Modern Football is Dying

[The Merse]

I think the game is becoming unbelievably stale.

 

I watch/talk/read about football every single day of my life but I am seriously getting bored of it.

 

I enjoyed Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup infinitely more than every recent football tournament. It's so boring.

 

International football is dull as, SPL is just beyond rubbish, the Champions League is so repetitive I honestly think football has hit a massive lull and could actually fade away from being the most popular sport in the world.

 

Surely I'm not the only one utterly bemused by the fare on offer these days?

[Carl Weathers]

I think the game is becoming unbelievably stale.

 

I watch/talk/read about football every single day of my life but I am seriously getting bored of it.

 

I enjoyed Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup infinitely more than every recent football tournament. It's so boring.

 

International football is dull as, SPL is just beyond rubbish, the Champions League is so repetitive I honestly think football has hit a massive lull and could actually fade away from being the most popular sport in the world.

 

Surely I'm not the only one utterly bemused by the fare on offer these days?

 

Tbh, if Hearts were playing like we were when Romanov first came I'd be saying football was amazing. Has the SPL got any worse than it was 5/8 years ago?

[The Comedian]

I think the game is becoming unbelievably stale.

 

I watch/talk/read about football every single day of my life but I am seriously getting bored of it.

 

I enjoyed Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup infinitely more than every recent football tournament. It's so boring.

 

International football is dull as, SPL is just beyond rubbish, the Champions League is so repetitive I honestly think football has hit a massive lull and could actually fade away from being the most popular sport in the world.

 

Surely I'm not the only one utterly bemused by the fare on offer these days?

 

No your not, it's a turgid waste of time and money.

 

I personally hardly watch any football now other than Hearts. I'm also a bawhair from not bothering about the International game too.

[The Merse]

Tbh, if Hearts were playing like we were when Romanov first came I'd be saying football was amazing. Has the SPL got any worse than it was 5/8 years ago?

 

But we're not, and are never likely to again.

 

And yes I really do think the SPL has gotten alot worse in the last 5 or so years. I literally cannot remember the last SPL match that I watched that didn't involve Hearts.

 

It's fecking torrid.

[Guest GhostHunter]

And, to top it all off, Soccer AM is about as exciting as sticking your eyeballs to a tram.

[Harry Palmer]

Football won't die.

 

As long as every fan has hope that one day their team will enjoy just a little success, no matter what level.

 

At the top it's going stale due to the pursuit of money. Stop seeding teams and randomly draw teams but it won't happen.

[Harry Palmer]

And, to top it all off, Soccer AM is about as exciting as sticking your eyeballs to a tram.

 

What tram?

[Tommy Wiseau]

And, to top it all off, Soccer AM is about as exciting as sticking your eyeballs to an Edinburgh tram.

 

 

Fixed. With a regular tram, you'd at least be getting somewhere in the end...

[The Merse]

Football won't die.

 

As long as every fan has hope that one day their team will enjoy just a little success, no matter what level.

 

At the top it's going stale due to the pursuit of money. Stop seeding teams and randomly draw teams but it won't happen.

 

I said that exact thing to my mate in the boozer last night.

 

Seeding is one of the main problems football has imo.

[flecktimus]

I think the game is becoming unbelievably stale.

 

I watch/talk/read about football every single day of my life but I am seriously getting bored of it.

 

I enjoyed Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup infinitely more than every recent football tournament. It's so boring.

 

International football is dull as, SPL is just beyond rubbish, the Champions League is so repetitive I honestly think football has hit a massive lull and could actually fade away from being the most popular sport in the world.

 

Surely I'm not the only one utterly bemused by the fare on offer these days?

 

I didn't even put a fight up, to let my better half watch Monarch of the Glen last night.

[Nelly Terraces]

And, to top it all off, Soccer AM is about as exciting as sticking your eyeballs to a tram.

 

 

Is that garbage still on? Jeezuz. Typical Sky, take an idea, then wring every single piece of originality or humour out of it ad nauseum for years. Ceased to be funny over 5 years ago (at this point I'll say, I didnt find it amusing in the slightest, but could see why people thught it would be), but they continue to flog it to death.

