How fucked up is football...

[d.k.E.]

Watching SSN this evening (nothing much better to do, and the first time I have subjected myself to this) and one thing comes to mind...how fucked up is football....

 

Forget for a moment the clubs becoming the play things of multi-millionaires from far-away countries (or even the investment arm of far-away countries), but look at the deluded cunts gathered around a reporter and camera in rainy Manchester, celebrating that a young (millionaire) footballer from Brazil, who had probably never heard of City until this morning, is coming to their club, and will no doubt kiss the badge soon....

 

..or how Sky/United string out the arrival of another mercenary footballer who only a couple of years ago was glad to receive the adulation of the Spurs fans and now fucks them off as soon as success gets to his head, until five minutes before TRANSFER DEADLINE (copyright Sky Sports News 2003-onwards), even though we have known this was going to happen for weeks...

 

..personally, I sincerely hope the bubble bursts - on Sky, on Premier League Football, and even on our team...because as we debate the merits of another transfer window for Liverpool, with 10 players coming in, 8 of which we had probably never heard of while academy/reserve players we may have followed have another door shut in their face/another hurdle placed in their way, we are just as much victims of the "Sky Generation" that others on here use in a condescending way to throw out comments from other disillusioned with what they see.

 

(By the way, I am a season ticket holder of the eighties and a fan of 35 years, yet support the growing opinion that Rafa is losing the plot, so don't discount it as that of a Sky Generation fan, please....ta.)

Edited September 1, 2008 by d.k.E.

[StevieH]

Hopefully the bubble will burst.

[Brownie]

Mental.

[drewy]

It's been fucked up for years, I'm rapidly falling out of love with the game.

[RedKnight]

A bloated, fat, ignorant monster that is out of touch with the people that made it what it was.

 

I could make a Tom Hicks joke but I can't be arsed.

[bossy]

Madness they call it madness. And indeed it is.

[WaltonRed]

There's fuck all you can do. These are the new rules of the game.

 

Regardless I'll support us till the day I die as you all will so sit tight gents itll come good in the end.

[Section_31]

Damn right

 

SENSATIONAL NEWS!!!!

 

Erm

 

Yeah, what'll happen is the average fan will lose interest because there's too much of it(aren't there about five England matches this week?) attendences will drop, Sky revenue will drop, the amount of money they put into the game will drop, and clubs will be forced to look at their wage bill.

 

It might take a few years, but hopefully it may go back to some kind of sensible sport. In the meantime, I'm seriously thinking of adoping a lower league side. Are South Liverpool still around???

 

"Sky came here to suck the game dry, and when they're finished with it they're gonna take it like an empty beer can and toss it over their shoulder." Ham Tyler (wise words)

[Moschops II]

One of the (very few) silver linings of the mess the country's about to find itself in economically is that football won't be sustainable in its current form.

 

I think an awful lot of what's happened to the game over the last 10 years or so is probably going to un-happen in a fraction of that time.

[Liquid football]

Football will never go back to anything like it was, that's for sure.

[ReddOrDedd]

Watching SSN this evening (nothing much better to do, and the first time I have subjected myself to this) and one thing comes to mind...how fucked up is football....

 

Forget for a moment the clubs becoming the play things of multi-millionaires from far-away countries (or even the investment arm of far-away countries), but look at the deluded cunts gathered around a reporter and camera in rainy Manchester, celebrating that a young (millionaire) footballer from Brazil, who had probably never heard of City until this morning, is coming to their club, and will no doubt kiss the badge soon....

 

..or how Sky/United string out the arrival of another mercenary footballer who only a couple of years ago was glad to receive the adulation of the Spurs fans and now fucks them off as soon as success gets to his head, until five minutes before TRANSFER DEADLINE (copyright Sky Sports News 2003-onwards), even though we have known this was going to happen for weeks...

