Hail To The Thief! Why Football needs to be freed from SKY’s greed.

On about the 10th of March last season I phoned Sky TV and cancelled my Sports subscription. I was paying something along the line of £80 a month to watch Dave TV, the occasional thing on Sky Atlantic, Football, Golf, NFL and Horse racing.

When I actually sat down and went through where money goes each month, the amount spent on sport both watching and playing, it hit me how much I was actually spending. £960 a year on Sky. £500 a year on going to games. Over £750 a year playing golf. £500 a year at least on squash. £400 a year on the gym and at least another £500 on miscellaneous expenses, including my insistence on betting on horses with names that I connect with. Highbury Legend for instance.

That’s a lot of money. I don’t think I could ever begrudge spending that money on actually participating. I cannot expect to do that for free and I...