[Francis Albert]

... and yet I still hate these dead weekends when Hearts aren't playing. Like others I have steadily moved from being a football fan to being more exclusively a Hearts fan. There is just too much football to watch on TV now, and inevitably a large proportion of it is dross. The last decent sport journalism died out 20 years ago, and reading ex-players' ghosted drivel, and reading about the over-rated prima donnas in the big clubs, is no fun. Radio and TV commentators are now fifth rate comedians who believe they are "personalities".

 

Now of course a large proportion of Hearts games are and almost always have been dross, but even watching Hearts play badly has its own fascination.

[Seymour M Hersh]

I'm not sure it's dying but it's certainly going through a torrid time.

 

FOr me it's not exciting going to games anymore. I used to look forward to home games (and away games in the past but stopped going to them about 4 years go) but really don't nowadays.

 

There is way, way, way too much football on the TV now. Imho Sky has been key to football going downhill with the blanket coverage.

 

The football set up in Scotland is amateurish from top to bottom. Three sets of blazers ru(i)nning it with three sets of agendas and expense.

 

The leagues are crap with petty feuds being carried over game to game due to playing 4 times a year. The fear factor preventing any real open football.

 

The split is pathetic generating no excitement.

 

Feel free to add to the list of reasons you feel football is at an all time low in quality, excitement and a general desire to go to games.

[Seymour M Hersh]

And, to top it all off, Soccer AM is about as exciting as sticking your eyeballs to a tram.

 

Wildly optimistic they'll ever run in Edinburgh.

[Ben Dover]

Nah, I have similar feelings.

It's not just the current malaise at Hearts, and lets not forget there has NEARLY ALWAYS been a malaise at Hearts during my lifetime - bar three brief interludes around the years 86, 98 and 05

We've also just come through, IMO, one of the poorest World Cups in living memory, perhaps noted only for some of the oscar winning peformances for simulation !

What are the top brass doing about it, fiddling while Rome burns IMO.

Hugh Dallas has been out telling the media about new rulings in the game.....an end to diving and crude tackles perhaps? - naw, they have hit the motherload this time and restricted the number of staff allowed in the technical area to one .....aye feckin magic. That will bring the fans flooding back.

The bottom line is that I honestly feel that 'THEY'are taking a lend of me as a paying punter - and that's not going to go on much longer with other interests in life !

[The Merse]

I'm not sure it's dying but it's certainly going through a torrid time.

 

FOr me it's not exciting going to games anymore. I used to look forward to home games (and away games in the past but stopped going to them about 4 years go) but really don't nowadays.

 

There is way, way, way too much football on the TV now. Imho Sky has been key to football going downhill with the blanket coverage.

 

The football set up in Scotland is amateurish from top to bottom. Three sets of blazers ru(i)nning it with three sets of agendas and expense.

 

The leagues are crap with petty feuds being carried over game to game due to playing 4 times a year. The fear factor preventing any real open football.

 

The split is pathetic generating no excitement.

 

Feel free to add to the list of reasons you feel football is at an all time low in quality, excitement and a general desire to go to games.

 

Here's one.

 

And it's a question.

 

How many times have you watched Hearts v Motherwell?

 

I don't know how long you've been going to football but I bet it's a hell of alot of games v the same team.

 

Simply boring.

[Ribble]

Here's one.

 

And it's a question.

 

How many times have you watched Hearts v Motherwell?

 

I don't know how long you've been going to football but I bet it's a hell of alot of games v the same team.

 

Simply boring.

 

Indeed, on top of that when was the last time anyone went to a hearts game and pre-match thought 'it should be good to see x y or z from the opposing team today'?? At least a few years ago when we were getting pumped by the uglies you could actually take some solice in watching guys like Laudrup!

[Francis Albert]

Here's one.

 

And it's a question.

 

How many times have you watched Hearts v Motherwell?

 

I don't know how long you've been going to football but I bet it's a hell of alot of games v the same team.

 

Simply boring.

A red herring IMO. Swapping a match with Motherwell (or one with Hibs) for one with East Fife is hardly going to improve anything. Will there be a bumper crowd for the first visit of ICT for well over a year? And in international football there is far MORE variety in terms of opposition than ever before, without noticably improving the game.

