At the best of times, pre-season can be a large dose of ho with a mega serving of hum. Stadiums seats remain morosely empty, the echoes of chants and abuses from last season have all but died out and dew glistens on the grass, saved from the relentless pounding it receives week in and out.
The lull the summer break inevitably descends into has been spared marginally this year by a rather exciting but unmemorable Euro-pean Championship in Poland and Ukraine, and the Olympics in London which kick starts on Friday with a surfeit of young talent on display.
That lull however, also serves to bring out the worst in people, reducing the media to an exclusive-hungry transfer news cesspool, replete with obstinate players rebellions, and littered with unsigned contracts.
Before the internet became such a significant part of people’s lives, the three way relationship between a club, its fans and its players was less complicated, and of course, analysed to a much lesser extent. Issues of loyalty and trust were rare, and made headlines which shocked most of the footballing fraternity.
We are unfortunately at a point in time when the word loyalty means lesser to fans, and even lesser to footballers. No longer would you find a player playing simply for the love of the sport, or for the love of the club and its supporters. Money, fame and ‘ambition’ are the driving factors for an Ibrahimovic, a van Persie, a Nasri or an Adebayor.
This mercenary nature is also slowly being recognised and accepted by supporters. Transfers provoke two extremes, either hysterical, violent, doom and gloom mongering or a dispassionate, perfunctory glance, an acceptance of the corruptible nature of money and a recognition that players may leave, but the club remains.