It’s no secret that problems in football have been present for the past forty years. Whilst Hooliganism and Crowd Control issues seem to have been eliminated, football is an institution that even now requires reform. In the past year modern football’s problems seem to have been highlighted with dark themes of racism, homophobia and greed surfacing.

There is a lot of money in football now. Rich foreign investors have put so much money into the premier league it has become a bastardized league in which the big money clubs are so strong 75% of teams don’t have a chance of reaching the top four. We only have to look at the recent banking crisis to know ‘with great money comes great irresponsibility’. When powerful fortunes come crashing down these great clubs will feel the pinch. Certainly the gargantuan player wages and sign up fees are completely unsustainable.

The emergence of racially motivated scandals in 2011 sets a very disturbing trend. Epitomized by Chelsea Defender John Terry and his racist attack on QPR player Anton Ferdinand. Football was and arguably still is a white working class sport. Whilst we can blame aspects of football as an offshoot of 1970’s white working class society, racial attack’s should not be legitimized that way. Society has evolved towards multiculturalism and all aspects of football should personify and accept that.

Defender Justin Fashnu was the first and only football player to ‘come out’ as gay in 1990. Since him it has been suggested football players fear ‘coming out’ due to their massive commercial value and the ridicule they will face by fans and the British press. Britain is very liberal toward homosexuality in comparison to other countries. However football does not share that sensibility with clubs not wanting the ‘publicity’ of homosexual players and homophobic chants present.Thankfully however, this seems to be the minority of fans.

So what’s the future of British football? In short thing’s have to be changed. We cannot dispel or try to explain these problems, they have to be eradicated. The FA can help the gulf in team strength by capping player wages and signup fee’s. They can help to stop racism and homophobia by upholding a strict no tolerance procedure toward both player’s and fan’s.  The future and continuation of British Football depends on reform’s such as these. The buck end’s with the club’s and it’s up to them to enforce the rules sanctioned by the FA.