 

One thing for me is that seldom these days is football about simply going out to beat the opposition as well as you can. Even winning a cup has become important because it means qualification to qualifying matches for another competition. In England finishing 4th rather than 5th is far more important than finishing 1st rather than 2nd. After endless qualification capaigns half of the bloated finals in international competitions are all about qualifying for the knock out stages, resulting in cautious football for the first two rounds of games at least. Ditto the Champions League and Europa Cup.

[The Comedian]

Here's one.

 

And it's a question.

 

How many times have you watched Hearts v Motherwell?

 

I don't know how long you've been going to football but I bet it's a hell of alot of games v the same team.

 

Simply boring.

 

I'll be honest, I cannot get revved up for games other than Celtic, Rangers & Hibs. The rest bore me to tears.

[jamboinglasgow]

I think simply its because Scotland and Hearts are not doing well. There is nothing wrong in finding it dull if you are not playing well and often losing. Its tough on a persons mentality.

[kingantti1874]

Spot on, I can barely be arses thing any football these days, ven the premiership and cl are crap-the spl is an utter utter joke of a league !!

[Adi Dassler]

Anyone who attends football matches these days does so for one (or both) of the two follwoing reasons;

 

(i) Out of habit. It is something you have always done and would be lost on a Saturday without it.

 

(ii) The social aspect of seeing your mates and having a few beers before/after the game.

 

The whole thing is so unbelievably crap now i can see no other reason for going.

[micole]

TBH If Hearts were not in exsistance fitba would be just a thing i would watch from time to time on the tv. The authorities that run the game have ruined it IMO, sub standard refereeing, constant stop start in games,making the game virtually a non contact sport. On top off all that we now have British players adopting the continental trate of diving, cheating to get any advantage, and what is worse this is now an acceptable part of the game etc.

 

Mon the Hearts!!

[Ben Dover]

I think simply its because Scotland and Hearts are not doing well. There is nothing wrong in finding it dull if you are not playing well and often losing. Its tough on a persons mentality.

 

 

Granted we get even more gloomy after a defeat. However I think it's too easy for those in control to say something similar and write the current position off as just a blip, be it at domestic or national level !

The national sides results are not going to improve in the near future because we simply don't have the quality of player at this time.

Also the domestic game is feeling the same effects after medium term over exposure to cheap foreign imports !

Thats not the only problem though and football is now having to fight for it's place in our busy weekend schedules.

The horse has bolted I'm afraid and the GFA ( although they are certainly not alone ) simply don't now how to temp it back in !

[Gigolo-Aunt]

So much football on the box these days, over kill big time.

 

Love watching the Spanish and Italian football, but hand pick the SPL and PL to watch.

 

TBH, football is pretty boring and predictable, but now and again you do see a game that reminds you why you loved it as a kid.

 

Get more of a kick from watching old you tube clips of games from the 70's and 80's. Not saying everything was great back then, but defo have more of an attachment with that than modern day.

[i8hibsh]

Soccer am is awful. Same guests every week. Ray Winston has been on it 13 times!

 

I despise football.

[Francis Albert]

Anyone who attends football matches these days does so for one (or both) of the two follwoing reasons;

 

(i) Out of habit. It is something you have always done and would be lost on a Saturday without it.

 

(ii) The social aspect of seeing your mates and having a few beers before/after the game.

 

The whole thing is so unbelievably crap now i can see no other reason for going.

 

So why do about twice as many people go regularly to Tynecastle now than they did in the '60s and '70's? Despite it being about twice as expensive in real terms?

 

I go because I enjoy it more than almost anything.

[luckydug]

No your not, it's a turgid waste of time and money.

 

I personally hardly watch any football now other than Hearts. I'm also a bawhair from not bothering about the International game too.

 

 

 

 

 

I think both yourself and the OP have hit the nail on the head here.

I watch Hearts and the highlights packages on TV .

I missed the International last night I dont think I will even bother watching the highlights(if there are any)

International football has become a waste of time half the Scottish team are not even Scottish. International football should be scrapped unless the teams are truly citizens and nationals of they country they are playing for.

The next thing will be transfer fees between countries its got that bad.

