It was only in 1992 that the League was cut to 72 clubs and the three divisions all shuffled up to become the "new" First, Second and Third. Now we have another legacy to trip up football's stattos and historians, with another "new" line-up, consisting of the same clubs as before. In other words, it's a whole new ball game, but nothing's actually changed. All the big money in football pours into the Premiership, and it will continue to do so. It's not as if the Premiership has improved the overall standard of the English game, which was the original idea behind it. Just two major European trophies won in 12 seasons contrasts sharply with 11 victories in the European and UEFA Cups in the period between 1972 and 1984, when it was still the plain old Football League. But, for all that, the League seems to be insanely jealous of all that power and wealth and wants to make itself into a "Mini-Me" Premiership. It simply won't wash. Clubs competing IN a Championship, rather than competing FOR one are not suddenly going to become wealthier, or more attractive to potential investors. Although the League has managed to pull its house together since the shake-up caused by the demise of the ill-fated ITV Digital two years ago, it is still playing very much second-fiddle to England's top house. It's true that Sky came in with a rescue deal, but they are still paying considerably less than the ITV company was going to and a tiny fraction of the money they hand over on a plate to the top 20 clubs. It still seems ridiculous to hand out millions just for being members of a marketing man's dream league. It's a little ironic that United are no longer in this "all-new" league. However they too are going to find themselves playing in a "re-branded" division. Just for the record, the Conference is now the Conference Premier, Conference North and Conference South. I have to say this re-structuring, which goes much further down the non-league pyramid, is a lot more sensible than the League's marketing-led nonsense. The Conference now has three divisions, the same number as the League itself and a proper system for promoting and relegating the country's top non-league sides. It should strengthen the identity of non-league football and it's good to report that Sky still have room in their schedules to show about 10 live games from the Conference each season. With the ground-breaking internet deal with BT and its commercial partners to stream highlights as well as live games from the Conference, the Cumbrians are going to remain highly visible to the majority of their supporters as well as all other followers of football. That's how it should be. The standard of the non-league game has gone up considerably. It's refreshing to see the mainstream media are not ignoring it totally. As far as the county of Cumbria is concerned, we have Carlisle in Conference Premier, Barrow in the Conference North and Workington Reds in the Unibond Premier. In effect, the two 'lesser' clubs have been 'promoted' while United have gone down one, although in reality neither Barrow nor Reds are any nearer reaching league status. At least there is an outside chance of Carlisle and Barrow meeting in up to three different cup competitions next season, which would make for interesting viewing. The authorities have been clamping down on football hooligans with a major ban on supporters travelling to Euro 2004. A host of United's less savoury followers have been banned from visiting Portugal and the majority will have to serve lengthy bans from going to any games in this country. At the lower end of the scale though there have been some contentious decisions, with some supporters who have had no arrests or convictions in years finding themselves shown the red card. Even associating with others who have caused trouble seems to be enough to get you chucked out nowadays. It's obvious no-one wants trouble involving England followers in Portugal, but the bans from all grounds for some people seem unduly harsh. The board of CCUIST wrote in support of one our own members who was facing a Euro 2004 banning order. Fortunately, after several people spoke up in his defence, he was able to get the order lifted, but others have not been so lucky. Whilst the mug (thug?) shots on the front of this week's News & Star are grimly familiar, the powers that be are on the verge of abusing the powers they have in clamping down on extremely marginal cases. A bit more common sense is required I think. Al |
