Football in it's current version

[Foxdiamond]

25 minutes ago, sharpylcfc said:

What's pricing like for games? I'm moving next year and Stevenage will be my local side so will look at going to a few games if I can make it.

Hope you enjoy your move. For adults East Terrace standing is £22. West Stand seats for adults £26.

[Blarmy]

It doesn’t help that so many players are utter bellends these days. 

[sbfox]

I haven't read the whole thread, but has anyone gone back and watched some of the 'big' matches from 10-20 years ago? They're a really, really horrible watch and yes, whilst money and sport-washing has undoubtedly soured modern football, from a technical perspective, I'd much rather football in 2024.

 

Edit: I'd add, whilst it's easy to romanticise non-league, or lower league football, the reality is that the quality is bang average and you still pay a decent wedge to go and watch. The inverse snobbery in "I'm going to watch Hinckley Town" does make me smile though. 

Edited 1 October 2024 by sbfox

[sharpylcfc]

11 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Hope you enjoy your move. For adults East Terrace standing is £22. West Stand seats for adults £26.

Thank you very much, that's an absolute bargain really at that price.

[Sly]

Football comes in cycles. 
 

The Premier League needs a disrupter like Simeone at Athletico Madrid, who challenged the norm in La Liga. 
 

We did it for one season, however if any non greedy six side were to push these teams, then I’ll be pleased for them, like they were for us. 

[Foxdiamond]

8 minutes ago, sharpylcfc said:

Thank you very much, that's an absolute bargain really at that price.

Cheers. It really is a friendly club that works hard to attract new fans. Stevenage is a town that traditionally has lots Spurs, Arsenal and other London club fans. Quite a few go to Stevenage as much cheaper to go with kids etc. As a result for many younger fans Stevenage is their club. As the original Stevenage Town and Athletic clubs both went bust the rise of the current club from 1976 is quite something for the town to celebrate 

[sharpylcfc]

8 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Cheers. It really is a friendly club that works hard to attract new fans. Stevenage is a town that traditionally has lots Spurs, Arsenal and other London club fans. Quite a few go to Stevenage as much cheaper to go with kids etc. As a result for many younger fans Stevenage is their club. As the original Stevenage Town and Athletic clubs both went bust the rise of the current club from 1976 is quite something for the town to celebrate 

They had a brilliant season in League 1 maybe if they consolidate in League 1 for a few seasons maybe they can push for the Championship eventually? I believe they have a Leicester born lad in the team James-Wildin I think.

[Stuntman_Mike]

I wouldn't say football is the problem. It's more the premier league.

 

If anyone goes non league, where the charm is very much still alive or any European game in person, they'll see the difference in atmosphere and match day experience.

 

Leicester is such an extreme too. We have a fan base that generally don't seem interested, so even making the most of the day out can often make the 'event' feel like a chore. Even if you individually have good intentions of enjoying yourself.

[Foxdiamond]

9 minutes ago, sharpylcfc said:

They had a brilliant season in League 1 maybe if they consolidate in League 1 for a few seasons maybe they can push for the Championship eventually? I believe they have a Leicester born lad in the team James-Wildin I think.

I think to consolidate in League One is the main target. The owner has shown ambition. The difficulty is the small budget and ground should they reach the championship. They done well in FA Cup over years against Villa and Newcastle. I remember when Leicester played them in cup back in our League One season and Stevenage were non League. Luckily Leicester won that one otherwise lots of my friends and family that live in Stevenage would have ribbed me no end. You are right about the Leicester born lad. There have been one or two others over the years with a Leicester connection 

[Molson Canadian]

1 hour ago, Blarmy said:

It doesn’t help that so many players are utter bellends these days. 

In terms of major professional sports.  Footballers and NHL Hockey players are not well rounded due to lack of education in my opinion.  It's basically high school education at the most for those in football academies and hockey players, in my opinion.

 

NFL - All come out of university programs some completing a full 4 years. 

NBA-  All come out of university programs some completing a full 4 years. 