 

..personally, I sincerely hope the bubble bursts - on Sky, on Premier League Football, and even on our team...because as we debate the merits of another transfer window for Liverpool, with 10 players coming in, 8 of which we had probably never heard of while academy/reserve players we may have followed have another door shut in their face/another hurdle placed in their way, we are just as much victims of the "Sky Generation" that others on here use in a condescending way to throw out comments from other disillusioned with what they see.

 

(By the way, I am a season ticket holder of the eighties and a fan of 35 years, yet support the growing opinion that Rafa is losing the plot, so don't discount it as that of a Sky Generation fan, please....ta.)

 

Cheer up!

 

Football isn't a matter of life or death. It's much, much less important than that. Or something...

 

(In all seriousness, all the great quotes are here: Bill Shankly - Wikiquote)

[Section_31]

Football will never go back to anything like it was, that's for sure.

 

To be fair I don't think that's just down to sky, the 'working class' as it once existed is dead too, but that's another matter.

[Brownie]

It's been fucked up for years, I'm rapidly falling out of love with the game.

 

Exactly what I said earlier.

[col06]

Football will never go back to anything like it was, that's for sure.

 

well it can't keep going on like this i think where going have a big crash like they did in Italy in the 90s was it ??

[Cath]

The Middle East, Russia & The US. Wait til the politics kicks in. Does anyone still believe these clubs have anything to do with the working class folk of Manchester, London, Liverpool or Birmingham that built them?

And for the record, I'd be very uneasy if it was us throwing that money around. We'll struggle to keep Torres much longer at this rate. Part of me would prefer to see a Liverpool well run removed from the Champs League hype. Stick with players that give a toss and get back to enjoying the game again.

[Liquid football]

To be fair I don't think that's just down to sky, the 'working class' as it once existed is dead too, but that's another matter.

 

i don't think it's sky at all, it's much bigger than that. If it wasn't sky it'd be someone else.

 

There are many reasons why it can never go back to how it was. The world is changing fast and in 10-20 years people could be looking back to looking back to this era with nostalgia, as hard as that is to believe.

[Royal Family]

The Middle East, Russia & The US. Wait til the politics kicks in. Does anyone still believe these clubs have anything to do with the working class folk of Manchester, London, Liverpool or Birmingham that built them?

And for the record, I'd be very uneasy if it was us throwing that money around. We'll struggle to keep Torres much longer at this rate. Part of me would prefer to see a Liverpool well run removed from the Champs League hype. Stick with players that give a toss and get back to enjoying the game again.

 

Have to say that I agree. I'm afrraid football is symptomatic of the very worst of modern Britain - money rules, no matter where it comes from, and we just whore ourselves across the globe. All our major companies are owned by overseas capital, so why not our football clubs?

[d.k.E.]

i don't think it's sky at all, it's much bigger than that. If it wasn't sky it'd be someone else.

 

There are many reasons why it can never go back to how it was. The world is changing fast and in 10-20 years people could be looking back to looking back to this era with nostalgia, as hard as that is to believe.

 

Absolutely right mate, no faulting Sky from a commercial sense as they are making money hand over fist (and as you say, if it wasnt them...). And no faulting them for staging the TRANSFER DEADLINE © saga, as it works on much the same principle as Big Brother and other reality game shows...

 

It is probably a sign o' the times (as Prince once said) but it would be great to see the whole thing implode on itself, and the power come back to the fans who shell out the money for the tickets and shirts with the names of the latest mercenary to kiss the badge yet to fuck off a season later...(sorry, ranting again...)

[Faustus]

One thing that amazes me is the stark difference between watching the match live and in the pub.

 

I've got a season ticket so make it to all the home games and go to the odd away games (can see myself cutting down though due as I've only got another three weeks left in my current job) so I watch the ones I can't make down the local as they have Sky, Setanta and all the Arabic channels for the 3pm kick-offs.

 

A few years ago, somebody wasn't regarded as proper fan if they were content to just watch the match at home or in the pub rather than actually go but in the last few months I've noticed that a lot of faces I've recognised from past matches have more and more swapped going the match for watching it down the pub; people who still love the team but despair with the way the game is going and have ultimately been priced out.

