Falling out with Football

[philthebar]

Falling out of love with football – probably, although I still listen to live games on the radio regardless of who is playing.

Falling out of love with Villa – no, but the passion has gone.

I have lived 130 miles from Villa Park for the last 25 years and for a high proportion of those years I had a season ticket and travelled home and away. I no longer have a season ticket and go to relatively few games.  I do watch as many Villa games as I can on the internet, in a friends house or down the pub (I don’t have a television of my own).
 
I have watched us sink to the 3rd Division and back up to the very pinnacle.  But its all gone wrong.

The spectators in the ground I feel are little more than a backdrop and sound effects for the television coverage.  The number of games on the television has also had its effect on support, particularly in the lower divisions.  Kids support the ‘Sky Four’ now rather than their local team.  A youth living in Birmingham has a reasonable choice to follow, but why support them when you can’t afford to go,   Living in Colchester, they certainly don’t support the local team.  Look at the attendances in the lower leagues.

Very few players have any loyalty to the club, managers come and go and are not given enough time to build a team from the bottom up.  It’s all about bottom line.

I can’t wait for a high profile team to go into administration and be treated by the authorities as any other business would i.e. force them out of business.  When this happens some element of sanity may return.

End of moan.

UTV

[TimTheVillain]

I can't fall out with football, it's like a drug. when it gets, you, it gets you.

It got me ages ago !

[MoetVillan]

I love the pace and skill in todays game.  I like being able to see more games on Sky, Espn and highlights on BBC than i did when I grew up, i dont like what money has done to the game at the top, but realise that is the way it is now.  Lucky enough to be an ST holder for my third season, in the past would only be able to go to three or four games a season and love seeing it live.  Would happily watch other teams on the tv or on the radio if we are not playing as it reminds me why I love the game itself (rather than going through the mill watching Villa!)  I love most of all seeing our own players come through and develop.  My local club is Crewe and have watched many a game there.  Thats one of the big advantages of an ST, you see development (or not!) of your squad, rather than a snapshot.  I love the game, and there is nothing better than watching Villa at VP.

[Chipsticks]

We have this discussion once every 3 months, and it depresses me more than football itself ever could.

You probably just feel a bit shit cause of the Villa stuff, not football in general - once we start doing well again this site will be a lot more optimistic.

[Lambert and Payne]

We have this discussion once every 3 months, and it depresses me more than football itself ever could.

You probably just feel a bit shit cause of the Villa stuff, not football in general - once we start doing well again this site will be a lot more optimistic.

The thing is for me, its not just Villa stuff, its been happening since last season when we was doing well. It used to be life and death for me, now its a case of if I miss a game I'm dying to check the score, but not to the point of pure adrenaline when we win and filled with hate when we lose!

[supertom]

I don't think there are as many stand out players now as there were even 10 years ago. Too many mercenaries now and money has made the premiership boring. There aren't as many mercurial talents, personalities or just players who, even as a nuetral, can light up games. I loved watching the likes of Cantona, Le Tiss, Bergkamp, Zola, Ginola etc. The games changed though. A team like Southampton would never want to carry a player like Le Tissier these days. He was lazy, didn't run, but had ability in spades, to the point I'd watch a nothing game on Sky to watch him play. I watched a lot more Prem football a decade ago. I don't think I watched, Villa aside, a full 90 minutes of a single game last season.

Messi is a player worth watching, just to see him play. Ronaldo probably too. There's few, and I'd argue, not a single player in the Premiership right now, who's a joy to watch. I can't stand Rooney. He's very good, but not a patch on the worlds elite and of course he's a frightful c**t to boot.

Villa's in my blood, but I don't half wish we had a few more genuinely likeable players in our squad. In fact the only thing that's probably kept me watching Villa in the last few years, has been the local boys coming through, and a few good sorts like Laursen, Mellberg, Angel, Big John and Ash Young on his day.

[spk]

Without going through all the comments,someone said earlier that a big club going bust would level things out.Could that really be a possibility?I thought Man Utd where in trouble a few years back but that has all gone quite,Does anyone know different?

[Dave Cooper please]

It's all quite simple, if you're not enjoying it, don't watch it.

This isn't me being flippant or having a go, it's just that football is just a sport and supporting a team is just a hobby, something to be enjoyed. If you're hating it, find another hobby.

Or, if you really can't keep away, at least try to enjoy it. The best way would be to stop worrying about the shitty side of it all and just watch the football.

[avfc_1874]

Love Villa. Hate modern day football.

[woody4866]

Love the Villa, always have and always will, I just hate some of the knobs that "play" for us!
I agree that too many overpaid ponces play in the game these days
I am no longer a season ticket holder (I was spoilt as Mrs Woody used to work for them until RL took over), but we used to get two free tickets each season, however I prefer the away games - better atmosphere and more of a social thing

[1_Pablo_Angel]

It's all quite simple, if you're not enjoying it, don't watch it.

This isn't me being flippant or having a go, it's just that football is just a sport and supporting a team is just a hobby, something to be enjoyed. If you're hating it, find another hobby.

Or, if you really can't keep away, at least try to enjoy it. The best way would be to stop worrying about the shitty side of it all and just watch the football.

Easy to say, but it's a big part of people's lives. It would take a hell of a lot to make me just walk away from the Villa, even though I hate the lack of genuine competition in the Premier League, the prices, the players, and the unrelenting artificial hype from Sky.

I'm 26 btw if we're talking demographics.

[dl9]

The disappointment from England at last year's World Cup left a nation disillusioned and out of love with our once great national game. Put simply we aren't as good as we've always held ourselves up to being.

From a Villa point of view, having spent so many of my adult years a ST holder in the Trinity (post '82), I'm used to the disappointment (minus the few Wembley trips).

More recently I blame MO'N for raising our hopes somewhat......I could handle it more when we were rubbish.

[Sleeuwenhoek]

In the past there always seemed to be at least one player in the team who was worth the admission money. Willie Anderson (although I was too young to really remember), but then players like Brian Little, Gary Shaw and Tony Morley, Mark Walters (one dummy, turn and shot that hit the post was worth the journey to Ipswich alone), Yorkie, Paul Merson and perhaps a few others since. Can't think of anyone now I would pay to go and see when the rest of the team is so average.

[Countryside Villain]

I barely recognise the game I grew to love to be honest.  Will always be a fan but my degree of interest goes up and down based on what else is going on in life and what kind of shit is being served up on the pitch.  As much as I find I hate the modern game, more than anything I hate the histrionics that go along with it - the dissection of every sound-bite, the apoplectic rage over the price of a pie, the colour of a goalie shirt and reluctance of owners to piss away the club coffers on somebody that was great in Football Manager 2001.

[Brend'Watkins]

We have this discussion once every 3 months, and it depresses me more than football itself ever could.

Too right, these threads and the 'ain't renewing threads' I too find more depressing than anything in the game. 

And we all know full well that if Villa win 3 or 4 games in a row the instigators of such will be as loved up about the club/football as they ever were.