MLB- All come out of university programs however # of them completing 4 years is much lower.

 

I know the football academies have put a focus on education more in the last 10 years, but still lower when compared to other professional sports. 

 

University/college gives the player some real world experience.  Seems like a lot of footballers and hockey players don't have that.  I've never heard of a footballer being dropped by an academy due to poor educational performance.  NFL and NBA players even top ones who don't meet education requirements can and have been dropped by university programs. 

Edited 1 October 2024 by Molson Canadian

[sharpylcfc]

52 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

I think to consolidate in League One is the main target. The owner has shown ambition. The difficulty is the small budget and ground should they reach the championship. They done well in FA Cup over years against Villa and Newcastle. I remember when Leicester played them in cup back in our League One season and Stevenage were non League. Luckily Leicester won that one otherwise lots of my friends and family that live in Stevenage would have ribbed me no end. You are right about the Leicester born lad. There have been one or two others over the years with a Leicester connection 

Consolidating is League 1 would be good for them if they could push on eventually would be great. Like you say they were non league at one point to get where they've got to is fantastic. They had Danny Newton at one point, came through Jamie Vardy's academy if I remember correctly. 

[grobyfox1990]

1 hour ago, Foxdiamond said:

Cheers. It really is a friendly club that works hard to attract new fans. Stevenage is a town that traditionally has lots Spurs, Arsenal and other London club fans. Quite a few go to Stevenage as much cheaper to go with kids etc. As a result for many younger fans Stevenage is their club. As the original Stevenage Town and Athletic clubs both went bust the rise of the current club from 1976 is quite something for the town to celebrate 

I’ve been to Stevenage. Very convenient with the big free car park opposite the ground and under tunnel walkway straight to the ground. Straight off the A1. Nice setup. The owner Phil Wallace has a home in jersey and uses the island to dodge his tax, the team have played a few pre season matches, and train here. 

[Nalis]

Social media hasnt helped. Instead of hearing the opinions of some questionable pundits or the odd idiot caller on TalkSport, you have a shitload of crap opinions from big team supporters all over the world.

[Wymsey]

Keep thinking that Celtic and Rangers will join the PL in some way eventually..

[Thequickbrownfox]

On 30/09/2024 at 07:47, foxfanazer said:

Is anybody else just bored with football, especially in the top flight?

 

Growing up watching football in the 90's and 2000's felt somewhat magical in comparison. Each team seemed to have their own identity and uniqueness. Every club had their characters and somewhat of a belief they could beat the big boys. Nowadays it seems like 80% of the teams simply play survival or damage limitation football, including ourselves.

 

Now my question is am I right or is nostalgia and romanticism playing a part in my thinking here. I'm not suggesting there weren't dull games back then and I know the likes of United dominated in the same way Man city do now but I just find the modern game repetitive and lacking surprises 

 

Nice cheery thread for your Monday mornings

Excellent thread. I would completely agree that the magic is lacking nowadays. I think saturation is a big part of it. When only one English team went into the Champions League, it was always disappointing when they were knocked out - now there isn't the same instant jeopardy. Also there's so much information available to us now, which is often good, but it removes a lot of the mystical element. Don't get me wrong - I really enjoy the high quality Leicester podcasts that we have now, but it's much like someone was saying about Hollywood - in the old days very little was known about it, so the stars had an allure and mystique and it seemed like a magical fairy tale land, whereas nowadays you can find out virtually everything about the making of a film. I think Leicester's return to the Championship was a bit of an eye opener for many. We thought we would at least be returning to the rough and tumble football of our old Championship days, but that didn't really seem to happen. Obviously everything evolves over time and change is inevitable, but when things don't seem to change for the better and watching football becomes a dull experience, then that's a disappointing development for everyone.  

[ozleicester]

style of the games is designed to be boring, possesion for possesions sake.

Our 4-2 loss to Arsenal was a good watch, we were overwhelemed , backs to the wall fighting every moment... classic fightback and then justifiably overun in the end.

