Lost The Love Of Football.

What has happened to the game of football I remember from the 70’s up to recent years. Modern football seems to be about playing as little football as possible and more focused on time wasting and coning the referee. All of the enjoyment has gone from going to a game.

I was not disappointed that we were relegated from the Premier League as it was so biased towards the top teams, thinking that although the standard of football in the championship would not be as good it would be more honest football. But it is not, Preston were yet another team who’s main aim was to play as little football as possible by wasting time and just stifling the game. Yes our technical play and apparent lack of any plan or commitment adds to the disappointment, but the general move of football away from entertaining the crowd has really got to me.


I have been a season ticket holder and Cat A away supporter for many years but will not be renewing for next year and walking away from watching football at the end of this season. If the remaining games of the season suddenly change back to honest and committed football I may change my mind, but hold little hope.


To be clear when I say honest football I mean the game played the way it should be, not making a comment on refereeing etc.

 

1. Sky and the amount of football that can be viewed on TV vs only being able to watch MOTD and FA Cup Final day way back then
2. You’ve grown older with other priorities
3. Watching Watford is so painful that it is very easy to find far more preferable ways to spend a Saturday afternoon. I’m fairly sure we wouldn’t be saying this if we were Arsenal fans

 

Representative of many I feel but no less painful because of that.

Even when I play football as a warm up in some group lessons little lads and girls constantly yell " offside" " penalty" as they have a goal disallowed or fall over having failed to negotiate a particularly tricky piece of flat Astro turf.

 

Your comment's are fair but not reasons for me.
1. Yes too much on TV, but I hardly watch any. I have always preferred attending games.
2. I am past the other priorities stage and should be in the freedom to enjoy going stage.
3. I have been watching WFC since GT's first season, so many ups and downs. Our current performance level is not the major issue.

 

Sure we are similar ages

2. you just can’t have the passion as much about football in your 50/60/70 s as you did when you were 18.
3. I agree there have been many downturns in that period but, for me, I have never ever had a period where I dislike the owners, manager and players in equal measures

didn’t add 4..football with all this rolling around, VAR and no level playing fields has killed it

 

Absolutely. The level of time wasting is off the scale these days. I know it’s a results business but it’s in danger of making the product so poor that people turn away from the game and they lose revenue. Pickford was at it away to Arsenal midweek from the first minute. Just unbearable and the refs do nothing and add no time on. It must stop. The World Cup punished teams for it. It really isn’t hard.

 

(1) for sure. FA Cup final day was ace and every life game on TV was a treat. There was also something strangely magical about getting the end of season highlights video because you only got to see a Porter midweek rocket v Chelsea once in real time!

 

I have never much liked watching sport on TV as a large part of my enjoyment of any sport is the physical "being there". I went to watch Watford from the early 60s to about 10 years ago when I moved too far away to go regularly. It never mattered what division we were in - winning in the old fourth division was as much fun as coming second in the old first division (well perhaps not quite). But football did seem to change when the Premiership was formed. Money increasingly became the supreme factor - of course it was always important but I just think less so until then. That seems to have filtered down the leagues especially with parachute money.
Football clubs used to be a real family - the fans, the players, the owners even and the manager were all in it together- and for more than a season or two. That also was part of the enjoyment - you knew your players and expected them to be there for some time - nowadays that is less and less the case.
Only one word of warning if you do give up your season ticket - you will have to find different excuses to get out of the loads of DIY and other jobs that spring up.

 

FIFA starting with premier league next season to “tackle” this

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/time-wasting-tackled-fifa-161112901.

 

I enjoyed watching Ray Lewington’s side consisting of Paul Mayo, Jermaine Darlington & Jamie Hand over watching this bunch of chumps.

Not even joking either. At least it was watching 11 committed players who cared about the club (took pay cuts to keep the club running).

 

You’ll change your mind once the FOMO kicks in. We all do. I’m one of the most vocal critics on here of the way the club is run and I actually got a season ticket this season.

But the main issue (for us) is that we’ve been boring this season and we aren’t playing the teams that our customers really support like Arsenal, Spurs and Man Utd.

I didn’t go yesterday but I’m told that the stadium was as empty as it has been all season, the ‘fan group’ created to make sure that it was never quiet again in the stadium were either silent or not even there at all.

But overall, football is dying on its arse as a spectator sport outside of the ‘big’ 6/7. And it deserves it. You only have to look on the ‘Premier League’ thread on this forum and 99% of the discussion is about those ‘big’ 6 or 7 clubs. The fans have essentially allowed it to happen and now are reaping the rewards. Good luck to them.

 

But there is the problem, "it's a results business". Yes you clearly don't want to lose regularly but entertainment and enjoyment are the key factors for me to watch football.

 

I think it has always been about results - few clubs are content to just amble along playing in the same league season after season - but equally it needs excitement too

 

But this does not cut down on time wasting, it just adds time on at the end for some of it.
Yesterday the ref warned the Preston keeper at least 3 times in the first half to stop taking so long over his goal kicks. Nothing changed and he was finally booked in the 80+ minute. If the ref identified the time wasting as an issue in the first half why wait until almost the end of the game to book him. Warm him once, book him the second time, book him again the next time he does it, that would cut it down.

