I have to admit that I agree with the gist of what Robbie is saying if not with his choice of vocabulary. I love football and never tire of watching it. Whilst I view City games in a slightly different light to the rest I try and see as many other games as I can. I have Sky and BT and if I travel I try and see a live match or two - even abroad. In the last 7 days or so I have watched matches in the Champions League, Premiership, lower leagues, FA Cup and matches from Spain, France, Scotland, Italy and Germany and tonight I will watch the 2 matches from the UEFA Cup. Know what? - I have loved it all!!! I won't be as blunt as Robbie but I would say that if anybody who watched the Arsenal game last night didn't enjoy what they saw then they do perhaps need to wonder if they really do love the game as well as a Club.
Midway, I'm with you 100%, I even enjoy watching kids play in the local park, I find the game fascinating and full of variables, no two games are ever the same, even when they involve the same two teams!
I fully agree with 1950 there. I watch football because I love the game. If there is football on, I'll watch it. It's just a shame that we (The fans) have to put up with all over paid players and over priced matches as well as the loss of real passion in place of the money that powers the football machine.
1950canary. I'd say it is almost definitional of having a passion for something that it never bores you. I don't think you need to apologise for agreeing with me though!
I must admit, I will watch ANY football. Quite often when I go to Eaton Park which is most weekends with my kids and Strife I get a good rollicking for stopping and watching the Sunday league games!
I must think very carefully about my use of the English language. How can I rephrase what I was trying to say - well here we go. I enjoy watching almost all football (the exception being watching Man utd winning) but because of how the football has changed, I am less passionate about many games, than I used to be. Actually the point I'm trying to make is better reflected in gary Imlach's book, My father and other working class football heroes, which details how the game has changed.
I hate the champions league format, basically it is encouraging failure, why should the 2nd,3rd & 4th teams from certain leagues qualify? basically it means some teams just say, don't worry lads just as long as we finish in the top 22% thats a successful season. ITS THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, 2ND, 3RD OR 4TH ISN'T BEING A CHAMPION!
Longsight. A pedant makes over-fine distinctions. I simply subscribe to the principle that if a person can't say what he/she thinks clearly, accurately and precisely (but not necessarily concisely; lengthy exposition is often needed), then he/she doesn't really know what he/she thinks. I'm keen to discover what I think, never mind what anyone else thinks!
I can see where you are coming from Longsight but could only agree with you if I thought that the game has changed for the worse - I don't think it has. None of us like the silly money being paid out on wages but it only reflects the amount of money being pumped into the game and has led to a far quicker, fitter more skilful player and a far more professional approach to all aspects. The problem with nostalgia and the ' good old days ' is that you tend to only remember the good bits. We fondly remember paying a pittance to get in, the atmosphere on the terraces when things were going well and the most exciting games of years gone by but conveniently forget the days standing on an open terrace getting soaking wet, watching 22 players with not a lot of skill between them kicking ten bells out of each other on a puddle covered pitch cut up by being trained on all week for a 0-0 draw before trudging home ( few cars ) in the pouring rain after having a last wee in an open toilet 6 inches deep in all sorts of liquid. If you have forgotten how slow and unskilful the game was 40 or 50 years ago I suggest you visit one of the film/news archives and watch snippets of games. Sorry but I prefer modern facilities, transport, pitches and skilful entertaining players. A lot of the change has been forced on us by the influx of foreign players, coaches, tactics and techniques which I think it has led to a faster and more skilful entertainment despite the unsavoury aspects also imported such as diving. Eventually our own youngsters have started to adapt - look at Arsenal and Southampton youngsters - and hopefully the so called English game of lumping a long ball in the general direction of abnormally tall players for 90 mins is a thing of the past. The point I was trying to make is that football is a great entertainment because no two games are ever the same and, even at the top level, there are major differences between Countries. A top level game in Spain is played considerably differently to a top game in Germany. Go down a level and things change again and so on and so on. As Dave said there is entertainment value at all levels. Until a couple of years ago our village ran 2 teams and if a match was in progress I would stop and watch. You can just imagine the skill level in two reserve teams of small villages playing each other. A third of the players had a bit of skill but could hardly run due to advancing years and lack of fitness. Another third were very young, quite fit but had no skill at all and the remaining third had just been yanked out of the Pub. It was all very entertaining if only for comedy value.
The equivalent though is with Formula 1.All the money that has been pumped in has made the cars outrageously quick.I would still rather see Jim Clark in a Lotus 25 though,or come to that a race between Jaguar 3.4's Ford Anglias and Minis where the owners have just taped over the headlamps and driven to the circuit.
There are several issues in this discussion, and I would largely agree with the points made; the key issue that I am trying to make is nothing about the quality of the football, it is simply one of being connected to the team that you are watching. In the Irish side of my family there is a big interest in GAA, all amateur, but a packed out Croke park and the craic is 90 as they say. My partner has become a Norwich fan through me and also because she saw parallels with GAA, at least in the sense that Norwich represent the county and the match pulls people to the ground from all over Norfolk - it had a sense of coherence. if I were to plot out my sense of being connected to the England team, then that has dropped year on year as the players wages and attitudes have appeared to change - I have no allegiance to folk like Lampard and Terry and others. I can imagine my allegiance to Norwich dropping as we attract a different type of player- having said that my excitement at the recent man city match and WBA away maybe negates this point. But for other English teams, I appreciate the quality and can enjoy the spectacle, whether they win lose or draw- but I no longer give a ****e what happens to them. I used to feel sorry for the losing players in FA cup finals, that has long gone
I guess wayne rooney might care- I wonder if the negotiations for his new contract of 300k per week took into account the fact that Utd are unlikely to be in it next year.
