http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19987630 We are seing the best players in the World . In high quality stadiums . And siiting in safety and comfort . Well the first bit is subjective , they are not all the best players in the World and top top ones ply their trade in Spain . Also there are no truly World class English players now so we are not seeing our own morelike an international mercenary circus . The next line as well is highly subjective , if you like stadiums that look the same with no atmosphere and generally are so inoffensive they actually do that then fine . And the last pearler , again an opinion not a fact , I for one hate to sit down and the point is moot anyway because as soon as the ball goes near a goal everybody stands as its human nature , of sourse the atmosphere is not helped and its as sterile as a new hospital ward . When will they learn not to force feed us rubbish and propaganda , football has lost its soul , its stmospehere and passion and has been replaced with cynical diving cheats who are overpaid to the point you think London bankers are value for money . Our National game is a shambles with players who are bred as horses and not footballers , they can run but they have the technique of a pissed up Sunday League player , we are either naive or very stupid to believe our own hype , I for one dont , football is not as good as it was , sure the standard is higher but that does not make it better overall as its not as entertaining , the tackles have been replaced with large scale diving and play acting , the atmosphere is not what is was , the stadiums had character and their own identity . It should of read please save our football and beloved game , not praising corporate prawns sandwiches TV companies .
Gomarchingin, you clearly didn't like the article because it doesn't agree with your tastes or preferences and you are falling out of love with football, or at least the current, modern version.. 1. I agree with your comments on the first line. We see some of the best players in the world (any top league can claim that), not all. 2. I think you have a bee in your bonet about the atmosphere. The line says "high quality stadia", not "high quality atmosphere", so your comments on this are actually the moot comments. The noises aren't as loud, however I for one am happier now as I can take my son safely to the game as I wouldn't be so keen to take him on terraces. I don't fully agree with their statement, as some of the Stadia are good, but not always high quality. It still takes too long to get refreshments. 3. Seats at some grounds don't have enough leg room and I am sure there are many other small points that don't make the stadia "high quality" or sitting in comfort. As I said above, I'm happier now that we sit and only stand or jump up when ther is some exciting pitch action, rather than worry about my lad not been able to see anything or being knocked about on terraces. I don't think football has lost it's soul. The fans are it's soul and they are still there. I do think that the money has spiralled out of control. Your post sounds like you are about to trip into another "it's a working man's game" rant again. Football is a sport for all, is what I believe the FA want us to see. And so it is. No group of people by age/race/social class/gender/monetary value have any more claim over the game than any other.
Spiritually its a working mans game , the aspiring classes only love that rung that takes them further up the ladder .
Gomarchingin - you say they're all too subjective to be claimed, then launch into your objectivist diatribe about how it's terrible. While I agree they are too subjective to be claimed, your rant comes across as hypocritical and yet another attempt to be contrarian. Perhaps, rather than it being a problem with the game, it's a problem with your perception of the game. As it's easily the most popular sport worldwide, I'd be tempted to say the modern game is doing pretty well...
No I am expressing my opinion and unlike that crap that blows its own trumpet not trying to be anything , the modern game is doing well but I did not refer to that did I ? I refered to our National game , not the state of play in Malaysia or Uganda , I stated the game is sterile and I believe that , dont you ? If not or if you do agree great fanastic youre a ledge .............
Modern stadia are women and family friendly. If you throw in older men who also prefer not to stand and be jostled, I would say the majority prefer seated stadia. I don't see why a special standing section couldn't be possible if safety issues were addressed. Characterless stadia (at least from the inside) follows on from the fact that everyone buying a ticket wants a clear view. The stanchion blocking my view at The Dell may have been full of character, but I wasn't sorry to see it go.
As it happens I agree with your views on the national team - it's terrible (compared to other nations that we could expect to be on the same level as, anyway: Spain, Germany etc are all leaps and bounds ahead of us) but I don't know why you take that to represent the sport as a whole being in dire trouble. There are a number of reasons for the national team being poor - from the large grassroots issue which is hopefully being amended, to poor management (I'm strongly against Hodgson). The sport, and the Premier League, are still fine in my books.
