Anyone else starting to hate football ?

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Donny fan rung football heaven other night (that one who moved to Australia) and had a pop at a Rotherham fan who claimed to be supping red wine celebrating the promotion. Donny fan says "you have a paper promotion".

That sums up my thoughts as well. This season is diluted. It's not proper. The results are what they are, as are the performances. But the restart, the rule changes and the rush to finish the season means that other than Liverpool, positions aren't to be read into too much. We're safe and that's fine, good. But for those who go down, I feel sorry for them. Who knows what may or may not have happened under normal circumstances?

And without fans, it's true; football is nothing.
 

Feels like the bloody game stops every 2 minutes . Any momentum just dies
I think this is the tactics most teams have started adopting against us. A team that plays with lots of passion and pressing so they fain injuries,play for fouls , and time waste just to break up the play. They still haven’t totally sused out the over lapping backs so they adopt this tactic to put the brakes on. Arsenal played this to a tee, the use of 5 subs , water breaks plus all the play acting doesn’t allow more than 2 minutes of continuous football.
 
Feels like the bloody game stops every 2 minutes . Any momentum just dies

This was a big factor in the game yesterday. The referee continually intervened for the slightest of reasons and it was very stop and start. He ruined it for that reason. But this is a bigger issue than just the refereeing.

There is a move to "sanitise" the game of football as we know it. It will become a game, a bit like American Football, where stoppages are frequent and the game is slowed right down to a boring spectacle. The introduction of technology, which is supposed to be there to "assist" referees, not do their job for them, will eventually "replace" referees altogether. It has already made linesmen just about redundant and unnecessary, it will be the turn of the referee next.

One reason for this is that the amount of money at stake is so huge that there will be serious legal implications for getting major decisions wrong. And no Football Association will want to be sued for that, and no individual will be able to get sufficient insurance to cover for being personally liable for that. So, best remove the decision-making altogether and rely instead on the technology - which still needs to be reviewed by a human - but at least it puts a barrier in the way.

Oh yes - and the drinks break...what is all that about then? So the players haven't played for 100 days so they need to have a drinks break half-way through the game because they are going to be playing a lot of games in a short space of time, so they are going to be extra thirsty? That's what I've been told it's for. And I've been told it's only for this unusual period between now and the end of the season. I'm afraid this is just hogwash. Before the re-start I heard interviews with the United players who were saying that everyone in the squad had bettered their personal best in terms of fitness results. So, they may not have played for 100 days, but physically they were fitter than at the start of the season (despite having had a magical "full pre-season"). We've had some hot weather of late so I can understand why a referee might want to stop a game to let players take on water in that situation - and the referee has always had that level of discretion. But that's not what's happening - it's being made "formal". Adding in yet another break in play, another interruption to a game which desperately doesn't need any more interruptions, considering that, on average, the ball is in play for less than 60 of the 90 minutes in any case.

The thing is, football is NOT about the fans who pay to go through the turnstiles to watch. We are a total irrelevance to the future of the game. Football is about a global TV audience. And introducing more stoppages will provide time for TV advertising to be broadcast during these breaks. This is just the thin end of the wedge. If you've ever watched sport on American TV you'll have a good idea of how things will eventually be here. We'll be watching the Blades attack, bearing down on the opposition penalty area, beats one man, beats two men, goalkeeper stranded, pulls back his foot to shoot and....

Cut to the Ads.

"KFC" "Pepsi" "Coca-Cola" "Pizza Hut" "Domino's" "Bet 365" etc

Then it comes back on 5 or so minutes later.

Coming back to your original question about starting to hate football, I wouldn't use the word "hate" for anything or anyone. I think hate is a very negative emotion and it eats away at you if you allow yourself to be consumed by hate. So I genuinely don't do that. But I am really concerned about the future of football as we know it. Or as we have known it, to be more precise. It is being turned into a slow, sterile game, it will eventually become a completely non-contact sport as well, and it will be for the consumption of TV audiences - not for fans like us who want to see and enjoy a very different sort of product.
 
I enjoyed the game yesterday and it was good to see some of our players actually have a good game and we started to look like a team again.
However, when the final whistle went I didn't feel anything, no emotion, no disappointment, nothing.....and that is obviously down to not only the result, not only the pathetic referee, but the lack of anything that the games seem to mean now in the environment they are being played!
I watched on BT Sport, with fake crowd noise for the first time, but the game still had the feeling of a 'pre-season friendly' about it.
No crowd, no atmosphere, no emotion, simple!

