I was intrigued yesterday when Arsene Wenger said in the build-up to the Newcastle match that the Premier League was full of divers and cheats.
Diving has always been in the game, but it's the feigning injury which really winds me up.
We're trying to win a match. Maybe I'm getting old, but football always used to feel like we were all in it together — players, managers and fans — but where's the balance gone? Players have actually come out and said it's all about winning the game. That attitude is scandalous. Some players have forgotten they're not running Barclays, they're in the entertainment industry.
Furthermore, some clubs have forgotten we want to watch football, not help run a business. The football authorities don't help, they are antiquated and scared to move with the times.
Why are they so scared of the players?
So as a Chelsea fan I don't care if they ban one of our players for misbehaving on or off the pitch. I care for welfare of football as a whole and not just my club, do you?
Wenger says he's going to warn his players not to cheat. I suppose I'm the generation where I still remember when managers were the boss. A wonderful time when players were scared of the 'gaffer' and the team talk was about 'doing it for the fans'.
There was a time when a player could get dropped for growing a beard. Nowadays a player could sell his grandmother for beer money and still get picked on the Saturday if it meant the chance of getting more points. The one man who decided to punish his disobedient player and won all the plaudits was Roberto Mancini. He publicly made a stand and said "Carlos Tevez will never play for Manchester City again".
Diving has always been in the game, but it's the feigning injury which really winds me up.
We're trying to win a match. Maybe I'm getting old, but football always used to feel like we were all in it together — players, managers and fans — but where's the balance gone? Players have actually come out and said it's all about winning the game. That attitude is scandalous. Some players have forgotten they're not running Barclays, they're in the entertainment industry.
Furthermore, some clubs have forgotten we want to watch football, not help run a business. The football authorities don't help, they are antiquated and scared to move with the times.
Why are they so scared of the players?
So as a Chelsea fan I don't care if they ban one of our players for misbehaving on or off the pitch. I care for welfare of football as a whole and not just my club, do you?
Wenger says he's going to warn his players not to cheat. I suppose I'm the generation where I still remember when managers were the boss. A wonderful time when players were scared of the 'gaffer' and the team talk was about 'doing it for the fans'.
There was a time when a player could get dropped for growing a beard. Nowadays a player could sell his grandmother for beer money and still get picked on the Saturday if it meant the chance of getting more points. The one man who decided to punish his disobedient player and won all the plaudits was Roberto Mancini. He publicly made a stand and said "Carlos Tevez will never play for Manchester City again".
