Football as a whole......

[gavtheblade]

O.K,weve had the world cup this year,and for england supporters it was shyte.The sheffield utd season upto now-demorilising,and for the fans,frustrating and depressing,the world cup bid which has rolled on for an age...an insult to our game as englishmen...the home of football ignored.Attendances allover the leagues are down in general,is the game slowly goin out of fashion????

 

[scouseblade]

Its being starved off by the money men. Im sorry but people shouldnt have to fork out £30+ pounds to watch any type of footy. I mean, in Germany, where attendances are higher they pay only £15 for a top flight game. WTF?

 

[tyneblade]

Somebody at work gave me a programme for a game at St James Park against United on 31st August 1966. England are newly crowned world champions and our national game has the best reputation it has ever had. Lots of interesting stuff in the programme but my eye fell particularly on the gate for Newcastle's visit to Bramall Lane two weeks earlier, 15,188. I later found that the game at Newcastle attracted 21,876.

By that standard we are slowly getting back to normal.

 

[gavtheblade]

money makes the friggin world go round unfortunately,and its beginning to price itself out(for me it is personnally).and it is for a lot of my friends its no longer becoming a social afternoon anymore...more like drive to the game..then go home after,no pre match or post match.

 

[Jostein Flo]

It's just the general apathy towards football now that's affected a lot of fans. The fact that it costs an arm and a leg on a Saturday afternoon to get to and watch a match, and that's if you're lucky enough to have a Saturday afternoon game. I know a Man City fan, a season ticket holder, who's only been to a couple of games this season due to odd kick off times that keep being moved about. I've a season ticket but it was a seriously tough choice whether to watch the Palace game in a nice warm pub or go to The Lane.

For me it's not just the cash though there are lots of factors, the way everything in the game is changing into a business or a brand. I don't think it will be long before we see the first team in England being rebranded... "Red Bull Carlisle" or some other crap. The sheer predictability of the leagues, last season was apparently the most exciting Premiership season ever, Why? Because a team that spent millions and millions on players finished 4th! The way that clubs are recklessly overspending and going in to Administration leaving small businesses in the local communities they are supposed to represent in danger of financial ruin. The list is endless....

I don't think it'll ever be unpopular... football as a game still has that power to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you see a magical piece of skill or a truly excellent game. It has the power like almost nothing else I know to take you from the pits of absolute despair to complete euphoria in seconds and that's what it should be about.

 

[grafikhaus]

As everybody says, it's just too expensive. £30+ for a Championshop game? Ridiculous.

I've just seen the 'highlights' of this lunchtime games, Ipswich v Swansea. God, the standard in our league is quite, quite pathetic. Pub players, most of 'em.

After MoTD, I no longer bother with The Football League Show as, after watching Premiership matches, it's garbage.

 

[shorehamview]

......I don't think it will be long before we see the first team in England being rebranded... "Red Bull Carlisle" or some other crap.......

They could call them MK Dons.

Rebranding has already happened. Manchester United dropped "Football Club" from their badges a few years ago. Leeds went from a blue and yellow kit to an all-white one to look like Real Madrid. It's happened already. Football long ago sold it's soul. Just watch kids playing that harangue the ref like their heroes do, wearing ridiculously coloured boots because Wayne does.

I like football, I love football, but sometimes professional football seems to be about nothing more than a new set of whores to pay. A money orientated freak show that can allow players like Robbie Savage and Stephen Ireland to spend more money repainting cars than many of us will spend on houses. A circus where kick-off times can be moved from 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon because the Sky money says so. Where loyalty means as much as the next fat contract. Where a player will pick a fat bank balance over glory. Where consumers, customers and revenue streams are more important than fans, supporters and reknown. Where fame is an exclusive in a glossy magazine rather than a winner's medal in a cabinet.

 

[Worksop II]

I dont think it is going out of fashion, but it is getting in a mess, and there are plenty of other places to spend your hard earned money.

