I’m disillusioned with football at the moment

[~ eric ~]

I really am, the way it is isn’t football, its shite. Prices, the type of people who are the majority in grounds now, majority of which don’t live remotely near the ground, don’t know any songs, half don’t even speak English ffs, taking pictures of anything and everything. People that treat it as a day out. Corporate’s, I mean go back just 20 years could you ever have imagined a family of 4 driving 200 miles in a 4x4, all in suits, having a 3 course meal before the game and sitting in padded seats. These type of people are even infecting away games now. The way it’s all marketed is cringeworthy. It’s all just not how football should be. I’ve had a season ticket at old Trafford for years and last season I thought to myself a few times ‘why the f@ck am I here’, I’d have a better time outside the ground and my opinion on football as a whole has just gone down hill from then, I feel cheated and sold something fake.



I know i'm not the only person to feel this way but there must surely be a lot more. There will come a point when the last of the people who made football everything it was leave, and when they do it'll all go tits up. I just feel so distanced and far away from it.




nft

[Dodger]

Hell's Bells.
You support the best team in the country...Champions and European finalists.
If you feel robbed, how do you think the Newcastle, Liverpool, Everton etc. fans must feel? At least you are getting to support a team that actually performs week in week out.

[The Quiet Man]

I'm with ~eric~ on this one!

Too many games on telly with 90% of them shi'te to watch.......no doubt someone will point out how technically briiliant these teams are but I'm afraid it's crap to watch!

Probably just a sign I'm getting old!

TQM

[DeepBlueDevilFish]

I went to the Emirates a few weeks back and accidentally sat in the seats reserved for a Swedish family. After moving we ended up sitting amongst a load of South Koreans. All day-trippers (including us I must add). Very impressive ground but absolutely no atmosphere.

[bowles10]

got my season ticket renewal yesterday. i have to pay the same as any johnny coming along for the 1st time & its gone up 50% (400 to 600) they are surely taking the piss. I have emailed already to say i wont renew after 30 years as a season ticket holder.

Next week, i will be posting last years ticket to them

We are in the Championship for fcuks sake

[~ eric ~]

Originally Posted by Dodger

Hell's Bells.
You support the best team in the country...Champions and European finalists.
If you feel robbed, how do you think the Newcastle, Liverpool, Everton etc. fans must feel? At least you are getting to support a team that actually performs week in week out.

My whole thread isn't about whats on the pitch tbh, football is a lot more than what happens on the pitch. And the only ones who feel it are the ones who live and breathe their club, i mine i love United, I don't just support them they are like my right arm, i don't just go for a day out, the club are part of my daily life.

Its very rarely enjoyable anymore down to everything i've said above.

[A-Team]

I hate everthing about football at the moment apart from the sport itself.

I hate Sky and their self-congratulatory, hyperbolic bullsh*t most of all. I'd like for them to maybe once mention while they're creaming themselves over the joys of English football how it's cheaper to go and see Bayern Munich than a third division match in England.
I hate the fact that everyone feels entitled to have an opinion on football despite knowing f*ck-all and will try and bluff their way through any argument by repeating something they're heard a famous pundit say. Ands it's usually that braindead, sychophantic whore Andy Gray. Rupert Murdoch's very own minister of propaganda.

I also happen to think that the general standard of teams and players is at the lowest it has been for a long time. No club side looks particularly impressive and the players currently touted as the best in the world aren't fit to clean the boots of some of guys that have retired or faded in the last 5 years.

[SteveO]

Rarely watch Premiership football anymore as it is pretty monotonous. Their fitness levels are great but that's about it. I enjoyed the 2nd leg of the Liverpool Arsenal game best game I've seen for ages and I'm looking forward to Euro 2008 mainly for betting purposes though.

[~ eric ~]

Originally Posted by Steve'O

Rarely watch Premiership football anymore as it is pretty monotonous. Their fitness levels are great but that's about it. I enjoyed the 2nd leg of the Liverpool Arsenal game best game I've seen for ages and I'm looking forward to Euro 2008 mainly for betting purposes though.

betting wise i cant get enough, no emotion with them at all, do 5 plus games a day at weekend, all in-play in the week etc. Its nothing to do with betting though, purely the way football has gone.

[stodin]

Totally agree Eric........ For the reasons you have pointed out I stopped going to watch Forest (season ticket holder for 15 years) and started following my local non league club 5 or 6 years ago.

Real football, played by and watched by real people.

[GotaFancy?]

Agree that there's a problem in football - my view is that it comes about through ownership and overpaid (non local) mercenary players ...... I really hope that Liverpool get their fans ownership off the ground and it sets a precedent - almost on the Barcelona (even Ebbsfleet) models - having said that, the value of these clubs is so gigantic now that it's hard to see fans being able to do this

However dont look at it 20 years ago through rose trinted glasses.
Most games were in half empty (if lucky) unsafe and crumbling stadia. Riots before, during and after every game. Remember Hillsborough. Remember Heysel. Remember Bradford. They weren't the "good old days". It's hard to envisage something similar happening these days.

