Has football lost its identity?

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We’ve lost our identity. Hard working grafting for every ball. Hecky out it’s embarrassing!
 

I went to see Flotist v Everton with a friend in the early early 90's. One moment summed up the game for me when Pat Vanden Howe and Stuart Pearce raced, I mean raced, to a loose ball. The whole crowd knew what was coming. The collision was two locomotives colliding. The innocent ball ended up in the Trent, lucky to be alive. The crowd in union applauded. The two got up and returned to their positions. Players were tough, focused and loved the game. I can still hear the collision in my memory. Now, both players would have rolled around the field for 10 minutes. Var looking to see who was at fault for a perfectly timed tackle. Was there a trailing leg? Etc. Oh yes the game has changed for the worst. Suck it up, it'll only get worse
 
Best days were during the Bassett era.

it proper boring and frustrating nowadays.
 
ThatJa said:
I've been thinking about this for a while now before posting and I really do feel like football has lost its identity. I read a report yesterday that stated there has been over 50 rule changes in football over the past 2 seasons (70% of them were this season) and the original rule book that was created in Sheffield has never been further away from how the professional game is played today.

We have the PGMOL that are making changes and adding stuff in like VAR (which is basically passing one human error to another human to make an error)

We have the handball rule changed season after season, nobody knows the correct offside rule anymore for example.

Is footbal becoming less enjoyable to watch? Are we as fans being short changed by the will to change the identity of the game and "modernising" it if you will?

I feel like watching football doesn't have the same feel of when I watched football growing up in the 90s, watching the old Premiership Years season reviews just shows what I miss about football.
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Just an age thing....heard the same thing said about football being less enjoyable in the 80's and again in the 90's.

The facts show football has never been as popular world wide.
The Premier League is a world wide phenomena and is just getting bigger and bigger.

In 2000 everyone said it can't continue growing as the bubble will burst.
Then in 2010 many said....that's it football can't continue to over charge and the bubble will soon burst.
Notice the pattern? In 2035 many Blades will saying how great the PL was in 2023 when it was "real" football.
 
The premier league is a different game to the rest of the football pyramid. Can’t understand why a player wants to feign injury rather than play the game they claim to love. And why do refs go along with it rather than say “get up you soft get” the pundits play their part too. In the lower leagues they’re more inclined to call it out as embarrassing.
That, and the fact that officials favour the established teams means I’m glad the Prince isn’t gambling with the future of the club, spending money we don’t have trying to stay up.
 
TJB. said:
Just the top flight, sadly. The gap between the top two divisions is simply too big now. Ruined by sky-high fees and wages and the focus on making it a good televised product. Competition destroyed because unless you spend multi-millions you're not getting anywhere near the top 6.

It's thoroughly disheartening.
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It often seems like there's an insurmountable gap but the facts don't back this up.
It was as recently as last season every promoted Championship club avoided relegation.
and it's very rare that all 3 related clubs all regain promotion or all 3 promoted clubs are relegation.

It's the parachute payments that ensure every promoted club is given a chance.
Most promoted clubs of even average size can normally afford to spend 50 million on players....that's usually enough to make them, at least competitive.
We would be spending 50 million net this season too, but due to the owners planning to sell...we've dropped the net spend to 30 million.

One point I feel that does make it difficult is that with 50 million a promoted club has a chance to create a top level starting 11
however with the newly adopted 5 subs from a bench of 7 subs rule, squad strength has never been as important, so think it will become more difficult.

Did think at the time the bigger PL were wanting to bring in that "expand the subs bench" rule, so it stacked the deck to their advantage
so it virtually guaranteed they would never be relegated. If some players go out of form or have a terrible injury list, they just brings in new star players.

However they'll always be exceptions, we spent 50 million and only 4 years ago....were 5th in the table in March challenging for a Champions league spot.
Also Brighton are a smaller club than us, sell all their best players but they can compete against the top 6 clubs, so it's not impossible.
Brentford and Bournemouth are at best similar size to Barnsley and Rotherham and they've coped well in the Premier League, so it's available to all clubs.
 
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Houston_Blade said:
I bet if you asked them though “Rugby league’s gone”.
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Another game where they've changed the rules, in some cases needlessly alongside questionable decisions and uses of video technology.

