Today really does feel like I have woken up on Christmas morning only to find that the only presents under the tree are three small packages from long forgotten Great Aunts whom I neither knew nor particularly cared for (no offence to fans of Sunderland, Burnley, Brighton or the lesser teams in London)! No, I haven’t gone mad, the open letter to Richard Masters below that I wrote on this site back on fixtures day in June explains it in more detail.
https://arsenal-mania.com/an-open-letter-to-richard-masters-at-the-premier-league/
And here we are almost exactly two months later and instead of being incredibly excited for the day ahead, I feel a real sense of chagrin about what has been taken away from me. Now firstly I should point out that I do not blame Richard Masters for this, Richard is a thoroughly decent man doing an incredibly difficult job in the most challenging of circumstances. He is a genuine football fan, Villa if you must know, who cares deeply about the game in this country. If there is a Grinch in this story, it is probably Rupert Murdoch and even then as my article above says I think that access to live football that we have today is fantastic, we’ve literally ‘never had it so good’.
There are many reasons why the Prem is the best League in the world, but second in importance of these (after the incredible fans that follow every club) is the quality of players on the pitch. Without Rupert and his Sky Sports’ billions there would have been no Henry, Vieira, van Persie, Sanchez, Overmas, Petit, Gilberto, Pires or Fabregas let alone Kai, Martin, Willo, Viktor and the three Gabis – apparently other clubs have also attracted some decent overseas talent over the years, but I choose not to acknowledge them!
But, surely there is room here for the League and the broadcasters to give something back to the ‘lifeblood’ of the game. At 3pm this afternoon there should be 10 Premier League stadia crammed to the rafters with hopeful, but nervous, fans all knowing that anything is possible over the next nine months. I covered off the supposed obstacles to this in my article above as well as explaining that these issues are not insurmountable, so once more I ask (almost beg) the authorities to give us our Christmas Day back. I can happen and it should happen, it just needs a few heads to get together and realise what the fans want can be done. Many people have tried to leave a mark on English football over the years. but a return to a full 3pm opening day Saturday programme would ensure Mr Masters left a true legacy that could never been disputed. so come Richard, you know that you want to…..
Images courtesy of Reuters/Action Images