Is the football really so much better now, as opposed to Pre Sky?

[brice jovial]

Its very interesting to see the many perceptions given by fellow posters

personally i only know the premiership era and i ask are we asking the question has the football improved?

Thhats what i see as the meaning of this thread though i ask orginal poster what is meant by question regarding hyped football?

One can argue its neglibile to compare the times before the 90s to now

i heard that livepool use to be good in 70s 80s but are they as good as man u are in premier era?

The football utd played i wuld think was far supwerior to livepool of yester era

similarly arsenal and invincibles and football wenger had/has team play was prob greatest anyone had seen in england.
Heck even newcastle werr a very entertaining side i dont know if there weere teams like this in past ?
Ginola cantona bergkamp pires henry fabregas amazing players
 and i think they rose the bar for english football
but i was nevere around to see pre sky
and i m only taking question on techinica level so i think players in premiership are proper atheltes now though im sure players and football of past had there moments

[richard moore]

No one wins the Premier League title now, they just buy it

[Matt Collins]

Not sure that's true. Arsenal didn't buy it. Neither did the fergie kids team at man u. But it clearly has become increasingly a game of haves and have nots. I doubt I'll ever see villa win the league now. Mind you, we only won it once in the last 100 years!!

[QBVILLA]

It's the predictability of football now that I don't enjoy.Not just pre Sky but through most of the 90s you'd get real surprises.Norwich  finishing third, well ahead of much bigger clubs.Blackburn winning the league and then getting relegated a couple of seasons later.Forest finishing third after promotion and then the Villa.I started following the Villa in the late 80s and whilst there were some crap seasons it was never predictable.Relegation,promotion,survival,title challenge,survival etc.Now money rules the roost.In the last decade every team that has threatened to break the Sky 4 cartel have gone close then subsequently lost their best player(s) to one of the aforementioned Sky4.Despite the shit MoN gets on here, we at least had three years of hope/belief that just maybe we could do it.However, as Everton found when they lost Lescott we have lost real quality in Barry,Milner,Downing and Young and we have to start again by replacing the established star approaching his peak with potential.We all know what happens when that potential is realised, they're off.Same thing is happening at Spurs with Modric now and unless there is a man City style windfall it will continue.It irks me when I see posts on message boards which wish Young well because "he's shown ambition by going to Man Utd", so what? Once they leave the club I couldn't give a shit and statements like that just highlight that we as fans know that we can't compete.As it stands 6th is the absolute limit for us which although not shameful is a disappointment.Being a football fan shouldn't be about realistic ambition, it should be about wild dreams.

Fuck me i'm a grumpy bastard!

[Neil Hawkes]

Not sure that's true. Arsenal didn't buy it. Neither did the fergie kids team at man u. But it clearly has become increasingly a game of haves and have nots. I doubt I'll ever see villa win the league now. Mind you, we only won it once in the last 100 years!!

Matt - are you sure Man U didn't buy the title? Did they not spend massive amounts on individual players, that most teams would have had to use for a whole team?
I love it when they bleat about not being able tomatch the Chelsea & Man Citys in fees, yet they had carte blanche during the formative years of the Premiership.

[QBVILLA]

Not sure that's true. Arsenal didn't buy it. Neither did the fergie kids team at man u. But it clearly has become increasingly a game of haves and have nots. I doubt I'll ever see villa win the league now. Mind you, we only won it once in the last 100 years!!

Matt - are you sure Man U didn't buy the title? Did they not spend massive amounts on individual players, that most teams would have had to use for a whole team?
I love it when they bleat about not being able tomatch the Chelsea & Man Citys in fees, yet they had carte blanche during the formative years of the Premiership.

It's a modern day myth.United have always spent big in the market.Without looking it up i reckon they've broken the British transfer record more times than any other club.Robson,Pallister and Ferdinand immediately spring to mind and Berbatov as well? Add to that the likes of Rooney and Veron.

[richard moore]

Not sure that's true. Arsenal didn't buy it. Neither did the fergie kids team at man u. But it clearly has become increasingly a game of haves and have nots. I doubt I'll ever see villa win the league now. Mind you, we only won it once in the last 100 years!!

