Against "Modern Football"

[SholverBlue]

Here we go. This could divide a few people but what's your opinion on the current state of football? (Notice how I didn't call it 'the beautiful game' because I'm not a :censored:ebag).

 

 

There's a collection of quite a few people, young and old saying that they are "against Modern football" etc...

Now I've seen these people attacked and defended and personally, I sympathise with them, I have a lot of axes to grind with how clubs and footballing administrations are being run, TV broadcasters & legislation regarding football fans in particular.

 

Take the national team for example, the squad mostly are a bunch of over paid under achievers. They play in a soulless all seater ground, £45 a ticket and large sections of the ground are empty. Corporates and Business partners (the majority of whom have little to no interest in a game of soccerball) and they swan around, taking pictures and eating hotdogs. Now I support the National team but there's no way I could afford to see them play, I just wouldn't be able to afford it.

 

And the Premier League. It costs over a thousand pounds for a few Season tickets in the Premier League, kick off times are changed regularly thanks to Sky, you could be playing on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays at ridiculous times. In "England's biggest derbies" like the North London derby or Manchester derby, most people in the ground are tourists, Rooney celebrating in front of City fans at the COMS and some of their fans more interested in taking pictures and videos of him comes to mind. Hardly the fierce, thrilling, intimdating atmosphere Manchester Derbies are renowned for.

 

Now applying this to being a Latics fan, the away fans locked out at Bury even though there was empty seats and a near empty main stand, GMP/Bury FC (as they're both pointing the finger at eachother) wouldn't allow fans to move.

The embarrassing foam hands and other daft tat the club shop come out with, having to allocate sponsors seats in the Cup ties and so on.

 

I want to know where Latics fans stand in all this, how do you feel about the treatment of fans, over commecialisation, owners treating football clubs like businesses, the sanitisation of the game etc...

[JonesyOAFC]

It's :censored:e. We pay scandalous prices for the pleasure of sitting in atmosphere-less and often soulless stadiums watching, in our case, terrible football. The people running the game in this country couldn't give a toss about the ordinary fan and continually screw them over (see the FA Cup final kick off time for recent evidence). I'm growing more and more disillusioned by the game in this country every season.

[Zorrro]

It is what it is, essentially still 22 blokes running around a pitch kicking a bag of wind, albeit some doing it much better than others. I'd prefer all games to be at 3pm on a Saturday, but that's purely because I'm an impatient man when it comes to pouring money down the drain at the bookies. Nowt worse than picking a sixfold and not realising that one of the teams is playing on Sunday, especially when that team is the only one not to come in

[HarryBosch]

The police on Saturday in Bury town centre must have been verging on some kind of abuse of rights.

 

I take the piss about "we should look at how they do it in the Bundesliga" on Twitter but I watched a game in Germany a few weeks back and the police were practically military in their get up and on their horses but they treated pissed up football fans like adults and, guess what? They acted accordingly.

The train station was a 5 to 10 minute walk from the ground (Allianz Arena) and, after waiter service in your seat/step throughout the 90 minutes, the locals bought a pint on the way out to walk back to the train with. (Yes the bars were still open and no, they hadn't run out)

 

There was a time I'd never not watch an England friendly, nowadays I rarely watch a qualifier.

 

I heard James Milner interviewed the other week and he was asked if, after meeting up for the next England game after City had snatched the title from United, there was loads of "banter" (aaaarrggghh!) over it. " No, it's not like that". Wtf? It should be. It absolutely should be. What's the matter with these people?

 

The modern terminology - "product on the pitch", "match day experience", "book him for simulation" drives me to distraction.

 

Half and half scarves.

 

Sloop John B

 

@twentysomethinglad huge #mufc and #oafc fan! Season ticket holder a #mcfc. I follow back.

 

I'm only 37 (shut it Maddog) but was brought up on players called Brian or Derek with mullets & moustaches who my dad might bump into on a Saturday night in some local pub nursing a pint of bitter whereas nowadays it's more likely my nephew will be stood near a Jordan or a Matt(y) at a rap gig pretending they're from da hood, talking utter :censored: & pretending to actually understand each other before heading off for some dry, bland chicken at a nearby glorified fast food establishment.

 

That's if they've not stayed in, discussing the merits of some ITV karaoke singers on Twitter.

