Has the love for the game gone?

[Roygbiv]

I've hardly watched any games. A big reason is because the games are still like friendlies to me and I hate seeing teams score and the players just high giving instead of running towards the fans. This season is a farce I think and no matter how well we were doing I still wouldn't be able to take it seriously. Whoever wins the league this year should have an asterisk next to them in the records books for me because it can't be judged the same as every other season. It should be seen like war time football...


......that said United being this bad is definitely part to why I'm not watching much. How can you watch The Premier League without being reminded of how we are the worst team to ever play there? I'd still watch less than normal if we were 13th but more than I am now.

My love hasn't been destroyed but with this current glorified friendly league and United being pound for pound as bad as you can possibly be, I'm certainly not enjoying it.

 

[Numpty's Dusty Ruts.]

Despite what Sky and the money people think, football is a simple game which at heart gives people something to cheer about their local area, town or city. The cheering, moaning and general mayhem which fans create makes football. PL football could survive forever with empty grounds, but REAL football can't. Many can recall days long ago spent in rickety stands and grounds cheering on their team. More recently we had similar experiences at Peterborough, Oldham, Walsall Rochdale etc. In my view that's actually better than what we have now. Being outside the PL isn't the end of the world, and may help some people fall in love with football again. United will NEVER win the PL, but we can always hope to be champions further down. We share this with most real fans of real football in the country. Don't be downhearted, and think of better times to come, when we can at least go to games, moan, cheer, drink beer, and feel we're really part of it all. UTB.

 

[BladeByChoice]

....................

Leeds fans have really been shafted. Couldn't celebrate promotion, or getting back to the Prem after so long.

Not quite correct, they did break lockdown to illegally celebrate promotion, and cause a few grands worth of damage to their own staff’s cars in the process. Scum in the 70’s and still scum today.


Sorry to pollute the thread by going off topic, I just don’t like the cunts.

 

[Bla blade]

"Won't last forever" is my mantra. I've thought that throughout the rise we've seen under Wilder and the same applies to the current decline.

It is bloody hard to stomach. This is worse than 75/6, 80/81, the rest of the shite in most of the 80's and 90's, 06/07 and 6 years in L1. But.....it won't last forever. Stay firm, stay loyal. We'll be back. UTB

 

[Nade]

It was only as a kid I watched much other than United. Nowadays I don't even watch match of the day unless I'm flicking around the TV and it's on (which isn't often really) and I only watch other team's highlights when I hear something special has happened.

 

[nopigfansintown]

Since VAR came in it doesn't feel like football any more. That combined with fans makes the feeling that 'this isn't really football' even more pronounced. Football has been so successful because of the amount of variables that can effect a game in a quick, spontaneous way. Referees, fans, pitch quality, players, luck, skill etc etc. The game seems determined to sanitise itself and make the game as beige and predictable as possible.
I used to watch five or six Prem games every week as well as the United game. I now watch only our game.I haven't watched MOTD since we were promoted.

 

[ThatJa]

That’s a shame but hopefully there’s a silver lining in that you cut out the “l’m ITK “ crap.

Obviously jokes and sarcasm go over your head.

 

[Ukkonen]

I totally agree that life has been taken out of football due to fans not being there. I always watched as much footy as I could on tv no matter the league, now I find it dull without a crowd atmosphere.

I know this is isnt a great standard of football but Austrialian A-League is back on BT Sport and the stadiums are pretty much full, no social distancing spacing required, just normal life. Cr@p footy yep, but makes a huge difference having fans there.



I am finding it incredibly hard to watch United as well, even when we was winning some games at the end of last season it was a struggle, watching them this season is just painful.

I hope when we as fans return to the stadiums the clubs around the country now realise fans are the life and soul of clubs - saddenly I suspect that sentiment would not last very long and over pricing will return again.

Fingers crossed for a brighter future, bring on AstraZenica and lets roll back into better times!

