FA Cup First Qualifying Round …

[Chauncey]

Hereford v Cambridge City in the next round of the FA Cup,now that sounds like a fixture from the past

[Psaw]

Yes it is, City and Hereford have a long history. When Hereford went up to the football league i remember John Charles and Terry Paine playing for Hereford, such a long time ago, yet it feels like no time at all, at United.

The southern league in the 1960s was a wonderful place, brilliant football, competitive, physical, fast, skilled, not like the 5 a side game today, slow, predictable, boring.

If you put a current player in there in the 60s thay wont know what hit them, one tackle and they would be out for three months.

Yes a tackle, when i was a lad, the yardstick for being ready for mens football was being able to stay on your feet after a tackle from behind.

YES FROM BEHIND.

No one tackles today, forwards can do what they want without fear of interference, it makes the game more of a spectacle, which of course increases gates.

As a Birmingham City manager once said to his team at half time v Arsenal many years ago, that theres no point running along side a player, there isnt is there? In the second half a City player broke the leg of an Arsenal player, in two places i think, putting him out for a year or so.

Birmingham back then were a well known hatchet team, their wasnt enough paper to list the disciplinary action. Mark Dennis was a very bad man. In the anglo Italian cup the Blues had a fight with an Italian team and won. Such happy days.

Tackling is safe, my brother was an example, he was a Roy Keane type, but stronger, he could have a tackle flying in, two, three four, sometimes at once, and still keep the ball. If a challenger ran over him, hed get up from that.

This is whats missing from football today, the gladiator bit, there are no hard men anymore. The football is passe, boring, tippy tappy rubbish.

As the years have gone by, the art of football has gone, that goals used to be a thing of creativity, genius, beauty, now its just taps over the line. The Da Vincis of football went a long time ago, replaced by behemoths 7 feet tall, run all day etc.......where are the Giles, Zidanes....etc

Gone. For good.

[Chauncey]

I absolutely agree with everything that you said in that post Frank,the days of hard proper football are long gone and will probably never reappear,the image of one of todays players going back to the 60’s did amuse me though,I can just imagine them rolling around in agony in the first five minutes after diving only for him to look bewildered as the game just to carrys on his ego laying on the ground next to him,where have the Norman Hunters gone,maybe Vinny Jones was the last one that I can remember,playing dirty isn’t the same as being hard imo,I have a faint memory of two players knocking the sh­it out of each during a game once but who they were escapes me now,I don’t even think that they was near the football when it kicked off but I’m sure that you will remember Frank?

[Psaw]

That would be Norman Hunter and Francis Lee, in the Leeds v ManCity games. Ive had a long football career, and looking back i remember a hospital cup game for Rubery v Barnsley Hall from Bromsgrove. It ended 0-0, and was the hardest fought game ive been in. After i hung up my boots there was a five a side league involving hospital and social services teams, some were so hard fought it was unbelievable.

And when it got hard fought i loved it, the physicality, effort, skills, that any mistake or bad judgment could lose you the game.

And yes, i fouled and got fouled , it only added to the combat, its an expression of a hunter, a beast, masculinity, it expressed primitive drives of kill or be killed. I remember one tackle, i hit a centre forward mid hip, at speed, he went flying and spinning, i could have pulled out but went through him deliberately.

To his credit he got up,said nothing, and carried on like it was expected , he deserved the foul, he was good, an ex villa apprentice, you had to let them know.

That frisson has gone now, i always sized up an opponent, and depending on ability, treated them appropriately to keep them quiet, i prided myself on reading the game, i snuffed out trouble before it strarted, or was always ready if a co defender fouled up.

Being physical was a prime ingredient, not anymore.....and loved it.

[Chauncey]

“I wasn’t a very good player but I could stop players who were “

Jackie Charlton

I would have liked to have seen you play back on day Frank,the days of proper football are long gone

[Chauncey]

That would be Norman Hunter and Francis Lee, in the Leeds v ManCity games. it.

I haven’t thought about that punch up in decades before mentioning it on here and then a couple of weeks later it pops up on my YouTube because Francis Lee had passed away,it’s a strange world that we live in

[Psaw]

I just looked it up, things were so different back then the atmosphere, the football, the speed of moving the ball was incredible, the atmosphere was like on tenterhooks throughout games.

Modern football, before i quit watching United was that you could turn up at half time and nowts happened, then towards the end and behind, United or anyone would open up a bit and get a weak shot on goal, saved of course. Take a book to read.

Its boring, games on tv follow the same dont lose path, playing tippy tappy nonsense, it should be going for the throat from minute one. As Derry used to say, " remember to tuck in". which means get behind the ball at all times.

Lee was a cracking player, fast, skilled, a shooter, a good one, a dribbler, aggressive, i had a lot of trouble with dribblers, the key was to stand still and not be fooled by feints etc, keep your eyes on the ball. Hunter or Lee never backed down, it was Leeds v Derby. All things change in time, the 60s 70s and 80s were never going to not change.

Into this, a far inferior game, thanks to fifa.

[Chauncey]

It’s a pity that Cambridge City couldn’t overcome Hereford last Saturday otherwise they would have pulled Rochdale out of the hat for the next round,will you be interested in the first round proper when the draw is made,surely the excitement of the FA Cup still holds with you?

[Psaw]

One of Citys best players got injured in the pre game warm up, and another good half back got injured after 15 minutes, it wasnt to be, im sure they did well to keep it to three, ive seen them play three times this year.

Of course im interested in the first round, not like the old days though. My father commented once on my trainspotting as a youngster, he said when youve seen one youve seen them all.

A giant killing is just like that, so is a thirty yard drive into the top corner, a top spin 30 yard pass into feet, oh, that doesnt happen anymore, current players cant pass, they havent been trained too, you need football intelligence to see a good pass, or a mazy dribble, o dear, players dont do that anymore.

Ronnie Radfords winner v Newcastle was the epicentre of glory, if we can call it that.

If i were a current football manager id be looking at football like a battle field, looking at new and inventive ways of overcoming the opposition. Not like today, grinding out results with predictable tactics.

People hated the long ball game, i didnt, but now the tippy tappy sh ite is just as bad if not worse, yes it is worse. When i watched united or other clubs, United especially, they could regularly go a whole game without a shot on goal.

Whats all that about, ? as a manager id be furious even when in possesion they do NOTHING with it. Even if your team is not as good as the opposition, getting the ball into the opponents penalty area gives you a chance, and gives the defence a rest.

Like in all things reality responds to intelligent thinking, not global judgements, ways of doing things. If your under pressure, hack it up to big George to hold up. etc....simple really.

Not complicated enough for the pseudo intellectuals like the Boner.

[Chauncey]

Who will you be looking out for Frank,will you still be interested in seeing who Utd get drawn against and which club would it take for you go back to The Abbey one more time?