Back in 1981 we had possibly the finest team I've ever seen at our current level. The team of the first half of last season was also a fine team. But was Conor better than Glavin? Winnall better than Aylott? Mawson or Roberts better than Mccarthy or Evans? No. Did they play better football? No. When Trevor Aylott finished he became a taxi driver. Ronnie managed Emley plus a few other roles with non league clubs. When Hourihane and Winnall etc finish they will be extremely wealthy men. Neither they or probably their kids need ever work again. And it's all at our expense. Whether it be via increased ticket prices, the pressure to buy shirts or Sky and BT subscription fees we pay. I've no grouse with modern players taking the money, they'd be stupid not to. But how did we, as fans, allow this to happen? I know it's a simplistic question but it still irks me.
Couldn't agree more. Players aren't stupid. I'd take what I could if I worked in an industry that offered silly amounts. But we are stupid for feeding the frenzy. Yes, we have a choice, but in the main we are daft.
Consumerism, instant gratification, the need to have everything now, the feeding frenzy of commercialism. Football will indeed eat itself at some stage.
Hillsborough disaster > All-seater stadiums > Premier League > Sky TV > Foreign TV rights > BT Sport +Sky TV [Soon to be joined by Google and Amazon TV rights entry] would be a short synopsis. The mistake made, in my opinion, was not to insist from the outset in more redistribution of money to clubs all the way down the pecking order. (But not very capitalist?). That - and 'parachute money' should always have been paid to newly-promoted clubs, not newly relegated ones.
And is the modern game any better than it was 30 years ago? I personally don't think so. How many of our wonderful players today could compete with a Billy Bremner, Franny Lee, Norman Hunter, Nobby Stiles etc. TBH most would **** themselves if they had to face them. Game now has become too namby pamby played at times by fannies. Any halfhearted tackle going in is met with a player rolling about as if pole axed and a ref too eager to wave a yellow card. Actors and con men. Game is nothing as to what it was. Game must be played on a bowling green and the first sign of a snowflake it is off. Players today do not know they are living. Those players Churton mentioned must be so disheartened as to what they got out the game and what the softies get now.
And for a counter argument, Messi and Ronaldo are talked about as the 2 greatest players to ever play the game and it hard to disagree really looking at their stats.
They are both excellent no doubt about that. In lots of respects they are better (fitter, more technically adept), but as mentioned above they never played against defenders with a license to kill . I think the very top level has improved massively (although Mr. G.Best had as much talent as either of them), but as the OP states, the levels below haven't improved much at all.
It was without a doubt the introduction of Sky tv & all the other television deals which followed that changed the face of our game & ever since then people have been predicting the bubble will burst , however , the truth of the matter is the opposite , more & more money has poured into football & it does not look like altering for the foreseeable future . Its an old saying that the rich get richer & the poor get poorer & thats how it is in the current pyramid of the game & obviously as you go down the ladder the quality of the product diminishes . The players we had in the early eighties would have been traded in todays game for vast amounts of money & in recent times we would never have been able to buy the quality of those players , clubs higher up the food chain would have bought them but with our new owners that could possibly change , who knows .
Can't disagree mate. They're phenomenal players though I'd argue their stats are slightly skewed by playing for teams who are massively superior to 90% of the opponents they face. Nevertheless they are truly great players. However....is it worth paying £10 at the gate more than you need to because they have a higher skill level than most? I want to watch exciting football. Skill levels don't guarantee that. The Spanish national side were massively talented yet I quite often got bored watching them and certainly wouldn't pay a premium to go and watch them. One of the most enjoyable games I've ever seen was the play off semi against Walsall. It was electric. It didn't need players of the calibre of Messi to make it unforgettable.
US sport realised years ago that the element of competition was key for the health & prosperity of games like baseball, american football, etc The FA didn't heed that. At the moment the popularity of the game, post it's gentrification is more popular than it was in the 80's. I think that had more to do with Gazza's tears in Turin & the cultural changes in football around that time than the TV coverage / marketing. Whether the game is sustainable as it is is difficult to predict, but it probably is. The world has changed a lot in the last 30-40 years & it is very hard to make comparisons. As a bloke in their 50's my memories of the Clarke / Hunter era are certainly my fondest. Taking on the European Cup winners at Anfield & the like were heady days & Glavin is king in my book.
The thing is there's no reason for football fans to pay exorbitant prices for football at the gate or on tv. They/we have the power to stop it. A boycott of season ticket purchases, sky sports subscriptions and any gate fees in excess of £20 would cripple the whole status quo inside six months.
Completely disagree. I’d much rather see the likes of Messi, Maradona, both Ronaldo’s, Best & Ronaldinho showing off their skills than a load of Vinnie Jones’s going around trying to maim them. I watched the replay of the 1966 World Cup final that they did last year. Couldn’t believe how slow and poor it looked compared to games even at championship level today. The product on the pitch is better than ever apart from some of the diving. It’s just the money swilling around off it that’s the problem with the modern game imo
Nowt to do with supporters. The only choice you can make is to go or not. Everything else is out of your hands.
Fair comment Clint. In no way am I supporting the thugs and cloggers that graced our game. Those excuses of players had to be eliminated to let the good ball players be able to display their skills without the threat of serious injury. But the protection has just gone to far. Maybe its an age thing. Ive watched football from the mid 60s and everything was very different then. Maybe you are a much younger lad and have watched football from a different age. I'm not sure the product on the field is better than ever but it is certainly delivered through the media better than ever. But at the end of the day its all about opinions and that is what makes football interesting.
I'd agree with some of what you say but I stick to my argument that our team of 81 was every bit as talented as last season's team and played every bit as good football. The difference is the 200,000 a year or so extra we're paying each player. Out of our own pockets mostly.
Then you could say if George Best played teetotal in this day and age (perfect playing surfaces, modern fitness equipment, dietary etc) how much better would he have been. Before my time but what he could do as a womaniser boozer (not someone who concentrated fully on his football), on potato patch muddy fields was brilliant.
You really are a tit on every level. And also factually incorrect but that’s never stopped you. Go pick on Tyrone instead.