 

[blade too long]

Without fans the whole experience is hollow
What grabs you as a child first visiting football is the atmosphere within a ground. The noise . The tangible feel of expectation. The joy of a goal .and players pumping a fist in the air towards fans. Its all sterile now .
When a goals gone in there's a change in mood in a full ground . In an empty ground ....nothing
Its alien to us this lack of passion.

Its a cake baked with 2 ingredients missing . So it's bland and uninteresting

 

[Broomhall Blade]

I only really watch United anyway, not even that bothered about England only watch them in tournament finals.
I lost interest in Match of the Day years ago, probably about when Jimmy Hill left it seemed to go down hill. I can't stand Gary Lineker or Ian Wright, I didn't even watch it last season.
I've still watched every Blades game this season and will continue to do so,
Its not the same not being there but its the best of a bad situation at the moment.
The Football is poor but I just love The Blades, I learnt many years ago not too expect to much from them and more often than not they will let you down, and that if I wanted a team that won trophies I should look elsewhere. But from that first game in 1977 I was hooked (why did my parents let me go on my own in the junior pen, if they hadn't I could have saved a fortune of money and years of disappointment lol).
I am 100% Blade with a very small affection for Fleetwood Town(nothing to do with Ched).
I will continue to live in hope that one day we might win the FA Cup or at least become an established Premiership side.
Hopefully we will be allowed back to Beautiful Down Town Bramall Lane soon.

 

[Badger Blade]

I'll watch whatever football is on if I'm lucky enough to have the TV to myself for a bit but I don't wait with baited breath like before. Without the crowd and the possibility of being there doesn't make it seem real, it's like we've all become the foreign market who treat the Premier League like it's a TV show because that's basically what it is now.

The VAR shambles hasn't helped anything either, that spontaneous rush when the goals go in has been lost and it interferes far too readily in other stuff. The referee rules the roost in rugby and the video only comes into it if there's something they ask for help on, not VAR like some meddling mother in law poking her head round the kitchen door every 5 minutes.

 

[munksyb]

Exactly the same. Not just cos we're currently crap but just the game as a whole. I used to watch any game that was on TV, even Scottish (but not womens, I draw the line at that!), but now it's just lost it's way. VAR, soft foreign tactics of diving/cheating/fucking finger wagging, politics etc, all have played a part in ruining it. I'm losing the love. I will always watch us tho, no matter how shit we are.

I dont think we're crap, but we are deffinately lacking in the penalty area, I hope we can bring Lingard or someone else in to address that in the next few weeks.
Sport can be great / sport can kick you in the balls, my main critisism is the diving & cheating, whatever happened to clamping down on SIMULATION, no-one gets booked for it, refs may miss stuff at real speed, but VAR dont just miss it, even when they see it THEY IGNORE IT or often MAKE THE WRONG DECISION.
I sometimes watch other games that I really have no interest in ( nothing else to do ), and I find myself railing at the TV at deisions by both the refs & VAR, but worst of all is the effort that is being made by refferees to stop proper tackles, the new rule seems to be if you are tackled, give a squeal ( loudly) , pirouette, fall down , grab the ball, and clutch some part of your body in the general area that might be deemed to have been caught.
Yes Staniforth & Morgs could be dirty at times, but they were often just strong & tough.
Baldock & Egan get penalised for nothing just good hard tackling, that's what they're there for.

My plea to the powers that be :-

Scrap VAR............ It hasn't worked !

Give us proper football back, stop the cheating

If we go down, so be it we'll learn from this, come back stronger & prosper

UTB

 

[essexblade73]

Exactly the same. Not just cos we're currently crap but just the game as a whole. I used to watch any game that was on TV, even Scottish (but not womens, I draw the line at that!), but now it's just lost it's way. VAR, soft foreign tactics of diving/cheating/fucking finger wagging, politics etc, all have played a part in ruining it. I'm losing the love. I will always watch us tho, no matter how shit we are.

Hardly 'foreign' tactics when jack grealish is the world champion for diving and finger wagging, followed closely by shitloads of other british players.

