In his fortnightly exclusive column for CaughtOffside, Jon Smith, one of football’s first-ever agents and a man who was an integral figure in the forming of the Premier League, discusses his support of players with addiction, why Marcus Rashford was wrong to party after the Manchester derby, why a Saudi Arabian World Cup wasn’t a surprise – and more!
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It’s important that the Premier League retain the Saturday 3pm blackout
There’s so many devices out there which means that you can now watch live football at three o’clock anywhere in the world nowadays if you want to subscribe to them.
For example, I could watch live Premier League football out of Saudi Arabia or Qatar or wherever it might be, and that’s already beginning to have an effect not just on TV subscriptions but also on some of the lesser exciting fixtures, with respect, on a Saturday.
I know that the Premier League are doing a lot to counter this at the moment as are most broadcasters, because it’s important to protect the live crowd involvement at matches.
If there was the option to have 3pm Saturday games televised, those supporters from their mid-20s upwards, that have families or are just married, will record it, watch it later, go shopping with the missus to get a few brownie points…. There’ll potentially be a big number that won’t then go to a game, so yes, it’s vital the blackout remains otherwise, potentially, you’ll have half empty stadia.
I was at Watford the other day and they were playing Millwall whose contingent was so noisy that it really made for a better game.
Influencers like IShowSpeed are here to stay
Regardless of what we want, influencers are the way forward simply because of the enormous reach. ‘Fan TV’ audiences are massive and if you gross them up, you’re looking at over 120m/130m hits a month. That’s important.
It’s an important audience because it’s real football supporters who are taking time out to talk, shout, scream, laugh and joke all about the game, and obviously comment on it. Like everything else, there needs to be a balance.
Social media in its various guises is slowly maturing as opposed to being just a platform to shout abuse at each other or grab five minutes of fame.
There are some events like the Ballon d’Or which attract a multitude of potentially interested reporting parties and I include social and electronic in there.
I used to run FIFA’s The Best awards for two years when it was in London and the media requests would be astonishingly large. You have to manage it.
Some of the influencers are trashy but they have sizeable followings, and what you don’t want them to do is not promote your game.
In a goofed up world football is very often the repository of our emotions. We can shout at the screen, whereas you can’t shout at a group of people waving Palestinian flags – but that’s still on our screens, all the time.
I think there’s a need for responsible influencers, someone like Mark Goldbridge of The United Stand. He’s shouty but responsible and intelligent, and has huge audiences. You have to be respectful of that.
Rashford was completely wrong to party after Manchester derby defeat
The professionalism around footballers and football clubs is sizeably enhanced today from what it was back in the 80s and 90s when the audiences were just as big but not global, and the behaviour of some of the competitors was poor.
We used to argue with our players all the time and we had as many as 400 at our height.
We’d tell them that if they’d lost a match, particularly a big one, just stay home and don’t do anything. If you have to go out, go to the cinema because anything else is so offensive to the supporters who pay good money and have strong emotions around their team – particularly if that team has lost badly. Just don’t go out.
Why would Marcus Rashford go clubbing after losing the Manchester derby? It makes no sense.
As much as I have the highest regard for Rashford, and I’d like to say that on record because I do think he’s done some great social work and he’s a terrific football player, he made a big mistake that day.
Footballers with addictions should be treated with respect
I’m actually quite friendly with the Ivan Toney family and I listened to a lot of what they said. What the individuals have done is wrong, but I think the sentence doesn’t fit the crime.
It’s very difficult for the game to take money from betting companies on the one hand, and on the other say to the participants ‘if you do this, you’re a football criminal.’ It’s so wrong.
The players should be punished yes, but 10 months – in Sandro Tonali’s case – is far too long. These guys have got short careers anyway.
You’ve got to give these people help. If they’re addicted to something, be that gambling or any of the other substances that are around today, or any behavioural attitudes that includes sex and various other things that fill out social media screens, they need help.
There’s someone I saw wearing a t shirt the other day that said ‘It’s not wrong to ask for help,’ and I think that just sums it up.
I think if you ask for help, you should be treated with respect and not just as a criminal to be punished.
Saudi Arabia being offered the World Cup was obvious
I think it was obvious because they are supporting the game with a lot of money and they need to fuel the next generation of FIFA’s governance. Football needs financial input from nation states, as well as major corporations.
So I think that was an obvious one and I know James Johnson really well, he’s a very clever operator, a very bright guy and the Chief Exec of Football Australia.
I think Australia were putting themselves in there so that they could drop out and say: ‘Look, we’ll drop out, Saudi can have it, but we want this in exchange.’
Now, I don’t know what the ‘this’ is but it may become evident in the next few weeks. With various other tournaments being awarded, it’ll be interesting to see what goes to Australia.
There was no one else out there really bidding anyway, so it was Hobson’s choice.
Also, I’d like to think that the World Cup being more global has helped Qatar’s attitude towards behavioural science, and that includes respect for women and for other religions.
I’m not quite sure that’s the case now that the cameras aren’t pointed at them all the time, but it must’ve had some effect.
If it does the same in Saudi Arabia, then that’s perfect.