Various people of a certain vintage who remember the winter era and unlimited tackles hark back to the "good old days" and others wanting to "bring back the biff" but similar to sanitising football, the days of unpunished head shots and punch ups are largely gone and for the better as a parent of a kid who's just started playing.

Despite having worked within the game for years, its always been my second sport but with Premier League football being more of a soap opera than Eastenders, my interest at the top level is slipping off and I'm taking more of an interest in local non-league instead and might spend more time down at Dewsbury rugby league too.
 
Sheffsteel said:
That might be your opinion but the facts don't back this up.
It was as recently as last season every promoted team avoided relegation.
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Those three clubs are Fulham, Bournemouth and Forest. All three are owned by billionaires and two of them were in receipt of parachute payments to top it off.

A quick glance at Transfermarkt shows Bournemouth in that season they went back up spent around £50m on three players, and I'm guessing they bought more than that overall. Forest spent a disgusting amount of money and could still easily have gone down.

The figures are eye-watering.
 
ThatJa said:
I've been thinking about this for a while now before posting and I really do feel like football has lost its identity. I read a report yesterday that stated there has been over 50 rule changes in football over the past 2 seasons (70% of them were this season) and the original rule book that was created in Sheffield has never been further away from how the professional game is played today.

We have the PGMOL that are making changes and adding stuff in like VAR (which is basically passing one human error to another human to make an error)

We have the handball rule changed season after season, nobody knows the correct offside rule anymore for example.

Is footbal becoming less enjoyable to watch? Are we as fans being short changed by the will to change the identity of the game and "modernising" it if you will?

I feel like watching football doesn't have the same feel of when I watched football growing up in the 90s, watching the old Premiership Years season reviews just shows what I miss about football.
Click to expand...
Its a cracking post and yes, I agree its all true.

Rule changes are all about power and ultimately money, just remember that. All the benefits for rule changes go to the rich and powerful clubs. Always follow the money, it always leads to the answer.
 
crooked bladesman said:
Its a cracking post and yes, I agree its all true.

Rule changes are all about power and ultimately money, just remember that. All the benefits for rule changes go to the rich and powerful clubs. Always follow the money, it always leads to the answer.
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What also bugs me and drains my enjoyment is stopping the game every few seconds, pundits talking (why can't we just watch the football) and friggin women pundits (what's all that about) Yes, modern football is shit. I watch about 10 non league games a season, and its the nearest thing to watching in the 80 and 90s. Its never coming back, we have to accept that.
 
Also the FA Cup, the pinnacle of the football season back in the day.

For those of us of a certain age, the FA Cup Final was the grand finale of the football season, irrespective of how the Blades had performed or what league we were in.

All day sat in front of the telly watching “the road to Wembley “ FA Cup It’s a Knockout , even watching the teams eat breakfast and seeing the team coaches arrive at the old Twin Towers. It was a young supporter’s dream to watch their team in an FA Cup final.

Fast forward a couple of generations and which team manager in the Premier League top 6 actually give a toss about the FA Cup ?? The fact that it’s now not even the season finale and shown at tea time on a random Sunday shows the level of importance the football authorities give it.
 
Rufus Smalls said:
Also the FA Cup, the pinnacle of the football season back in the day.

For those of us of a certain age, the FA Cup Final was the grand finale of the football season, irrespective of how the Blades had performed or what league we were in.

All day sat in front of the telly watching “the road to Wembley “ FA Cup It’s a Knockout , even watching the teams eat breakfast and seeing the team coaches arrive at the old Twin Towers. It was a young supporter’s dream to watch their team in an FA Cup final.

Fast forward a couple of generations and which team manager in the Premier League top 6 actually give a toss about the FA Cup ?? The fact that it’s now not even the season finale and shown at tea time on a random Sunday shows the level of importance the football authorities give it.
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Agree. Finishing 4th from bottom of the Premier League as replaced all that as the pinnacle of a teams ambitions.
 
TJB. said:
Just the top flight, sadly. The gap between the top two divisions is simply too big now. Ruined by sky-high fees and wages and the focus on making it a good televised product. Competition destroyed because unless you spend multi-millions you're not getting anywhere near the top 6.

It's thoroughly disheartening.
Click to expand...

Yep top flight football is well beyond finished from a purist view. It’s basically just a global TV program now.
 
