Put a fork in football, it’s done!!

[TigerTedd]

VAR, money, the premier league, diving, administrations, FFP, European super league, stupid offside and handball rule changes.

But the final nail in the coffin is Aramco becoming FIFAs biggest sponsor. 

Get ready for every World Cup becoming a winter World Cup in an Arab state. Saudi teams turning up in the champions league and tearing it up with overpaid galácticos.

once they (and be ‘they’ I don’t mean ‘the Arabs’ I mean the infinitely rich money men) own FIFA, which they effectively do now, then the jumpers for goal posts game of football that we invented has gone forever I think. 

Maybe it’s always been this way. Since Abramovic and Man City, and it’s unfair to pick out the Saudis. Why shouldn’t they get involved? But this definitely feels like the beginning of the end. Or maybe the end of the end, the beginning of the end started a while ago. 

[Chellaston Ram]

I agree with most points, I’m also getting disillusioned with football. In some ways I would prefer us not to go in the Premier League 

[Dimmu]

34 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

VAR, money, the premier league, diving, administrations, FFP, European super league, stupid offside and handball rule changes.

But the final nail in the coffin is Aramco becoming FIFAs biggest sponsor. 

Get ready for every World Cup becoming a winter World Cup in an Arab state. Saudi teams turning up in the champions league and tearing it up with overpaid galácticos.

once they (and be ‘they’ I don’t mean ‘the Arabs’ I mean the infinitely rich money men) own FIFA, which they effectively do now, then the jumpers for goal posts game of football that we invented has gone forever I think. 

Maybe it’s always been this way. Since Abramovic and Man City, and it’s unfair to pick out the Saudis. Why shouldn’t they get involved? But this definitely feels like the beginning of the end. Or maybe the end of the end, the beginning of the end started a while ago. 

I think we all have different limits on what is ethical and acceptable. I guess, your limits are at least close to being met.

Mine was bypassed some time ago already. I still enjoy occasionally playing (if you can call jogging after the ball that), but watching football does not interest me. I find it impossible to watch greed in action.

Have to admit, it wasn't easy to give up on something that has been a huge part of my life. 

[richinspain]

3 hours ago, Dimmu said:

I think we all have different limits on what is ethical and acceptable. I guess, your limits are at least close to being met.

Mine was bypassed some time ago already. I still enjoy occasionally playing (if you can call jogging after the ball that), but watching football does not interest me. I find it impossible to watch greed in action.

Have to admit, it wasn't easy to give up on something that has been a huge part of my life. 

I never watch football nowadays, just DCFC on Ramstv (before anyone chips in, it is football, but not necessarily as we know it).

[Mucker1884]

The only reason I'm still involved is thanks to... or the fault of... one Mr David Clowes.

Heaven forbid, had the unthinkable actually happened, there's no way I'd be showing any interest in football now.
I truly couldn't tell you who played in the last game I watched (full, or even highlights) that didn't involve The Rams.  I'd imagine it was the last England WC (proper) game?

WC & Euro qualifiers... Champions League... Match of the day... Live Prem and/or EFL games... Local parks...small time amateurs... none of it interests me, and hasn't for some time.
I doubt I'd recognise any more than a dozen players names from the Prem, and I'd be amazed if I could match more than a handful of prem players to their current club.

Even my participation on here is based on 40% Love of DCFC, and 60% "banter with the gang"!

I don't even put this apathy down to "strong morals"... I'm just bored with the wider game, full stop.  Disillusioned, I guess! 
Diving, money, VAR, Rich v Poor, too many games played, too many live games on the various TV options, the over-analysis of it all.

I'll leave football forever, I'll leave football forever, I'll leave football forever... Should Derby County Die!  😢

 

[Ram-Alf]

7 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

VAR, money, the premier league, diving, administrations, FFP, European super league, stupid offside and handball rule changes.

But the final nail in the coffin is Aramco becoming FIFAs biggest sponsor. 

Get ready for every World Cup becoming a winter World Cup in an Arab state. Saudi teams turning up in the champions league and tearing it up with overpaid galácticos.

once they (and be ‘they’ I don’t mean ‘the Arabs’ I mean the infinitely rich money men) own FIFA, which they effectively do now, then the jumpers for goal posts game of football that we invented has gone forever I think. 

Maybe it’s always been this way. Since Abramovic and Man City, and it’s unfair to pick out the Saudis. Why shouldn’t they get involved? But this definitely feels like the beginning of the end. Or maybe the end of the end, the beginning of the end started a while ago. 

Shame on you, You forgot Sh!t refs 😉

[ilkleyram]

3 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

The only reason I'm still involved is thanks to... or the fault of... one Mr David Clowes.

Heaven forbid, had the unthinkable actually happened, there's no way I'd be showing any interest in football now.
I truly couldn't tell you who played in the last game I watched (full, or even highlights) that didn't involve The Rams.  I'd imagine it was the last England WC (proper) game?

