Ok, a bit dramatic, but let me explain.
I think it is fair to say that a majority of the blogosphere is reasonably tech savvy. Arsenal are a Global brand these days and everyone wants a piece of the action. Maybe you aren’t lucky enough to be able to afford a season ticket, perhaps you live too far away to get to the ground… and maybe, just maybe… you can’t afford to subscribe to Sky or the doomed Setanta service.
So what do you do? You love your club… you want to be able to see the game… but you probably don’t fancy paying for it, so the chances are you’ll try and hook up to a streaming service.
Ahh yes, the humble stream. A clever piece of technology that allows people to hook their computer up to a Sky box and stream a game live over the internet to thousands web pirates. It’s a great piece of technology and it allows football to be spread to the masses. Streaming is a bi-product of good marketing… if people didn’t like the Premiership, they wouldn’t’ go to such extreme lengths to watch it.
The only problem is, these football pirates aren’t coughing up for their joy. They are effectively stealing from deep pockets of Rupert Murdoch and co. I believe this could have grave implications for the game.
Why?
Well, lets just imagine you’ve rented a Villa in the Algarve for two weeks. You’ve paid out a fair whack for this villa because it has a private tennis court and pool. When you get out there, you open up the back doors and you find to you horror… two German families ripping it up in YOUR pool, hogging YOUR sun loungers whilst taking full advantage of YOUR tennis facilities whilst wearing incorrect footwear!
You’ve wedged out £5k for exclusivity and you’ve found out everyone else is in on the act… for FREE!
Next time you go to book a holiday, are you going to be willing to part with the same amount of cash? Doubtful… So with that in mind, why would Sky pay the same next time around when streaming will have advanced, improved in quality and gained popularity?
What could the ramifications of this be for football?
Well, next time Sky come to negotiate, they might insist on a lower price as their product has been devalued.
This would have horrific knock on effects for our already over inflated football league. We could end up seeing Division one and two going bust (We’re pretty much on our own with 4 Professional football leagues)… Alternatively, the main clubs could decide they don’t want to accept the lower deal and decide to negotiate their own television rights. This would work well for the best clubs, but lets be fair… how much revenue is a club like Hull going to earn from a TV season ticket? Would they make £40million? I doubt it! Not good news for a league hardly renowned for fierce competition.
The other additional problem that you’d get from TV season tickets is stay at home fans… how appealing would a £1500 a year home season ticket be if you could buy a full TV ticket for £200? Geoff reminded me of a meeting he had with David Miles, the previous Arsenal MD when he stated that Arsenal were only going to go up 60,000 seats incase TV season tickets took off.
So ultimately, Arsenal wouldn’t suffer too much (Provided we could still fill the ground)… but football as a whole might.
In Italy, the clubs have agreed to sell their TV rights as a collective again due to disparity in money clubs were recieving. Whilst Milan enjoyed revenue of 85m, Chievo only received 4m. To offset the loss the big clubs are going to incur they’ve negotiated reduced payments to Serie B clubs… to the tune of 30m! Imagine if English clubs cut the parachute payment and divided up the £40million!
The problem with the league and it’s members is it’s sustainability… the chances are that even if a new Sky deal could be brokered the clubs would still struggle. Everytime a new deal is struck, players demand an increase in wages… it seems the whole system is set up to service players pockets. There has to come a day when advertisers and TV companies hit a brick wall and say enough is enough. When that day comes, things could start to unravel in a big way.
Premiership clubs don’t seem to build any sort of cash reserves for a rainy day… their budgets are tighter than chav on a 110% mortgage… It’s even worse for the smaller clubs, according to rumour, many lower divisions will go bust if they don’t receive the Setanta money that is outstanding. Imagine if the Sky deal came in at £10million a club less? Well… Liverpool’s profit would be wiped out straight away… that’s how tight things are… what would the ramifications be for the rest of the clubs who have a combined debt of £3billion (That figure is even crazier when you consider Bundesliga debt is only £400mill for 36 clubs)?
