Football is awash with greed. We all know that. And nothing highlights the greed more than every time a new increased TV deal is announced, the only ones to really profit are footballers and agents.

I imagine it happens at every club up and down the country. The TV deal is announced, a 20% uplift on the last one, and there is a knock on the managers door. It is an agent. He has a couple of players at the club. He knows the club is about to get 20% more money, and he demands a 20% increase in players wages.

The agent often gets his wish. New deals are signed. And the money for the new TV deal is eaten up. But then the agent wants his slice of the pie. His few hundred thousand pound (or couple of million if you are Mino Raiola dealing with Jose Mourinho). And all these few hundreds of pounds add up.

In 2017, over £200m went into the pockets of “agents/intermediaries”

This is an incredible amount of money.

When lower league teams are threatened with going out of business, at the top end of games, we have agents taking money out of the game. They are leaches. They pray on young players, telling stories of dreams, that usually end up broken. If they sign enough kids, they hope one will turn into the next Jack Wilshere, Dele Alli or even Lionel Messi.

It is like the Twitter accounts who advertise great odds deals if you click on their link. They then profit from your losses for life. Agents get their claws into a young player, than make off him for life, becoming millionaires without ever being able to kick a ball.

It is greed.

In a dream world, every time the TV deal increases, match day tickets prices could reduce. In 2015, when a new deal was announced, I worked out that Arsenal could offer £25 tickets to every fan, for every game, and revenue would stay the same. Instead, all the extra money ended up going to the players and their agents.

When you look at the profit/loss of most football clubs, very few actually make any money. Most just about break even. You would think with a £50m increase in TV revenue, they would show a profit. They do not. It is in one door, out the other.

I do not overly mind players earning big money. If that is what the market dictates, then fair enough. They give back with memories and moments. But agents, they do little, and have just taken over £200m out of the game in the last 12 months.

That is a disgrace. It is money that could go towards cheaper tickets, or towards grass roots football.

£200m gone out of football in 12 months.

Keenos

Once again I sat there on Sunday with empty seats around me.

This may be optimistic but I’m hoping this is the dawn of a new era. It’s not just us that are struggling to get people through the door, most PL clubs have seen a decline. Watching Match of the Day on a Saturday night, the Premier Leaguye is awash with empty seats – even Champions-to-be Manchester City rarely feel their ground.

Maybe football is just no longer as fashionable as it was?

Whilst I like to think it’s a protest against the regime, I don’t really think it is….it’s more symptomatic of people generally being fed up and have lost the appetite for the game. Being priced out, the kick off times, owners and players who do not care about the team.

I love an empty ground. It always has the feel of the old days, you can sit with your friends, moan, laugh and when it’s really dire talk about random stuff.

Let’s face it, at Arsenal, the football doesn’t get you on your feet these days. The ground was never designed to be conducive to having that electric atmosphere – cooperate hospitality took precedence. There is a boredom that has over taken the apathy.  I’ve even seen less half and half scarves – less tourist fans.

For me, much of the season has been hard work. My anger has most definitely decreased, that happens eventually with all oppressive regimes….it just becomes the norm.

I’m constantly at conflict with myself as to how to do my bit to make change happen. I protest, I shout, I give out stickers and I even have a wonderful Wenger Out rosette.  I won’t give up the fight.

But, I find it very hard to stay away. It’s been my life for so many years, decades in fact, so I feel that I have more to lose than the regime do. I will never agree with those who say “if you go to games you are accepting the situation”. No. I go to games because I love The Arsenal.

My son who is 15 has this season got the bug!

He wants to go to every game and is starting to make his own memories. I’m one of the lucky people who stand with my Dad and son…..3 generations of people who love The Arsenal. That’s why I can’t give it up. I would rather be there with people who are like me (just as fed up!) than be at home with all that suppressed anger.

Last week one of our friends who followed us died aged 53.

He would have loved Sunday. Crap game. 3 goals. Taking this piss out of one of the most disliked clubs in the league.

It has crossed my mind all season if I’ve finally come to the end. If the love and reasons for going was drying up. But him dying has made my mind up. Win lose or draw, we always had something to talk about, we had a bond that only those who know, know.

Giving up The Arsenal is the easy bit, giving up the bond and friendships will really hurt.  My Dad and I would never have met Mark if it wasn’t for The Arsenal.

We met him on the train with his little brother. Different people. Different backgrounds. A shared love for The Arsenal. A friendship made over 30 years that was concreted travelling to away games for hours and hours in a car.

European away games and drunken afternoons at home games, which inevitably ended with someone having a fight or a missed train home. Great days.

The results does not really matter much now. Making and sharing memories is what is important.  I’ve had a fair amount of criticism for apparently ‘feeding the regime’, but I am only as guilty as those who stay away as a protest, pay for sky and still watch us.

It is our club. I say it all the time. We must not let these parasites have more power than they already have. They don’t want us there. They want us to be replaced by the people who will buy in the shops and eat overpriced burritos in the ground.

I get why people have had enough, I get why some stay away. But we have a few games left. Come back, sing and shout for change and make memories with like minded people. It’s time to reclaim our Club.

Always in our thoughts Mark Huddy Hudson 18th December 1964 – 25th March 2018, thank you for the memories which will never be replaced.

*JD*