Is football shit

[Reg Smeeton]

An excellent reply, fair play stuff is just so hard to read when it's just a wall of text!

Everything is shit though, right? By and large. War and terrorism, poverty, the economy, clowns. It's little things that take you away from how shit everything is that make life worth living, and that's what football is to me. It manages to be important whilst there are still more important things, nonsensical and yet hyper analysed, laughably predictable but still often intoxicating. It is shit, but in an embraceable way.. For a) it isn't life and death, b) the joy and agony is collectively shared and c) you can do it whilst drinking with your mates on a Saturday.

That said, I didn't encounter the pre-Sky days, the times when Town won things and you could get a season ticket for the cost of a biscuit. But then no one has punched me at a game (not really), or pissed on my shoes (definitely not.) I couldn't comment on how much romantification there is of that period, but I imagine there's some. If anything I just have to hope there is, to allow the fact that one of the best players my Dad's ever seen in the flesh is Bobby Charlton, and one of mine is Jermaine Defoe.

Great post.

I daresay there are people trying to have a kickabout in downtown Aleppo as we speak. Probably mostly men, but I think the growth of the women's game important.

Alfred Williams...local hero, learned languages by chalking up daily vocabulary on his steamhammer (BO, prob not available to you)  However he despised the lads who would, as far as he was concerned,  waste their time, having a kickabout in the breaks they got from labouring. That when getting Saturday afternoon off, they went to watch the Town even more incomprehensible.

[Wobbly Bob]

An excellent reply, fair play stuff is just so hard to read when it's just a wall of text!

Everything is shit though, right? By and large. War and terrorism, poverty, the economy, clowns. It's little things that take you away from how shit everything is that make life worth living, and that's what football is to me. It manages to be important whilst there are still more important things, nonsensical and yet hyper analysed, laughably predictable but still often intoxicating. It is shit, but in an embraceable way.. For a) it isn't life and death, b) the joy and agony is collectively shared and c) you can do it whilst drinking with your mates on a Saturday.

That said, I didn't encounter the pre-Sky days, the times when Town won things and you could get a season ticket for the cost of a biscuit. But then no one has punched me at a game (not really), or pissed on my shoes (definitely not.) I couldn't comment on how much romantification there is of that period, but I imagine there's some. If anything I just have to hope there is, to allow the fact that one of the best players my Dad's ever seen in the flesh is Bobby Charlton, and one of mine is Jermaine Defoe.

Summed up perfectly. Escapism. Dive into it when the good times come round. Paddle in shallower waters when things are not so good.
Being a football fan is as much about looking into the past as it is about the present or future.

What time do the pubs open.

[Batch]

I think the feelings of escapism and joy are prone to fade as you get older. not for everyone, but at some point some of us lose a bit of it.

the real tragedy is that one of the best players you've ever seen is Jermaine Defoe. Mind you I've only seen him live once, early on, and Sol Davis kept him quiet.

[DarloSTFC84]

An excellent reply, fair play stuff is just so hard to read when it's just a wall of text!

Everything is shit though, right? By and large. War and terrorism, poverty, the economy, clowns. It's little things that take you away from how shit everything is that make life worth living, and that's what football is to me. It manages to be important whilst there are still more important things, nonsensical and yet hyper analysed, laughably predictable but still often intoxicating. It is shit, but in an embraceable way.. For a) it isn't life and death, b) the joy and agony is collectively shared and c) you can do it whilst drinking with your mates on a Saturday.

That said, I didn't encounter the pre-Sky days, the times when Town won things and you could get a season ticket for the cost of a biscuit. But then no one has punched me at a game (not really), or pissed on my shoes (definitely not.) I couldn't comment on how much romantification there is of that period, but I imagine there's some. If anything I just have to hope there is, to allow the fact that one of the best players my Dad's ever seen in the flesh is Bobby Charlton, and one of mine is Jermaine Defoe.

I get the theory behind your post, and I agree, it is a great one.

For me, however, I've fallen out of love with it over the last few years.. I really hope that passion returns because I do miss it, but I miss what I used to think it was... not what it is now. On the odd occasion that I attend a game, it's usually with my son who loves it, and that's enough for me. Although, those days where I attend alone (or with friends) I find myself playing with my phone more than I do watching the game.. I used to know the names of all of the players, something which I don't anymore, because I just don't pay much attention nowadays.

That said, I still can't help myself keeping up to date with the scores and following twitter/radio commentary of the games! I suppose there's something still there for me, which is great.

[wheretherealredsare]

I get the theory behind your post, and I agree, it is a great one.

For me, however, I've fallen out of love with it over the last few years.. I really hope that passion returns because I do miss it, but I miss what I used to think it was... not what it is now. On the odd occasion that I attend a game, it's usually with my son who loves it, and that's enough for me. Although, those days where I attend alone (or with friends) I find myself playing with my phone more than I do watching the game.. I used to know the names of all of the players, something which I don't anymore, because I just don't pay much attention nowadays.

That said, I still can't help myself keeping up to date with the scores and following twitter/radio commentary of the games! I suppose there's something still there for me, which is great.

It's been said before, it's the hope that gets you. I've been away for 10 years now but still keep up to date as much as possible. I just try to avoid the obsessive negativity... and keep hoping.

[DiV]

I think it's shit.

I completely lost the bug, some enthusiasm returned briefly but I reckon I've been to about 4 games in the last 5 years. Where as 10 years ago I'd not miss many more than 3 through out an entire season.