Maybe you’re thinking it wont affect the main players because they can always rely on Global shirt sales and merchandising… well think again…! I found this amazing statistic from the Guardian that might make you think twice about how much foreign fans put into clubs pockets.
‘For all the efforts made by United in the past 15 years to build a global brand and all the rhetoric about having, according to one nebulous estimate, 333m “supporters” around the world, the club’s latest results show that just £3.34m of its £256.2m annual turnover originated outside of the UK.’
Staggering! So world wide, Man United’s overseas fans contribute just under a penny each! I’m obviously ignoring the fact that many of them pay TV subscriptions to watch the Prem and that all contributes to the £9.6million extra a year clubs get as bonus wedge… but it’s still a pretty paltry figure (1.6% of their turnover to be precise).
On that point, if I was Glazer, Gillett or Abramovich, I’d be wondering why I had to take a shared cut of the £190million? Surely the top 4 do more for the Prem than the others do? Surely the top four should take more of the spoils?
That’s a naughty way to think if you agree… thoughts like the one above could be the downfall of the Premier League concept.
Ideas like the above are why I believe Oligarchs, Arabs and Texan Cowboys are lining up to buy Premiership clubs. They know the collective selling unit of the Prem may one day break… then they will have free reign to pursue their own revenue streams… then the best businessmen earn the biggest profits. Imagine how much Arsenal could earn if they sold their own TV rights and managed them across the globe?
Richard Scudamore is dealing with a different breed of club owner these days… one duff deal and they could bin the collective Premiership rights deal and that is a scary thought for British football.
Currently the only way to succeed is to spend. Until that concept is banished, clubs will continue to over stretch themselves in hope of gaining entry to the promised land… The only way to stop this madness if for clubs to start acting responsibly… to stop upping wage levels, to stop over inflating transfer fees and to start investing in a sensible business model like the Bundesliga. The self centred business ideologies of the few could kill the collective power that has made the Premiership so strong… and to think, all this started because of bloggers!
And to think Arsenal agreed to employ Alex Ferguson as manager with George Graham as his assistant in 1986 but the deal didn’t go ahead because Arsenal wanted to announce it straight away, I wonder where we’d be now if that had happened?
Now there’s a thought to start the day, have a good’un Grovers!
A,
Cheating cheating! Why try to be anonymous? I cant see your pic though..i think you have the highest level privacy security settings…
I’m in a hotel… hooked up to Le Grove… and facebook… stroking some mad womans two dogs.
I love my life.
Who is who then?
That would be me Incesc. Its a knockout at the local rugby club.
Pedro, on my way to Qatar. It is doing some work for the Military again. At least there is beer there.
No Sheikh attack just yet, but if the non alcohol thing carries on it might get heated.
im jc
come on pedro join up, ill forget to look again
A, I had Chary, Franchise, Steve and Odub down to a T…
I’ve added you to that list now…
I’ll be getting calls from CSI soon… they’ll need a good blog profiler!
david are u afolabi?
sounds kinky Pedro…
well least i know what one person looks like on here
Pat… that’s a lot of globe trotting!
My mates from Qatar, he used to hang out in the same club Batistuta used to frequent.
hahahaha…why is it because im black Franchise?
Incesc… I can’t… I want to preserve my face in case of sneak militant attacks on the tube!
There is a lot of hatred for the site… Geoff can protect himself better than I can! haha!
Ha sorry David, that’s good though, I rub people up the wrong way on here at times, don’t wanna get picked out at the emirates by someone i’ve pissed off! Unlikely but you never know!
Fran, that’s G4Ever I believe.
cos afolabi is black and lives in the states
Very Unlikely A,
Besides…the grovers on here are in many different countries….Someone mentioned Qatar?
u serious Pedro?
I will be just outside Doha Pedro, but hopefully we will get some downtime to pop in and have some beers local. Heard it is very expensive though.
