March 16, 2008
Both on and off the pitch Wrexham Football Club are fighting for their lives. While the Football Association are busy coming up with ideas to make the top clubs wealthier it has seemingly forgotten about the lower league football clubs that have laid the foundations for the league.
On the pitch Wrexham are currently bottom of League 2 and in danger of being relegated out of the Football league for the first time in their 135 year history. A few recent wins have given them a fighting chance but they are still 6 points off safety but do have 3 games in hand over their fellow relegation strugglers Macclesfield. Rumours from the terraces have been circulating that the club needs £150,000 each week to keep afloat and many fans believe that if they were to be relegated this season it would spell the end of their long history.
So what is the Football Association doing for financially struggling teams such as Wrexham? Practically nothing. The main agenda of the FA is to make themselves, the premier league and in particular the top few clubs richer and richer as the gap between the bigger clubs and smaller ones continue to grow.
Real football fans are the ones spending their hard earned money on away trips to Stoke and Scunthorpe, losing 1-0 but still coming back time and time again. The love in football is slowly dying and is being replaced by capitalism and corporations. The recent investment in premier league football clubs by million and billionaires who often have no idea of football culture may yet be the death of it.
A family day out to follow your local football club, especially if they are in the premier money spinning league, is no longer a viable option for the majority of working class families. For example a ticket to watch Tottenham Hotspur in the premiership can be as much as £70 for adults and £20 for children, which is just too much money for many fans.
The FA is ignoring the very thing that has made the league what it is today, real fans are being priced out of the game and real football clubs are being run into the ground. Time will tell if teams like Wrexham manage to avoid relegation and administration but the problem of the cash flow in football does not look like it will be over anytime soon.