I am a proud and patriotic Scot who wants to watch proper International matches like it used to be before we started bending the rules.

As for club football money has killed it.The fans dont matter anymore clubs are more interested in TV money.

[scott_jambo]

Anyone who attends football matches these days does so for one (or both) of the two follwoing reasons;

 

(i) Out of habit. It is something you have always done and would be lost on a Saturday without it.

 

(ii) The social aspect of seeing your mates and having a few beers before/after the game.

 

The whole thing is so unbelievably crap now i can see no other reason for going.

 

 

FOOTBALL - THE END?

[Joey J J Jr Shabadoo]

It goes back to the Huns putting Leeds out of the Euro Cup. ITV (or possibly Sky) complained to UEFA that there would be nothing to interest English viewers. The format was soon changed to allow the top 3 or 4 teams from the most populated countries to qualify, thus guaranteeing bigger TV audiences. Since then the Euro Cup (or the misnomer Champions League) has got increasingly dull & repetitive with the same teams playing each other every year. It's also set up to allow those clubs from big countries to lose a couple of games and still qualify for the knock out stage.

 

Shortly before that, Sky invented football - or at least they'd like us to believe that - by marketing the Premiership as the greatest league in the world.

 

Platini came to powsr promising to fight for the small clubs. He's quickly realised that if he does the big clubs will walk and form their own league, thus putting UEFA out of business.

 

It won't change any time soon and football will continue to alienate the smaller clubs and we'll never see another final like Forest v Malmo.

[The Mighty Thor]

Football is fecked. TV has slowly strangled the life out of football to the point now where it dictates to the game's ruling bodies as they are so desperate for and dependent on the cash it brings. Everyone has forgotten about the guy who pays his money every week. He's an irrelevance.

I've said for years the best times I've ever had at football was watching the Hearts in the 80's when we were pish! Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and the likes. Decent away crowds and Saturday 3pm kick offs.

Nowadays I've got to sit down at 12 mid-day because Sky say so and watch a collection of disinterested mercenaries, who lift ?5k a week, roll about the deck whinging like a schoolgirl.

I spend more time chatting to the two boys next to me than watching the game most weeks because generally the fare on offer is so poor.

I can't see a way back for football because the game on Scotland is run by a self preservation society who don't have the guts to make the changes they need to make. The mcleish report? lol

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

I think we follow our club now through a sense of duty rather than any hope of being entertained. Even the old tynecastle atmosphere seems to be a bit stale. 4-5-1 formations and incompetant refs are ruining the game

[Francis Albert]

Football is fecked. TV has slowly strangled the life out of football to the point now where it dictates to the game's ruling bodies as they are so desperate for and dependent on the cash it brings. Everyone has forgotten about the guy who pays his money every week. He's an irrelevance.

I've said for years the best times I've ever had at football was watching the Hearts in the 80's when we were pish! Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and the likes. Decent away crowds and Saturday 3pm kick offs.

Nowadays I've got to sit down at 12 mid-day because Sky say so and watch a collection of disinterested mercenaries, who lift ?5k a week, roll about the deck whinging like a schoolgirl.

I spend more time chatting to the two boys next to me than watching the game most weeks because generally the fare on offer is so poor.

I can't see a way back for football because the game on Scotland is run by a self preservation society who don't have the guts to make the changes they need to make. The mcleish report? lol

So if it was so great why did we quite often get crowds of 3000 or 4000 for league games?

[Nucky Thompson]

I lost interest in any other football apart from Hearts a long time ago. In fact football's not even my favorite sport anymore.

[audrey65]

All the coaches now do the same "badges" and you cant get a coaching job unless your suitably qualified. Trouble with every coach doing the same courses means they all have the same ideas and the onus is on avoiding defeat (Scotland last night? Rangers against Man Utd?) and avoiding defeat is a lot easier to achieve than winning a game. I think that while I too question the competence of referees there has to be degree of responsibility on the players to adhere to the rules. In my opinion they are generally whinging, whining, moaning, cheating diving girls blouses. If anybody spoke to my man the way players scream at the ref I would fully expect him to knock them out and if he didnt he would be in the guests room for a month. I have no time for guys who dive to the ground like they've been hit by a truck only to jump up 10 seconds later, whats the ref meant to do? Last night I saw McGregor whinging about the Czech's diving in the box. I mean, McGregor of all people complaing that someone cheated? That just sums it up for me and I have to admit I dont enjoy it like I used to.

