Its not supposed to be like this...

McGrathsipan

Dawn’s less famous husband
Joined
Jun 25, 2009
Messages
24,581
Location
Dublin
Football is gone beyond the point of no return in my opinion.

Clubs are gone - replaced by business. Fans are customers. Owners dont care, they just take.
Racism and abuse - rampant and dominant. Taking knees and Social media boycotts get more headlines
VAR - the absolute car crash that is ruining the game as a spectacle
FIFA and Corruption - fecking Qatar world cups
Power - the big (clubs) businesses' in the "game" attempt to create a cartel and ram a big feck you to their customers (formerly known as fans).

This is a new low. The game and everything about it is toxic and sickening. Its not meant to be like this.
There is no joy in this anymore. No enjoyment, no meaning to it. Everyone is talking about anything other than what's on the pitch.
Is there any way back from here? Its sunk so low into the abyss of toxicity!
 

Buchan

has whacked the hammer to Roswell
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
17,602
Location
The Republik of Mancunia | W3102
I agree with much of what you’re saying @McGrathsipan but I’m willing to hold fire on writing off the game completely whilst fans are still locked out of games. I have a feeling when we’ve got full houses again - and the associated euphoria that will bring to the already-emotional sport that is football - we’ll see things in a new light.

I feel at the minute that everyone is down, fed-up and fatigued from the whole pandemic situation. Give football twelve months of ‘normality’ again and I believe we’ll all be back in love once more.
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,353
Location
France
Clubs are gone - replaced by business. Fans are customers. Owners dont care, they just take.
I agree with this point but its current context bothers me because I see more and more people say that when I have seen them glorify Football business, they glorified the commercialization of clubs like United, looked down on smaller/poorer clubs, looked down on patrons, looked down on poorer leagues, on leagues built grass root football and producing players. But now that the big clubs created a world that they can't sustain themselves, a world that is built for financial investors, fans complain about things they bragged about not so long ago.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
3,895
Supports
Real Madrid
If there were no football pyramid I'd agree, but that's not the case.
 

Jaae

Not ITK
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
1,021
Location
Gtr. Manchester
Modern football is a plastic, soulless, Americanised version of what it used to be, crafted entirely by money men who have no interest in the game other than making more money from it.
 

lysglimt

Full Member
Scout
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
15,102
Football is gone beyond the point of no return in my opinion.

Clubs are gone - replaced by business. Fans are customers. Owners dont care, they just take.
Racism and abuse - rampant and dominant. Taking knees and Social media boycotts get more headlines
VAR - the absolute car crash that is ruining the game as a spectacle
FIFA and Corruption - fecking Qatar world cups
Power - the big (clubs) businesses' in the "game" attempt to create a cartel and ram a big feck you to their customers (formerly known as fans).

This is a new low. The game and everything about it is toxic and sickening. Its not meant to be like this.
There is no joy in this anymore. No enjoyment, no meaning to it. Everyone is talking about anything other than what's on the pitch.
Is there any way back from here? Its sunk so low into the abyss of toxicity!
You forgot to add Liverpool winning the league
 

Cait Sith

Full Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2014
Messages
1,379
I agree and luckily Covid and empty stadiums made it really easy for me to stop watching. I watched 1 game of football this season.

Football was heading this way long time ago when billionair owners were allowed to buy clubs and pay hundreds of millions to dabbing TikTok celebrities.

No joy in watching any of that, the quality has declined massively in every regard.
 

Vidyoyo

The bad "V"
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
Messages
21,283
Location
Not into locations = will not dwell
The culture of football has almost certainly been turned it into a globalised product and while I'd like to say it doesn't matter when you just tune in to watch the game, VAR is kinda shit.

To be honest though, I'll still say much of this has to do with medya and hypothesise that if you decrease your exposure to it - including using this forum - your joy will probably increase.

I've yet to find a single thing where being brought closer to media and taking a spin on the ever-revolving news wheel has improved my enjoyment of anything.
 

WeePat

Full Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2015
Messages
17,185
Supports
Chelsea
The culture of football has almost certainly been turned it into a globalised product and while I'd like to say it doesn't matter when you just tune in to watch the game, VAR is kinda shit.

To be honest though, I'll still say much of this has to do with medya and hypothesise that if you decrease your exposure to it - including using this forum - your joy will probably increase.

I've yet to find a single thing where being brought closer to media and taking a spin on the ever-revolving news wheel has improved my enjoyment of anything.
I'd agree with this.
 

Deery

Dreary
Joined
May 21, 2019
Messages
18,590
Things are just amplified at the minute with all these protests and super league stuff, the core element of just kicking a ball is never going to change.

I do agree with FIFA though the Qatar World Cup is a joke and not enough has been said about it.
 

alexthelion

Full Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2019
Messages
3,601
Football is gone beyond the point of no return in my opinion.

Clubs are gone - replaced by business. Fans are customers. Owners dont care, they just take.
Racism and abuse - rampant and dominant. Taking knees and Social media boycotts get more headlines
VAR - the absolute car crash that is ruining the game as a spectacle
FIFA and Corruption - fecking Qatar world cups
Power - the big (clubs) businesses' in the "game" attempt to create a cartel and ram a big feck you to their customers (formerly known as fans).

This is a new low. The game and everything about it is toxic and sickening. Its not meant to be like this.
There is no joy in this anymore. No enjoyment, no meaning to it. Everyone is talking about anything other than what's on the pitch.
Is there any way back from here? Its sunk so low into the abyss of toxicity!
Started in '92, don't know why your surprised these things have happened.
 

KiD MoYeS

Good Craig got his c'nuppins
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
32,863
Location
Love is Blind
Football is gone beyond the point of no return in my opinion.

