Manchester City's dominance is distorting football fandom
nytimes.com
Manchester City's dominance is distorting football fandom
All of that drama, though, comes with a figurative asterisk. This season’s Premier League has been defined as much by turbulence off the field — points deductions, internecine bickering, legal disputes, fraud accusations and the looming threat of government intervention — as it has been by City’s (eventual) smooth sailing through it.
The Premier League’s Asterisk Season
Alex Burns added
It’s disorienting how rapidly this perception has normalized, particularly considering a central contradiction no one seems to deny—football is not only the most popular sport in the country, but a sport that is becoming more popular, assuming TV ratings can be trusted as a yardstick.
Chuck Klosterman • But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past
For the first time, the Premier League this season was forced to strip points in the standings from two of its member clubs for breaches of financial regulations. One of them, Everton, was punished twice, prompting outrage from its fans. Appeals then kicked off a long, opaque legal process that left not just those teams but also their rivals mired ... See more
The Premier League’s Asterisk Season
Alex Burns added
More troubling still, to fans and clubs alike, is that it has been 15 months since Manchester City was accused of 115 violations of the league’s financial rules over a series of title-winning seasons.
Manchester City has always declined to discuss the Premier League’s charges, which it has labeled an “organized” attempt to smear its reputation, and ... See more
Manchester City has always declined to discuss the Premier League’s charges, which it has labeled an “organized” attempt to smear its reputation, and ... See more
The Premier League’s Asterisk Season
Alex Burns added
How is football a political sport?9 Left-wing clubs to whose fans you don't want to ask this question!
Bechu Snewindianexpress.com
Andreas Vlach added
fanbase resembles that of contemporary boxing—rich people watching poor people play a game they would never play themselves.
Chuck Klosterman • But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past
Sports teams (and fans) love data and emotions are at the heart of sports, which means that experimentation could result in meaningful experiences. Or as the club contends, “serve as a study in shared passion.”
Pamela Pavliscak • Ghost in the machine
Keely Adler added
Clubs artificialising the scruffy magic of the match day experience into a package which can more easily be transported, consumed, and sold; and the way fans, looking for the promised atmosphere they’ve been longing for, that they'd paid good money for, would forever have their phone out, at the ready, recording, just in case, so they can prove it ... See more
collective effervescence
Joe Maceda added