 

I think we follow our club now through a sense of duty rather than any hope of being entertained. Even the old tynecastle atmosphere seems to be a bit stale. 4-5-1 formations and incompetant refs are ruining the game

[RoussetsShorts]

BRING BACK TERRACING!!!!

[jamboinglasgow]

Granted we get even more gloomy after a defeat. However I think it's too easy for those in control to say something similar and write the current position off as just a blip, be it at domestic or national level !

The national sides results are not going to improve in the near future because we simply don't have the quality of player at this time.

Also the domestic game is feeling the same effects after medium term over exposure to cheap foreign imports !

Thats not the only problem though and football is now having to fight for it's place in our busy weekend schedules.

The horse has bolted I'm afraid and the GFA ( although they are certainly not alone ) simply don't now how to temp it back in !

 

I dont disagre with that. That prehaps is what makes it worse for people. Normally with a defeat you can just say it is an unlucky 90 mins but there is something much deeper at fault in Scottish football that affects both club and country. As I tried (and probably didn't do too well) to say in the other thread I created that we have to say enough is enough and change.

 

Here is a thought, how enjoyable and exciting would the SPL be if instead of the same two competiting and winning every year, that there was at least 3 or 4 competiting each year and it was not always the same teams. Across Europe there is a real danger that other main leagues are going to be dominated in the same way as Scotland. This could lead to a real apathy towards football across Europe at least.

[Samster]

Anyone who attends football matches these days does so for one (or both) of the two follwoing reasons;

 

(i) Out of habit. It is something you have always done and would be lost on a Saturday without it.

 

(ii) The social aspect of seeing your mates and having a few beers before/after the game.

 

The whole thing is so unbelievably crap now i can see no other reason for going.

 

You are absolutely spot on Adi. I look forward to the pre-match beers in the Polwarth with my dad, brother and a few mates more than the game itself.

[The Mighty Thor]

So if it was so great why did we quite often get crowds of 3000 or 4000 for league games?

 

Because it was when we were pish, really really pish.

 

I'm saying that it was when I personally enjoyed football most, but again it was probably more to do with the people i went to football with and the scrapes & adventures we got into on the football specials and supporters buses.

 

I'd say regardless of the crowds it was much much better than the sanitised, over-marketed and over-hyped garbage it is nowadays.

 

I didn't even bother using my ST to go to the game last week because i had a chance of a game of golf. Says it all.

[luckydug]

I think we follow our club now through a sense of duty rather than any hope of being entertained. Even the old tynecastle atmosphere seems to be a bit stale. 4-5-1 formations and incompetant refs are ruining the game

 

 

 

Not to mention early Kick Offs and to many petty rules and regulations.

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

Not to mention early Kick Offs and to many petty rules and regulations.

I'm lucky in a way as I live near Tynie but I feel for those who have to travel far for early kick offs Being told to sit for 90 mins is also a pain

[Radge21]

Rangers and Celtic both want to leave Scottish Football.

The Scottish football association (The GFA) only look after two teams Rangers and Celtic.

That just about sums up the state of our game.

[systemx]

I watched Northampton V Castre on Sky last night rather than watching Scotland,and if you think football refs are bad you should the clown in charge of this game.

 

I have fallen out of love with football at senior level Scottish football is currently dross with very poor and vastly overpaid journeymen being the norm in all of the teams.The second and third divisions are no better than the Juniors and should be scrapped along with the blazers ,from these teams, who are appointed to various cttees.Can anyone tell me what they have achieved in promoting the game over the last 3 decades or so?

 

The diving and cheating (now copied at all levels) of players in the top European league and International teams has truly sickened me and the corrupt *******s at UEFA and Fifa simply ignore it .

 

The wages paid to so called Top Players is now so far removed from reality they have lost touch with the ordinary supporter so much so that the game has lost its soul.

 

I still enjoy watching juvenile and amateur games where for the most part its about 22 guys playing for the love of the game.