Pedro you havent accepted my friends request
PTG, who do you work for?
one of the big defence companies GP. I am ex-forces so it was a natural progression.
haha, I thought David was someone else!
haha!
This is hard going now!
I’m all confused?!
Maybe me profiling skills are weaker than I anticipated!
true David, but you never know!
In reality ive got secrecy up to hide myself from prying eyes of perspective employers and such like, rather than le grove people
LOL.
Franchise, youre right.
Not hard to work out who iam though pedro haha
Hey A,
If you want to be anonymous ofcoarse I respect that..thats not a problem at all. I am excited about Legrove being on facebook though…now I cant get yellow carded.
Pedro,
Chances are you arent wrong about who you think I am either…
add me up pedro
Wow PTG. Pretty cool line of work.
Dan, I thought you were David!
haha… what a twat!
David u look to good to be a moanist
Pat… sounds shady!
David… where was I when you told everyone you were living it up in America?
I’m out the loop with goss…
Haha yea i thought i really didnt need to say anything, thought it was obvious enough. Should really have called myself daniel george on here, avoid confusing hahaha
Moaist?
Ahhhh…. I see!
Who is your mate David?
Yea Pedro I live in the States…
You arent on Late Night le-grove when its just Me, A, Stu…BBK…and EthanGunner….
My mate? Why David ofcaorse Pedro!
LOL.
There’s no confusing who choy is!
Dan… it was pretty obvious!
How did I miss that?
So you blog as a double act?
I can’t wait to see what BBK looks like!
fuck the internet is really revolutionary i saw choy on ur profile pedro and i just smiled. the dude’s in malaysia i chat with him everyday now i finally know what he looks like. great stuff
http://preview.tinyurl.com/8ryd2t
Facebook has taken over from the football talk haha
I know… I’m doing the same!
It’s great to see what everyone looks like!
Where is my add Fran?
David is a good friend of mine Pedro…I was one of the first two friends you have…I use his name cuz he uses mine to pick up girls all the time!
Knowone knows what you look like though Pedro
David fuck the name date rape drug is the way forward
just kidding
pedro u r a stalker have fun with my pics. david i added u too
hahahahaha…
I’ll remember that next time Franchise.
What is a Moanist?
someone who moans endlessly david
Now that is confusing David!
Dan… one day my friend…
You’ll have to meet us for a beer next season.
You to David, if you ever get over here!
hahha…I assure you i dont moan…infact…Ive never moaned one day in my life!
Pedro…i have family in England…my brother just got back from Scotland not too long ago the thing is we do alot of traveling around the summer time when we arent playing that many games.
Pedro good one. u r getting friends faster than a paedo with a box of quality street
Yea definately have a beer or two next season.
How many le grovers are going glasto?
I wish A, going barcelona with the girlfriend so saving all my money for that. I take it you’re
I am indeed Dan, I believe Pedro is as well. Cost was an issue for me too so I’m working as a steward!
Where has everyone gone?
Oh cool didnt know you could do that or do you know somebody?
Nah you apply through oxfam, oxfam website. All the places will be filled now though. You don’t get paid but you get free access to the site and stuff so it’s a good deal if you’re someone who can’t afford a ticket, like me!
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/stewarding/index.html
Haha yea better being there than not. can you get pissed at night or do u steward through the night aswell? Anyone going emirates cup? tickets are on general sale already
who else is on facebook that i could add.. with their permission of course!
is geoff on facebook?
A does it say you have to pay a £175 deposit which u get back after? incase you get in then mug them off i guess
yeah you can, it’s just 3 8 hour shifts, you work one morning, which is something like 8-4, one evening 4-12, and one night 12-8. Just luck that dictates when your shifts are! Though you can arrive the weekend before and get all your shifts out the way before it even starts but that means being there camping from sat-monday and it’s a bit too long for me! Other than the shifts you’re free to do whatever you want as in any other festival, apart from you get to camp in the oxfam area which is nicer, and has decent showers and bogs!