Me, totally pissed of with SUFC, McCabe a Multi Millionaire wittering on about cashflow shortfalls when some of his employees are being paid £4,000, £6,000 and £8,000 a week, a week for fucks sake. And by the way most of em are shite.

As for England, I was there in Bloemfontain when the Millionaires rolled over to a very talented German Side, not been to an England Game this season, will do tho when it suits me.

See http://www.3lionsontour.com

Absolutely ecstatic that they got their bid shoved right up where the Sun dont shine, fantastic.

I spent more at London/Wembley in one October weekend on the NFL, than I have spent on SUFC all Season.

At the moment I am a Consumer, not a Supporter of SUFC, it will come back, till then loads to do, Ravens hosting the Steelers this weekend, top job.

Target for next year, another F1 Circuit and a weekend away, an NFL Game in the States another weekend away, if football cant entertain me, some fucker else will.

 

[raul]

NRS'ed it in summer. Thought I'd miss it. Haven't.

In general, I've been "off" football in general for years, mainly because of its all pervasiveness over everything in life and the sheer pointlessness of it all. Obscene wealth, ridiculous people, incompetant buffoons and the unstinting persuit of money. It used to exist purely for people arsed enough to click turnstiles. It was never about profit, acquisition, marketing, branding etc etc.

I'm on the outside looking in, and finding myself wondering wtf it was that captivated me for 40 years.

 

[bricktop]

Apart from seeing mates on a Saturday and going to the games on a Saturday with a cast iron guarantee of seeing mates and having a few mates with all sorts of different types of friends and aquaintances on match day, i don't quite understand why i still spend a considerable amount of money and time on watching Sheffield United, and don't understand why i'm itching for the day when i can take my little boy to the match.

As a spectacle i'm not even that bothered about watching football on the television any more, i can take it or leave it, and will only really watch a match with full concentration if it is a game that has got a bit of interest for me rather than watching the endless diet of the big four.

What sums it up pertinently for me is that i have been on very early shifts this week, and had an hours drive to work at 0230 am, and the last couple of days i have driven down listening to the evocative commentary of the Ashes on Test Match Special on Longwave and been seriously captivated by it, i can't remember the last time i listened to a football match on the radio, never mind actually enjoyed it.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

NRS'ed it in summer. Thought I'd miss it. Haven't.

In general, I've been "off" football in general for years, mainly because of its all pervasiveness over everything in life and the sheer pointlessness of it all. Obscene wealth, ridiculous people, incompetant buffoons and the unstinting persuit of money. It used to exist purely for people arsed enough to click turnstiles. It was never about profit, acquisition, marketing, branding etc etc.

I'm on the outside looking in, and finding myself wondering wtf it was that captivated me for 40 years.

Jeez Raul - you're making even me think I agree with you. Bet you still go to Easter Road though...

 

[bricktop]

Jeez Raul - you're making even me think I agree with you. Bet you still go to Easter Road though...

He does have a point.

Last season despite watching the 30+ United games, the game i went to see live that i enjoyed most was York v Grays which i went to towards the end of the season when United had no game, and i was at a loose end and rocked up at Sheffield Station, jumped on a train and went to see a random game somewhere.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

He does have a point.

Last season despite watching the 30+ United games, the game i went to see live that i enjoyed most was York v Grays which i went to towards the end of the season when United had no game, and i was at a loose end and rocked up at Sheffield Station, jumped on a train and went to see a random game somewhere.

He does have a point, Brownie. My FSA is a Pig fan but has started to follow Guiseley and you know what, I might join him occasionally!

 

[Jostein Flo]

They could call them MK Dons.

Yeah, I was meaning a full on corporate naming of a club but The Franchise are just the start of the slippery slope towards it.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

Yeah, I was meaning a full on corporate naming of a club but The Franchise are just the start of the slippery slope towards it.

FIFA would love a franchise regime - providing the players wear suspender belts.

 

[Tuns]

A lot of sense being talked on this thread.