Burnley fan here again ,I detest the Premier League ,last season was so much fun ,no poncing about going down injured,no VAR ,the ball went in the net and you knew in 10 seconds if it was a goal or not ,top match of the weekend Arsenal v City all they were bothered about was trying to get opponents sent off ,our first game of the season Zaroury sent of for clipping City players heals ,Neville says it a definite red after VAR intervenes ,worse tackle by City player today Neville not sure ,commentator saying it may be an orange card.Arse licking up to the big boys.
 

Regardless of our dreadful form/team/position, premier league football is just less enjoyable that championship football. Less games. More blatant falling over. More arrogant fans. More complicated rules. The inability to celebrate a goal wholeheartedly knowing that VAR will be checking it. Lack of Tuesday night football. Rules designed to give an unfair advantage to big clubs/squads. Match of the day. Less Saturday football.

The championship/league 1 might be less glamorous, but when we win, my 'Saturday' night has a lovely feel to it. Even if we have scraped a 1 0 against Cardiff.

I used to fear relegation. In a weird way I'm looking forward to being back down there.
 
I’ve become apathetic about our current situation. We simply can’t compete and especially since they keep changing the rules to suit the big boys to protect the ever expanding global brand.
It’s got to the point where I genuinely might consider not getting my season ticket and start going to watch Sheffield FC or Hallam.
 
Been thinking about this and felt dissatisfied with the direction the game is going . I am a realistic fan not expecting miracles just as long as the club can continue will do for me . Catching up with my mates and chewing the fat before and after games plus a few beers happy days . Now I am fortunate that I got to see plenty of the prem even when we were not in it as my other half and daughter have season tickets at Man City . City have lost their identity as a club for me despite winning everything. Just doesn’t feel right there compared to Maine Rd days . Darlington away , Leicester away with Bassett , 8k blades at MK Dons in L1 . Bouncing day !! The best memories for me have been in the league. Fuck the premier league it’s bent
 
Sheffsteel said:
It often seems like there's an insurmountable gap but the facts don't back this up.
It was as recently as last season every promoted Championship club avoided relegation.
and it's very rare that all 3 related clubs all regain promotion or all 3 promoted clubs are relegation.

It's the parachute payments that ensure every promoted club is given a chance.
Most promoted clubs of even average size can normally afford to spend 50 million on players....that's usually enough to make them, at least competitive.
We would be spending 50 million net this season too, but due to the owners planning to sell...we've dropped the net spend to 30 million.

One point I feel that does make it difficult is that with 50 million a promoted club has a chance to create a top level starting 11
however with the newly adopted 5 subs from a bench of 7 subs rule, squad strength has never been as important, so think it will become more difficult.

Did think at the time the bigger PL were wanting to bring in that "expand the subs bench" rule, so it stacked the deck to their advantage
so it virtually guaranteed they would never be relegated. If some players go out of form or have a terrible injury list, they just brings in new star players.

However they'll always be exceptions, we spent 50 million and only 4 years ago....were 5th in the table in March challenging for a Champions league spot.
Also Brighton are a smaller club than us, sell all their best players but they can compete against the top 6 clubs, so it's not impossible.
Brentford and Bournemouth are at best similar size to Barnsley and Rotherham and they've coped well in the Premier League, so it's available to all clubs.
Click to expand...
Have you been to Bournemouth ? It’s huge with a population of over 500k
 
ThatJa said:
I've been thinking about this for a while now before posting and I really do feel like football has lost its identity. I read a report yesterday that stated there has been over 50 rule changes in football over the past 2 seasons (70% of them were this season) and the original rule book that was created in Sheffield has never been further away from how the professional game is played today.

We have the PGMOL that are making changes and adding stuff in like VAR (which is basically passing one human error to another human to make an error)

We have the handball rule changed season after season, nobody knows the correct offside rule anymore for example.

Is footbal becoming less enjoyable to watch? Are we as fans being short changed by the will to change the identity of the game and "modernising" it if you will?