Clubs are gone - replaced by business. Fans are customers. Owners dont care, they just take.
Racism and abuse - rampant and dominant. Taking knees and Social media boycotts get more headlines
VAR - the absolute car crash that is ruining the game as a spectacle
FIFA and Corruption - fecking Qatar world cups
Power - the big (clubs) businesses' in the "game" attempt to create a cartel and ram a big feck you to their customers (formerly known as fans).

This is a new low. The game and everything about it is toxic and sickening. Its not meant to be like this.
There is no joy in this anymore. No enjoyment, no meaning to it. Everyone is talking about anything other than what's on the pitch.
Is there any way back from here? Its sunk so low into the abyss of toxicity!
Pretty much.

A lot of the above reasons are why I invested in a season ticket for my local team, a much smaller club playing at a much, much lower standard than Manchester United. I will watch Manchester United on the television, I can't just give up on them, but it is an entertainment akin to a Netflix series nowadays more so than an actual football club.

What can we do? Keep protesting I say. But yeah, football at the highest level has been rotten for a long time.
 

Crustanoid

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2008
Messages
18,511
I agree with the OP. There needs to be a radical change and I don’t know if it’s possible. The twin issues of (1) clubs being owned by corrupt states who have financially doped the system, and (2) other clubs being drained by corrupt business men has pushed top level football past the point of return.
 

pass.pass.pass

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Oct 13, 2020
Messages
180
It's time for a change
More goalnets, more action, more goals, more ad breaks! What's to lose! Even Jon Moss could appreciate this. He could plant himself permanently on the center circle and just referee the game from there.
 

Lay

Correctly predicted Italy to win Euro 2020
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
19,790
Location
England
We are still going to watch it, right?
 

Barnslig

Full Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2014
Messages
2,467
I agree with much of what you’re saying @McGrathsipan but I’m willing to hold fire on writing off the game completely whilst fans are still locked out of games. I have a feeling when we’ve got full houses again - and the associated euphoria that will bring to the already-emotional sport that is football - we’ll see things in a new light.

I feel at the minute that everyone is down, fed-up and fatigued from the whole pandemic situation. Give football twelve months of ‘normality’ again and I believe we’ll all be back in love once more.
I kind of believe it's the other way around, that the fact we've had fans and euphoria for the last 15 years have papered over the, soon to be, massive cracks in the foundations in the game. And the recent outcomes with the ESL and the focus targeted at the owners have finally set the minds of fans on fire, to the point where we're currently at is unacceptable. The idiocy from the top down is unacceptable, and fans have finally realised they have a voice, and are now demanding change. If the protests don't die down in the very short term I'd expect the inside of stadiums being unbearable for the owners come time to open back up.
 

Mb194dc

Full Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
4,595
Supports
Chelsea
There is a way back, though it's long and probably quite painful.

Football is just a microcosm of the 21st century generally.

The root of the problem is greed.
 

Mike Phelan's Former Tash

New Member
Newbie
Joined
May 24, 2019
Messages
377
The endless plugging of the game as entertainment by the broadcasters, the constant 'exposure' and access to players and their opinions, the endless number of pundits who know nothing of playing at the highest level giving opinions as if they had, the clearly forced narrative that comes across in the commentary of games, pundits speaking passionately about subjects they don't understand (Souness, Jenas, Shearer).

Add to this VAR, mid season rule changes, spineless referees, oil clubs breaking rules and getting away with it, having to subscribe to two broadcasters to watch your team, no free to air games, expanded world cups and now champions League expansion. That's before I even mention the greedy bloodsucking leaches that own United.

Money, money, money, money.......

We are saturated with football, mostly of average quality. Less is more.

It's been getting teadious for a while. I'm hoping that the return of fans and a return to normal with the schedule will help.
 

golden_blunder

Site admin. Manchester United fan
Staff
Joined
Jun 1, 2000
Messages
119,440
Location
Dublin, Ireland
Trying to sneak the ESL through in the middle of a pandemic still annoys me. They bloody knew what they were doing with their rushed top designs, their rushed website, they knew it and they went for the money. Greedy bastards
 

Murder on Zidane's Floor

You'd better not kill Giroud
Joined
Jun 11, 2015
Messages
28,309
Football is gone beyond the point of no return in my opinion.

Clubs are gone - replaced by business. Fans are customers. Owners dont care, they just take.
Racism and abuse - rampant and dominant. Taking knees and Social media boycotts get more headlines
VAR - the absolute car crash that is ruining the game as a spectacle
FIFA and Corruption - fecking Qatar world cups
Power - the big (clubs) businesses' in the "game" attempt to create a cartel and ram a big feck you to their customers (formerly known as fans).

This is a new low. The game and everything about it is toxic and sickening. Its not meant to be like this.
There is no joy in this anymore. No enjoyment, no meaning to it. Everyone is talking about anything other than what's on the pitch.
Is there any way back from here? Its sunk so low into the abyss of toxicity!
We aren't the customers, we are the product.
 

OleGunnar20

Full Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2018
Messages
2,158
There is a way back, though it's long and probably quite painful.

Football is just a microcosm of the 21st century generally.

The root of the problem is greed.
Summed up so perfectly. Sorry state of affairs.
 

Murder on Zidane's Floor

You'd better not kill Giroud
Joined
Jun 11, 2015
Messages
28,309
How do you come to that conclusion?

We pay for the product that is the football. Lousy as it has been for years.
You pay to watch the game. The club uses your viewership and everyone's, to generate sponsorship deals. The more eyeballs on the game, the larger the sponsorship money they can command. Likewise, if you have more eyeballs on your team, you can also justify higher percentages of TV rights money. Teams now are selling a brand/product and within that is the number of eyeballs and interactions they get from fans.

I mean, isn't it well known that Woodward spoke glowingly about Twitter impressions when reporting to shareholders?