I too look back on giving over 3 decades of my life to the Blades, making huge financial sacrifices, shaping my career and family life around ensuring I could follow United home and away.

This is my first without a ST and I don't miss it. The reason I don't miss it is because what I actually miss is how the game was 10, 20 or 30 years ago. I don't miss what footbal had become in the last few years - it's a completely different game to support and one that just doesn't grab me. Of course on top of that is what has happened at United on and off the pitch in recent times.

Not getting the World Cup is the first step in what could be a long journey to getting our game back. Getting the World Cup would have just kept the Prem League momentum and all it stands for, going. for longer.

Football will only wake up and sort itslef out when the money goes. It's driven by greed and money is the only language it now understands and responds to.

The cracks in attendances are starting to appear as is the apathy of those who still go. The half full grounds that we will soon see will ruin Sky's product and the illusion around the Prem, let alone the falling viewing figures and that should start the crisis nicely.

Top players will follow the dollar to whichever European country becomes the biggest league next - let's not kid ourselves they're all here for the love of English football.

Hopefully then football can finally start to undo some of the damage that has been done.

 

[JohnDenver]

I agree with almost all the critical posts in this thread. But there is a flipside here.

In the '80s fans were treated like scum by the authorities, and a fair number played up to it. Grounds were largely slag heaps, some caged deathtraps. English teams were banned from Europe. Disasters dotted the decade.

On the football front, I also have to admit the quality on show in the top flight has improved dramatically. Our one season in the Prem had me transfixed before the sour aftertaste arrived.

So yup, I'm also sick of much what is going on. I do think things need to change fundamentally. But it ain't all been bad.

 

[bricktop]

I agree with almost all the critical posts in this thread. But there is a flipside here.

In the '80s fans were treated like scum by the authorities, and a fair number played up to it. Grounds were largely slag heaps, some caged deathtraps. English teams were banned from Europe. Disasters dotted the decade.

On the football front, I also have to admit the quality on show in the top flight has improved dramatically. Our one season in the Prem had me transfixed before the sour aftertaste arrived.

So yup, I'm also sick of much what is going on. I do think things need to change fundamentally. But it ain't all been bad.

But how can anyone change it, when the people in charge and the money men have absolute power?

 

[Worksop II]

But how can anyone change it, when the people in charge and the money men have absolute power?

The only money they have, is the money we give them.

 

[Gingerblade]

I follow the NHL, and have done so for a few years now. The way the yanks do things with a salary caps/trades/drafts has always been scoffed at over here.

Now, I see the arguments for it, and against it. I'm not in any way saying it should be implemented here, as we have a pretty good league system in place with the promotion and relegation. However, we could in some way implement elements. If only to close the gap on the bigger clubs. The NHL has different teams win the Stanley cup almost every year, not something that happens over here. Same clubs every year!

The way things are going, I don’t think I’ll have a season ticket in say 5 years. I love United, and they are always going to be my team, but football as a whole needs to come back to the fans, be priced better, refereed better, governed better.

The only way this will happen is if it goes pop, something I pray for every year! If it doesn’t, we better get used to the way things are now, as they won’t change at all.

 

[scouseblade]

Sky, the cause of many ills in the world of football. A company that has totally distorted alot of young fans views of the game of football. Remember, football only started in 1992, forget the previous 100 years of league champions, everything is, since Premier League began, Man Utd most successful Premier League team, it drives me potty. In fact even to mention a game/player that played before Sky would probably lead to ignorant grunts from Richard Keys. Sorry, I know Sky have pumped millions into the game but I find them and the FA are the real cause of all of footballs ills.

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

Although I agree with a lot that has been written in this thread it seems as though it is written by the 20-45 year old age group, where we suddenly realise that we are getting on a bit and things have moved on and we don't like it.