I feel like watching football doesn't have the same feel of when I watched football growing up in the 90s, watching the old Premiership Years season reviews just shows what I miss about football.
Click to expand...
It makes for a smashing debate.
Definitely, football is not what it used to be and at the Premier League level, it’s not what many of us would want it to be by the looks of the comments & what I hear said at the match & in the pub.
I loved football last season.
This season with VAR bollocks, apparently blatant big club favouritism, crazy rules & rule changes, financial disparity, how the transfer window played out, the injuries & off the field challenges we’re facing, it certainly doesn’t feel like I love footy now.
Take the Jack Robinson tackle v Newcastle debate. For me, that’s what football is all about.
Handball? Offside? Christ alone knows what the officials will decide is & isn’t.
Falling over with the slightest contact? Deary, deary me.
So it’s football Ja, but not as we know it.
 
crooked bladesman said:
What also bugs me and drains my enjoyment is stopping the game every few seconds, pundits talking (why can't we just watch the football) and friggin women pundits (what's all that about) Yes, modern football is shit. I watch about 10 non league games a season, and its the nearest thing to watching in the 80 and 90s. Its never coming back, we have to accept that.
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I nod along to most of the thread, see someone conflate things I think are legitimate with women pundits and then worry it's all just as vapid.

Football needs to get rid of owners. Fans take control of clubs, money gets distributed more evenly. Fuck being competitive in Europe, they'll change too if it works here.
 
Nice to see something other than ‘United are shit’. ‘Relegation guaranteed’.

This is a great excuse to avoid the obvious elephant in the room. As a club we are having a pretty awful season …… let’s talk shit about something we all agree on. The EPL is in a worse state than our beloved club! 😂
 
adiosmiamigo said:
Don't forget the"time wasting" rule,god forbid.
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I see Spurs, down to 10 men, had just 6 minutes of added time to see it out. By all accounts they were also taking their time.

I’m just struggling to see the consistency how, without major injuries one set of officials add 6 minutes yet another set can find 10 minutes more to be added without any huge injuries.

Take Saturday for example. We had 13 minutes added first half for the Basham stoppage quite rightly so. There was nothing as comparable as that when Wes took the odd break.

Not meant to be woe is me directed at United, more the sheer inconsistency of it all.
 
AWetFlannel said:
I nod along to most of the thread, see someone conflate things I think are legitimate with women pundits and then worry it's all just as vapid.

Football needs to get rid of owners. Fans take control of clubs, money gets distributed more evenly. Fuck being competitive in Europe, they'll change too if it works here.
Click to expand...
As regarding "friggin women pundits",if the womens game is worth watching,and i think it is,if they are players,then they have the right to be pundits,it's not a men-only club,imho.
 
Has football lost its identity?

Yes,

Oh yes,

The answer to that is yes.
 
I’ll stick by it because we’ll likely always be a yo yo team, mainly in the championship, with the occasional cup run and that’s exciting. I couldn’t care less about being in the Premier League really, even though we should obviously try so the money helps secure good championship for the future.

The current game is full of cheats where the only thing that matters is winning. Dive, feign injury, bore the fans to death, stifle creativity just make sure you win 1-0. At some point the game became only about winning, not about entertainment. I don’t watch any games we or England aren’t playing in - I just can’t care about it.
 
184blade said:
The premier league is a different game to the rest of the football pyramid. Can’t understand why a player wants to feign injury rather than play the game they claim to love. And why do refs go along with it rather than say “get up you soft get” the pundits play their part too. In the lower leagues they’re more inclined to call it out as embarrassing.
That, and the fact that officials favour the established teams means I’m glad the Prince isn’t gambling with the future of the club, spending money we don’t have trying to stay up.
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Well it all comes down to the lawmakers (and officials). If they'd been harsh on diving from the outset, players wouldn't do it. Prem players dive because they get decisions (and possibly to protect themselves from getting hurt).

It's 2023 and the amount of suspensions for diving are pitiful if even existent? Give players retrospective bans with video evidence of clear dives. So easy, so obvious - no idea why the lawmakers don't do this.

N.B. Bissouma the other day, actually, and I applauded at the TV when ref gave him a second yellow for diving.
 

I still don’t really understand the relevance of “XG”, but then again, I don’t play Football Manager (or any game actually, other than Suduko). I have been consistent in my views of VAR (attempting to solve an insolvable problem, whilst negatively impacting on the spontaneity of live sport).

But then again, I’m 53 and the world is changing all the time. I’d say that football at the highest levels is losing the identity that I know and love, but perhaps is developing a new identity for the newer generations.

For financial and logistical reasons, I more often get my football fix at non-league. The traditional football identity is alive and well there. Jnr watches the Blades and increasingly follows rugby league which he says is a great experience as a fan. Doesn’t help me as there aren’t many rugby league clubs in Warwickshire.
 
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