Future of football with broadcasters...

Future of football and match going fans

With Amazon joining the party with Sky and BT, the future battle for TV rights is getting very competitive. Amazon has won the rights to show 20 games from next season but only over two match days. Boxing Day and another bank holiday will see Amazon have the rights to show every game from the two days to their subscribers.   The package was known as ‘package F’ which is relatively low on the priority list for TV broadcasters with package A (Saturday 1230 KO won by BT) and package  B (Saturday 1730 KO won by Sky) the most popular followed by Sunday games.

Amazon’s thinking will be to get their foot in the door with the main objective to increase their customer base and Premier League football has that global interest that only football has and the opportunity to get involved would have been difficult to resist.

Amazon do give free 30 day trials and many may begin the trial around the Christmas period in order to get the boxing day games and some may cancel after but many will continue which will fulfil Amazon’s objectives of increasing their customer base.

The other interesting thing for next season was ‘package C’ which Sky won and allows them to show 24 Sunday 1400 games which is familiar but also allows them to show eight Saturday night 1945 games. While, Saturday night games may be prime time viewing on TV in the United Kingdom, it poses difficulty for supporters travelling to watch live games.

The late KOs potentially pose transport issues with trains often not running a late service which may make it difficult for away supporters to get back to the part of country they are from. This may also mean some awkward conversations within families with some wanting to go / watch football with others not so keen.

We calculated that last season; Arsenal only had about 5/6 traditional 1500 KOs. There are currently Friday night KOs (that are very difficult for travelling fans), Saturday 1245, Saturday 1730, soon to come Saturday 1945, Sunday 1200, 1400/30 and 1600/30 and Monday 2000 KOs and many games are moved for TV coverage which means supporters have to wait until about 6 weeks prior to know when and where their team is playing which makes it very difficult to plan their own lives.

With Amazon being a less traditional place to watch football, it may mean others get involved. Twitter had some NLF coverage which moved to Amazon and Snapchat had sport highlights which may result in more social media platforms and online streaming companies get involved in football and push Sky and BT to the limit. The ultimate result for supporters may be to have multiple subscriptions in various places in order to watch their team which could prove costly.

As much as we all love the beautiful game, the cost for supporters via TV or attending matches is out of control which match ticket + transport costing a small fortune and potentially forcing families to make a choice and potentially putting football before other priorities.

Will it get better? My guess is that it’s only just beginning…

We need Safe Standing!

The safe standing debate has been going on for quite a while but very much in the background until recently. I think the break through moment was when the inquiry into the Hillsborough tragedy was concluded with the verdict that Liverpool supporters were not to blame for the incident where 96 football fans, like me and probably you, if you are reading this passed away.  

Rightly so, the safe standing debate was put to one side as the families of those who lost their life were battling to remove blame from the Liverpool fans in Sheffield that night in 1989. There was an unwritten agreement that the campaign would only really begin if the families of those 96 Liverpool fans and Liverpool fans in general gave the go ahead.

Last year, the Spirit of Shankly supporters group in Liverpool surveyed just under approx. 20,000 Liverpool fans with 88% backing rail seating / safe standing and in a similar poll done by the ArsenalSupporters Trust which reached approx. 15,000 supporters, 96% supported the concept of safe standing.

This was a clear sign that fans wanted safe standing back in the English game. The families of the 96 Liverpool fans, via the Spirit of Shankly, visited Celtic who were carrying out a trial for safe standing and some of them were supportive after seeing the facilities in Scotland. Other clubs such as West Brom and Cardiff have tried to conduct similar things and are working on appeals, after being initially rejected at government.

Ultimately, the government are in control of the situation and have the power but in a petition signed by over 100,000 people are now set to debate / discuss it in parliament on June 25.

Labour, have also recently supported the campaign and the Arsenal Supporters Trust were present in a meeting with the Shadow Sport Minister, Rosena Alli-Khan, who announced the backing at Loftus Road recently.

The Premier League are also now involved and in a meeting again where the Arsenal Supporters Trust were present, admitted they have beenasked to review safe standing. 

All the signs are that it’s moving in the right direction and supporters are being urged to contact their MP, if they support the concept of safe standing with fan groups now contacting their clubs to seek their views and are beginning to put some pressure on as it’s clear that the majority of football fans want it.

What would safe standing mean in my opinion?

