This book is supposed to be about football. Well, there certainly doesn’t seem to be anything new under the sun about the game of football, of all things. How could it be possible that the sport that makes the biggest waves worldwide, that is played by so many children before they can even pronounce the word “ball”, just lies around and they playfully kick it? How could it be that in a place where science has long since found its way into training methods and nutrition, where ball flight curves are calculated, where balls can contain a chip, where technology is capable of revealing anything and everything, where the entire world, in bars, cafés, pubs, at the workplace, but also in sports arenas, by players and spectators, experts and coaches, journalists and officials, referees and organising committees, everything that could possibly exist is hotly debated on a daily basis, where all proposals, thoughts, ideas to change something about football, if necessary at all, have already been raised, discussed – and mostly rejected? Because the emperor, Franz Beckenbauer, once said: “Let’s leave the footboi as it is”.
Let’s take the chance and think about this sentence for a moment…. What does the thought mean? Where does it come from? Is it simply the expression of a conservative? What would be conservative? Why might it make sense – even in other places – to think conservatively? Well, the answers are actually quite simple: If you leave everything as it is, you at least have a good idea of what you will get. You get what you already have, namely that everything else stays as it is. This realisation begs the simple question: Can you be satisfied with the way things are? I think a Beckenbauer can put it relatively easily. First of all, although he kicked a long time ago, he has already earned a sufficient number of millions. In addition, he has a number of permanent jobs that continue to promise him good income as an advertiser, as a Sky pundit. How could anyone be dissatisfied?
Who pays for that? Of course: the spectator, the football fan.