 

As for fellow fans, especially the younger ones - they often tell us, apparently, we're not allowed to be bipolar anymore. It's not acceptable to be suicidal when we're :censored: or overly optimistic when we win a game. I reserve the right to be fickle. A happyclapping doom and gloomer. To give more credit than is due, where it's due, and be overly harsh when it isn't. Especially if I've partaken in a few.

 

And then delete the most ridiculous posts/tweets on a Sunday morning.

 

Jamie Redknapp.

 

Clive Tyldesley.

 

Chiles.

 

Ferdinand(s)

 

The somehow further declining standard of refereeing.

 

I've pretty much had enough. If my support wasn't needed I would've stopped coming by now. Like a lot of my friends.

 

Or would I?

 

#amf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Roger Ritchie]

I think it has been rotten since the money men came in to make their millions.

 

Much of the against Modern Football crowd seem to be kids though who were born after the Premiership was

[dave_ragg1984]

I think it has been rotten since the money men came in to make their millions.

 

Much of the against Modern Football crowd seem to be kids though who were born after the Premiership was

 

 

You can be young and wish it was different though - http://www.standamf.com/2013/03/25/being-against-modern-football-isnt-just-for-old-gits/

[Slash]

Dislike the kick off times, tourists with cameras (although you get latics fans taking photos/videos during our games), over paid footballers aspects of the Premier League.

 

Do I wish my team was playing in the Premier League.... Yes!!

[De_La_Vega]

Boring as piss football. If it weren't for Latics then I'd have stopped watching.

[Tommy_Fent]

when a club can buy a player from a smaller club so that the player can't play against the said club (i.e Scott Sinclair) then something is seriously wrong with the game

[24hoursfromtulsehill]

Here's my list:

 

1) The bellends at the FA. WTF use is a 5.15 pm kick-off time for two northern teams? They say no one goes on the train anyway! Knobends! Wembley is :censored: anyway. They should've built a stadium in the midlands. Or just had no stadium.

 

2) Matchday police. Useless and plainly wringing football for overtime. For about two decades.

 

3) The premier league. The internal logic is short-term profit, not the wider integrity and wellbeing (financial and sporting) of the game.

 

4) Premier league players in their own little world with their massive Beats Audio cans when they should be playing cards (for matches) with their team mates.

 

5) The England team. Heartless, cynical bellends.

 

6) No boozing or smoking in the grounds. Ludicrous.

 

There's more, but I'm fit to burst.

 

[al_bro]

The FA doesn't give a toss about football or the fans. The kick off time of the FA Cup blatantly shows this. They say it allows more fans to watch the game on TV. How ridiculous can you get. What about the fans of the two clubs who are lucky enough to get tickets after all the hangers on have been allocated their share. The only thing the FA cares about is paying for the ridiculously placed national stadium,they will get more live TV rates for coverage of the game. This is also why the semis are played at Wembley, to pay off the debt. Had the stadium been built near the NEC Birmingham it would have cost far less and been far more accessible to the fans.

[leeslover]

Here's my list:

 

1) The bellends at the FA. WTF use is a 5.15 pm kick-off time for two northern teams? They say no one goes on the train anyway! Knobends! Wembley is :censored: anyway. They should've built a stadium in the midlands. Or just had no stadium.

 

2) Matchday police. Useless and plainly wringing football for overtime. For about two decades.

 

3) The premier league. The internal logic is short-term profit, not the wider integrity and wellbeing (financial and sporting) of the game.

 

4) Premier league players in their own little world with their massive Beats Audio cans when they should be playing cards (for matches) with their team mates.

 

5) The England team. Heartless, cynical bellends.

 

6) No boozing or smoking in the grounds. Ludicrous.

 

There's more, but I'm fit to burst.

I agree with most of what Mr Tulsehill says

[Oh Heck C-Beck]

I don't mind modern football really.

 

Main gripes at the top of the English game is Man United's domination is boring for a neutral.

 

In general I think going to matches at any level in England is too expensive. I also wish they would bring back standing.

 

At our level I am starting to get really fed up with the turnover of players, it is hard to build an affinity with your club when you have a completely new squad every season.

 

I still love watching football though, really enjoyed this seasons Champions league and Europa league there has been some excellent games.

[Latics and England]

The money... it's all about the money.

 

You used to be able to dream. If you happened to get a group of players together that gelled anything was possible. Now the dream is that some foreign billionaire with no connection to your club or town will come along and buy you. Realistically that's the only way most clubs will achieve any real success.

