I blame Richard Keys
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 10:25AM
spooky in Sky Sports, changing face of football, elite, modern day football

The Premiership Years on Sky Sports. Got this on at the moment, it's 1992, and its the year Sky started their coverage with cheerleaders, balloons, Richard Keys pre-shaved, Monday night football and five hour coverage. These were the days when £3M was considered a massive transfer fee, Clough, terraces, Norwich topping the table, Jimmy Tarbuck, hardly any foreign imports, Spurs constantly mediocre, QPR playing attractive football, ITK info only available via word-of-mouth, Leeds defending champions…you get the picture. Innocent days about to be mugged and left battered and bloody in a dark alley way.

We now live in a world of the Top 4 monopoly, over-inflated transfer fees, ridiculous wages, player-power, seating, family stands, microscopic coverage, the death of muddy pitches, overly expensive season tickets, corporate entertainment, fewer 3pm Saturday kick-offs, play-acting, lack of atmosphere at newly built stadiums, refs with massive egos, far too many average imports, club badges ruined by brand consultancy, empty seats, Vicks covered shirts, The FA Cup losing it's magic, yellow streaks on what should be an all-white shirt, celeb glory hunting fans, billionaire takeovers, Internet kneejerkers, money-spinning pre-season competitions…and Spurs are still mediocre. The irony that I have Sky is also not lost on me.

How I failed to see it all ending in tears, I'll never know.

Article originally appeared on Dear Mr Levy (http://dml23.squarespace.com/).
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