Or is it simply because the season has no real meaning or consequence now?
No relegation, no Europe and a Wembley final with no fans! 🤔
 
Keep the faith kozzy. We got spoiled before lockdown and maybe had a sense of false security but to go the entire season without setbacks would be Liverpool esque. I feel your pain but was great to see didz finally net. Look for more of those positives,despite having to play 12 men😉

Didz scored at Reading 😊
 
What seem like untold wealth to us is pin money to the big 6
Yes we've spent 50m in transfers but how many players have we got on a million pounds a month. How many of our players have Bentleys with my other car is an Aston Martin sticker in it.
We can't match the wages Palace can offer never mind spurs or arsenal.. The players on Arsenals bench wages a month dwarfs our players yearly wages .
Of course blade too long
But, the money Sheffield United get from the central PL pot is now our major source of income
That central PL pot is bigger providing the 6 get the breaks, don't suffer, continue to sign the Bentley driving celebrity players, continue to qualify for the CL & continue to win trophies.
Sheffield United's long term financial success now depends on the so called Big 6 Bias
I emphasise that's not how I want it. At all. But, that is how the money works.
 
The thing I hate most about football at the moment is the assistant flagging for an offside, everyone except one player stops, that player slots it home unopposed and VAR checks for a goal. None of it makes any sense. Either get rid of the assistants and rely entirely on the video, or let the on field officials get on with controlling the match, like has worked for, I don't know, over 160 years.

After what happened with Shelvey, players now have no real choice but to game the system. But sometimes, the flag goes up the old fashioned way and sometimes it stays down so they can leave it to the video, which I believe they have been instructed to do. Just pick one, please. There's so much uncertainty now around elements which were always really simple and clear.

Such as the referee feeling like he's not allowed to award a fucking OBVIOUS goal against Villa.
 
Hate is too strong a word for me. Disillusioned is probably more accurate for the way I feel. After the game yesterday I sent an email to some friends ( to get some things of my chest). Part of which follows:-

I'm getting a bit fed up with decisions. 3 out of 4 games we have been cheated one way or another - and that's on top of the ridiculous off side at Tottenham and the Newcastle goal where every player on the pitch stopped playing apart from Shelvey who half heartedly played on.

They still haven't explained why Hawkeye failed at Villa. I don't believe the explanation, and if true why didn't VAR have a look. If it had been Liverpool, Man City or Man Utd we would have never heard the end of it.

The Egan 1st booking at Newcastle was ridiculous The 40,000,000 pound Newcastle player squared up to him and he just stood there _ what was he supposed to do _run away?

Man United just out played us - fair enough.

Today Arsenal ware falling over if anyone breathed near them. From what I saw of the penalty, it was incredibly soft, but I suppose it wasn't a clear and obvious wrong decision.

VAR is the pits!

PS I nearly broke the lap top screen when the referee gave that foul against John Fleck when he won the header near the end
 
The game is one big mess now. Hopefully it's just a transitional period to something better, not worse.

This period should have driven home how important fans are to football and that should be in sharp focus moving forward.
 
Apart from yesterday and VAR, I think the refereeing has been decidedly better this year than the last few.

I don't think they are consciously biased. I do think they are given the job of protecting the "crown jewels" players from getting rough treatment - and Arsenal are still in that

I love football, always will. But it United don't define me or my mood. If they are shit, I tune it out a bit. If they are good I'm more invested. Fair play to those who care as much about every game in every league. I'm just not wired that way.

I'm missing being at the games but just having something to care about that isn't COVID or BLM or another terrorist attack etc makes this watered-down version of football still important to me.

A bit of a ramble but it's hard to define. But this is the league we are in. If you exoe t fair treatment you've not been watching football for the last 30 years. The only teams that matter are the top teams. You coukd swap the 13/14 teams below the for any other combination and nobody would give a shit outside of their own fans 🤷‍♂️
 
I haven't enjoyed any of our games (and most of the others I have watched) since the restart, yes the results probably are a big part of that - in regards to our matches but the amount of stoppages in a game now make it unbearable. Drinks breaks & 5 subs max stop any momentum you may have or building towards, VAR is a joke as are majority of ref's willing to give free kicks for the slightest touches.
Who needs a drinks break ?
Piss pouring rain plus gale force winds oh let's stop for a drink.
 