 

People say the money has allowed clubs to bring in better players meaning better quality football. I don't really care about better football though, I just want to see my team winning. If there was no Sky money there would still be plenty of players to go round and those at the top of the league would still be enjoying it as much as they do now.

 

When we were in the top flight I don't remember going to games thinking "this is :censored:, I wish I was watching Van Basten".

 

There are positives. It's good to be able to watch top of the table Premiership games on TV. There us major over exposure though. I don't care about Stoke v West Ham or Villa v Swansea. When there's 10 live games a week on I soon find I can't be bothered to watch any. It used to be such a big deal when The Match was on ITV. They had commentators who actually knew what they were talking about too.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Latics & England

[iamjonesyyoafc]

I was born after the formation of the premiership but I'd love to experience what football was like before my time but frankly I can't. There are aspects of the modern game I hate and there are aspects of the modern game I love, but that's just the way football is now, the most important thing is that I love Oldham and that will never change.

[rudemedic]

The £20 is plenty nonsense really grinds my gears. If £20 is plenty in the Premier League for away fans then it is for home fans too. Not to mention any other league where even in League 2 you won't always get change from a Bluey and sometimes have to pay more. (I'd be very interested to see if Hartlepool charge the £25 they were charging this year next season). Quite simply £20 is plenty in leagues 1 and 2, £30 for Championship and £40 for the EPL. Or have the EPL subsidise the wage bills of the lower leagues a lot more than they do now.

 

Kick-off times and transport. If the FA, who let's not forget was the significant party in making the decision, despite them owning the ground, want to have the National Stadium at Wembley. They need to provide extra transport to get the fans home if it is very difficult/ imposdible to do so on public transport. Hire a train(s) of Richard Branson or whoever and have it parked at Euston (or whereever) ready to leave at whatever time would be appropriate to allow those that want to go from outside of the SE and get home. It's not just the FA cup final it's England games too.

 

Against modern football, well I hope you are not watching Sky Sports because you can't afford or get a ticket to the club of your choice on a Saturday at 3pm. (If memory serves Final Score/vide printer was only at around 16:45, especially if there was another sporting event that Grandstand was showing). I might let them off if they are in a pub and Sky Sports just happened to be on.

 

As you can see I understand and am supportive of a lot of their principles but there principles aren't as consistent as they should be.

[leeslover]

There us major over exposure though. I don't care about Stoke v West Ham or Villa v Swansea. When there's 10 live games a week on I soon find I can't be bothered to watch any.

This happened to me about 8 years ago. I had Sky for a couple of seasons, watched a game pretty much every night I was in, and then it seemed to be Bolton vs Blackburn every night. I'll go to the pub if a match catches my fancy now.

[SholverBlue]

I personally can't stand Sky. I'd rather have starved Ferrets nibble on my testicles than have a subscription to that mob.

Edited April 18, 2013 by SholverBlue

[brierleys555]

I would never entertain having sky.

I also want to see lj next year get players in on 1 and 2 year deals.

1 or 2 loanees yes but not loads of them.

[Hands on]

The good thing about football is TV. The bad thing about football is the TV.

 

Football now caters for fans whereas it used to rely on the supporters.

[LaticsChris]

I can sympathise with those who want a return to terracing (albeit safe standing terraces) and lower ticket prices, but the majority of what is being lamented in this thread is just the modern world. Over commercialising everything, people treated as customers rather than people...welcome to 2013.

 

Football is still 22 men and a bag of wind, I still love it.

 

One thing that does annoy me and that this thread has reminded me of is the blame culture actually. So the FA Cup final is at 5:15, yes its the FA's stupid idea. But rather than whine about how hard done by they are why don't Wigan just put extra coaches on? Charter a plane? Maybe even discuss the possibility of extra trains with the relevant bodies. It's always somebody else's bloody fault these days, everyone's a victim.

[the_mighty_bosh]

I first got into football properly in the 94/95 season (first match was West Brom 3-1 Latics), for the 5 or so years after that I suppose both the Premier League and Football League were on the rise.

 

I'll be honest, around the turn of the millenium when teams like Juventus and Real Madrid were spending (at the time) colossal amounts of money in transfer fees I found it kind of exciting, but mainly because the players being bought did have superstar ability (Zidane, fat Ronaldo, Batistuta). Transfer fees in England (even in the PL) were relatively reasonable and lower league English clubs were still getting their fair share for their youngsters in most cases.