WC & Euro qualifiers... Champions League... Match of the day... Live Prem and/or EFL games... Local parks...small time amateurs... none of it interests me, and hasn't for some time.
I doubt I'd recognise any more than a dozen players names from the Prem, and I'd be amazed if I could match more than a handful of prem players to their current club.

Even my participation on here is based on 40% Love of DCFC, and 60% "banter with the gang"!

I don't even put this apathy down to "strong morals"... I'm just bored with the wider game, full stop.  Disillusioned, I guess! 
Diving, money, VAR, Rich v Poor, too many games played, too many live games on the various TV options, the over-analysis of it all.

I'll leave football forever, I'll leave football forever, I'll leave football forever... Should Derby County Die!  😢

 

This

I have sky but now for the cricket. I haven’t watched a non Ramstv game on the TV or the highlight shows for at least 10 years if not more. If the radio happens to be on with a PL match I don’t instantly know (with rare exceptions) who is playing nor which team has the ball. 
Though they don’t recognise it as such as they chase audiences from the far east and the Arab countries, I suspect that the football authorities are building themselves problems that may not show for a few years yet but will. The present system is unsustainable in the medium term. The football pyramid I grew up with is dying. 

[Ewe Ram]

I stopped watching the premier league a few years ago, it’s not football. I do still go to Pride Park, but not sure how much of that is through habit and family time. I don’t even bother much with England. I’ve let Sky go, I watch Derbyshire cricket on YouTube. Sky started the greed and top heavy way the leagues are now, in my opinion. 
I go to watch local football occasionally, players playing for the love of the game, not the money. 

[Foreveram]

45 minutes ago, ilkleyram said:

This

I have sky but now for the cricket. I haven’t watched a non Ramstv game on the TV or the highlight shows for at least 10 years if not more. If the radio happens to be on with a PL match I don’t instantly know (with rare exceptions) who is playing nor which team has the ball. 
Though they don’t recognise it as such as they chase audiences from the far east and the Arab countries, I suspect that the football authorities are building themselves problems that may not show for a few years yet but will. The present system is unsustainable in the medium term. The football pyramid I grew up with is dying. 

To counter this my 12 year old grandson knows pretty much all the Premier league players, who they play for and how much they cost. His mates probably do too.🙄

[ilkleyram]

45 minutes ago, Foreveram said:

To counter this my 12 year old grandson knows pretty much all the Premier league players, who they play for and how much they cost. His mates probably do too.🙄

I’m glad. And I hope he gets years of pleasure from doing so, just as I did.  But in the last 30 years I’ve steadily lost that feeling of fun and attachment. I couldn’t care less now about the England team or international football generally or that much about the EPL. I’ve watched more of Kane in Munich in the last 5 weeks than I have of the PL (probably about 20 minutes in total). 

I’m quite happy to be accused of holding on to the past - I don’t think I am or do, there were things about the football of yesteryear that were not good - but the pendulum has swung far too far away from what I used to watch, love and enjoy for me. And I hope that his grandad reminds him of the good old days 😃

[Mucker1884]

52 minutes ago, Foreveram said:

To counter this my 12 year old grandson knows pretty much all the Premier league players, who they play for and how much they cost. His mates probably do too.🙄

That's a fair point, in all honesty.

I'm sure many... if not all... of us would have been the same at that age.  I could probably still name the two teams for each FA cup final over a decade back in the day.
At least recognising and appreciating the top players throughout my teens was certainly a thing.

Maybe it's not football that's changing as much as we may think it is?  Maybe it's us fans that are changing (through age, I guess)?   🤷‍♂️

[Stive Pesley]

10 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Maybe it’s always been this way. Since Abramovic and Man City, and it’s unfair to pick out the Saudis. Why shouldn’t they get involved? But this definitely feels like the beginning of the end. Or maybe the end of the end, the beginning of the end started a while ago. 

I was going to pull you up on that very point - it's been a good 30 years, probably since around the formation of the Premiership that money has ruled supreme. The oil-rich Arab nations getting involved was always inevitable. They are just the next level of this poo show

For a long time I've expounded on my idea of a nationalised football league where every team was fan-owned by the people of the town it represented and could only sign players from that town. I've probably even mentioned it here before. It's a silly dream, but who could honestly say that it wouldn't reconnect the game to the fans? When we sing "he's one of our own" about a player doesn't it feel great?

It wasn't until I went to Bilbao in the summer that I realised Athletic Bilbao have been doing this for nearly 100 years and have been pretty successful with it too

https://playfundwin.com/blog/athletic-bilbao-football

 

[TigerTedd]

18 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

I was going to pull you up on that very point - it's been a good 30 years, probably since around the formation of the Premiership that money has ruled supreme. The oil-rich Arab nations getting involved was always inevitable. They are just the next level of this poo show

For a long time I've expounded on my idea of a nationalised football league where every team was fan-owned by the people of the town it represented and could only sign players from that town. I've probably even mentioned it here before. It's a silly dream, but who could honestly say that it wouldn't reconnect the game to the fans? When we sing "he's one of our own" about a player doesn't it feel great?

