Football is supposed to be a gentlemen’s game played by hooligans. Well, I’d like to put in a good word for the the Wigan Athletic hooligans who are now refunding their 565 travelling supporters’ money. On this basis, I wish there were more hooligans in the world. Thierry Henry’s always been considered as one of the game’s ‘gentlemen’. Just look at him now.
No, it’s the Wigan footballers who have done the decent thing and recognised that their brand promise — which attracted investment in a range of associated products from British Rail, Guinness and fish and chip shops up and down Tottenham High Road — failed to deliver. The embarrassment of losing 9-1 must be far greater then than the pride of winning by such a margin.
So because the Wigan lads were asleep on the job last Sunday (well, it is supposed to be a day of rest) they have admitted the error of their collective ways and seen the light. What I’d like to ask now is this: why can’t other institutions where I and millions of other people have made investments of one sort or another, based on a brand promise that’s been broken, do the same?
For instance…I’ve made lots of purchases from well known brands that have failed to live up to expectations. But do I get any money back when they go awry? NO.
At best there’s a letter of apology and maybe a voucher to help you enjoy your meal or your train journey or your vision or your bank overdraft charges next time you choose to eat / travel / see better / bank with us at Institution xyz. I have bought shares in companies that have maintained they are world leading fund managers; I’ve invested in things from pensions to iPods; I’ve bought toasters, spectacles, cars and a myriad other things that are necessary for everyday life. And if and when they don’t perform as promised, what do you get…normally, zip.
I know that my investment as a supporter in any football club may go down as well as up. No one needs to tell me that. And I accept it — so long as the team tries a bit to justify their stratospheric wages. Yet when it all goes wrong at RBS or Halifax; or when the tiles you bought from B&Q fall off the shower wall; or the train ticket you bought from Reading to Paddington means you have to stand all the way; or the TV from Curry’s breaks down after three weeks and they have to ’send it back to get it repaired’ and that will take six weeks…well, why don’t they offer to refund my money immediately, in a state of embarrassed penance for their brands’ not having lived up to their promise, too?
It’s about time the rest of the world started to act more like hooligans than ‘gentlemen’.