I remember sitting down to watch the play off final against Preston, as kick off approached I started thinking why the fuck aren't i there? I used to live for days like that. Two minutes later and that feeling had gone and I was glad I hadn't wasted my time, effort and money going.

Don't miss it all. Check the scores but sometimes forget we are playing mid week till someone mentions it.

Also, as someone said, it's the hope that gets you, now I don't know if it's a me thing or the way football has changed in general with all the money but I have no hope. I don't think we'll ever get above the third tier again. We are destined to bounce around the 3rd and 4th divisions.

We will still be playing at the County Ground as it crumbles around us.

[Batch]

... I don't think we'll ever get above the third tier again. We are destined to bounce around the 3rd and 4th divisions.

We will still be playing at the County Ground as it crumbles around us.

I think the feeling is shared. It doesn't make it necessarily true, we might get lucky.

The real trouble is when you get there, the championship, financially it's tough. Getting there and staying  is almost approaching the difficulty of  what it was to get and stay in the premier league.

Lack of any kind of plan to address getting there and staying there is a bit of an enthusiasm killer. bumbling along is a hard sell.

[DiV]

We might get lucky but even the rich billionaire takeover is pot luck.
For ever Chelsea and Manchester City there is a Leeds, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Villa so on and so forth.

Our stadium really holds us back. I dread to think how many teams have had new stadiums or redeveloped their current stadiums since we did any proper work to ours.

[Peter Venkman]

I have spells of going to games, I never missed a home game from 77 to 81 then went to every game home and away from 82 to 99 (part of that while working at the club) and then I moved 90 miles away.

I found I went to less games but was still interested, then you manage to ge to less and less games so you drift away a bit but still keep an eye on results but it is not as major a part of your life as it once was but you still listen to the occassional game and go to a few, more away than home in my case but it never fully leaves you.

In recent years the only time I felt the club wanted me to attend and that I felt part of it was under PdC.

Yes with hindsight (and a little idea at the time) we can see he was over stretching our finances and his politics leave a lot to be desired but he galvanzied the club from the players and staff down to all (99%) the fans.

There was a feeling we were going to achieve great things, he could speak to the press and fans and make us feel part of the club, our support was wanted and needed in this rollercoaster ride that we were on, at that time it was almost all upwards and could have gone a lot lot higher.

He was nuttier than a Snickers and the fans in the main adored him despite the negatives.

I have mates that support other clubs and they often came with me to matches just for the "Paolo effect" he had on fans, and they totally loved coming along as we were fun to watch and support then.

Now I don't feel as much a wanted part of the club, the manager, the owner, the players even don't make the fans feel part of things, and thats is disappointing as it is the fans that make a club.

In the past we have had some great, some good and some awful managers but the best ones engage with the fans and make you feel part of whats going on, part of their dream, Hoddle, Ardiles, Macari, PdC and even at the start Muckmahon all were great at getting the fans on their side and fans feel loved and part of the club.

Currently I feel less part of the club than I have ever felt, or at least since the bad old days anyway.

We need a galvanizing manager who can interact with the board, players and fans and get a feel good factor back to the club, something thats been missing IMO since PdC left under the cloud a few years back.

Several personality less managers (Ling excluded) in MacDonald, Cooper, Williams etc have slowly chipped the feel god factor of PdC until it has gone totally.

I totally agree with how Powers business model  is for the club, buy for free or very cheap, improve with coaching and play football that will attract scouts from higher leagues that can see how a player can fit into their existing system etc.

Make us a club that is not on the brink of extinction all the time as we have been in the past too.

But please please Mr Power invest a little extra money and get in a manager who has charisma and can engage fans and get us all back on the clubs side again before too many fans have drifted away forever which is a danger I can see happening.

(PS sorry for the length of this post!)

[Batch]

We might get lucky but even the rich billionaire takeover is pot luck.
For ever Chelsea and Manchester City there is a Leeds, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Villa so on and so forth.

Our stadium really holds us back. I dread to think how many teams have had new stadiums or redeveloped their current stadiums since we did any proper work to ours.

fair points.

[DarloSTFC84]

What I loved about PdC was that he gave a fuck.

If we won and the performance wasn't up to standard, he was still pissed.

If we lost, IT MATTERED!

He led a team of players who seemed to give a fuck too!

[DarloSTFC84]

(PS sorry for the length of this post!)

It's not the size that matters JJ. Stop boasting.

[Reg Smeeton]

 I'm struck by the ageing demographic at the CG.....maybe I just notice it being an old fart myself, but I do worry for the future of our great club. 

The flavour of many of these posts reflects what I said back in the summer that the current regime has more or less completely finished the job of alienating the fan base away from the club. 

People lament that we're not able to mount a shot at going higher, but my concern is that we need to be capable of maintaining our Div 3 status, we've seen examples of clubs traditionally on our level like Rovers, Tranny and Stockport who've slipped into non league football, others like the Varsity derby clubs, returned to their traditional non league status, and found it difficult to get back.

If we continue to slide, is there any spirit left in the fan base to resist? 

We go today to a perfect example of a club, where everything is based on the bond between fans and club, it's something which has been the case at STFC at certain times in the past but gradually eroded until now.

The likes of DV may regret the continued use of the CG these last 120 years, but it shouldn't be taken for granted, as its owners are the malign SBC, who've repeatedly shown no interest in the heritage of the town if there's money to be made.

[Peter Venkman]

(PS sorry for the length of this post!)

It's not the size that matters JJ. Stop boasting.

Its not the length of the post its the post in your length!

[Bewster]

I think JJ sums it up perfectly. I am sure that feeling will come back but not under Power's regime.