 

Scunnered

 

Tranent

[moonraker]

I watched Northampton V Castre on Sky last night rather than watching Scotland,and if you think football refs are bad you should the clown in charge of this game.

 

I have fallen out of love with football at senior level Scottish football is currently dross with very poor and vastly overpaid journeymen being the norm in all of the teams.The second and third divisions are no better than the Juniors and should be scrapped along with the blazers ,from these teams, who are appointed to various cttees.Can anyone tell me what they have achieved in promoting the game over the last 3 decades or so?

 

The diving and cheating (now copied at all levels) of players in the top European league and International teams has truly sickened me and the corrupt *******s at UEFA and Fifa simply ignore it .

 

The wages paid to so called Top Players is now so far removed from reality they have lost touch with the ordinary supporter so much so that the game has lost its soul.

 

I still enjoy watching juvenile and amateur games where for the most part its about 22 guys playing for the love of the game.

 

Scunnered

 

Tranent

 

 

Now spend Saturdays watching my son playing in the Hellenic League for Purton FC when they have a home game, probably average a crowd of about 70-80 for home games, standard not brilliant but can have a bit of a laugh and no officious stewards to spoil the fun. As with most football the refs are murder.

[J.C 7]

Agree with the OP's sentiments entirely.

 

I've watched Hearts home and away in seasons gone by but gave up to start playing football again while I still can at the start of last season. Much prefer the buzz of playing and is a millions times better than watching. Find I look forward to games a lot more when I do watch Hearts but the thought of going to the same places over and over again is horrible. Fair play to those who still do it. Fir park is one place that when I think of going, it just depresses me.

 

The champions league is a joke, same games, same teams, money driven nonsense IMO. The group stages especially are a snore fest.

 

Cant get excited about much football wise these days, the coverage is so over saurated it's unbelievable.

 

I'm not saying I know everything about football but there's a certain 'new type' of football fan I cant stand, who talk utter nonsense about the game and make me sick, just cos it's fashionable. The money gravy train cant last forever, maybe it's what the game needs, things have went to far.

[MacDonald Jardine]

Because it was when we were pish, really really pish.

 

I'm saying that it was when I personally enjoyed football most, but again it was probably more to do with the people i went to football with and the scrapes & adventures we got into on the football specials and supporters buses.

 

I'd say regardless of the crowds it was much much better than the sanitised, over-marketed and over-hyped garbage it is nowadays.

 

I didn't even bother using my ST to go to the game last week because i had a chance of a game of golf. Says it all.

 

I agree with most of this but you'll probably find we're about the same age.

That IMO has a lot to do with people remembering the 70s and 80s so fondly.

 

That era is now further away than the Terrible Trio were when i started going.

[i8hibsh]

Back in the day a manager was boss. He answered to noone.

 

Now the football hierarchy has players above them, directors of football! What are directors of football all about.

 

Its just as well Bill Shankleys dead as the state of liverpool 2010 would've killed him anyway.

 

Football sold out and we will never get it back.

[Jambo_Gaz]

Back in the day a manager was boss. He answered to noone.

 

Now the football hierarchy has players above them, directors of football! What are directors of football all about.

 

Its just as well Bill Shankleys dead as the state of liverpool 2010 would've killed him anyway.

 

Football sold out and we will never get it back.

 

You summed it up last week perfectly. Losing interest in football so fast in the last few years, it's scary. After a Hearts defeat I would be in a mood all night and most of the Sunday, especially at work on a Monday too. Nowadays, I just shrug my shoulders and go, meh...

[rdewar42]

There's much wrong with the game in general, but to stick to the SPL, it will forever be on a downward spiral until the GFA, officials, Weegie media and the clowns who patrol the shopping centres of towns such as Stirling, Motherwell, Kilmarnock and so on, wearing O.F. tops, cease to sponsor and foster the dominance of the Gruesome Twosome.

 

Btw. I still get a thrill attending Tyncastle with my two sons, to watch our beloved Heart of Midlothian.

[The Mighty Thor]

For anyone that has any doubt about how sterile our game is these days read this thread.

 

My link

 

Read what the posters say about the atmosphere and the game and the Hearts support back then.

 

It makes me want to weep thinking about the current game.