There was always going to be a tipping point in football where the clubs only care about money and the fans start to feel left out, so this could become more common.
Arsenal’s current predicament is an odd one. They’ve gone from being one of the best teams in the country to a regular in the Europa League in recent years, with big money transfers and ambition on the pitch looking scarcer as the years go by.
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We always hear about how much money there is in the Premier League, but it looks like owners are just looking for the club to make money rather than winning titles.
You could argue that winning titles will lead the club to make more money, but grounds are now filled with tourists rather than locals so the lack of success hasn’t hit the owners in the pocket.
It’s been reported by a writer for The Athletic that disgruntled Arsenal fans have decided to launch their own club and they hope to be admitted into the lower tiers of English football:
Disgruntled Arsenal fans have launched a new team, @TheAthleticUK understands it aims to participate in next season’s Combined Counties Football League — the ninth tier of English football, + the same division AFC Wimbledon entered in 2002
By @gunnerblog https://t.co/DtaMjMKFdL— David Jordan (@_DavidJJordan) January 24, 2020
The team will be known as Dial Square FC and it looks like it will focus on going back to basics and The Sun also reported on this, and suggested they hope to eventually move to their own purpose build ground in Woolwich and become a football league club.
Obviously it’s unlikely to hit Arsenal that hard in a financial sense for now, but if fans decide to stop going to games and the league loses interest then sponsorship deals will dry up.
It does look like something will have to give eventually, and some big clubs could be in huge trouble if the money starts to disappear.