I’ve not got emirates cup tickets just yet but probably be there, trying to sort myself a proper job before i spend any money on stuff like that!
Yeah dan, that’s the bugger, both years I’ve had to borrow money for that! It’s so you don’t just arrive, take your armband, then bugger off! I’m working reading too though, so it’s just 175 altogether for both festivals but still pretty annoying. Still always gonna get the money back though so it’s no biggy.
I just went to fill out the application form and it says you have to upload a photo. The one that is ‘too distant’ is my friend lol what a coincidence. Not got a job then A?
Proberbly do it next year then, dont think my girlfriend would be happy if we couldnt go Barca just coz im wait to get the money back haha
If there is facebook, twitter, & blogging, (I only blog on here & avenell road) how do any of you lot get any work done? Oh thats right everywhere outside of Oz in in recession
Now I hope you have all had a think about things, & come to the conclusion that Real Lack of Class cannot win the Premier League, so I reckon The Arsenal’s odds have shortened for the Gong
Ha yeah it’s for when you arrive, photo id on your pass, looks very fancy like a backstage pass. Nah I’m currently a bum, graduated last year and been applying for things, waiting to hear from one i really want, interview was tuesday and they said they’d let me know weds or at latest thurs and i’ve heard nothing, assume not got it but still a right bitch just waiting! Spent most of the day on here trying to take my mind off it!
What do you do?
Lift your spirits everyone, number 14 is just round the corner (& I’m not talking about TH14).
……& even though AC Millan now have loadsamoney, they still have loadsadebt, so Dzeko in & Ade out my just still happen
Im a lighting electrican and i should be fine through the recession so everything good on that front. Where abouts in london do you live?
A, Immigrate
GG9 he said milan or he’ll stay at wolfsburg. The recession hasnt hit me i just get away with blogging on my ipod. Thank the lord for technology haha
My mate just got back from oz and there was no work out there :S
Just a word of warning to those summer travellers intending to go by plane. Jetstar Australia had its Tokyo flight to Australia diverted to Guam, 2 days ago, coz a fire started in the cock pit 4 hours into the flight. It is the very same make of plane as the Air France one that crashed killing 218 people. So check the make of plane before confirming flight arrangements, if you know what I mean.
Dan its tightened up somewhat, but not officially in recession. Once again the media have blown things out of proportion here by put the whillies up us, but as it turns out, its not that bad. Our banking system is regemented nicely, set up by the former government, so we don’t have rat bags like the United States of America does.
Toure is gone to City.
Got some real good info on this… think wenger must know he is fucked after that malaria thing.
You know this Adebayor thing is happening again. Will he stay or will he go. Its not fair on the fans, & he has brought it on himself by being so egotistical.
any word on a fee faceman?
no idea… must be in the same price range as vermalen..12 m
reckon both toure brothers will join the city revolution this summer
Cant let our government anywhere near money, they’ll just spend it on second homes, boats and cars. haha I have had to cancel sky sports and shitanta, tightening the purse strings
……& while on the subject of USA, & without trying to be politically motivated, what a breath of fresh air Barry Obama is.
Where did u here this from faceman?
ok, well its a bit 3rd hand…
my cousin went to university with some bird who has a brother that works in the media.
Indeed he is, cant do any worse than the last chap hahaha
Dan
They would be the last 2 things that I would off load
Mind you if you ever watched Australian main stream T.V you’d know what I mean 
In a programme like “60 minutes” it actually should be renamed “5 minutes, plus 55 minutes of adds”
No swap??
sendross, gallas, vermin, djorou will be our centre backs it appears
choy
If you are there, you were asking where evo has gotten to? I saw him quickly appear on another blog the other day, but my guess is his AFL side is having an average to above average season so he is taking it all in. Whereas my AFL team has just sacked its coach & we are shite, again
Well it took alot of thought. It was either the internet so no more blogging or sky sports. I can go to the pub to watch the games or i can ruin the premier league and stream the game with my internet
but i cant go to the pub to blog so that was what made my mind up
If Kolo is off, I guess Billy G will be staying then. Mmmmmmmmmmm!!! I think we come out ahead on that one
Point taken.
