Oh Dear - Keys now also had it!

[dpmd]

Sky have ruined football full stop.

level playing field before they came along.

Spot on. Never any need for parachute payments to relegated teams until they got involved.

[Youvebeenrangered]

This is stupid.. That god awful program loose women that's on every lunchtime is basically a hour of 4 women talking about what they hate about men..

I know football has come a long way and it's all well and good making it a family game in which women are encouraged to come along, but this whole issue now is really annoying the main audience which is us, such a shame..

[dpmd]

One question I would like to ask is will Soccer AM now get rid of the Soccerette? Isn't that sexist as well?

[Nodge70]

More football league clubs went bust pre Sky than have during Sky's tenure as the major broadcaster. Lower league football is now richer than it has ever been, with the money feeding down as far as Step 5 of non league football. It's fashionable to knock Sky, but all they do it give clubs money. Stacks of it. With the amount washing around the game, there really is no excuse for well run clubs to go to the wall. It's up to the owners how they spend it or save it. How many clubs with parachute payments actually bounced straight back with the two years? Not very many. Outweighed significantly by those who didn't.

Level playing field before Sky? Do me a favour. Sure, an unfashionable teams made it to the top flight or cup final every now and then (Millwall had a couple of seasons up, Carlisle, Northampton - they are just history's versions of Wigan, Blackpool and Barnsley) but the top flight and the major cups have always been and always will be (mad Sheikh's and Oligarch's aside) absolutely dominated by the same 6 or 8 clubs who have always done so (Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal, Everton, Villa, Spurs, Chelsea, City) - same in Europe. Want your Champions League winner? Perm any one from Milan, Madrid, Barca, Bayern or Man Utd.

Sky SAVED football. Does anyone remember exactly how sh1te the overall state of the game was in the 70's and 80's. Facilities in stadiums were outdated at best, lethal at worst. Pitches were akin to ploughed fields, the football played on them, for the most part, just as agricultural. Attendances were at a post war nadir and going further downhill and no-one was interested. Clubs were able to change and to implement the findings of the Taylor report due to the money invested by Sky.

It's all very well being misty eyed and nostalgic for the days of the terraces but don't confuse banter with mates on trains and in pubs up and down the country to the absolute b0llocks served up in the top flight stadiums and how supporters were treated worse than animals. I was there. I remember it. Sky have helped to improve all that by a million per cent.

Plus ca change?

NB - Gray is suing News International for the phone hacking stuff. I'd assume his removal was a pleasant opportunity approved by Rupert.

NB - I do not work for Sky, News International or any of its partners!!!

[cross it Dave]

Sky saved Football, your having a laugh.

[dpmd]

More football league clubs went bust pre Sky than have during Sky's tenure as the major broadcaster. Lower league football is now richer than it has ever been, with the money feeding down as far as Step 5 of non league football. It's fashionable to knock Sky, but all they do it give clubs money. Stacks of it. With the amount washing around the game, there really is no excuse for well run clubs to go to the wall. It's up to the owners how they spend it or save it. How many clubs with parachute payments actually bounced straight back with the two years? Not very many. Outweighed significantly by those who didn't.

Level playing field before Sky? Do me a favour. Sure, an unfashionable teams made it to the top flight or cup final every now and then (Millwall had a couple of seasons up, Carlisle, Northampton - they are just history's versions of Wigan, Blackpool and Barnsley) but the top flight and the major cups have always been and always will be (mad Sheikh's and Oligarch's aside) absolutely dominated by the same 6 or 8 clubs who have always done so (Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal, Everton, Villa, Spurs, Chelsea, City) - same in Europe. Want your Champions League winner? Perm any one from Milan, Madrid, Barca, Bayern or Man Utd.

Sky SAVED football. Does anyone remember exactly how sh1te the overall state of the game was in the 70's and 80's. Facilities in stadiums were outdated at best, lethal at worst. Pitches were akin to ploughed fields, the football played on them, for the most part, just as agricultural. Attendances were at a post war nadir and going further downhill and no-one was interested. Clubs were able to change and to implement the findings of the Taylor report due to the money invested by Sky.

It's all very well being misty eyed and nostalgic for the days of the terraces but don't confuse banter with mates on trains and in pubs up and down the country to the absolute b0llocks served up in the top flight stadiums and how supporters were treated worse than animals. I was there. I remember it. Sky have helped to improve all that by a million per cent.

Plus ca change?

NB - Gray is suing News International for the phone hacking stuff. I'd assume his removal was a pleasant opportunity approved by Rupert.

NB - I do not work for Sky, News International or any of its partners!!!

Hi Rupert.

[qpr76]

Sky have ruined football full stop.

level playing field before they came along.

I disagree. They're the reason we have the best domestic league in the world. It was going no where under the BBC.

[cross it Dave]

English clubs won the European Cup how many times before Sky, and how many since?

[nuffieldranger]

Sky have made it all about money now,hence why so many smaller clubs are struggling.

Dont forget the abolishment of shared gate reciepts that needs to take a large portion of the blame of why smaller clubs struggle:yush:

[Nodge70]

Dont forget the abolishment of shared gate reciepts that needs to take a large portion of the blame of why smaller clubs struggle:yush:

THIS!

NB - voted in before Sky!

[cross it Dave]

So exactly how did Sky save our wonderful game

[Nodge70]

English clubs won the European Cup how many times before Sky, and how many since?

Banned from Europe from 1985 - 1992

Since then, even allowing for the fact that a generation of players lost the experience needed of playing top European competition, since the involvement of Sky the wider European profile is still way ahead of any other nation...

Man Utd (ECWC & Champions League winners and finalists)
Leeds (CL semi finalists)
Liverpool (UEFA Cup winners & finalists and CL winners and finalists)
Chelsea (ECWC Winners and CL finalists)
Arsenal (UEFA Cup winners, ECWC winners and CL finalist)
Fulham (UEFA Cup finalists)

Still dominant. The only time England wasn't dominant was during the ban and the immediate aftermath.

[Nodge70]

So exactly how did Sky save our wonderful game

By investing in clubs who in turn invested into the stadiums, infrastructure and players.

[dpmd]

Banned from Europe from 1985 - 1992

Since then, even allowing for the fact that a generation of players lost the experience needed of playing top European competition, since the involvement of Sky the wider European profile is still way ahead of any other nation...

Man Utd (ECWC & Champions League winners and finalists)
Leeds (CL semi finalists)
Liverpool (UEFA Cup winners & finalists and CL winners and finalists)
Chelsea (ECWC Winners and CL finalists)
Arsenal (UEFA Cup winners, ECWC winners and CL finalist)
Fulham (UEFA Cup finalists)

Still dominant. The only time England wasn't dominant was during the ban and the immediate aftermath.

You can't really compare then and now if you are talking about the European Cup "Champions League". In the old days you actually had to win the league to get into the competition. These days 3 teams get byes into the competition...

[cross it Dave]

So the likes of Terry & Rooney would have chosen careers in window clearing or similar instead of earning a paltry 10 grand a week from football, yeah.