Rant !

[stourbridgefox]

You know what, despite being 40 and a bit past it, I like playing Call of Duty. I usually finish in the top 3 so I can't be that bad. That got me thinking, maybe I should do this for real. Maybe I should offer my finely honed combat skills to the SAS or the Green Berets or the Spetznaz. I'm good at it on a games console so I must be good at it in real life. Right?

Similarly, people who are good at Guitar Hero should really be knocking the likes of Eric Clapton and Johnny Marr out of the way. Move over Lewis Hamilton, I can play F-1 on the X-Box. Get out of the way Mr Pilot, I've played a flight simulator.

This line of thinking is clearly delusional. Games are obviously much simplified versions of the real thing. There are also no environmental issues to deal with. There is no real danger in Call of Duty, no G forces to fight against in a racing game, no pressure of having hundreds of lives in your hands playing a flight simulator.

Do I have a point I imagine the few that have read this far are thinking. My point is this...

Why do people with no real-life experience of professional football think they know better than professional football players and managers? They might have done well at a football manager game. They might have played for a team down the local park on Sundays. They might have watched the game being played for a number of years or even decades.

None of the above qualifies anyone to have a say in anything which happens on a football pitch. We are amateurs, we watch from the sidelines because we are not now, or ever have been, good enough to do it for real. That's why we love the simulations. We can fantasise that we are living our dreams but when this fantasy crosses over into real life, I think that person has a problem!

Now it doesn't qualify any of us to have a say but we are still entitled to our opinion. What would watching football or endlessly chatting about it be like if we didn't have opinions? The danger lies when people forget that what they know actually know about professional football pales into insignificance when matched up against the worst manager you have ever seen.

So for me, the obvious paragon of virtue you should all emulate, I am happy to discuss and have opinions and like and dislike players, but I am never arrogant or delusional enough to actually imagine that I know better than someone who has lived in the profession for all their working lives and probably some of their teens too.

In other words, some people...take a reality check !!

[Leicfox]

Get out of the way Mr Pilot, I've played a flight simulator.

Terrorist ?

[stourbridgefox]

Terrorist ?

[Royston.]

And the professionals who play at the highest level and the managers with years of experience get everything right, decisions, performances, tactics all right, all of the time?

[bmt]

So for me, the obvious paragon of virtue you should all emulate, I am happy to discuss and have opinions and like and dislike players, but I am never arrogant or delusional enough to actually imagine that I know better than someone who has lived in the profession for all their working lives and probably some of their teens too.

How dare you? Only the professionals are allowed an opinion. You have no right to have an opinion which goes against what, for examples sake, Ian Dowie says. He's the professional so only he is qualified to an opinion.

Infact, how dare our owners sack Sousa. They aren't football professionals, and he is- surely they should just bow to his superior knowledge of how to get us out of this league.

When an F1 team gets their strategy badly wrong and lose a race they should have won because of it, we have no right to criticise, after all we are the uneducated masses.

Likewise when a manager throws Gallagher up top on his own to protect a lead, it may look like a stupid thing to do and we may think "I wouldn't do that", but the manager obviously knows better (even if we squander the lead).

By extension, when a taxi driver runs someone over by running a red light, we may think "hang on a sec that's wrong", but no our opinion counts for nothing because we aren't in the taxi driving profession.

If I take it to the absurd level, if George Osbourne decided to change the tax rate to 80% and spend all the surplus funds on penny sweets to kick start the economy, I should have the right not only to disagree but also to say I know better and he shouldn't do it.

Yeah, I guess I disagree.

I'm happy to put my neck on the line and say taking Downing to the Euros is a mistake and he is definitely not going to be as good as Adam Johnson would be. I don't give a shit that Roy Hodgson is a football professional and an excellent manager, he has got that one wrong. I'm completely entitled to say that, I don't care how long he's worked in the business. If he proves me wrong then fair enough, but denying me the right to say (with confidence) that it's a bad move is unfair.