 

I've not been a season ticket holder for years but feel the same.
So many things wrong with the game these days.
I still want to see us win, and love promotion seasons, but it all seems so pointless. The days when Wimbledon, Oxford, Oldham, Notts Co, Watford, Luton, could get to, and then survive in the top league, qualify for Europe and win cups, have gone. The dream has been all but killed for smaller clubs.
Can't remember when I last watched MoTD.

 

I don’t think that’s entirely fair. Football has become a TV sport for many as a result of the hugely increased coverage and the TV companies feed viewers a diet of ‘big 6’. This is convenient for them because only those few clubs tend to win anything because of the financial imbalance so those are the only clubs they really need to consider. So the TV fans do the same and the whole thing becomes self-fulfilling. For ‘traditional’ fans like many of us who support Watford and many other smaller clubs being a football fan means enjoying the experience of going to games and we certainly haven’t “allowed it to happen”. We have had no choice.

 

Great, but sad, post. There is some hope however. I was impressed with the way Millwall played in destroying us at Vicarage Road. I’m sure they do their share of gamesmanship at times, but their intent to attack was an inspiring throwback to earlier times. Get the ball forward quickly, either through fast passing or running with the ball and, on reaching the penalty area, get off an early shot or cross at every opportunity. It’s how GT liked us to play years ago and it got results. It needs coaches to be inspired by that style, rather than the ‘possession above everything’ approach that so many employ these days.

 

Is that at the ground or your own home?

 

I couldn't agree more. Football is such a simple game and under the great GT is was purely magical for me as a child growing up.
As for Millwall I'd be desperately trying to snap up Robbo during the Summer if they don't go up. But what I like about them is that they know their limitations and 100% play to their strengths, this is all i desire from my team.
But if we could get a coaching three of Eustace, Troy and Robbo I'd be very pleased and have no doubt we'd see progress.

 

Exactly. I also meant to say that Millwall largely have relatively limited players, but are performing as a team to more than the sum of their parts because of their attitude, whereas we are just the opposite.

 

Thing is, adding time on alone is a bit of a sticking plaster. For me important thing is to get behind the time wasting and prevent the drivers of it.

For example, yesterday in the second half we started quite threateningly (at least compared to the first half) and built up a bit of a head of steam. I said to my dad Preston would want a teamtalk soon and lo and behold, a Preston player goes down in their own box. No obvious injury. No distress. Just sat on his backside after minimal contact. The ref asked if he’d get up, he said no, the physios were called on. And then inevitably while he sits there, the Preston gaffer gets most of his team over to the touch line for a minute or so for a chat and reshuffle. Obviously the injured Preston player comes straight back on unhindered as soon as play restarts. So why are managers being allowed these team talks, which are so routine now they’re happening nearly every match I see? Why don’t the rule makers disincentive this by (a) policing the touch line interactions and (b) empowering refs to make a quick judgement and if the prone player isn’t seriously injured, play on. If he plays every Watford attacker onside then tough ****, maybe it’ll focus minds and he’ll miraculously recover.

Likewise delaying over goal kicks. The phyrric 90th minute yellow card for the keeper is a waste of time. Put in countdown clock instead. 10 seconds from when the ref signals to take the kick. If it isn’t taken by then the opposition get immediate possession of the ball back by way of a free kick on the halfway line that they can place as they see fit.

I think I’d have hated it even more yesterday if at the end of each half the 4th official held up 15 or whatever. Plus on a basic level I’d quite like to go home roughly on time. I’m there to a watch a football match, not a test match

 

Spot on. The Preston keeper yesterday took 40 seconds to take a drop kick in something like the 8th minute. I know we do it as well but it needs punishing much sooner in a game.
I will renew next season but I enjoy it far less than I used to

 

Time-wasting is absolutely infuriating when the opposition do it, and I barely notice it when we're clinging on to a 1-0 away from home and the keeper trots across to the other side of the six-yard box, places the ball, takes a few steps back, then moves the ball quarter of a turn, then takes six deep breaths and finally kicks it.

The World Cup was novel because it showed just how much time should be added on if the officials were really serious about adding it all up.

But, the idea of having an accurate amount of time added on routinely is a terrible idea for match-going fans. If you can't reliably be sure the game will finish at a certain time it makes all sorts of things awkward. Trains, plans for later in the day etc.

A 60-minute match with the clock stopping every time there's a stoppage is even worse. We're already well accustomed to the two-hour match. It'll be even longer if they know there's no imperative to get on with the game.

We'll end up like NFL or NBA games, which can become almost unwatchable with all the breaks in play. But, no doubt, the bean counters have worked out how much more money might be available if they could squeeze in adverts between breaks in play.

Officials could certainly clamp down on time wasting sooner in matches but the problem is the players do know, to a degree, that the refs are crying wolf. When was the last time a goalkeeper got sent off for two yellows with one of them picked up for time-wasting?