 

I think it says a lot as well when the atmosphere watching the match down the pub is usually better than at Anfield as well.

 

As previously said, football is (and has been for the past decade) moving away from its working class roots and it's tragic. I think we're all sick of being represented by mercenaries who kiss one badge in August and another in January, as well being fleeced by greedy chairman and the nauseating hype of Murdoch's Sky machine.

 

The game has well and truly lost its soul.

 

I feel like a miserable old bastard writing that but I'm only 20, for fuck's sake.

[Brownie]

One thing that amazes me is the stark difference between watching the match live and in the pub.

 

I've got a season ticket so make it to all the home games and go to the odd away games (can see myself cutting down though due as I've only got another three weeks left in my current job) so I watch the ones I can't make down the local as they have Sky, Setanta and all the Arabic channels for the 3pm kick-offs.

 

A few years ago, somebody wasn't regarded as proper fan if they were content to just watch the match at home or in the pub rather than actually go but in the last few months I've noticed that a lot of faces I've recognised from past matches have more and more swapped going the match for watching it down the pub; people who still love the team but despair with the way the game is going and have ultimately been priced out.

 

I think it says a lot as well when the atmosphere watching the match down the pub is usually better than at Anfield as well.

 

As previously said, football is (and has been for the past decade) moving away from its working class roots and it's tragic. I think we're all sick of being represented by mercenaries who kiss one badge in August and another in January, as well being fleeced by greedy chairman and the nauseating hype of Murdoch's Sky machine.

 

The game has well and truly lost its soul.

 

I feel like a miserable old bastard writing that but I'm only 20, for fuck's sake.

 

Totally agree mate. When I was a kid I used to go in the Kop with my arl fella every other week and it was full of his mates etc. None of them go now.

 

None of them. It must be the same all across the board. Football isn't a working class game anymore, it's a form of leisure like the theatre or something.

 

Sickening.

[RedKnight]

Cost more than the theatre. I struggle to reconcile paying the price of a match ticket in comparison to other spectator pursuits.

[Section_31]

I think another two problems have emerged, both bye-products of the money flowing into the game:

 

(1) We've got our first generation of out-and-out arseholes playing the game, almost to a man, absolute spoiled twats.

Even back in France 98 you could point out a few battlers in the England side, or professionals you admired like Shearer, Seaman, Adams, Pearce. Now though, you go through the england team sheet and just think 'Cole - cunt, the other cole - cunt, Fedinand - cunt, Rooney - cunt, Lampard - cunt' etc etc, you don't WANT to support many of the players in the game anymore.

 

Also

 

(2) The money at stake, and the way it's the be all and end all of the clubs playing the game, has increased preassure on managers so much that they're no longer willing to let their teams play football in case they lose.

 

Was it last season or the season before last where there were hardly any goals in the prem for weeks? And every side was packed with five across the park like the chavs? At times, it can't really be called entertainment at all.

[drewy]

My arl fella doesn't go any more likewise 95% of his mates. They are all former season ticket holders who have lost the passsion. In the main their decision isn't a financial one.

 

Out of my mates I'd say a third of them have rented out their season tickets for the very same reason. Most of them used to go home and away, the aways are becoming less and less.

 

I'm only going to go to aways this season, mainly for the crack with the lads and the atmosphere.

[Jose Jones]

Cost more than the theatre. I struggle to reconcile paying the price of a match ticket in comparison to other spectator pursuits.

 

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago when I went to an Aussie Rules game at the MCG. We turned up 20 minutes before kick off, it cost the equivalent of 8 quid to get in, you can take draft pints of (fairly crappy) beer to your seat, get a decent pie, and there were over 60,000 people there for a game of not much consequence.

[Paulie Dangerously]

That Robinho will sign for a team like Man City says it all about him. As Real President said "He is not signing for football reasons" City must've offered him a fucking wage and a half.

 

They'll make that back with Bums on Seats at the Shitty of Manchester stadium now though just on the basis of Robinho, which sums up the Premiership.

 

Sad, sad, sad