04 Apr 2023 17:53:46
Isn't it a shame the wonderful game of football is no longer. I have followed and supported Wolves for sixty years.Growing up you never saw pitch invasions, players assaulted, goalkeepers having items thrown at them,players cheating to get a decision for their team, referees pushed and surrounded by players, touchline skirmishes, players having off field issues.Controversial club ownership,Opposing fans fighting. Today it's become win or else. Take a look at managers sacked because of bad results. People pay a lot of money to watch a football game, are they getting value for money. I can count on one hand the number of games this season where football excelled. I was told early on to be a good loser. How many times do managers and players come across as poor losers. They should enjoy the game or leave. I hope my beloved Wolves have enough petrol in the tank to get over the line and avoid relegation. That would be a tragedy.
{Ed001's Note - you must not have seen a single game if you believe any of that never happened in the past. Pitch invasions were a much more regular occurence. Objects have always been thrown from the crowd. Off field issues were normal but there was no social media to tell everyone. The only real difference is that referees are now weak and bullied by the teams. Oh and the number of managers, that is a big change, but that is the world we live in where no one earns anything by working towards it over many years. Now everything is immediate and no one wants to wait.}
04 Apr 2023 18:42:21
I started watching games in the mid 1960's and it's a fact that pitch invasions and fighting fans were much more prevalent then than they are now.Cheating has increased to some extent but surely everyone ofa certain age remembers Leeds of the late 60's/eary 70's.
04 Apr 2023 19:40:06
Pitch invasions were certainly quite common in the 80s, actually you should have seen the crowd trouble there used to be in the 80s propper scraps.
04 Apr 2023 21:04:13
There are differences to how things used to, from the sportsmanship and good behaviour through the 50's and 60's to the imported fashion for crowd trouble into the 70's.
There has been a marked decline in the sort of crowd disorder that we saw back then thanks to a number of factors. The all seater design of the grounds and the sheer costs involved in getting into them. This along with on the gate searches, CCTV, etc, has drastically reduced troublemakers who can now be easily identified and banned.
Plus, going on the pitch will now land you in court, so as Ed001 pointed out some things are better/safer now but I sense Lindsay's real frustration is the detrimental effect that eye watering sums of money have had on the game itself.
With some clubs now effectively owned by countries, not just the mega wealthy, with insane players salaries and relegation representing not just a loss of kudos but £100's of millions as well.
This creates a further layer of pressure with the Manager mainly carrying the can, hence the massive pressures they find themselves under, affecting the behaviour of some. Of course the other elephant in the room is the corruption that some rightly or wrongly suspect is pervading the game.
This often sits hand in hand with both money making and potentially losing on this scale. It might be referees feeling intimidated and bottling a decision, it might be clubs trying to get round FFP with a bit of creative accountancy or it may be players diving and mobbing the ref while waiving imaginary cards.
So at the highest levels it's not the game some of us remember any more, some things may be better, but there's plenty that's not, imo.
05 Apr 2023 06:44:14
The difficulty LongmyndWolf, is we are shaped by our lifetime experiences.
I remember my parents talking about a better society in their day.and now I hear myself saying the same!
Society evolves and generations are shaped by their time.
I remember fondly going to Molineux as a kid on foggy November nights, smelling the woodbines on the way to the ground and standing, uncomfortably with a poor view,watched players performing on a mud patch. but loving the atmosphere!
Today kids would be offended by the smoke. poor pitches and limited view.
Things change, sometimes for the good, sometimes not.
I don't enjoy the way money controls the game, the way Officials are abused (Football has plenty to answer for) and the way results have to be instant, ie 13 Premiership managers sacked (so far) this season.
It is just the way the world evolves (or not).
05 Apr 2023 07:23:28
Taking all of the above into account I think the words missing now are sportsmanship in the fair play sense, accepting you were beaten,applauding the better team, accepting the officials decision without mob protest. The game as been ruined by the money, improved by all seaters cctv etc. But anyone who thinks the violence and invasions of the 70s were prevalent in the 50s early 60s are too young to have seen a game then. The debates were in the pubs or buses home with only your own eyes view and memory to back things up. Everything as spiralled into a commercial product now, it's not the working man's Saturday entertainment anymore, it's corporate in everyway. It's OK fining wolves £56000 for the touchline rumpus but where is any remorse or disgrace? Writing a cheque you can afford dosnt resolve control or discipline. For the shame of doing wrong as/is been/being lost.