Do u reckon he’ll want senderos after what he’s said?
Why has wenger come out and said its different to last year, definately knowone is leaving? if they do leave then he just looks like a lying mug again. Its hard to believe him as it is haha
Pedro
Ethan… I reckon this merry go round of players will include Adebayor at some point.
Arsenal are now in the same position we’re in most years… we have to wait for all the other cash rich clubs to buy before we can…
———————————————-
i can take that 3 ways now ..
1st is we cannot compete with other clubs to secure players ….because we come in too cheap for them …
and 2ndly because the dreaded day has arrived
where outside players yet to join us even recognize now we are not good enough of a team to compete for silverware ..
3rdly because wenger has to sell prior to buying ..
but lets face it what new there ?!
Maybe AW means no one is leaving that he doesn’t want to leave, or maybe its a classic case of media fart arsing about with us again. But as you say, it would be in le Proffys interest not to have a repeat of last transfer/offseason.
ethan i definitely think it’s a case of your second point there m8
Right im off, see you lot in the moring/afternoon or evening depending on where you are in the world haha Fingers crossed for signings
No rat bags like our side of the pond GG?? Darn those buggers, 60% of the homeowners are upside down in some states here.
15 for Toure!! Damn jump on that one and add us a shiny new DM Wengster. “chaaaammmooeeee” ala GG
So the LA is for where you live LAzer.
ok thanks gg9… nite all ye grovers
Nope. Actually it was just a typo on my part and it kinda stuck. Recall coming on and changed it to lazer and someone on here was like hey what happened to the “LA” so I figured why not. Although am not far from Cali, mostly btw Nevada and Arizona.
Adebayor
The whole basis of your site is to be arsenal sceptic, yet in your post you call for an end to the spiral of spending and debt. Why should arsenal continue to be so roundly criticised on your site, as it is, every day, when you acknowledge that we are not going to match the spending of Liverpool, Chelsea or Manchester United. Indeed, doing so, would be sheer lunacy. It seems to me that the main basis of your criticisms have no legs. Especially that disgraceful post that you put up the other day about Gazidis.
Why don’t you start moderating the people on your site who frequently attack the board, the manager and the players and start supporting the club.
Your support stinks.
———————————————–
Frank from ACLF ! why do you use an alias and come on here and bash us ?
i called you lot nazi’s a year or 2 ago , and was banned for it ..
yet i think youve proven me correct ..
look up the term nazi … then study your statement of …
‘Why don’t you start moderating the people on your site who frequently attack the board, the manager and the players’
but what your really saying is you should just blindly follow your leader like sheep into battle even if the battle cannot be won ! you shouldnt question the board and there non – spending ways .. your a total lunatic…
and thats what you people at ACLF dont understand , you huddle together like a bunch of collective sheep , like a cult following who feel you should be there to support only and not question the fact we have won nothing and showed no incentive to win anything in the past 4/5 years ..
sorry football is about RESULTS !!
especially at the prices AFC charge the fan .
people want value for money , and you feel robbed when you goto a game and dont get value for money , thats why pedro and geoff remind you to turn up at the game , to feel the bitterness of being fucking jerked off by these guys in power at AFC week in week out…
then listen to the excuses used to back up there continued unquestionable support for the club ..
if your buying it then your pretty naive ..
and youve read yogi’s posts too much … your actually believing them !
nice name frank by the way , im sure you just call yourself ade on here to get the desired results on here …
just some quick notes that all you guys banned me for over there ?
question 1
did we win anything ?? i dont know ? did we ?
question 2
did TH14 leave ?
question 3 ?