Feels like we are uninvited guests at the premiership party. We get so few decisions that go our way , it must be demoralising for the team and management.
They aren't deliberately against us as opposed to the other so called also rans, all of whom have always lost out on big decisions v the big money clubs.
 
It is my understanding that the drinks break is a COVID-19 risk reducer. It makes it easier for players to drink from their own drinks bottles. Rather than sharing & increasing the risk of transmission. When David Brooks had glandular fever, Utd introduced a system where he would drink only from his own bottles. Again to reduce the risk of transmission to the rest of the squad.
 

Basham touches Lacazzettes foot, he throws himself in the air. Pen

Slightest touch or no touch Arsenal players dive free kick.

No crowd, no atmosphere.

Listening to Steve McManaman who is so biased to the big club rather than little old Sheffield!

Rules changed to 5 subs instantly favours the big clubs.

Lundstram injured further destroys the season.

I know it's a rant, but since the restart I have fallen out of love with a game I have watched for 45 years.

Wilder has done an amazing job, it's just sad to see the season end like this.

I have hated every second of the restart.

My mental health is in a worse place than ever .
They should let us in, to not is fucking torture.

I hate life.
 
Well at the very start of lockdown I wanted the whole season scrapping and got a fair amount of “don’t talk stupid” from this board and being in touch with friends. And up to now nothing is making me change my mind I may still be in the minority but can anyone say they are enjoying anything about it.
 
I enjoyed the game yesterday and it was good to see some of our players actually have a good game and we started to look like a team again.
However, when the final whistle went I didn't feel anything, no emotion, no disappointment, nothing.....and that is obviously down to not only the result, not only the pathetic referee, but the lack of anything that the games seem to mean now in the environment they are being played!
I watched on BT Sport, with fake crowd noise for the first time, but the game still had the feeling of a 'pre-season friendly' about it.
No crowd, no atmosphere, no emotion, simple!

Or is it simply because the season has no real meaning or consequence now?
No relegation, no Europe and a Wembley final with no fans! 🤔

I know exactly what you mean.

Usually when I emerge from an emotionally charged football game I want to talk about it, I want to read about it and I want to hear others talking about it as well. I can't wait to get back to the car and put the local radio station on to see what they made of it. I can't wait to get BBC or Sky Sports pages up on my phone to see what they've said about and see where we are in the table, who we've got to play next etc.

I didn't have any of those feelings at the end of the match on Sunday, or the ones that have gone before it. I switched off as soon as the match had finished, I wasn't even interested in what the pundits had to say and I've all week to catch up on what the manager had to say.

I'm interested, but I'm not emotionally engaged. That's because of all the things you mention, except the last one. Being an optimist I still think there could be a twist in the tale yet. We've got to play just about all the other contenders for a European place. Imagine if we win the next 3 games? Where would that put us? I've certainly not given up hope of that, but it does feel like it's slipping softly and silently away from us.

What concerns me most is what I mentioned yesterday on this thread. The game is being taken away from us. It was interesting that the points I made above, about this, were being discussed on Football Heaven last night. Andy Giddings shares my view, at least, that the water breaks will become the norm and that this will be used to sell advertising. The fans are being mugged - but the majority can't see it or don't want to face up to it.

But it's happening. The game is being slowly wrested away from us - and we are being offered a sanitised commercial version of it instead. That, for me, will be the ultimate death knell for the football supporter. Yes..FOOTBALL IS BACK! But not as we know it Jim! It's for couch-potatoes and armchair managers, not for passionate, engaged fans like us.

 
Forget the exact numbers. But, the 14 have to let the 6 get away with it. The 14 have to vote for new regulations which the 6 want. The game is more valuable if the 6 are successful. More money flows to the 14 if the 6 are successful. The game has to be played the way the OP describes. Because that's what sells TV Subscriptions abroad. And that's what keeps Sheffield United in business. The money the 6 generate keeps Sheffield United going. We made this...... If you want integrity & fairness, don't watch WWE or the PL. If you want to watch The Big Show, stay tuned.

My option isn't the Big Show (whatever that is), it's Harrogate Town
 
Right from the first match I've been shocked at what constitutes a foul in the Premier league. Some of the free kicks for and against have been pathetic. The penalty was ridiculously soft but there were 2 other occasions where Arsenal players ended up on the ground and free kicks were given. Xhaki and cebalos I think. It was almost as if the ref's thinking was that because someone was on the ground it must be a foul. It's pathetic, and much more irritating than VAR in my opinion.
 
