Football in 10 years' time

[Jimmy Floyd]

Evidently none of us have a crystal ball or can see into the future, but I thought it might be interesting to see where people see football going in the coming years. For reference, 10 years ago the Premier League table finished like this:



Whilst the Champions League last sixteen looked like this:



So it's fair to say that even on a basic results level, whilst some things stay the same in ten years, others definitely change. So how do you think the following will be different in ten years? Which clubs/nations will rise and fall? Will Europe still be the centre of world football, or will the best players play in Asia and the USA? Will the competitions be the same as ever, structured the same, or will we be watching the Google Hovercar Superleague? What about supporter experience, the media and ticket prices? Will football continue to be eternally richer - can it get to a player earning a billion pounds a week? - or will the proverbial arse fall out of it? And what about you, will you still be supporting your club, going to games, or even watching any football at all?

[phonics]

Champions League final, Spurs literally shitting themselves at the thought of finishing above us and this kit.



What a year.

[Sam]

Wolves will still probably be mid-table Championship.

[Magic]

We'll either be languishing in the Championship or headed back down to League One for a few years.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Lewis]

It will be like it is now. Nothing will have collapsed (except maybe Bolton); Europe will still be the hub of everything; and some other dickheads will have transformed a nothing club into a relatively major player.

[Alex]

We'll either be languishing in the Championship or headed back down to League One for a few years.

Probably. When I opened this thread and saw that league table I actually questioned whether it had been more than ten years since we went down. I then had a quick Google search to find out what season it was and discovered that some cheeky bastard has put together a full wikipedia page for the term "doing a Leeds".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doing_a_Leeds

/

I might try and get it taken down. I don't feel like it's used as a term anywhere near enough to warrant this kind of public ridicule.

[Shindig]

Man, 7th. Those days are shot.

[mugbull]

The Premier league will be even more unpredictable than it is now. The other leagues may or may not be, depending on whether or not they fix their TV revenue distribution.

[Jeet]

Still be 4th

[Manc]

I can see a a significant proportion of fans becoming disillusioned with the game in the next decade.

[Henry]

They'll probably have done that European superleague version of the Champions League.

[simon]

I can see a a significant proportion of fans becoming disillusioned with the game in the next decade.

I reckon I'm already at that point, tbh.

[Reg]

I reckon I'm already at that point, tbh.

What are the reasons for you personally?

[Lewis]

Ironically, people thinking its bollocks will likely reinforce what makes it so. There will never be a shortage of Sky subscribers and Premier League fans, but football fatigue might push smaller clubs over the edge.

[TG09]

Europe's top clubs will create a break away league. The PL as we know it, will not exist anymore.

[John]

Things will be largely the same in ten years as they are now, at least in terms of structure and areas of influence. When Beckham first went to America there was a moment of panic that they might suddenly spend a trillion quid on football and steal all our players, and the same panic is being repeated now with China, albeit with a bit more to it since they're actually forking over eleventy billion quid in transfer fees.

We're more than ten years away from the arse falling out of the whole thing, so while there's likely to be another Sheikh or two in the Premier League, a new statue of Lee Wallace outside Ibrox commemorating our sixtieth title, and Gareth Barry managing England, the game will be the same.

[Shindig]

Ooh, I'll say this: United will be without a title in the following decade.

[Jimmy Floyd]

One thing I thought of was that the Premier League might introduce playoffs, possibly played abroad, and a final. Every sport is currently heading in that direction.

[John Arne]

I can see the Charity Shield being played somewhere overseas.

I think it's time to scrap the League cup, too.

[ScousePig]

Did we have one of these ten years ago?

[simon]

What are the reasons for you personally?

- Managers being hired/sacked for reasons beyond logic.
- Players being hoarded by clubs/players being panic bought because someone else has been injured for a month.
- The constant stream of shite in the media that probably has helped the two above points come about.
- I don't enjoy watching football from other countries anymore. I can't sit through a full La Liga game, I don't even bother with Serie A and I've only ever watched stuff like the Eredivisie for a laugh anyway.
- FIFA being run by wankers and handing World Cup's to Russia and Qatar.
- The money has just gone fully batshit now as well, and that has began to bother me.

[simon]

Teams talking about 'The *insert shithouse club here* Way' as well. I'll have that in there. It's all come from Guardiola's Barcelona side and it's fucking shite.

[randomlegend]

Ooh, I'll say this: United will be without a title in the following decade.

Our noodle sponsorship money will have us back to winning ways soon enough.

[igor_balis]

I've pretty much lost all interest in football myself. I've tried to rationalise it for various reasons, but I don't think it's a coincidence that my waning interest is almost entirely correlated to the decreasing levels of games I actually go to. Now all the tribal and social aspects of going to the Hawthorns every other week have been stripped back, there's nowt left to maintain even a passing interest.

The glitz and glamour of top level football, football-as-art, wanky tactical debates and analysing the business and culture of football...I used to think I cared about all that, but without the cans of lager on the train from Rugby to New Street on a Saturday morning, meeting friends in some dodgy pub in Birmingham and spending 90 minutes having a sing song I just don't give a shit.

[John Arne]

I noticed at the weekend that Arsenal have an official travel destination

Sydney, if you were wondering.

[Lee]

Ours is Skegness.

[Weaver]

Interestingly, @John Arne, the CEO of the FA was on Talksport yesterday(?) and mentioned a few potential changes to tournaments, including:
- Scrapping replays in the FA Cup and just finishing it on the day,
- Scrapping two-legged League Cup semi finals,
- 'Advocating' a winter break.

Didn't say any of them would be happening or anything, but they are the big ideas for REFORM and EVOLUTION and whatnot.

Ours is Skegness.

You've got the Pearson family to thank for that.

[Jeet]

- Managers being hired/sacked for reasons beyond logic.
- Players being hoarded by clubs/players being panic bought because someone else has been injured for a month.

Never happens as an Arsenal fan

[Giggles]

Chelsea arw shit now.

Fixed.

[simon]

Fixed.

The backroom/players slotting Mourinho has probably been a factor in some of these feelings. The results have not.

[Toby]

Players were slotting Mourinho?

[simon]

As in stitching him up, not in the literal sense.

But you know that.

[Toby]

It's not like they suddenly turned out playing brilliant football again when he left. That they're slowly getting back to looking like a capable team suggests more to me that Mourinho had become a genuine drain on confidence and morale, which is about the least helpful thing a manager can possibly be.

[Mazuuurk]

We 'the fan' will be joining ten other randoms to battle against <insert club XI> in a virtual reality match. Gone are the professionals, football returned to it's rightful owners.

Why the devil not.

So.... FIFA 2026?

[Disco]

So.... FIFA 2026?

No, that will be largely the same as the current one but with a slightly worse UI and twice as many blades of grass being modelled.

[Spammer]

You can't help but wonder about the future sometimes. Hopefully THE MIGHTY BLADES will be cruising in the Champions League by this point!

[Boydy]

Can you also warn him every time he posts 'THE MIGHTY BLADES'?

[John]

I'm fine with this thread being upped, because it's reminded me that Smiffy went back eighteen months later to delete completely innocuous posts.

[Giggles]

Toby

Simon, meh.

[Spoonsky]

I just read this whole thread without realizing that the posts were from two years ago (until Toby chimed in). :-/

[Alan Shearer The 2nd]

What happened to Toby? Head finally implode?

[Giggles]

He got notions.