did flamini leave with diarra and leave us with a hole in the DM area ???? because le boss screwed the pooch in negotiating ?
question 4
has ade been successful ?
hmmm it seems every ,and i mean EVERY thing i said on your cocked up site was true and correct and you muppets condemned ‘ the oracle’4 it /
i dont read your BS site anymore & i suggest if it hurts your fragile mind this much,then in future ..
do the fucking same retard …
free speech should never be oppressed .
you are a nazi …
lollllll what a complete load of bollocks that read was hahaha
hahahaha ! BBK
it was a personal message from a long term
enemy of mine
how he could have the balls to come on here and suggest we run this blog the same as yogi’s is just sheer stupidity !
he needs to be stamped on !
ethan for real that read was bollocks the geezah is a prickkkkkk lolllll
question one did we win anything i don’t know did we lolllllllllllllllll
Suck my left nut Ade.
yeah we won fuck all again that’s what we won
i remember yogi , saying his blog caters for people of a differing thought process , oh it was past off as different strokes for different folks.
well his FOLKS are fucking different alright !
there the rare breed who make up signs like
IN ARSENE WE TRUST , KEEP THE FAITH …
hahaha keep the faith what does that mean ?
does it mean in some probability, at some point prior to the ending of time we will win again ?.
fuck these jokers , the only way change has ever happened , was by people speaking out …
confronting issues …
and the Arsenal Q&A was an eye opener to wenger i hope ..
if frank and co . was smart enough , they would see what has transpired and stay in their boxes .as the fans have made the difference and given this club some hope !!!!!
looks like it’s good news toure and gallas are going and senderos is coming back happy days again
lollllll to fucking right ethan
as much as gallas is a pain in the ass off the pitch , wenger should have really tired harder to keep him …
i cant remember who said it on here a few weeks ago … but letting toure + gallas go isnt exactly keeping the team together ..
is it ?
so this means more transition .. so sell cesc ..
get in 50 mil , before he leaves in the next 1 or 2 years anyhow , and we lose 15 mil on him .
sell ade , and wenger get buying …..
it was some bollocks like selling cesc we would have to rebuild the team again thus entering into another transition period !
we what do you call sell both or main CD’s then ?
subtle change ???
FFS !
if we are cash strapped which you can presume we are then sell your biggest asset who is quick frankly under achieving anyhow and build the team around AA ~!
that fucking simple !
as much as gallas is a pain in the ass off the pitch , wenger should have really tired harder to keep him …
i cant remember who said it on here a few weeks ago … but letting toure + gallas go isnt exactly keeping the team together ..
is it ?
so this means more transition .. so sell cesc ..
get in 50 mil , before he leaves in the next 1 or 2 years anyhow , and we lose 15 mil on him .
sell ade , and wenger get buying …..
it was some bollocks like selling cesc we would have to rebuild the team again thus entering into another transition period !
we what do you call sell both or main CD’s then ?
subtle change ???
FFS !
if we are cash strapped which you can presume we are then sell your biggest asset who is quite frankly under achieving anyhow and build the team around AA ~!
that fucking simple !
bbk, ethan, lazer, gnarley dunno if you guys saw earlier but pedro made a facebook group if you guys are on it
oppss …
wow my internet is quicker than i thought !
a double entry
a where is the link to it
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504936508#/group.php?gid=96092555387&ref=mf
A had too much drama with my X on facebook !
pass …
cheers a
A
it think a better idea is to swap SKYPE account profiles, it sure beats the fuck out of typing
Anyone there?
Any news out there?
I’m soooooooooooo lonely
Willy Wonka!
arsha has been given capitain armand again for russia…
Coming up on Le Grove:
New Post AND
The Cartman Show
Badger Juice!
If manure sign Benzema I’ll cry.
How’s that for news DDM?
Shit I left mid-day yesterday and it went up to around 1400 posts, I must have missed a lot.
I want new post now please :$
New post!