Alternately you could wacth 90 mins of 


and then sneak a single goal win... sure its better for the position on the table... but do you watch the table or the game?

[Nalis]

1 hour ago, ozleicester said:

style of the games is designed to be boring, possesion for possesions sake.

Our 4-2 loss to Arsenal was a good watch, we were overwhelemed , backs to the wall fighting every moment... classic fightback and then justifiably overun in the end.

Alternately you could wacth 90 mins of 


and then sneak a single goal win... sure its better for the position on the table... but do you watch the table or the game?

For me there are so many variants of the possession football.

 

I find Pep's Man City brilliant to watch, possession football with lots of intent and movement off the ball.

 

Swansea around the Rodgers and Laundrup years were one of the first publicised mid table teams to play a possession based game and I found it awful to watch. No intent, similar to most mid table and below teams who try playing that way. 

 

Then there was Spain 08-12 who uniquely had abundance of quality and were pure tiki taka and pure death by possession with very little intent to do anything except win one nil and keep the ball.

Edited 2 October 2024 by Nalis

[Saxondale]

The game is a victim of its own success, essentially. Weirdly, I think the game could be helped by taking some of the money out of it. In an era when Antony - who is a League 1 winger at best - can be bought for ninety million quid, clearly something has gone wrong. It cannot be sustained.

[old koppite]

On 30/09/2024 at 07:47, foxfanazer said:

Is anybody else just bored with football, especially in the top flight?

 

Growing up watching football in the 90's and 2000's felt somewhat magical in comparison. Each team seemed to have their own identity and uniqueness. Every club had their characters and somewhat of a belief they could beat the big boys. Nowadays it seems like 80% of the teams simply play survival or damage limitation football, including ourselves.

 

Now my question is am I right or is nostalgia and romanticism playing a part in my thinking here. I'm not suggesting there weren't dull games back then and I know the likes of United dominated in the same way Man city do now but I just find the modern game repetitive and lacking surprises 

 

Nice cheery thread for your Monday mornings

Yes, agree with you. Only watch the Citeh now , and that’s painful at the moment.

I bet like me, you were predicting years back this would happen. Saturation and we’ve been spoilt by too many Christmases. 
As a poster has said, there were some crap and dull matches back in the 70s and 80s, but at least every team tried to win every game. Plus each team had players who tried to dribble or tried  the trick of the time, and many teams had at least 1 skilful player with style and a bit of  swagger. 

[CosbehFox]

13 hours ago, Wymsey said:

Keep thinking that Celtic and Rangers will join the PL in some way eventually..

Why do you think that? 

[Samilktray]

I don't really mind the way the modern game is played, some games are good and some are bad. Not every game is going to be a blockbuster and not every game is going to be crap. I've never understood the fury that playing out from the back brings out in people either because at least it's quite funny when it doesn't work lmao perhaps I'm easily pleased 

[Chris_OGrady]

I agree that football is actually better on the eye now. It's just that everything else about the game has got worse- especially the premier league. The actual football on the pitch isn't the most important thing for me; if it was, I'd just watch every single game on TV and never go to a game again. 

[Wymsey]

2 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

Why do you think that? 

There was talk about them apparently being open to it, and some lower league English clubs also perhaps playing against lower level Scottish clubs.

 

It doesn't sound right really, does it?

[The Doctor]

13 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

There was talk about them apparently being open to it, and some lower league English clubs also perhaps playing against lower level Scottish clubs.

 

It doesn't sound right really, does it?

won't happen, they'd end up giving up CL football and the new structure means they'd often get 10 games, which is pretty big money and a big draw. 

[Stadt]

I find the irritation with Guardiola misplaced. He's one of the best managers ever with incredible resources and recruitment behind him, everything is so methodical.

 

Ok, he might take some exciting players and tone down the more hair-raising, high-risk elements of their game but it's demonstrably successful.

 

If Russel Martin wants to play an ersatz costcutter version with relegation favourites he's a f ucking bozo. That's not Guardiola's fault.

Edited 2 October 2024 by Stadt