 

It was the early 2000's when the change really started to accelerate for me. Man Utd joined the European big boys in spending £20m to £30m in transfer fees per player which lead to other clubs realising that to compete they'd have to spend similar amounts, and ITV Digital collapsed, crippling some clubs by itself but also exposing some extreme mismanagement from owners and chairmen. The Premier League kept rocketing upwards in size and the Football League effectively had to rebuild from square one. I actually think the football league was doing this fairly well until the credit crunch hit.

 

Nowadays there is a massive gap between rich and poor and while the Premier League is mega rich I think the biggest gap is between the Championship and League One. The wages that players get in the Championship is what I feel should be appropriate at the top level. Enough to set them up for life but not so much that it removes them completely from society. Unfortunately due to things such as parachute payments and mind blowing TV deals not being distributed in ways that promote stability of clubs and growth of the game as a whole, instead being gambled on players wages, agents and transfer fees, it means that things are going to keep going the way they are with nothing really being likely to stop it.

 

So from a personal point of view I feel that the Premier League is something that I don't really want to be a part of. Supporting Latics in League One, having a brother and friends from home who support a team in League Two and having a League Two and non-league team very close to where I live is absolutely fine by me as it offers a great balance between the past traditions that football has maintained and positive modern day community benefits. That's the environment that I want my children to grow up watching football in, be it at Latics or anywhere else.

 

My big concern is the falling attendances in the last 4 or 5 years across the board for lower league clubs. The local support is what will make or break lower league football in the long run and that seems to be the biggest threat to clubs at present.

 

I was also going to have a rant about Internationals and domestic cup competitions but to be honest, aside from the FA Cup and International football events, I don't find them interesting enough.

Edited April 18, 2013 by the_mighty_bosh

[alex_balls]

I first got into football properly in the 94/95 season (first match was West Brom 3-1 Latics), for the 5 or so years after that I suppose both the Premier League and Football League were on the rise.

 

I'll be honest, around the turn of the millenium when teams like Juventus and Real Madrid were spending (at the time) colossal amounts of money in transfer fees I found it kind of exciting, but mainly because the players being bought did have superstar ability (Zidane, fat Ronaldo, Batistuta). Transfer fees in England (even in the PL) were relatively reasonable and lower league English clubs were still getting their fair share for their youngsters in most cases.

 

It was the early 2000's when the change really started to accelerate for me. Man Utd joined the European big boys in spending £20m to £30m in transfer fees per player which lead to other clubs realising that to compete they'd have to spend similar amounts, and ITV Digital collapsed, crippling some clubs by itself but also exposing some extreme mismanagement from owners and chairmen. The Premier League kept rocketing upwards in size and the Football League effectively had to rebuild from square one. I actually think the football league was doing this fairly well until the credit crunch hit.

 

Nowadays there is a massive gap between rich and poor and while the Premier League is mega rich I think the biggest gap is between the Championship and League One. The wages that players get in the Championship is what I feel should be appropriate at the top level. Enough to set them up for life but not so much that it removes them completely from society. Unfortunately due to things such as parachute payments and mind blowing TV deals not being distributed in ways that promote stability of clubs and growth of the game as a whole, instead being gambled on players wages, agents and transfer fees, it means that things are going to keep going the way they are with nothing really being likely to stop it.

 

So from a personal point of view I feel that the Premier League is something that I don't really want to be a part of. Supporting Latics in League One, having a brother and friends from home who support a team in League Two and having a League Two and non-league team very close to where I live is absolutely fine by me as it offers a great balance between the past traditions that football has maintained and positive modern day community benefits. That's the environment that I want my children to grow up watching football in, be it at Latics or anywhere else.

 

My big concern is the falling attendances in the last 4 or 5 years across the board for lower league clubs. The local support is what will make or break lower league football in the long run and that seems to be the biggest threat to clubs at present.

 

I was also going to have a rant about Internationals and domestic cup competitions but to be honest, aside from the FA Cup and International football events, I don't find them interesting enough.

 

Cheltenham Town and Gloucester City?

[Pine Villains]

You don't see dogs running on the pitch anymore.

[Stevie_J]

You don't see dogs running on the pitch anymore.

Here's the modern equivalent.