Someone asked me the other day if I was excited for the new season, and this got me thinking.

Am I excited? No... Do I want it to start? Yes.

I'll give you my reasons as to why I'm not excited for the new season. Football isn't what it used to be, some readers won't even remember what it was like last time we got promoted, and will only know football since Sky got their hands on it. It has now become to full Glastonbury Tickets of overpaid, over-hyped players, who the majority couldn't care less if they played for Newcastle United or West Brom, as long as they get their money at the end of the month.

The grounds are half full, no standing and because of this the atmosphere has been sucked out of the stadiums up and down the country. Then you have the ticket prices spiralling out of control to the extend parents can't take their kids to the game and ruining any chances of the next generation of fans being in touch with their club.

To me the match day was more than just the 90 minutes played on the pitch; it was an occasion where friends met up before the match, parents and grandparents took the kids along for something to eat. Then everyone regardless of age, location all went up to the stadium together. It was a real "family" environment, Football now is not what it was when I started going.

I'll give you an example of what I am getting at. On 17th September 1998 you had Newcastle 3 - 2 Barcelona. Now every Newcastle fan remembers that match and where they were when they watched it, be it at St James' Park, in their local or even at home watching it on ITV. Personally I was one of the lucky ones to be at the match, courtesy of my Grandfather. This man that introduced me to the highs and lows of being a Newcastle United fan.

That was the one and only match we were at St James' Park together and from a personal stand point that was much more important to me and which is why that game will always have a special place in my heart. It is moments like that the current game is missing and I am willing to bet any fan thinking back over the games they have went to, will have at least one where it wasn't just the match that you remember the day for.

Even if you're one of the few who can't recall one of these moments, think back to the match itself, think back to the atmosphere inside the stadium. It was somewhere we could stand, shout and sing with our friends, without fear of being banned or ejected from doing what we loved or for some minor misdemeanour or comment. The match day atmosphere had a read "buzz".

Today's game has become all too "corporate"; clubs now fleece the fans for as much as they can. From pens and pencils to credit cards with the club emblem on it and from loans to charging £350 for your child to be a mascot.

I admit I am one of them, because I still continue to pay these spiralling costs as I am one of the fortunate ones who can still afford to. The thing that sickens me is I know I am having the mick taking about of me because of my loyalty to my club. Some of the people I sit with, have banter with, struggle to keep going, some can't go due to the cost and some have to pick and choose the games to go to. Which is something else that is missing, gone are the days where you looked forward to the opening home game of the season as it gave you a chance to see all the familiar faces, the ones you have sat with for the past however many seasons and would be there 30 minutes before kickoff and you could talk  Glastonbury Tickets  about the club in general. Now their seat has been taken by someone who will leave 5 minutes to avoid the traffic.

The problem with football is that it is not like life's other luxuries; common sense goes out the window when it comes to your club. No matter how badly you wanted to give it up, once the season started you were there at 4:45 on a Saturday if you weren't at the match (yes kids nearly every game was a Saturday) waiting for the results, or picking up The Pink on the way home to see how they faired.

This pull is being eroded, and the fans from the heart of the club are dwindling away as they have either been priced out or are just completely fed up with the game in general. These fans are being replaced by "customers" who the clubs feel they can bleed dry and try to convince them to buy anything as long as it has the club crest on it.

Remember when clubs used to represent the area, they used to be the focal point for local pride. Think back to how proud you were when we beat Grimsby 2-0 to secure promotion to the Premier League, or how proud you were when we beat Manchester United 5-0 and then the years when everyone was willing us to break the domination of the usual suspects.

Am I looking forward to the new season? No, not right now. Ask me that question on the 14th August and the answer will be, yes! Am I stupid coming back season after season knowing it's going yet another disaster after another? Probably. I even have my stupidly optimistic pre-season prediction of finishing 11th place.

Personally I think part of me is falling out of love with the game, and I never thought that would happen. However this is down to the game in this country being slowly destroyed for the time being, it has become too uncompetitive. Too many foreign billionaire's bank rolling clubs and bringing anyone they like at vastly over inflated prices. While the rest struggle to survive, praying to God that the sky gravy train doesn't dry up and put them all out of jobs.

Even Newcastle has a Billionaire owner, granted possibly the tightest billionaire in existence. Though regardless of this even he can't compete as he is trying to run it like a business, which some of you might think is refreshing to see compared to the standard Billionaire owners. However you live with your club continually trying to survive relegation for a couple of seasons, you won't be saying the same thing then. This is not competition, it is simply a money making machine, and that is why it is becoming all so boring.

Come August 14th there will be 3 major trophies to compete for, I'm willing to place money on the fact that the winners will be from 4-5 clubs. The cup competitions have lost their appeal, now you will see bottom half clubs put out a weakened team as survival is more important than a cup run, as they know they have no chance of winning it. The Premier League started in 1992, nearly 20 years ago, and in that time only one clue from outside the "top 4" have won the FA Cup. Now if you compare that to say the 80's, there were 7 different clubs to win it in 10 years.

Fans had that dream, which is what made the cup so special to us all. Now what have those clubs go to look forward too, the clubs who are the mid to lower end of the league table? Try to squeeze into a European spot or survive relegation and that's it, nothing more. Football has become to sterile, prime example would be the World Cup. This was one of the worst if not the worst one I have seen. The fact that Spain won it despite being the lowest scorers ever to win a World Cup says everything you need to know about the tournament.

The majority of modern day footballers are far more concerned about where the next car, stupidly expensive watch or their next mansion is going to come from. Now don't get me wrong I don't mind them breaking with the tradition of being paid next to nothing while the Chairmen pocketed everything. It has just gone too far the other way now and they are so far removed from reality they can't even remember their roots, that they too were playing in the park with their friends, while they pretend that they are Gazza, Shearer, Linekar etc.. Just like today's generation pretend to be the idols of today.