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

In some ways I’ve found it quite liberating. I watch lots of dramas documentaries and films that in normal circumstances I would not look at to watch football.
I‘m with a number of others it’s like watching a game of FIFA (with me playing as United). Until I can get back in stadiums to watch live again I can’t see me changing how I feel. This season would feel the same, if a lot less painful, even if United were doing well.

 

[blade67]

Not being able to go and United being shit is a bit of a double whammy. I'll be back at it next season.

As for watching others I think that does wane as you get older.

England in particular hold little interest these days and they are certainly no worse now than many other eras

 

[Berkshire Blade]

I've probably watched more football than ever even though it leaves me colder than ever.

 

[blade67]

Hardly 'foreign' tactics when jack grealish is the world champion for diving and finger wagging, followed closely by shitloads of other british players.

One of the most entertaining things in the promotion season was seeing how often Billy could get fouled once we went ahead. His performance against Brentford was a total masterclass in killing opposition momentum. Before his introduction they were passing us to death, his introduction was transformational.

When Grealish does it, he's a cunt though

 

[metalblade]

I certainly no longer get the buzz from football. Without crowds in the grounds it is nothing, even when we were beating Chelsea and Spurs in an empty Bramall Lane I couldn't get too excited watching on TV. Last season was the only time I have watched MOTD for years only really to see what they said about us. Haven't watched the EFL on Quest since we were promoted either, I suppose that says I only watch when we are involved. As it is at the moment I don't get excited (we don't win) if we win nor do I get upset when we lose.
At one time I'd be as bored as hell all summer until the football started up not any more. On Fridays you would be buzzing as next day was matchday now it is whatever day Sky TV wants it to be. Even 3rd round FA cup day generates little excitement anymore at one time small towns would be in a frenzy at the thoughts of a big team paying them a visit.

 

[originaltrueblade]

If you ever wanted two things to kill the love of the game we have them

covid

var

 

[essexblade73]

One of the most entertaining things in the promotion season was seeing how often Billy could get fouled once we went ahead. His performance against Brentford was a total masterclass in killing opposition momentum. Before his introduction they were passing us to death, his introduction was transformational.

When Grealish does it, he's a cunt though

As I said, gamesmanship, for want of a better word, is not and has never been solely a 'foreign' player problem.

 

[GymClassHero]

I'm watching out games albeit through gritted teeth. Not enjoying it at all but can't seem to drag myself away. Waste of time

 

[1889]

I’m only really interested in watching United to be honest. I think football is suffering a long lingering death. It is certainly not the spectacle it once was.

The game I watched as a kid no longer exists and what has replaced it is sadly just an ever fading shadow of the original game. Below some of the things that in my opinion have contributed to its decline as a spectator sport, but I’m sure there are many more.

Players feigning injury, diving and the games ruling bodies apparent lack of will to address it whilst having a desire to forensically analyse in minute detail, every other aspect of the game.

The PGMOL and the fact it exists, in the past the best referees were praised for there anonymity, now they want to be front and centre to justify their professional status and film star wages. Sadly VAR and television coverage, has only served to feed their egotism

The fact that every game is televised then discussed for another hour by a panel of gender balanced ‘experts’

Radio stations that exist to just talk purely, about Football

The disproportionate allocation of money and the unrestricted pay structure of players, loading the dice in favour of the wealthiest clubs, whilst historic clubs cease to exist for the price of a top players weekly salary

The hijacking of the game as a mouthpiece for political and social movements, a football match used to be a place to escape and forget everyday worries and still should be

The lack of physical contact allowed and the ridiculous notion that every incident of actual physical contact however innocuous, is a foul particularly in the penalty area

These are some of the reasons that football in general has lost part of its appeal for me, but I think what will finally kill off the game we love, will be a ban on heading the ball, which I suspect will happen within the next 20 years.

Perhaps we should enjoy whats left of our game, while it still exists