I was talking to a mate the other day about the time when I started supporting SUFC. It was in the old 4th division and it was great fun. Huge away support, (highlighted by a banner at Aldershot's ground'Welcome to SUFC, the biggest supported away club in the division) There was terracing, there was atmosphere, it was cheap, we won a lot. We had Edwards, Morris, Stan the Man, Conroy and then the start of Deane, Agana. But then as JD said, we were treated like scum, there was trouble and the quality of stadiums was very poor.

Originally Sky changed all of this for the better and I think most people saw them as a positive thing at the start. Unfortunately everyone got greedy. Along came Abrahmovic, salaries went out of the roof, I believe a lot of this was agents spreading stories about what their clients earns. Clubs then thinking that they had to pay 100k pw as everyone else was and before you know it you have kids on their first contract earning 30k pw and are set up for life before they have even done a thing. Give an 18 year old that sort of money and you are asking for trouble.

What would get me going to football reguarly again, if I lived in the UK is safe terracing for £10-£15. I would rather pay this then pay 20-30 for a cramped seat where everyone is getting up and down the whole time. The atmosphere would come back, I believe the fans would come back and we could increase our capacity, if need be without having to expand the Kop in any great way. I really don't understand why we can't do this. They can can in other European countries. there has been one catastrophe in recent times, but with safe terracing this risk could be eliminated.

 

[86Blade]

The main problem is just the price to get in to watch football, i have been off many saturdays but simply not being able to afford to watch my beloved Blades, instead i have spent £7 or £5 to watch Stocksbridge or Hallam, and seen plenty of great games in the process but it still does not beat supporting the Blades win or lose, prices just need to be looked at and very quickly !

 

[bladesfan]

Money remember away game at ManU 10s 6d for the train 1s 3d to get in 6d programe something to eat 1s 6d kids price and for the older guys beer was around 1s 10d. The home games where better cheaper, and then they sold Mick Jones to weeds for a record fee.

 

[broomhillblade]

The main problem is just the price to get in to watch football, i have been off many saturdays but simply not being able to afford to watch my beloved Blades, instead i have spent £7 or £5 to watch Stocksbridge or Hallam, and seen plenty of great games in the process but it still does not beat supporting the Blades win or lose, prices just need to be looked at and very quickly !

I agree. I've had some of my most enjoyable football moments recently watching Boston United. It's cheap. You can stand, and there's room to walk about. The football is half decent and the players are not overpaid prima donnas. You get plenty of banter from the crowd and you are close to the action.

It helps that I can walk to the ground in less than 5 minutes from my house, mind.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

As Blades we can't really complain about the state of football, we did sell our souls to be a founder member of the 'best league in the world'.

Reap what you sow!

 

[JohnDenver]

As Blades we can't really complain about the state of football, we did sell our souls to be a founder member of the 'best league in the world'.

Reap what you sow!

Blimey, we've not much reaping since then. We're football league stalwarts!

 

[tyneblade]

Money remember away game at ManU 10s 6d for the train 1s 3d to get in 6d programe something to eat 1s 6d kids price and for the older guys beer was around 1s 10d. The home games where better cheaper, and then they sold Mick Jones to weeds for a record fee.

But as i pointed out above. In the top division with Mick Jones in the team most weeks we got closer to 15,000 than 20,000. 43,500 for Man U on boxing day 1966. 15,000 for our home next home game with Fulham.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Whilst we havn't had much out of 'signing up' we did join up thinking it was the promised land? Did anyone at the time think money would effect the game as much as it has. I'd guess no, I don't think anyone at the time thought the game would go down the path it has.

Also if our debt was £90M could we be in Boltons position instead of ours? How acceptable would that be to everyone?

 

[bladesfan]

But as i pointed out above. In the top division with Mick Jones in the team most weeks we got closer to 15,000 than 20,000. 43,500 for Man U on boxing day 1966. 15,000 for our home next home game with Fulham.

Yes true but not everyone had a car in those days and now fans come from around the country London, leeds etc. I could not go to most evening matches and a game away Portsmouth etc no chance.Things started to get better in the 70's special busses and special trains.