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Just nine per cent of Premier League spectators are aged 24 or under. Sean Barnes asks whether the death of the football-going tradition among young people will mean a struggle to fill grounds in future

When football was invented by Rupert Murdoch in 1992, I was only five years old. Fast forward 15 years through the boom of English football – which we all know too well – and the story of my puberty – which, fortunately, no one knows at all – and here we are, footballers on seven-figure wages and English chairmen the exception to the rule of the modernised Premier League. Other well documented pitfalls include the increasing gap between club and supporter, the sanitisation of the match-day atmosphere and the decline of the ­working‑class fan. One problem that doesn’t get much attention, however, is my problem, and the problems of people like me. My generation may well be the last to appreciate fully the ups and downs of supporting a football club. The game needs to face up to its problem with the lack of English youth. And by that I don’t mean footballers, I mean fans.

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Having a fag at matches was all but outlawed on July 1 and football has been pushing tobacco away for a while. But, as Jon Spurling explains, the game and the weed have had a surprisingly close relationship

“There’s nothing better than lying back in the bath and having a good smoke after a game,” claimed Bolton striker Nat Lofthouse in the 1950s. This post-match relaxation technique has long been consigned to the historical dustbin, so much so that there is always a frisson of disapproval whenever a high-profile footballer is caught with a cigarette. Zinedine Zidane, having previously endorsed the EU’s “Feel Free To Say No” campaign, was castigated by the French media after being snapped taking a crafty drag shortly before France’s semi-final against Portugal at last year’s World Cup. With FIFA and UEFA refusing to allow tobacco advertising at any international tournaments over the last eight years, the previously strong ties between the tobacco industry and football appear to have been severed.

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Update on clubs in crisis, Tom Davies reports

It has been another fraught summer at Queens Park Rangers, with the club facing a winding-up order, further loan entanglements and worries about ongoing financing. QPR were served with a winding-up order in June over debts of £700,000-£800,000 to HM Revenue and Customs. The club was bailed out with the help of a new ­£1.3 million loan from the mysterious Panama-based ABC corporation, to whom Rangers were already paying back an earlier £10m loan (see WSC 230). Furthermore, the entire loan repayment deadline was brought forward to August next year from the original deadline of 2012.

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Ed Upright looks back on the season Hereford were promoted and Palace weren't thanks to Cup distractions

The long-term significance
At the end of this season goal difference replaced goal average, under which system teams level on points were separated by goals scored divided by goals conceded. Goal difference made standings much easier to calculate, but the rival systems could also reach different conclusions. Huddersfield won the 1923-24 title on account of their 1.818 goal average, fractionally better than Cardiff’s 1.794. Had goal difference been in place the title would have gone to Wales for the only time – equal on a goal difference of 27, Cardiff had scored 61 goals to Huddersfield’s 60.
The 1975 Safety of Sports Grounds Act set new standards on crush barriers, access routes, lighting and surfacing. In an era of dilapidated stadiums, rising costs and no thought of ground relocation, this meant huge expenditure. The League created a mutually beneficial deal with the pools promoters – spot-the-ball competitions would remain untaxed in return for a percentage of profits going to a new body to help clubs, the Football Grounds Improvement Trust.

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Given the record of British coaches in developing players in the UK, is it a good idea that they are doing well in the burgeoning and highly profitable US soccer market? Mike Woitalla doesn’t think so

One of the myriad American youth soccer programmes declares it uses “soccer as a tool to teach kids about life”. Classes are open to children from 18 months old and, by the time a child is three, the Lil’ Kickers coaches will be teaching them “concepts of co-operation and teamwork”. So now, even for the youngest, it’s not just a game. If it were and kids were simply given a place to kick around in the manner that has created the world’s best players, could Lil’ Kickers promise the indoor arenas that host their classes an annual income boost of £125,000?

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