Problem is the cost of football is pricing many regular fans out the game they love and they have no option but to watch it on TV thus giving them more ratings and more money etc etc
I love Sky and having wide coverage of the game. I love the fact that you can go to a game in safety and relative comfort. The game is now welcoming to women and children. I did enjoy our time in the lower league (in the Markus era) but that was probably because we won a lot of games. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
CBK makes a decent point about TV. However... I was thinking of going to West Ham tomorrow but tickets are £43. Factor in trains and food on top of that and you're looking at the best part of £100. What's the point?
I can certainly understand why people are deflated. Time was, when a club had a half decent chance of winning something. It was called competition in football. Football used to be a sport. Then somewhere along the line, football became entertainment [search me, first I heard that was in the mid 1990's], and then it became an entertainment business. Contrary to what anyone may think, businesses don't really like competition unless they're winning. Well, in the PL, there are about 3 or 4 businesses which are winning everything. The rest are there to give them someone to beat. An ordinary football club does all the right things, that in days gone by, would have got it somewhere, possibly winning something before too long. But not nowadays. Nowadays the 3 or 4 entertainment businesses can kick the ordinary football club in the bollocks and send it back where it belongs simply because it isn't allowed in the rarefied atmosphere of the top 4. At the moment, all we are allowed is top 8 in the PL. We've done that twice before, so that's OK. They might let us have top 7 one day if we bang on the door hard enough. But I doubt it. Truth is, football has to become a sport again, first and foremost, then it can be a business, then it can entertain. They've been getting the order more and more mixed up since the advent of SKY and the Premier League.
That's why I pick and choose away games. Stay far away from the likes of West Hams, Chelski etc. Most away games came within £40 for ticket and travel for me last year as an under 21.
I don't get what you mean by football has to become a sport again. Where do you draw the line; is it going back to being amateur, blaming Jimmy hill for the abolishment of the maximum wage? when was it good, or is it just sentimental memories? In my lifetime, which means watching football for 40 years, so about half of it before your mid 90s watershed and half afterwards, Saints only once had a chance to win the league and reached 1 FA Cup in the first part and one in the second part. The only bettering is there was one league cup pre-mid nineties. Personally, I just think you like the game less and have other interests that have caught up, over taken or were ahead in the first place. I love all the coverage we have now and I love being able to watch games live at the ground and also on television. Coming home to watch Sky Sports News certainly beats flicking the next page button in teletext. I think people are just feeling deflated because they got used to success and progress and perhaps don't have the real gut fighting spirit for the game. A bit like some united fans will be feeling at the moment. A bit like the modern world and everything being 'convenient' and getting what they want.
I'm not feeling deflated, but I understand the underlying reason why some people are. Football clubs have been shown the glass ceiling and the example is Southampton FC. And it's true, I don't like wall to wall football. You say you don't get my meaning. I can't really make my post any clearer. I'm not talking specifically about Saints. I'm talking about alsoran football clubs in general.
I can understand people lethargy towards the modern game (though i don't share it.) A mix of ticket prices, lack of competition at the top and a repetition of seeing anything positive stripped away by the big boys. The biggest issue for people i think is the fact there seems to be no means of improving beyond our current point and we can only have a downward swing in terms of position and results. Personally i dont feel that, we can see from Man u that the big boys can stumble and that leaves a spot for ambitious teams to try to claim. There will always be a hierarchy but those change gradually and any team that can keep fighting and producing well is in the running. I've mentioned in another thread somewhere what i think of ticket pricing (in short: ludicrous) so i don't need to go into that again. As someone else said football is about more than the 22 guys who play for 90 minutes. Its about hanging out with friends, family or co-workers, socializing and sharing musings and experiences and forming a communal bond. I understand that people are weary of seemingly endless cycle of 1.Succeed 2.Crash 3.Repeat but that isnt necessarily always going to happen and is only a part of the experience of football.
Oh OK, FLT. Yes, I can see your point. Saints are just one of the rest of the Premier League. I was making the more general point that, as one of the rest, we put our heads above the parapet and we get it knocked clean off. In Saints case alone, back in the 1980's it wasn't the League picking our team apart, that stopped the team from being succesful, but the Board just not being prepared to be that ambitious. Back in those days other teams did have a chance, if they were prepared to have a go. Aston Villa is an example, apart from the more obvious Forest.
Yep. Neither Forest not Villa kept it up though. I even think Villa may have got relegated since then. Both teams went on to win the European Cup though, when it was a winners only tournament and knock out over two legs. One of those teams had one of my favourite non-Saints players ... Gary Shaw. Great player who had his career cut short by injury. And another useless piece of info: Dennis Mortimer who captained that Villa side, took my mate this month for his UEFA A license coaching session.
No indeed, neither did keep it up. Not because they didn't want to, I'm sure, but that other clubs just got stronger to combat them. Also there was the element that perhaps their ambition was finite. They'd done it and they rested on their laurels for just a little bit. Or perhaps they simply couldn't sustain it. The thing was, nothing seemed to be quite written in stone, even though Liverpool were the strongest club, back then. On a different tack. How about ManU..? This is a very dodgy time for them. As a business this must be terrible for them. For sport and other football supporters it is superb news. There's a space at the top that isn't guaranteed at the moment. That's got to be good and football becomes just a little bit more interesting as a competition.
What's happening at United is brilliant; I love it. It will be interesting to see what happens. Unfortunately I think they are big enough to survive this as a global business, but we will see.
Having a laugh at United's expense is always a pleasure...be lovely if they had another poor season (by their standards). However, they are always able to buy their way out of trouble...though not always possible to make a title-winning team overnight. I do want Van Gaal to fail though because he dissed Ronald.
Football fans. Miserable as you like. But then 3 wins on the bounce, and almost all will be feeling fine. To those who feel let down that the money makes it very difficult to progress beyond 8th, be careful what you wish for. When we were in L1 we yearned to return to the EPL. When we returned, we yearned to avoid the drop. One decent season and some are disappointed that we can't progress further easily. Project yourself back to the Wotte days. Imagine listening to yourself from the future saying, "Well, ok, we have decent owners, a secure berth in the PL, we play an attractive style of football under an excellent manager and the clubs finances are robust, and yet, somehow I am not completely content with our lot...(sigh) , then you might want to have a word with yourselves. And what if we did break through and win a trophy every other year? Is there not a chance that we would become like the MU fans we mock today? I have followed Saints through good times and bad. This ain't the time to feel sorry for ourselves.
Thete's no question there is less chance of teams moving up the league now. Leeds won the second division in 1990, finished 4th in 1991 and won the league in 1992. There's no chance of anyone doing that in the foreseeable future.
To play a bit of one-upmanship.... Forest were promoted in 1977 and won the league in 1978, then the European cup in 79 and 80.