[Leicfox]

I remember years ago a friend of mine who was very good at The Boss football management game on the C64. He thought he was that good he wrote a letter to Carlisle to ask if he could be considered to be their new manager and to Carlisle's credit he did receive a replying letter telling him to fcuk off in the nicest way possible.

Is this what your getting at, as I was like Rambo when I were in the Army but can't play COD for shit.??

[Guest BlueBrett]

All true but in a strange way I think the points you have made actually explain why people get so frustrated and pissed off. We all accept that professional football managers know more than us about football and that is why it is all the more baffling and annoying when they make decisions that even we can see make NO sense. Downing and Johnson for England being the most obvious recent examples.

[bmt]

All true but in a strange way I think the points you have made actually explain why people get so frustrated and pissed off. We all accept that professional football managers know more than us about football and that is why it is all the more baffling and annoying when they make decisions that even we can see make NO sense. Downing and Johnson for England being the most obvious recent examples.

This is exactly it. Nobody says they know everything about management, more so than professionals. We just pick up on and criticise some things they do which anybody with any knowledge can see is the wrong decision. I'm not saying I'd be a better choice than Hodgson to go to the euros as England manager, I'm just saying I wouldn't have picked Downing cus he's shite.

[stourbridgefox]

Two things led to my rant.

The first is the threat on Transfer Rumours about Fitz Hall. I would suggest to Fitz Hall, if I was able, to not sign for Leicester because he is public enemy number one before he has so much kicked a ball for us.

This got me thinking about my main bugbear at football matches...the bloke behind. It doesn't matter where I sit, this bloke or one like him will sit behind me.

At the slightest perceived mistake by a player or the manager, he will begin to hollow at the pitch. He will have the answer as he will also have a good selection of insults for the one who has slighted him. You could put this down to frustration, which we all feel at football probably quite a lot of the time. But what follows next is the really concerning thing...

He will continue to shout at the top of his voice at anyone on the pitch. He will scream out instructions and then, bizarrely, seem absolutely outraged that no-one is carrying them out!

I find it mind boggling.

ps - we all have the right to an opinion.

[bmt]

Two things led to my rant.

The first is the threat on Transfer Rumours about Fitz Hall. I would suggest to Fitz Hall, if I was able, to not sign for Leicester because he is public enemy number one before he has so much kicked a ball for us.

This got me thinking about my main bugbear at football matches...the bloke behind. It doesn't matter where I sit, this bloke or one like him will sit behind me.

At the slightest perceived mistake by a player or the manager, he will begin to hollow at the pitch. He will have the answer as he will also have a good selection of insults for the one who has slighted him. You could put this down to frustration, which we all feel at football probably quite a lot of the time. But what follows next is the really concerning thing...

He will continue to shout at the top of his voice at anyone on the pitch. He will scream out instructions and then, bizarrely, seem absolutely outraged that no-one is carrying them out!

I find it mind boggling.

ps - we all have the right to an opinion.

I think i took what you said out of context. I hate people around me doing that too, but I think professionals in all walks of life get things wrong a lot and there are occasions where the less qualified can be right when the professional was wrong. I took your rant a bit more literal than perhaps you meant it haha

[Nick]

You know what, despite being 40 and a bit past it, I like playing Call of Duty. I usually finish in the top 3 so I can't be that bad. That got me thinking, maybe I should do this for real. Maybe I should offer my finely honed combat skills to the SAS or the Green Berets or the Spetznaz. I'm good at it on a games console so I must be good at it in real life. Right?

Similarly, people who are good at Guitar Hero should really be knocking the likes of Eric Clapton and Johnny Marr out of the way. Move over Lewis Hamilton, I can play F-1 on the X-Box. Get out of the way Mr Pilot, I've played a flight simulator.

This line of thinking is clearly delusional. Games are obviously much simplified versions of the real thing. There are also no environmental issues to deal with. There is no real danger in Call of Duty, no G forces to fight against in a racing game, no pressure of having hundreds of lives in your hands playing a flight simulator.

