner, and feeling every push and pull of every member of the crowd as you lose yourself for those 20 seconds or so, all because a ball crossed a void between two posts.

Because that’s as simple as football is - 22 men, one ball, two nets - and that’s exactly why we love it, that competition and drive, and that chance to live vicariously through the people who wear the same shirt as you, but have a million times the ability you possess.

The hard truth is that these are no longer just football clubs we support, yes they may wear the red and white or the bruised banana, but we are now just mindlessly pumping money into worldwide companies that will do anything for another portion of your wealth.

Football fans are such a captive audience it is almost sad to see, because once you are in it is almost impossible to get back out and stop your interest - and that’s exactly where they get you, they keep you in the palm of their hand and never let you go.

For example, when the Gunners are facing Atletico Madrid in the proposed European Super League do you think you would have the guts to not turn the TV screen on once, or to check to see how they are getting on?

Some people may have the ability to do just that, but the majority won’t - they’ll be as hooked as ever once that competitive edge gets going, and the players they see as ‘theirs’ will get their backing once again - and the furore of the competition will quickly be swept under the rug.

What is football to Arsenal Football Club?

As a football club and as a business you can see exactly why Arsenal would make the decision to become a part of the European Super League, but at the same time the club has to recognise just how crucial they are to match-going fans and also to their community.

After such a shocking season in the Premier League this year, Stan Kroenke and the powers up above will have jumped at the chance to be guaranteed a chance to be involved in European competition week in, week out, because if you can’t earn it, just buy it, right?

The income the Gunners’ participation in the new competition will generate will go through the roof, and the global appeal of the club will no doubt be magnified even more so with the chance to compete on the highest level on a regular basis, but what about the legacy right here at home?

What about the fans who have grown up on a diet of ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’, and Tony Adams and Charlie Nicholas and Paul Merson and traipse up and down the Holloway Road to meet friends, loved ones, and even complete strangers, all with that mutual love - the love of Arsenal FC?

Ultimately, it turns out that love was unrequited - it was the most one-way of relationships, the greedy and selfish lover that you never had the heart to bin, until they got a better offer and left you by the wayside.

It was easy to deceive yourself that fans mattered in football, and we really made a difference, but at the end of the day sport will carry on with or without the baying thousands in their seats - we've already seen that for the past year now.

So you better get used to fabricated fan noise and silence surrounding stadiums, because the fans are nothing any more.

Silenced, belittled, forgotten, nothing.

Well, that’s the end of football then. Goodbye, see ya, adios.

Photo Credit: Getty Images