My only interest in football now is The Blades. I never watch other matches anymore. I used to be a "football" fan, not anymore. I will be 100% Blade til I depart this planet but my love for football in general started to die when money started to rule everything. Players diving and cheating and now that shit being accepted as part of the game, such as Arsenal's going to ground at the slightest contact, and referees accepting it, have all but destroyed my love of the game.
 
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Today's version of football Premier League style is about as fake as American wrestling, water breaks WTF? Instead of two halves we will be playing in quarters soon just like American football and every free kick will result in a 1 minute Ad break, you can just image the commentator "will the keeper save this penalty ................................ we'll find out after the break". I bet you next season will see water breaks and the 5 subs rule retained.
I have loved watching our team over the last few years but to be able to compete you have to join the circus and play to their rules honest hard work and endeavour and a bit of skill are not enough. We are far too honest for this league where teams surround the referee as soon as one of their players hits the deck, take the no goal at Villa hardly a murmur from our lads we just seem to accept any old shit. Still that has all been forgot about for now it might just resurface if Villa finish a point above West Ham.
 
Yeah what was that all about?

I couldn't believe what I was seeing

These incidents create more questions than answers. If the referee had deemed it a bookable offence, JF would have been sent off and I don't think VAR would have checked it. However if the referee thought it was a sending off offence, VAR would have checked and the decision would have been reversed (presumably). It's all hypothetical but whatever alternative decision had been made ( other than the awarding of a free kick), the last few minutes of the game would have been different.

Incidentally, if you end up at Harrogate Town, building work is progressing well, so you'll have a nice new stand to sit in ;)
 
I hate these soulless games on TV I personally think it’s starting to damage the game too , they all have an air of a pre-season friendly & lack of atmosphere & crowd is definitely effecting a games tempo . How many hard tackles have you seen since restart or red cards for that matter ?
I only watch our games now & I'm not enjoying them ( and that’s nor results based ) . I don’t know how long it’ll be before we can attend a game again but dread to think if there’s was to be a full season of watching football this way .
UTB ⚔️
 
These incidents create more questions than answers. If the referee had deemed it a bookable offence, JF would have been sent off and I don't think VAR would have checked it. However if the referee thought it was a sending off offence, VAR would have checked and the decision would have been reversed (presumably). It's all hypothetical but whatever alternative decision had been made ( other than the awarding of a free kick), the last few minutes of the game would have been different.

Incidentally, if you end up at Harrogate Town, building work is progressing well, so you'll have a nice new stand to sit in ;)

Yes I know it is and It will give them a really nice ground.

They are a great little club just 30 minutes from me on the white knuckle ride that is the 36 Leeds-Ripon bus :D
 
Feels like a poor imitation at the moment. Ordinarily if football hadn't been on for this long, I'd have been all over it watching anything that's on but I'm not going to watch Palace vs Burnley on a Monday night when there's no crowd or atmosphere or players going at it 100%. It's exactly like watching a friendly where its a kick about that doesn't really matter, when in reality there are league points at stake.

Maybe they should have just done the league on average points or some other system after all and canned it off until we can do it properly
 
Feels like a poor imitation at the moment. Ordinarily if football hadn't been on for this long, I'd have been all over it watching anything that's on but I'm not going to watch Palace vs Burnley on a Monday night when there's no crowd or atmosphere or players going at it 100%. It's exactly like watching a friendly where its a kick about that doesn't really matter, when in reality there are league points at stake.

Maybe they should have just done the league on average points or some other system after all and canned it off until we can do it properly
I was going to have a look at Burnley v Palace last night but when I tried to watch it, I was informed I had to register my device. I thought ‘fuck off’ and didn’t bother.
 

Wilder said in his pre match presser that maybe he needs to start making a bit more fuss in regard to decisions. Starting today I hope.

Tierney is an absolute shocker.

Think I read summat on here recently about CW being regarded by refs as the most respectful manager in the PL. You'd have thought that, along with our style that we brought with us when we were promoted of generally not rolling around doing theatrics, not overly contesting decisions and crowding the refs etc, would have been seen as a breath of fresh air to the officials in the Premier League. But no not a bit of it, seems like we need to descend to that level to stand a chance. But while ever we're called Sheffield United we'll always be at a disadvantage in this league.
 

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