Ok people are always whining on about football in the past being some wonderous thing where the players were magicians and the tactics were incredible and blah blah blah. I think it's time to put olden days football on trial and finally convict it of actually being quite shit.
Exhibit A: The pitches.
This is what a football pitch looked like in 1970. More accurately, this is what the pitch at Wembley for the FA Cup Final looked like. Now what exactly do you think the pitches at Stoke or Huddesfield might have looked like?
Here's Rangers and Celtic after a 1970's Scottish Cup quarter final..
You could play a game of football on that could you? We wouldn't let our kids nowadays play under those conditions, yet apparently we believe that guys were producing silky smooth high quality football playing in 3 inches of mud?
Exhibit B: The fitness
As any old, out of shape, heavy drinker and smoker like myself will know, fitness really does form a sizeable role in playing football. Even on a 5 a side pitch you end up fecking knackered after half an hour of half-arsedly running about. So how about 90 minutes of the highest level professional football playing against the best players in your entire country?
That's right Stan, players back in the day (the day in this case being any time up until the 80's) routinely enjoyed a fag and a pint, after tucking into their fish and chips.
Here's Jack Charlton enjoying a quick fag DURING TRAINING.
Now seriously, how much end to end running do you think actually went on over 90 minutes in a time when most players would have burst into a coughing fit if they stood up too quickly?
Exhibit C: The video evidence
Now exhibits A & B are open to some discussion, but most damningly of all we already know that olden days football was shit, because we have video evidence of it being shit. Seriously, you can watch with your own eyes as players stumble around, kick each other and score bang average goals that are widely applauded as 'world class'. Let's see some of this shambles..
Yep, that's the 1963 cup final, brought to you of course by British Pathe! Now imagine the Manchester United of today playing like that. Seriously, imagine it and if you think that would be great then send David Moyes an enormous apology card.
OK, now we're getting really serious, its the one the only PELE! Execpt there's a funny thing isn't there, when you actually focus on his 'unstoppable skills' there's very little there that we don't see on basically a weekly basis in the modern PL. "Oh my god, he's tapped the ball slightly sideways, leaving the 17 stone defender lunging wildly in the air!". Now fair play to Pele, he was doing this stuff at a time when no-one else could (probably because they we're too busy shaking off the effects of their half time pint), but compared to modern football? Oh hell no.
Ok, so we'll end on Johan Cruyff. One of the greatest players ever to walk the hallowed turf of blah blah blah. Now Johan was good, damn good in fact, but just watch that video and focus not on him but on the defenders and midfielders trying (not trying) to stop him. It's beyond shambolic, they lung in, he sidesteps them or does a quick turn and they're generally either on the floor or trying to kick him.
Because that's what olden days football actually was. The vast majority were unfit smokers shambling around a 'pitch' that looked like the Somme kicking anyone they couldn't be arsed to run after.
Discuss.
Exhibit A: The pitches.
This is what a football pitch looked like in 1970. More accurately, this is what the pitch at Wembley for the FA Cup Final looked like. Now what exactly do you think the pitches at Stoke or Huddesfield might have looked like?
Here's Rangers and Celtic after a 1970's Scottish Cup quarter final..
You could play a game of football on that could you? We wouldn't let our kids nowadays play under those conditions, yet apparently we believe that guys were producing silky smooth high quality football playing in 3 inches of mud?
Exhibit B: The fitness
As any old, out of shape, heavy drinker and smoker like myself will know, fitness really does form a sizeable role in playing football. Even on a 5 a side pitch you end up fecking knackered after half an hour of half-arsedly running about. So how about 90 minutes of the highest level professional football playing against the best players in your entire country?
That's right Stan, players back in the day (the day in this case being any time up until the 80's) routinely enjoyed a fag and a pint, after tucking into their fish and chips.
Here's Jack Charlton enjoying a quick fag DURING TRAINING.
Now seriously, how much end to end running do you think actually went on over 90 minutes in a time when most players would have burst into a coughing fit if they stood up too quickly?
Exhibit C: The video evidence
Now exhibits A & B are open to some discussion, but most damningly of all we already know that olden days football was shit, because we have video evidence of it being shit. Seriously, you can watch with your own eyes as players stumble around, kick each other and score bang average goals that are widely applauded as 'world class'. Let's see some of this shambles..
Yep, that's the 1963 cup final, brought to you of course by British Pathe! Now imagine the Manchester United of today playing like that. Seriously, imagine it and if you think that would be great then send David Moyes an enormous apology card.
OK, now we're getting really serious, its the one the only PELE! Execpt there's a funny thing isn't there, when you actually focus on his 'unstoppable skills' there's very little there that we don't see on basically a weekly basis in the modern PL. "Oh my god, he's tapped the ball slightly sideways, leaving the 17 stone defender lunging wildly in the air!". Now fair play to Pele, he was doing this stuff at a time when no-one else could (probably because they we're too busy shaking off the effects of their half time pint), but compared to modern football? Oh hell no.
Ok, so we'll end on Johan Cruyff. One of the greatest players ever to walk the hallowed turf of blah blah blah. Now Johan was good, damn good in fact, but just watch that video and focus not on him but on the defenders and midfielders trying (not trying) to stop him. It's beyond shambolic, they lung in, he sidesteps them or does a quick turn and they're generally either on the floor or trying to kick him.
Because that's what olden days football actually was. The vast majority were unfit smokers shambling around a 'pitch' that looked like the Somme kicking anyone they couldn't be arsed to run after.
Discuss.