 

I did quite enjoy the ref's extravagant blowing on his whistle to hurry a goal kick along and then aggressively pointing to where on the pitch the ball was going. No idea what he was doing but did it numerous times.

As for Preston guy going down, it wasn't even minimal contact, there was no-one near him. Then the ref clearly pointed at him to go the two yards off the pitch to get treatment and he flat out refused. Then he was allowed to jog to the halfway line by the time they eventually took the goal kick and come back on next to the bench, despite choosing to sit down almost next to the goal post. Whole thing was farcical, as was adding on one minute in the first half after the time wasting and the ref stopping the game for a lecture about 3/4 times.

To be fair, we all knew he's one of the worst refs but he excelled himself in the opening thirty seconds by making them retake the kick off then giving a foul for a high boot when Pedro nicked the ball and their guy didn't even go down or even appeal for anything.

 

Modern football is crap. Referee's and the league have become the bitches of the big clubs and they mustn't be upset. Timewasting is easily dealt with, as is diving, but the league are too weak to deal with it.

The Premier League is the biggest tourist league ever and most of it is incredibly dull to watch when you are at the game. It is better as a TV show.

 

Making sweeping generalisations, wasn't 70s football about playing as little football as possible and more focused on kicking lumps out of the opposition?

 

I don’t see why anything would change. NFL games are like that because of how the game works, plays last a few seconds, that’s the nature of the game. The longest a play can really take is 10-15 seconds so naturally the clock stops a lot, the game isn’t stopping and starting because the clock is stopped when the ball goes dead, the game is stopping and starting because that is the nature of the game which is very different to football. Time outs are also an integral part of the NFL, they aren’t in football and they wouldn’t be just because the clock goes dead when the ball isn’t in play.

We already know the shortest time the ball has ever been in play in a Premier League game is 53 minutes and 25 seconds, so two halves of 30 minutes with the clock stopping every time time the ball goes dead will still finish at the same time as it does now in 99.9% of occasions, even if teams continue to waste time in exactly the same way. But the idea of course is if they gain no benefit they will stop and if anything games will be over faster.

We aren’t talking about changing the fundamental mechanics of the game of football and introducing time outs and add breaks where they currently doesn’t exist with time wasting and stoppages, why would they suddenly happen with time wasting largely eliminated?

Players will still be encouraged to take free kicks and throw ins quickly as they are now and penalised if they don’t in exactly the same way, the clock would just stop while they take them.

 

Much of the "talented players/teams" would have been often hindered and detracted from by games often being played on bogs of pitches.

The massively increased quality and consistency of pitches this century will have in turn also improved the pace and quality of the games immensely.

Advances in the health and conditioning of players in recent years will have also improved their general ability and the speed and quality of the football (unless the player has to suffer at the hands of Watford's medical team).

 

What are you basing all that on? I mean, you might be right but how do you know that players would be penalised for taking ages to take free-kicks even if it's not affecting the game clock? That's a bit of a leap.

You and I might not be thinking in terms of changing the fundamental structure of the game but you can bet some people will be keen to have those conversations.

The structure of the game will be up for debate in the coming years, for sure. The people who now own the game will want that conversation to happen and FIFA adding on 'real' added time at the World Cup and the study into how long the ball has actually been in play in the PL were both very likely done for a reason – to kickstart that conversation.

Obviously this is speculation but if there is some sort of breakaway league I could see the rules being tweaked to make it more appealing to broadcasters.

 

Your last sentence is a big part of the problem.
All the changes in the game are making it less enjoyable for people who actually go to the games, but nobody cares.

 

Because why would halves change to 30 minutes and the clock get stopped every time the ball goes dead? What would be the fundamental reason for introducing that be? It would obviously be to cut down on time wasting, wouldn’t it? So why would you then allow players to stop and take an age to take a free kick or throw in (even if it gains them no time wasting advantage) when you currently don’t?

First and foremost the broadcasters (at least here in the UK) make their money from the product, if the product is naf then they don’t sell subscriptions and don’t make any money, and in turn the product suffers because broadcasters don’t want to pay for it anymore. Add revue is secondary and obviously very lucrative, but why is it in anyones interests for additional adds to spoil the product?

Why was there a reluctance to introduce VAR for so many years? Because the powers that be were scared stiff it would slow the game down and damage the product.

There is absolutely no reason stopping the clock couldn’t improve the game immensely for the spectator without any downsides, unless of course you view it as something that would be brought in purely as a way to shoehorn adds in, which makes no logical sense for anyone.

 

There was a comment from someone on here recently highlighting how much time wasting, going down for fouls, taking an age for goal kicks etc. ruins the match day experience, but not actually the TV experience because you get to watch replays and punditry to fill the gaps.

Shortening halves and stopping the clock when the ball goes dead would actually improve the match day experience incredibly.

 

Erm, I think you need to re-read the original post again - it's not talking about any of that, it's focused on "I mean the game played the way it should be" and there being too much "time wasting and coning the referee" , and thus "the enjoyment" supossedly being lost from the games themselves as a result vs the 70s.

I'm pointing out that some of this will be more than counteracted by ways in which the football games will have become more enjoyable vs the 70s.