Gratitude for the golden age of football.

[Psaw]

That was football before the advent of the Premier league, which was about the year 2000. I grew up watching united sweep all away in the southern league, then romp in the football league, playing magical football, and im grateful for that.

A golden age, unsullied by the cancer of money, being an industry intent on making big bucks and they do.

And producing football that is a disgrace. Its like chewing gum thats been chewed for an hour, tasteless, an annoyance, disgusting, only fit to be thrown to the ground and trod on.

All the sweetness has been sucked out, leaving sh ite.

[chaincey.ncfc]

You can blame the greed of the Premier League and the ridiculous amounts of cash that players earn soley at the feet of Sky Frank,if Sky Sports pulled out of English football then Premier League would collapse,it?s why kids don?t go to watch their local teams anymore and instead wear Liverpool,Chelsea or City shirts

[griff]

https://youtu.be/y4CXY6TVBMc?si=LMVlpA-4dud6O57V

[Psaw]

Very funny griff, im sure that any of the old Liverpool, Arsenal, Man u teams would squash the Man Citys of today, not only in a football way, but in the physical violence way, like tackling, sliding tackles, tackles of any sort, tackling was a skill.

Not now. Players were fitter than the as sholes of today, far fitter, the Leeds Chelsea fa cup final 1970 showed that. Cambridge played ten games in about three weeks under Beck and won them all.

Theres no dribbling, players want to pass the ball into the net, its a five a side game, played at walking pace. Football as a spectacle is finished.

[griff]

Football has changed Frank, that’s why those old teams WOULDN’T have beaten today’s Man City. Not only would the old teams have been less athletic, half of them would have been sent off. As you said, it’s changed.

[Psaw]

Don Revies Leeds team would have beaten Man City no problem, they were doing what ManCity do 60 years ago. World football decided to eradicate foul play and went to far, you can see it today, touch a player and he goes down, physical contact is not allowed.

If Leeds played Man City today, the Leeds team would get sent off, all of them, the interpretation of the rules is different now. The reason for the crackdown was to protect gifted players, they didnt need protecting, not to the extent of today.

So much for protecting gifted players, there arnt any, you watching Carlisle, you must agree, i had to get a joke in.

Joking aside, where are the Gascoignes and all the others? Where? they still exist but working in burger restaurants, they dont get through the system.

The gifted players of the past were just that, if you compare individuals in the Leeds team and todays Man City team there is no comparison. The Leeds team would be fitter and far stronger physically, they had to be. Todays football is passing it into the net, thats all, its one dimensional, boring, crap. Being a football genius like Le Tissier, Best, even a Geroge Armstrong, the Arsenal player is not allowed.

Players walk through games, many never break sweat, following the game plan.

There is no game plan where a manager says to a gifted player, just do your thing, there are no gifted players. All games are set piece battles, a war of attrition, each team waiting for something to fall their way. They wait because that cant create owt.

I watch non league, those players are park players, they dont have anthing in their locker, most football players are football free zones, Man City are an exception, they have creative players. Your old like me, surely you remember that proper fotball was played in the old days.

Your just winding me up. Got me.

[chaincey.ncfc]

I?ve got agree with griff Frank,the players of yesteryear wouldn?t stand a chance against todays players and that?s why the standard of football in the National League is so much better than it ever was,it wasn?t unusual for players in the past to have a fag at half time or go out boozing the night before a game,they would have been harder but physically they would be years behind (see what I did there)
Todays players have a diet that is strictly observed and their weight is monitored daily and if it?s not adhered to then they aren?t even on the bench

Leeds was a great team but they was physical and dirty,they won by cheating and bullying the opposition and the opposition was hard teams themselves,Clough tried to stamp it out when he took over at Leeds and he barely lasted two months,it was their style and they wasn?t going to change,it wouldn?t suprise me to find that the player of the 60?s or 70?s was a good stone heavier than todays player but the game as you say has suffered for it,it?s become sterile and has no real characters but there?s too much money now for it to be anything else

[Psaw]

I disagree, the Leeds team did the passing game but better. The Liverpool team of John Barnes was better, they too going back to the 50s and 60s were ultra fit too, big money was at stake. The best Man u teams were not as good, they played an inferior game.

The old Liverpool team would wipe the floor with Man City, with Ian Rush, John Aldridge, etc, im sure there are many other teams as good.

Technically they were better, they moved the ball faster from back to front, the style today is lame, predictable, no midfielder is capable of stepping past a defender, drawing a defender and playing in the unmarked player, or any player. Today they have to build up a head of steam, be in possesion for countless minutes before they work the ball into the penalty area, for gods sake.

Passing in the old days was immensely better, there are no 30 yard passes to feet because they cant do it, passers in the old days could thread a pass to within an inch.

Leeds were physical, thats now been lost, if they played man city the manchester players would need chooches to calm themselves.

The Leeds Chelsea fa cup final in 1970, the two games, some of the greatest football ever played, there are countless games like that, spanning decades, Forest winning euro cups, the old Derby teams, when Shrewsbury won the old fourth division under Alan Durban, a wondrous team, even in the southern league there were many many gifted players, now gone.

Hardly anyone got injured, explain that. Now that physical contact is verboten injuries are a plague, given their due, United have had a whole team out all season, not just transient injuries but long term.

The english style of attack has gone, now its keep ball so we dont lose, even if we cant use it, and hope for the best, we might nick a goal.

Pass up down, left right, up down, left right, looking for a space. Shove it. If i was a football manager i would have been proud to produce a team like Leeds, in my mind the best team of all time, better than the best German or Brazilian international teams, and yes i saw them play.

Oh and another thing, where are the small players, low centre of gravity, can dribble, create , like Marradonna etc. Gone, all players even at non league are huge monsters, unable to do owt. The essence of football is now garbage. ITS NOT BETTER.