Where has the soul gone?

[villa `cross the mersey]

I no longer recognise the game ........

Yesterday was my first game of the season .... in fact, it was the first football game I have watched live, or otherwise since the cup final.

I have various contacts at Everton and I was able to get two tickets for the Upper Gwladys Stand – I have been travelling to this same venue for well over 40 years and have had some really great times in and around this now crumbling ground.

This was our 141st birthday and I had an air of optimism about me after a decent result against Man City – Jnr and I parked up and started walking to the ground – it was just turned 1pm and the place was deserted – I checked my ticket to see if I had misread the kick off time. We walked past the various pubs, chippy`s etc on County Road – they too were very quiet. We decided to walk around the stadium and look out for some of the familiar faces that travel with the Villa ... again very quiet.

It was a bit nippy so we went into the ground for a bite to eat and in search of “atmosphere”. All we found was more “Victorian surroundings” and poor seats and view of the pitch. Unusually for me I decided to remain quiet and certainly not crack on that I was a Villa fan. We watched the players warm up, witnessed the playing of the French National anthem and looked forward to a spirited display from the Villa.

The atmosphere was flat from the start and the Goodison crowd were quieter than normal .... they did not even given a rendition of their one and only song (Everton, Everton, Everton etc etc etc until the 33 rd minute !!). I could not believe how disinterested  both sets of players looked ..... the guys sitting next to me commented on how deep Villa were sitting. Not surprisingly the inevitable happened and we were 1-0 down .... you only had to look at the players to realise it was game over .... heads were down, even at that early stage. A decent Everton side started to go through our midfield and defence like a knife through butter. Everton took their foot off the gas second half which saved us from a real caning.

I have witnessed some great and not so great performances at this ground but I have to say that yesterday was a complete capitulation.  I really did not see any passion from most of the squad - I have been following this club for 5 decades and saw us languishing in the lower reaches of the old first and second divisions – we had some really poor squads but at least they showed some sprit – they just lacked the quality. I fear this squad have been thrown together and fail to understand just how vital it is we remain in the league. The club has no leader, on or off the pitch and faces an uncertain future if relegated ......

But what worried me yesterday was that for the first time the result didn`t hurt like it used too.... Once the goals started going in I was numbed to the pain. People around me sussed that I was a Villa fan and were almost sympathetic – there were comments about how sad it was to see a club like the Villa struggling. Lets face it Villa and Everton are comparable clubs in size, fan base and history. It can’t be right that clubs like us can no longer even dream about mounting a title challenge without the financial backing from mega rich owners.

The game has lost its soul and I am now very close to giving up attending.

Finally as a post script.....

I work in and around Everton and Anfield – just this week I visited a street where the houses were probably valued around £30K-£40K . Some players aged in their early 20`s drive up to the ground in cars valued at ten times that value whilst some even younger players could buy one such house a week !!!

That’s the type of inequality that is making me revalue views towards the game, or I am returning to my Socialist principles as I approach 60 !

[Clampy]

Getting to a stadium two hours before a game and expecting to see a mass of people and fellow villa fans was a bit odd. It was freezing and most fans were most likely still travelling or in the pub.

[eamonn]

OK Clampy,  but what about his broader point?

[Clampy]

His broader point was that the game is not what it used to be but everyone knows that, a shame that it is.

[kipeye]

Just read this VCM and is very much in line with what I just posted on the post match thread. It was a eerily strange experience all round yesterday. WTF has happened to our game?

[clash city rocker]

My 18 year old daughter is always asking me what it was like in the 70's and 80's..I tell her some things are better now..I. e. Facilities and less trouble but somethings are worse..our form aside the atmosphere back then seemed more electric. I tell her that the cup game  against the Albion was more like it used to be back in time. Perhaps I just remember the good bits ?

[SoccerHQ]

Only thing I'm amazed about is VCTM says it's been going to Goodison for 40 years and yet is still amazed at how poor the view and facilities are.

I went last year and of course Goodison is a historic ground but the view or lack of it from the bottom tier is something else. When there's a corner down that side at the Gladwys again you can't see the corner taker at all.

[saunders_heroes]

I think the reason some fans claim defeats don't hurt as much as they used to is down to the fact that we've come accustomed to losing most of our matches over the last 5 or so years.
Let's face it the fans have had a damn good kicking for years now and we're all becoming numb to it. It's bloody horrible.

[JUAN PABLO]

I couldnt sleep the other night about 4 a.m, stressing over things in my life , like we do.

I ended up watching the whole european cup final game which I attended with my grandfather and dad ,  all the players were being interviewed too.

Blimey, it made me cry , a bit of pride and sadness in the tears.

Times have changed in football and life and its horrible.

[wittonwarrior]

The old adage  things are not what they used to be is correct in my head.

Towards the end of  last season when we had our Villa back it  was like going back to the 70's  football wise.  Now we are looking  at the mid  80's debarcle. 

Looking at the fan base at Goodison quite a lot would have remembered the 70's  but we were living in a bubble then.  Ask a Chelsea or Tottenham fan about the late 70's and they would probably shoot your head off.

The one thing that has changed and we can do nothing about is that money does buy you  success.  In my era every team including Chelsea  (wilkins), Tottenham (Ardilles) even QPR (Stan Bowles) had their superstar.

[Mister E]

Sounds like we are all roughly of the same vintage, and - yes - the game is totally different. It is compounded in our case by the last 5-6 years of unremitting shite. No wonder the VP atmosphere is so subdued ...
Fortress Villa; I don't think so!
 

[luke:lamf]

Being not of the required age, I would be intrigued to know any of the posters who were youngsters in the '70s and '80s remember if the "old-timers" of the time noticed a great difference then between the matchday / football experience of the '40s and '50s, for better or worse...

[dave.woodhall]

Being not of the required age, I would be intrigued to know any of the posters who were youngsters in the '70s and '80s remember if the "old-timers" of the time noticed a great difference then between the matchday / football experience of the '40s and '50s, for better or worse...

The players were all bloody great jessies not like the old days what with their long hair and kissing each other after they scored.

[Richard E]

Being not of the required age, I would be intrigued to know any of the posters who were youngsters in the '70s and '80s remember if the "old-timers" of the time noticed a great difference then between the matchday / football experience of the '40s and '50s, for better or worse...

Difficult to gauge as there were no Internet forums or social media for us all to moan on in those days.

[amfy]

Also not really comparing like for like. The team we had in the late 70s & early 80s was probably the best Villa side that my Dad, or even Grandad, could remember too!

Of course they had their favourite players and occasions from their own youth, but even the 57 cup final wouldn't really match up to The Villa I was lucky enough to be supporting in my teens.

So, they naturally wouldn't have been as nostalgic for the past as we might be now.