Let’s get one thing straight, supporting safe standing doesn’t mean you have to stand when you go and watch your club play football. A potential standing section would amount to a small percentage of a ground’s capacity. At the trial at Celtic, 3,000 seats were replaced by 3,000 people standing – it was one for one. Long term this may change and Arsene Wenger, when in charge of Arsenal, spoke highly of safe standing and the potential to reduce ticket pricing, but we’re a long way away from that.

At the Emirates, even if 5,000 become safe standing, the rest of the 55,000 would remain as it is (3,000 goes to away fans) so we’re likely to have more demand than supply which means anyone not part of the demand, will be unaffected (unless they currently sit in the place where safe standing comes in – they may need to be moved in that case). I remember at a football supporters meet up where someone was very passionate about safe standing because he believed it would improve the atmosphere and be great for young people but when asked if he would want to stand, he said ‘no, I’m too old, but just because it won’t direct benefit me, it could benefit others and benefit the club who in return will get a better match day atmosphere’. That’s the view, I’m sure, of many supporters who have views on atmosphere, seating, ticketing but may just not be able to be part of it anymore.

There will be teething problems – safe standing may mean further and more stricter policing of seated areas and those not lucky enough to get into the safe standing section, may be forced to sit more than they do now (it’s pretty common to stand during exciting moments) with persistent standing to be taken quite seriously. There will be a higher demand for the standing areas so there would have to be a system in place but if it all worked, how great would it be to have a section that can go head to head from an atmosphere side with the away fans?

The atmosphere at the Emirates has always been debated and while it has improved in my opinion for the big games, it may just need another injection and safe standing could be that. It may encourage younger people to get involved more; it may encourage supporters who follow the team away only to come to home games and we may get a proper singing section to drive the team forward in games. The old cliché about the 12^th man being important could begin to be a thing at Arsenal again.

I’m all for safe standing, as long as it’s done with no risk attached and is 100% safe. If there are any doubts, the plug should be pulled but going all over the country and looking at conditions in the home and away ends, it’s actually becoming more dangerous to stand in a seated section and that alone, could end up being more dangerous than having a safe standing section.

Watch this space….

Up the Arsenal.

Thank you, Per Mertesacker

It’s been slightly forgotten but Sunday marks the final time we’ll see Per Mertesacker in the first team squad at the Emirates Stadium (barring injury) and remembering what Arsene did with Mikel Arteta, I have a feeling we may get a final chance to see Per on the pitch playing in the red and white for the final time.

Let’s go back a few years to when he signed for the club – we were in complete disarray, we had just been destroyed at Old Trafford 8-2 having already lost at home to Liverpool. We had just sold one of our better players in Samir Nasri, having already lost our captain Cesc Fabregas earlier in the summer so there was a major rebuilding process on.

Robin Van Persie was entering his last two years of his contact and there were doubts about Theo Walcott at the time. Arsenal needed some leadership and they needed players who WANTED to play for The Arsenal.

Up stepped, Per Mertesacker. A self-proclaimed Arsenal fan that was honoured to come and represent the Arsenal. He was a player linked with the club for a while and when it happened, it was ‘a wish come true’ for the player.

He brought leadership and calmness to the club and quickly developed the role of ‘debt collector’ when players received fines and was made captain after Mikel Arteta retired.

His first goal was in the North London Derby – not a bad place to start and you get the feeling he knew what it felt to be an Arsenal player.

The ‘big f*cking German’ quickly become a cult hero and was always quick to come over to the away fans , win or lose, playing in the game or not playing in the game and that got instant respect.

Arguably, his finest hour was one of his last starts in a big game for the club and that was at Wembley in the FA Cup final last May. He hadn’t played all season aside from a few minutes on the final day of the PL  but was forced to start after injuries and suspensions to others meant there literally was no one else but big Per was there to step in. He told Martin Keown at the end of the game ‘not to write him off’ and anyone that was there at Wembley understood what he meant.

Arsenal fans were nervous that we would be facing the likes of Hazard and Costa with Rob Holding and Per Mertesacker in the backline but neither of them let us down but it was Per who impressed with a man of the match type performance – he really was a hero, a leader and a real Arsenal man.

I think he has been forgotten a little with the news of the boss but keeping him around the club in his new role in the Academy is fantastic news and let’s hope he has a long and successful career of the field for the Arsenal because he has so much to offer.

Per Mertesacker – Thank you.