For all that's said about who's attending - Stadia have never been better. Attendances haven't been higher for a long long time. Football's never been so popular with the masses. It's not all bad news.

[Cassius Marcellus]

Originally Posted by ~ eric ~

There will come a point when the last of the people who made football everything it was leave, and when they do it'll all go tits up.

Fcuking good job. All the supporters should be made to put their money on Betfair, preferably on the nags.

[~ eric ~]

Originally Posted by GotaFancy?

Agree that there's a problem in football - my view is that it comes about through ownership and overpaid (non local) mercenary players ...... I really hope that Liverpool get their fans ownership off the ground and it sets a precedent - almost on the Barcelona (even Ebbsfleet) models - having said that, the value of these clubs is so gigantic now that it's hard to see fans being able to do this

However dont look at it 20 years ago through rose trinted glasses.
Most games were in half empty (if lucky) unsafe and crumbling stadia. Riots before, during and after every game. Remember Hillsborough. Remember Heysel. Remember Bradford. They weren't the "good old days". It's hard to envisage something similar happening these days.

For all that's said about who's attending - Stadia have never been better. Attendances haven't been higher for a long long time. Football's never been so popular with the masses. It's not all bad news.

There is a problem but nothing is being done. On your last paragraph, that sums up what the problem is in my opinion, its exactly how the $$$$$ owners like to view it and its to the detriment of people like myself. It benefits no one but the the people pocketing the money and people on a day out.

[GotaFancy?]

Originally Posted by A-Team

I also happen to think that the general standard of teams and players is at the lowest it has been for a long time.

The English Premier League now tops the UEFA European Country Coefficients (and no - I dont want to get into a discussion on the weaknesses of the rankings) - and thats before Chelsea or Man Utd get anything for next weeks game.. The premier League has the best players in the world playing in it and the best teams in Europe.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/...crank2008.html

#	country	03/04	04/05	05/06	06/07	07/08	rank08	nt08
1	England	11.250	15.571	14.428	16.625	17.625	75.499	2/ 8
2	Spain	14.312	12.437	15.642	19.000	13.875	75.266	8
3	Italy	8.875	14.000	15.357	11.928	10.250	60.410	8
4	France	13.500	11.428	10.812	10.000	6.928	52.668	7
5	Germany	4.714	10.571	10.437	9.500	13.500	48.722	7
6	Russia	5.875	10.000	10.000	6.625	11.250	43.750	4
7	Romania	4.333	5.500	16.833	11.333	2.600	40.599	5
8	Portugal	10.250	8.166	5.500	8.083	7.928	39.927	7
9	Netherlands	5.416	12.000	7.583	8.214	5.000	38.213	6
10	Scotland	7.375	4.750	4.250	6.750	10.250	33.375	4

[Nade]

Say if the FA put an embargo on foreign ownership in the Prem then the money would go to Spain and most people would then say why isn't the money in the Prem and be pied off all the top players play over there and we have to settle for battle outs between robbie savage and shaun derry in the prem as part of top teams.


The investment, marketing etc. is great for football imo, the only downside is the cost to the fans.

[~ eric ~]

As i said the only thing its great for is people pocketing the money and people who go one game a season. And thats not what football is ! thats not what football was built on.

[The Quiet Man]

[quote=GotaFancy?;1087183]The premier League has the best players in the world playing in it and the best teams in Europe.
/QUOTE]

No argument against that statement, however take out the foreign players and you'd have a very ordinary league!

Would be a more level playing field tho'.

TQM

[WorkingForTheEnemy]

Sorry Eric but your argument stinks of like people who start slating bands because they become popular and they were into them first.

So what? More people are at football and enjoying the game. Its the nations sport, let the nation enjoy it. Its not a closed rank jobbie and your views seem very elitist.

[welshman 2005]

my tuppence worth. My hates at football are

(1) Women - waste of a ticket (controversial i know, but deal with it)
(2) The People who get tickets for cup final's or most games at wembley and stay in the bar/Restaraunt until 10 mins into the 2nd half.


you prawn sandwich, pimm's drinking, nose in the air, stuck up, fcuks.

football's meant for working class people, if you have enough money to not bother to come out for the second half of a cup final. Then they should be at the polo, circulating with the prince charles's of this world.

while i'm here i'l get rid of some more things of my chest

(3) never being able to purchase a wales v england footie international ticket, because i'm not part of a supporters club, or not being part of a clique.
some of us dont want to be part of clubs, I want to be able to go to a ticket outlet, and be able to just buy a ticket. To watch my country

NON LEAGUE FOOTBALL 4EVER

[alexmac]

Welshman, that is a fcuking ridiculous post.