Footbore (so witty!)

Right, so I'm only beginning this one this way to keep up the trend.

In stark contrast to the blog below, I'm going to write about why I've become so disillusioned with football. Its a farce, and frankly I can't be bothered with it any more. That is, until the 16th August...

I suppose the thing that triggered this abandonment is Cristiano Ronaldo, and the hubbub surrounding his megabucks move to Real Madrid. The man has to honour and his word means nothing. "I am definately staying at Manchester United, no matter what happens tonight" he lied before this seasons Champions League final. He acts like a child. "Playing for Real Madrid has been my dream since I was a child" says Mr. Ronaldo, but it seems to me that now the dream has come true he still thinks he is a child, and his way of expressing he frustration is by throwing his toys out his pram. Sir Alex Ferguson being Sir Alex Ferguson promptly throws them back, but such is the demand for Ronaldo he can do what he likes, namely moving to Madrid.

And then there is the financial side. No human being, no matter how good, should be worth £80 000 000. Its obscene, but because of the ever-raising transfer sales we've become immune and its becoming the norm. Shady foreign businessmen now see Europes biggest football clubs as ways of making money and expanding brand awareness into every corner of the earth. Its no longer for the love of the game, but money, pure and simple. Dr. Sulaiman Al-Fahim and Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the two public faces of the Abu Dhabi United Group that took over Manchester City want to use it as a brand to increase exposure of Abu Dhabi in other countries, especially populous East-Asian countries. Make no mistake, this is Abu Dhabi as a country.Thus, football has become political.

The Right Honourable Cristano Ronaldo has taken the brunt of this rant, though he is not alone in provoking my scorn. Didier Drogba is a scumbag. As is Thaksin Shinawatra, previous owner of Manchester City and Human Rights abuser. Next to Ronaldo, the people who get my goat the worst are players like Daniel Sturridge, an 19 year old Manchester City player (I think I can see a trend emerging...) who demanded 80k-a-week. What has Sturridge achieve to earn such wages? A league victory for City? A strong showing in the CL? A heap of goals? No. None of this. All he has done is made 21 appearances for the first team and score a few goals. But such is the climate that has been created by massive injections of money into the Premier League, Sturridge and his peers are able to make such ludicrous demands. Fortunately he was rejected, so City's owners aren't stupid at least.

Also, perhaps, another reason why I've gone off football is that the teams I support always lose. I can take Spurs losing, but not England. I was so happy when England managed to actually win a penalty shootout in the semi-final, but that made a dreaful, humiliatingly easy 4-0 defeat to Germany all the more bitter.

Maybe I should just support a Championship team...