There's these disembodied voices floating through the vast emptiness. It always calls out when you feel the void sometimes...you know, when you pause for a minute and think...hang a sec, you mean, this is it??? Seriously man???
No doubt. Game of Thrones has overtaken The Wire as my favourite TV series ever. Heck, it's even done the nigh impossible, achieving a greatness beyond what both the big screen and small screen are capable of.
Football is a global sport adored by all around the world. Globalisation helped its expansion and reach. It's true what they say, there are more United fans outside Manchester but it doesn't and shouldn't count as any less.
As the fanbase grows and percolates the globe, it became noticeable that football champions has been restricted a cartel few. It's inevitable the more trophies you win, the more resources you have and the better the talent you attract. This does not discount the quality of champions as in this modern world where all footballers are looking after number 1, to win in this team sport requires more than money but also luck and individual playing for the shirt rather than ego.
This act of attrition did not occur overnight but those winning clubs during the early 90s horizon has gone to the bigger and better things, example in case United and Ajax the opposite. Underdog winners are lesser since the dawn of globalisation, the only recent win is Birmingham over Arsenal (where Birmingham was subsequently relegated & its chairman charged with money laundering). The dominant leagues in Europe hasn't seen a healthy level of competition with predictable champions at the start of every season.
There are multiple clubs whom spent their way to relevance, some successfully and some straight to relegation. In cases of bottomless pockets, there were championships to be won. Any pro comes with a con, as with the current example of Greece, terrible things happen when you spend without remit and find yourself leveraged to the tilt.
The alternative is less myopic, sensible, sustainable view for a club like Arsenal, a different modus operandi. This experiment started in 2005 since the last trophy and the emergence of Cesc has been fruitless, winless, pushing the label from champions to feeders.
In the past few years, those who left Arsenal were those decided by Monsier Wenger, eg. Ade, Flamini, Hleb and see where they are now. No big mistakes so far. This summer pending departures, quoted from reliable sources (ie. The Sun and Mirror) that Cesc and Samir are leaving, the arrival of just Gervinho and potentially Samba (Blackburn), Cahill (Bolton) begs the question of intent and impetus of the club.
It's been run like a business, but football is not a business is it?