Do I have a point I imagine the few that have read this far are thinking. My point is this...

Why do people with no real-life experience of professional football think they know better than professional football players and managers? They might have done well at a football manager game. They might have played for a team down the local park on Sundays. They might have watched the game being played for a number of years or even decades.

None of the above qualifies anyone to have a say in anything which happens on a football pitch. We are amateurs, we watch from the sidelines because we are not now, or ever have been, good enough to do it for real. That's why we love the simulations. We can fantasise that we are living our dreams but when this fantasy crosses over into real life, I think that person has a problem!

Now it doesn't qualify any of us to have a say but we are still entitled to our opinion. What would watching football or endlessly chatting about it be like if we didn't have opinions? The danger lies when people forget that what they know actually know about professional football pales into insignificance when matched up against the worst manager you have ever seen.

So for me, the obvious paragon of virtue you should all emulate, I am happy to discuss and have opinions and like and dislike players, but I am never arrogant or delusional enough to actually imagine that I know better than someone who has lived in the profession for all their working lives and probably some of their teens too.

In other words, some people...take a reality check !!

I'd like to know what professional experience you have in 'internet forum topic starting and discussion based analysis' before I engage in further depths of replying.

[Dan LCFC]

Good post but there's nothing wrong with having opinions.

It's generally the way they're put across that get some people's backs up.

[davieG]

My opinion counts - FACT!

[Libertine Dream]

I remember years ago a friend of mine who was very good at The Boss football management game on the C64. He thought he was that good he wrote a letter to Carlisle to ask if he could be considered to be their new manager and to Carlisle's credit he did receive a replying letter telling him to fcuk off in the nicest way possible.

Is this what your getting at, as I was like Rambo when I were in the Army but can't play COD for shit.??

This happened when McClaren left 'Boro aswell. Steve Gibson's reply was pretty good: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/When-a-Football-Manager-player-applied-for-the-M?urn=sow-325075

[kingfox]

Why do people with no real-life experience of professional football think they know better than professional football players and managers?

So your saying that none of us know better than Steve Kean.

To be honest with you, that really offends me.

[1964FOX]

To be fair taking a look a some football managers and their ability to fail at numerous clubs someone who knows nothing about football using guess work could have done better. Clearly the point you ar making is valid and the professionals know best 99% of the time but when they are wrong it's quite possible someone unconnected with football could see what had been done wrong. It's also possible someone who has been a fan for many many years who is interested in all aspects of the game to gain some type of professional competence.

Your rant clearly is with the twat behind you whose approach is very negative and I think most will agree with you on that. They are probably opinionated idiots outside of football also and think they know best about everything.

[Leicester_Numan]

If you think the Fitz Hall thread was bad, there's someone on Twitter saying that he and Shorey are not good enough for our club and to stay away. Can't post the link on my phone but you can find it under #LCFC. We can do without that kind of rubbish. Players are much more likely to see that on twitter than on here. It only takes a few people to put players off coming here

[Col city fan]

I'd like to know what professional experience you have in 'internet forum topic starting and discussion based analysis' before I engage in further depths of replying.

Good one Nick.

[MooseBreath]

I think running the country is quite a complicated job, so I accept that my political and social opinions are most likely flawed in some way, and I accept that the people who do it all day every day probably know better than me.

On the other hand, if I was asked to put together a 100m olympic sprinting squad for team GB, I reckon I could make a pretty good job of it despite never being anything like a professional sprinter. It would be a fairly simple task of choosing the fastest sprinters available.

So whether you are right or not depends on how complicated you think football is.

[Daggers]

This got me thinking about my main bugbear at football matches...the bloke behind. It doesn't matter where I sit, this bloke or one like him will sit behind me.

Getting ludicrously drunk before the match and repeatedly slapping the man on his head worked for me.