It wasn't until I went to Bilbao in the summer that I realised Athletic Bilbao have been doing this for nearly 100 years and have been pretty successful with it too

https://playfundwin.com/blog/athletic-bilbao-football

 

I remember when Arsenal fielded the first starting 11 with not a single British person. Not being xenophobic, but that didnt seem right at all. 

[TigerTedd]

3 hours ago, The Last Post said:

Shame on you, You forgot Sh!t refs 😉

They’ve always been a thing. 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

2 hours ago, Foreveram said:

To counter this my 12 year old grandson knows pretty much all the Premier league players, who they play for and how much they cost. His mates probably do too.🙄

 

1 hour ago, Mucker1884 said:

That's a fair point, in all honesty.

I'm sure many... if not all... of us would have been the same at that age.  I could probably still name the two teams for each FA cup final over a decade back in the day.
At least recognising and appreciating the top players throughout my teens was certainly a thing.

Maybe it's not football that's changing as much as we may think it is?  Maybe it's us fans that are changing (through age, I guess)?   🤷‍♂️

I completely understand the reasons why people are becoming disillusioned with football.

But, objectively, I'm pretty sure it's never been as popular (I don't have the stats to hand but I'm sure I saw an article on it the other day). The level of interest in the Premier League, for example, is absolutely insane. Not to mention the thousands (probably tens of thousands), of podcasts, Youtube channels, etc, that surround it. And the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of Twitter accounts engaging in a ludicrous volume of football discourse every single day.

The quality of media has also really increased IMO. I found this episode of Gary Neville's new show an incredibly compelling watch.

 I think the game is naturally changing with the changing generations. It's just a shame that it's coinciding with sportswashing and the like.

Edited November 19, 2023 by DarkFruitsRam7

[Mucker1884]

6 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

 

I completely understand the reasons why people are becoming disillusioned with football.

But, objectively, I'm pretty sure it's never been as popular (I don't have the stats to hand but I'm sure I saw an article on it the other day). The level of interest in the Premier League, for example, is absolutely insane. Not to mention the thousands (probably tens of thousands), of podcasts, Youtube channels, etc, that surround it. And the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of Twitter accounts engaging in a ludicrous volume of football discourse every single day.

The quality of media has also really increased IMO. I found this episode of Gary Neville's new show an incredibly compelling watch.

 I think the game is naturally changing with the changing generations. It's just a shame that it's coinciding with sportswashing and the like.

Yeah.  Fair do's.

But is the reason that it's never been as popular simply down to the ease of which it can be spread around the planet?
We had The Green 'un, the Sunday papers, local wireless, and eventually the odd highlights show.  Live FA Cup final was about the limit... but half the households either didn't have a telly on which to watch it, the aerial had blown down, or they didn't have a coin for the rental meter! 

Is it more popular because it's better?  Or because of what the youngsters refer to as "The World Wide Web"?  🤷‍♂️

[DarkFruitsRam7]

29 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

Yeah.  Fair do's.

But is the reason that it's never been as popular simply down to the ease of which it can be spread around the planet?
We had The Green 'un, the Sunday papers, local wireless, and eventually the odd highlights show.  Live FA Cup final was about the limit... but half the households either didn't have a telly on which to watch it, the aerial had blown down, or they didn't have a coin for the rental meter! 

Is it more popular because it's better?  Or because of what the youngsters refer to as "The World Wide Web"?  🤷‍♂️

Yeah I'm sure a lot of it is down to the new media and the globalization of the game.

The standard of elite football is objectively "better" than it ever has been, and that may well be a contributing factor, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's more entertaining. 

[Loughborough Ram]

Young people have different expectations of the game.

They love all of the talk of xg and other stats, they can reel off players from teams that I've never heard of abroad. They expect players to cheat, they accept the time it takes to come to a VAR decision, and they understand the need for players to concentrate on expanding their brand rather than committing to 50 games a season.

So despite the fact that football is dying on its arse for some of us, we have to face facts that it's a completely different game to the one we grew up with, and consequently it doesnt need our support any more, it has a completely different breed of fan who think that it's fantastic.

Whether we accept that or not is completely inconsequential, sadly.

[Foreveram]

1 hour ago, Mucker1884 said:

Yeah.  Fair do's.

But is the reason that it's never been as popular simply down to the ease of which it can be spread around the planet?
We had The Green 'un, the Sunday papers, local wireless, and eventually the odd highlights show.  Live FA Cup final was about the limit... but half the households either didn't have a telly on which to watch it, the aerial had blown down, or they didn't have a coin for the rental meter! 

Is it more popular because it's better?  Or because of what the youngsters refer to as "The World Wide Web"?  🤷‍♂️

The Premier League is shown in nearly every country in the world, not sure that’s the same with Spanish or  German leagues.