I said NOW Matt! Not however many years ago Arsenal won it for the last time or Man U with their kids. What is most sad for me I think among the many depressing aspects of modern day football I could pick up on is how you won't ever really see a really good manager take a modest team without cash and turn them into a top four team in the way that you used to see happen with the likes of us, Forest, Ipswich, Norwich, Southampton, Everton et al back in the good old days. In fact, Everton have come closest to it recently of course but even then you felt it was something of a one off and never sustainable; it is now almost impossible unless some huge benefector was to buy out a team a la Man City or, conversely, to pull out of funding someone such as Chelsea...

[Countryside Villain]

The game has changed a lot over the last 20 years but the only positive thing Sky brought is the improved coverage.  Everything else they are responsible for has degraded the game for me.  Money, hype, 4pm kick-offs, Jamie Redknapp as a pundit, overanalysis and Tim Lovejoy are all down to them.

[richard moore]

Not sure that's true. Arsenal didn't buy it. Neither did the fergie kids team at man u. But it clearly has become increasingly a game of haves and have nots. I doubt I'll ever see villa win the league now. Mind you, we only won it once in the last 100 years!!

Matt - are you sure Man U didn't buy the title? Did they not spend massive amounts on individual players, that most teams would have had to use for a whole team?
I love it when they bleat about not being able tomatch the Chelsea & Man Citys in fees, yet they had carte blanche during the formative years of the Premiership.

It's a modern day myth.United have always spent big in the market.Without looking it up i reckon they've broken the British transfer record more times than any other club.Robson,Pallister and Ferdinand immediately spring to mind and Berbatov as well? Add to that the likes of Rooney and Veron.

And before that, they spent big sums relative to the times on Robson, Moses, Davenport, Birtles, Brazil, Muhren, Parker etc

[badluckeric(gates)]

Does the difficulty of getting in the CL make it harder to win now than our proudest moment?
I ask because I am in debate on a non football forum with someone who believes it was easy when we won it.
I say it was true champions cup then as runners up and 3rd placed etc werent invited, and you didnt get the chance to have an off night and scrape through on points to the knockout stage. What do you think?

[QBVILLA]

Does the difficulty of getting in the CL make it harder to win now than our proudest moment?
I ask because I am in debate on a non football forum with someone who believes it was easy when we won it.
I say it was true champions cup then as runners up and 3rd placed etc werent invited, and you didnt get the chance to have an off night and scrape through on points to the knockout stage. What do you think?

It was before my time but I think i'm right in saying that the Italian clubs were banned at the time so that was an advantage.Less games, but the only clubs in it had won their domestic leagues.Not a definitive answer either way IMO

[Concrete John]

I think it's easier from the perspective that in those days you could get a good manager and allow him to build the side up to the point where you were capable of winning things.  Now you need a spare billion and he'll likely be gone after 3 years anyway.  But as someone above said you couldn't afford an off night in 81/82 and had to WIN your league to get in it in the first place.

I'd say on balance it was harder whne we won it, but costs more to do it today.  And guess which of those most modern fans and pundits will pay more attention to?

[dave.woodhall]

Not sure that's true. Arsenal didn't buy it. Neither did the fergie kids team at man u. But it clearly has become increasingly a game of haves and have nots. I doubt I'll ever see villa win the league now. Mind you, we only won it once in the last 100 years!!

Matt - are you sure Man U didn't buy the title? Did they not spend massive amounts on individual players, that most teams would have had to use for a whole team?
I love it when they bleat about not being able tomatch the Chelsea & Man Citys in fees, yet they had carte blanche during the formative years of the Premiership.

It's a modern day myth.United have always spent big in the market.Without looking it up i reckon they've broken the British transfer record more times than any other club.Robson,Pallister and Ferdinand immediately spring to mind and Berbatov as well? Add to that the likes of Rooney and Veron.

And before that, they spent big sums relative to the times on Robson, Moses, Davenport, Birtles, Brazil, Muhren, Parker etc

'Won it with kids' is a myth as well.

[Concrete John]

The spine of that 95/96 Man Utd side was Schmichael, Pallister, Keane, Cantona and Cole, two of which were British record buys.

[German James]

I agree that the CL has caused the biggest (in my opinion negative) changes.

It's become the only valid competition - according to its own hype - and the constant stream of players who would prefer to be on the the bench at one of the usual suspects than stay and make their current teams more competitive shows how much their priorities have changed as well. They are supposed to be sportsmen, after all.

Being able to predict the final league placings at the start of the season with some confidence is very depressing, but this won't change any time soon as those at the top have too great a head start.