[stourbridgefox]

I think professional football is probably quite complicated. I think there are tactical nuances of which I am not aware which make players and managers seem to be doing the wrong thing. Players really are an elite however. How many people play football and how many actually get a chance to play professionally? It is a tiny percentage. A small percentage of that tiny percentage go on to be professional managers. And a smaller percentage of those have more than one job as a football manager.

I'm quite comfortable second guessing politicians personally. Firstly I probably know more about politics than I do football and secondly, politicians are amateurs. If I had chosen to do different things then I don't think being an MP would be beyond my capabilities. I would never have been a professional footballer no matter how much effort I had put in.

Things are not as bad as they used to be on the bloke behind front. Back in the early 90s I had a season ticket behind the home dugout. There was a waiting list for them and I was excited when I managed to be moved to where I could watch the manager and the substitutions taking place. I only stayed one year. It was bloke behind city. I chose to go there to be close to the decision making and have a good view, most other people went there because they thought the manager should be listening to their instructions!!

Daggers - violence is never the answer...unless they spit when they shout!

[Bluetintedspecs]

Our fans are doing a brillaint job for the agents they're fuelling all these half a**ed rumous on every medium possible! Go on lads he he

[ta-fc]

This happened when McClaren left 'Boro aswell. Steve Gibson's reply was pretty good: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/When-a-Football-Manager-player-applied-for-the-M?urn=sow-325075

That letter from Gibson always makes me chuckle!

[Kitchandro]

Ian Dowie

You could have just left your argument there tbh.

Stupid thread.

BTW, Jose Mourinho is regarded as having one of the best tactical minds in the business and he never played at a decent level.

And maybe Dowie isn't the best example of the opposite as he wasn't a great footballer, so how about Alan Shearer, Bryan Robson, Pele?

[ozleicester]

You know what, despite being 40 and a bit past it, I like playing Call of Duty. I usually finish in the top 3 so I can't be that bad. That got me thinking, maybe I should do this for real. Maybe I should offer my finely honed combat skills to the SAS or the Green Berets or the Spetznaz. I'm good at it on a games console so I must be good at it in real life. Right?

Similarly, people who are good at Guitar Hero should really be knocking the likes of Eric Clapton and Johnny Marr out of the way. Move over Lewis Hamilton, I can play F-1 on the X-Box. Get out of the way Mr Pilot, I've played a flight simulator.

This line of thinking is clearly delusional. Games are obviously much simplified versions of the real thing. There are also no environmental issues to deal with. There is no real danger in Call of Duty, no G forces to fight against in a racing game, no pressure of having hundreds of lives in your hands playing a flight simulator.

Do I have a point I imagine the few that have read this far are thinking. My point is this...

Why do people with no real-life experience of professional football think they know better than professional football players and managers? They might have done well at a football manager game. They might have played for a team down the local park on Sundays. They might have watched the game being played for a number of years or even decades.

None of the above qualifies anyone to have a say in anything which happens on a football pitch. We are amateurs, we watch from the sidelines because we are not now, or ever have been, good enough to do it for real. That's why we love the simulations. We can fantasise that we are living our dreams but when this fantasy crosses over into real life, I think that person has a problem!

Now it doesn't qualify any of us to have a say but we are still entitled to our opinion. What would watching football or endlessly chatting about it be like if we didn't have opinions? The danger lies when people forget that what they know actually know about professional football pales into insignificance when matched up against the worst manager you have ever seen.

So for me, the obvious paragon of virtue you should all emulate, I am happy to discuss and have opinions and like and dislike players, but I am never arrogant or delusional enough to actually imagine that I know better than someone who has lived in the profession for all their working lives and probably some of their teens too.

In other words, some people...take a reality check !!

Wait...are you a trained and qualified Psychologist...i mean, just what the hell do you think gives you the right to express your opinion? Unless i see your certificate of "doctoring skills".. i shall be forced to just dismiss your rant.