So They've Built A Brand, Sold Naming Rights And Corporate Packages. But No-one In Football Got Rich

What's in a name?

According to the Royal Mail there are only six Ball Streets in the UK, all in North West England.

We didn’t live on one of those but, even though we all come from opposite ends of the country, we grew up on a ball street:  a terraced arena, in footballing heartlands like Glasgow, Manchester, Luton and, er, Wakefield.  Playing the game in its simplest form, where the kerb completed more passes than Iniesta.

That’s where the name Ball Street name from, but behind it lies something much bigger.

Now God's getting involved...

"All over this new footy show-bit.ly/451Promo - get following @ball_street tweeps"Looks quality @ianwright0

— Robbie Fowler (@Robbie9Fowler) March 28, 2013

"Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing. Sometimes we are inclined to forget that."

Jock Stein, Celtic Manager 1965-1978

This was an honour...

Everyone follow @ball_street and check out this video!! bit.ly/451Promo can't wait to watch the show @ianwright0 !!

— Mo Farah (@Mo_Farah) March 26, 2013

This is our new YouTube football show with Ian Wright and Jimmy Bullard: 4 Leagues | 5 topics | 1 show.  We'll be covering more than the top 6.

The heart of football

by Stuart, Ball Street

I was going tell you about Ball Street, however I can’t let events at Ibrox pass without comment.

It’s a tale of self-destruction with a vengeance, true of all parties involved in the toxic cauldron of Scottish football.   But that’s for another day.  Today let me tell you a story about football and the fan.

Rangers are the club of my uncles, two of whom had heart attacks at Ibrox watching the Rangers.  One sadly passed; the amazing medical staff in the ground saved the other, who was the first to take me every other week.

It’s also the club of my late father, who worked on the rebuilding of the Main Stand and salvaged the old wooden seats and fittings to craft a handsome fireplace for his living room.  Every time we went to the back shops, we would occasionally stop by old Jimmy’s to see if he needed any messages.  Only later did I find out that Jimmy was Jimmy Smith, scorer of 225 goals in 234 appearances for Rangers between 1928 and 1946.

I know my history.  I know that a love that’s been shared by generations of my family doesn’t exist on the balance sheet of Sevco 5088.   The club can’t be taken away by liquidation, player departures, rulings or the ill-feeling of others.

A football club lives only the hearts of its fans.   That’s true of any club.  As Kevin Drinkell said recently: “Rangers fans who were supporters yesterday will still be supporters today. That's the bottom line.”

Sure it will be hard to see the likes of Naismith and McCabe grace other arenas - they've lost their chance to be legends - but Ibrox will always have its heroes.  There may well be a succession of journeymen on the horizon who might never have climbed the marble staircase, but among them will be legends that we’ll still talk about in years to come.

Like many others, I’ve long said we should start over in Division Three.  We should take our medicine and let others have theirs.  I’ll look forward to Glasgow derbies with Queen’s Park and trips to Montrose where we holidayed as kids.  And then I’ll be able to tell you more about why every league is a premier league.

UPDATE - the people have spoken

What a 24 hours that has been.  Couldn’t sleep for excitement and my eyes are so sore from reading the whole of Twitter last night.  Thought it would be good to take stock of where we are.

Firstly, this is our company blog.  The company was only formed recently, but Ball Street is an idea that Stuart and I had a good while back. 

“Most fans are underserved by the media”

We loved the response to Wrighty’s tweets.  Many fans see it the same way we do: most teams get 30 seconds of highlights per week with little insight.

@ianwright0 Coventry and about 2 minutes on the football league show. Not enough media for outside prem in general given fan base.

— Gilby (@skybluegilby) January 21, 2013

@ball_street Everton main one, we could win the league and the media would talk about the rest of the prem having a off day.

— Ian McMenemy (@ianmc23)

@ball_street Fantastic! Hopefully more fans get on board and you + fans as a collective can really make a difference.

— Nick Murphy (@NickDRFCMurphy) January 21, 2013

That's just a fraction of the responses, with many supportive of the idea that fans outside the top 6 are underserved by the media.

To clarify, we're not having a pop at the BBC Football League highlights show, or questioning the logic of Sky showing the matches that generate the most viewers.  However, we are questioning the lack of depth and quality of the media coverage outside the top 6 in general and we want to help make a change.

We don’t have all the answers, but we do want to be a part of the solution.  We want to improve the media experience for all fans.

As Wrighty says:-

  Morning all, overwhelmed by the response yesterday. @ball_street are you watching? The people have spoken - lets get something done!!

— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) January 22, 2013

Some old friends and many new friends and followers have rallied to the cause, asking to help out.

We’re meeting up with Wrighty and the others today to discuss what we can do.  This feels like the start of something big.

  Matt, football fan/dreamer

Episode 3 of Ball Street's 451 show with Ian Wright.

Which of these feet did the 239 league goals come from?