The latest round of pigs at a trough-thoughts

What a sensible thread
Boring sterile premiership
Give me kiddy away any day ( and those pies)!!
Come on Town
Need a win sat

We could do with looking at the way Germany do things... €10 for a Bundesliga match at times. safe standing, even in some grounsd tolerated "flare" areas at the sides of stands... (unofficial but away from the rest of the fans to minimise danger)

Can anyone old enough to remember, tell me how long is was going to be when England were to become world beaters because of the Premier League?  All that influx of money and the best talent were going to raise the standard and the quality was going to rub off on English players by some sort of magic process.

Pre-Premier League we had one WC win and one semi-final appearance. Not the best but...... Since then the best we've managed is the quarter finals. That's the power of the market eh?!

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

It makes you wonder if the Prem is really good for football as a whole or whether we were better off before it came along.

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30699020[/url]

I've never wondered about that. Always pretty sure it was better before.  

IMO the technical ability in English football has improved but the game as a spectacle certainly hasn't.

I don't want to revert back to the days with the tackle from behind gave defenders licence to maim strikers but the going to ground because you have been touched is sterilising the competitive element of the sport. It IS cheating. Diving is the cancer in the game but the saddest thing is that it is condoned by all and sundry whether they be current players, managers, tv 'experts' and referees

Quoted from BIGChris

IMO the technical ability in English football has improved but the game as a spectacle certainly hasn't.

I don't want to revert back to the days with the tackle from behind gave defenders licence to maim strikers but the going to ground because you have been touched is sterilising the competitive element of the sport. It IS cheating. Diving is the cancer in the game but the saddest thing is that it is condoned by all and sundry whether they be current players, managers, tv 'experts' and referees

Yep, the oft heard phrase on MOTD is "he had every right to go down when he felt a touch in the box"  

Seriously though, diving players often has me shouting at the telly. Infuriating.

Quoted from ginnywings

Yep, the oft heard phrase on MOTD is "he had every right to go down when he felt a touch in the box"  

Seriously though, diving players often has me shouting at the telly. Infuriating.

Me too , after watching the rugby on sat , the actions of some of the players in the stoke game ( i think) were laughable.
Turned it off .

Quoted from BIGChris

IMO the technical ability in English football has improved but the game as a spectacle certainly hasn't.

I don't want to revert back to the days with the tackle from behind gave defenders licence to maim strikers but the going to ground because you have been touched is sterilising the competitive element of the sport. It IS cheating. Diving is the cancer in the game but the saddest thing is that it is condoned by all and sundry whether they be current players, managers, tv 'experts' and referees

The game is definitely faster, players are fitter and in some ways more technical but play often seems over-coached. Training ground moves take precedence over flair and the football brain on the pitch. I do admire the way players can now make a run the full length of the field and then get back again at the same speed. That was a much rarer occurrence in the 70s unless you happened to be Alan Ball. Whether this Duracell bunny action is more exciting is very debatable though.

Another factor is the employing of foreign players and coaches. Yes, it may be argued that the basic technique of local players has been improved as a result but who is to say that would not have happened anyway? It is one thing having Villa and Ardiles in a team of Brits but quite another to have 8, 9,10 or 11 very average foreigners in a side. Whoever wins the Prem this year might as well be a team based in Las Vagas or Shanghai as London or Manchester because, whatever "community" building they do, Chelsea and Man City cannot possibly be considered part of a local landscape any more.

The Prem has also killed atmosphere with a business model based on family entertainment. The only thing missing these days is the majorettes cheerleader band. Maybe we were on the way to losing the heart of football as the working man's Saturday afternoon escape by 1990 but the Prem certainly finished the job. Playing games on Sunday teatime just to please Sky does nobody who cares about football any favours. Add to this the knee-jerk notion of all-seater stadia and the whole pattern of the game has altered, for the worse in my opinion anyway.

The ultimate nail in the coffin though is the cash. By making the game so dependent on TV money the Prem has ruined the economy of the rest of football. The players making a name in the lower leagues and then being transferred up is far fewer and the big clubs have a virtual monopoly of choice over signing youngsters. A side like Crewe could survive through developing young players and selling them on. Now the lower league clubs are taking Prem cast offs and not getting the income from transfer fees. While there are always exceptions, there is no incentive to develop young players to the same extent. From the player's point of view they are no longer working their way up to a big club, they start there and then work their way down!

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Whoever wins the Prem this year might as well be a team based in Las Vagas or Shanghai as London or Manchester because, whatever "community" building they do, Chelsea and Man City cannot possibly be considered part of a local landscape any more.

How 'local' was Liverpool's double winning side of 1986?

Although having said that, that's the exception rather than the rule I suppose. (and Jan Molby counts as local )

Quoted from sydney

What a sensible thread
Boring sterile premiership
Give me kiddy away any day ( and those pies)!!
Come on Town
Need a win sat

Can't agree more
Let's all get down there Saturday and get right behind them.
Stay united.