Gomarchingin, would you mind explaining to me why you thinking it's "spiritually" a working man's game please? I don't understand that comment and would be really interested to read your explanation. We'll leave the rungs on the ladder comment for now.
Do you mean the Sport as a whole ie Worldwide ? Then yes , or us the English game ? Then no , its crap the divide between rich and poor clubs is getting wider , the money sucked out of the game by players and agents is growing , the stadiums are grey crap structures that are boring , the atmosphere inside is also woeful , the % of English players is 32% on matchday and set to decrease even further , our players can not trap a bag of sand and if they could want £100,000 a week for it . But we are told by Sky in 1080i that all is wonderful as we are saturated with mediocre Sport , I dont get it I really dont .
Your OP listed three things, yet your comments towards them don't tie up with what those three statements make. If you are just using those as a chance to discuss your misgivings for the modern game, then fair enough. I don't why you made the three points if that is the case. For the record, I agree about the divide between rich and poor clubs being too large and I also agree wholeheartedly about the technical quality of English players - fair comments. I'm not sure how a stadium being boring ruins the game though.
Well I mean it in the sense that it has died , it was/spiritually a working mans game , the dynamic of this has changed very very quickly , since seating has come in and prices have gone up Derek , Frank and Trevor only go to the big games now as its too expensive but this has opened up the way for Tim and his two kids Jasper and Ewan to go along and have a boys bonding day at the football and then off back to the forest/south downs or some pretentious bollocks name for a bbq.................
The atmosphere , the drab grey structures are also about as inspiring as a Morrisey motivation speech.........................
Divide between the rich and the poor: True in a way but you can't pretend this is an England exclusive thing. Money sucked out by players and agents: I'd assume % of income going to players is roughly the same. Agents are a bit of a problem and everyone hates dealing with them, but I don't really see how this ruins the game? Stadiums are grey crap structures: Not really, and even so this is a terrible issue to get upset over, it makes little difference. "Oh we'd play good passing football, but the stadium isn't the right colour so let's hoof it, that'll show em" Atmosphere is woeful: Depends what you prefer, if you want a bunch of people screaming rubbish then blocks 39-42 will do you fine, beats having the whole stadium full of screaming morons because a lot of people don't want that type of "atmosphere". Percentage of English players: I find the lack of English players in first teams actually makes games more entertaining with the standard of most English players - would you rather watch Ramirez or Chaplow? And I don't really give a toss about where the person I'm watching kick a ball was born because it seems a bit unrelated. Either way, if you really think it's this bad, why do you still watch it?
So, is it not good that Tim can take Jasper and Ewan to the game? I thought it was football for all. Your first comments here about the dynamic of the game changing is probably correct and I thought you were going to start a really sensible discussion point, but then your last comment was the classes equivalent of racism (I am not sure of the term for that) I tend to look at what's happening on the pitch more than the look of the stadium.
So the atmosphere is better at St Marys as opposed to the Dell ? So you would rather watch foreigners as it benefits the team as opposed to the long term structure of the game , many disagree with your self serving sentiments thank God .
I read some of the comments on the BBC article yesterday and was astonished to discover that I was a mindless sheep who had lost the ability to exercise free will. I spend my money because I want to. If I didn't, I wouldn't. It's that simple.
The atmosphere is different. Not objectively better, nor worse (the idea of subjectivity seems to be lost on you despite complaining about it in your original post) - for me, better, because frankly I can't be arsed with the whole screaming at everything atmosphere. Much better for families etc too, which is something you seem to despise... talk about self serving sentiments, right? I wouldn't necessarily rather watch foreigners - I'd rather watch better players. Would I rather watch Papa Waigo to Adam Lallana? Of course I wouldn't. I don't care about nationality, though you seem to be very anti-foreigner. Classism and racism... oh, and complaining about kids at the ground, ageism too. Are you going to rant about women ruining the atmosphere at grounds next? Fat people? Short people? Disabled people? Discriminate away until you're left with just you and other blue collar mates and nobody else in a technicolour stadium watching only English players while screaming mindlessly for "atmosphere".
At the moment, I want whatever favours Southampton FC. Once we're doing well, I'll move on to thinking about the long term future of the game.
