Still not worthy of a thread

[Robster]

Espana 82 purely as that is my favourite WC and brings back so many nice memories

[Sima]

Mexico 86

[HaydnNUFC]

 

Already put mine on Twitter but if I could only pick 1 (as there's fucking loads) it's the sheer elitism. Not just in the context of the Super League attempt but as a whole, the wider media, fans, et cetera. Top level European football is a quasi plutocracy anyway but I fucking despise when clubs, managers, journalists, fans, pundits talk in such a manner. Klopp on 5 subs for example, get to fuck you odious cunt. Constantly looking for ways to add to what is an already gapingly wide gulf between his club and those below.

 

Ties into punditry and journalism too. If a "big 6" is struggling it'll always be along the lines of "this is club x, club x is enormous, this shouldn't be happening". No, club x is where they are on merit, if they're fucking shit they're fucking shit, because they won a few trophies a decade or so ago doesn't or shouldn't change that. 

 

That clubs below the "big 6" should 'stay in their lane' when they try for big players or try challenging the Super League nonces for European football or honours. Just absolutely hate it and it's been a staple of the Premier League era.

[cubaricho]

94 obv.

 

[Kid Icarus]

1 hour ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

Already put mine on Twitter but if I could only pick 1 (as there's fucking loads) it's the sheer elitism. Not just in the context of the Super League attempt but as a whole, the wider media, fans, et cetera. Top level European football is a quasi plutocracy anyway but I fucking despise when clubs, managers, journalists, fans, pundits talk in such a manner. Klopp on 5 subs for example, get to fuck you odious cunt. Constantly looking for ways to add to what is an already gapingly wide gulf between his club and those below.

 

Ties into punditry and journalism too. If a "big 6" is struggling it'll always be along the lines of "this is club x, club x is enormous, this shouldn't be happening". No, club x is where they are on merit, if they're fucking shit they're fucking shit, because they won a few trophies a decade or so ago doesn't or shouldn't change that. 

 

That clubs below the "big 6" should 'stay in their lane' when they try for big players or try challenging the Super League nonces for European football or honours. Just absolutely hate it and it's been a staple of the Premier League era.

 

The same answer I have for most pastimes that reach a certain level of popularity - the way that capitalism has monetised it into ever increasing meaninglessness.

 

More or less every problem I have with football (the one you mention being one of them) can be traced back to that being the source.

 

At least with things like music, gaming, films, food etc you can find what you love and ignore all that, with football you're locked into who you support.

 

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by Kid Icarus

[Pilko]

1 hour ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

 

The absolutely shit standard of refereeing that even technology hasn't managed to improve, and the protection of said useless fucking cunts by governing bodies when any player or manager dares to criticise their sheer and blatant ineptitude. That feeling of being shafted by the officials is far too common.

[The Butcher]

Watching cheating cunts like Kane, Son, Salah and especially Grealish diving their way through every single game. The way blatant cheating has become 'gamesmanship'. Fuck off.

 

Wouldn't want Grealish at NUFC even if we got him for free. He's a very talented player, but I can't stand his constant diving and cheating. Kids look up to that cunt ffs.

 

 

[Pata]

1 hour ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

Already put mine on Twitter but if I could only pick 1 (as there's fucking loads) it's the sheer elitism. Not just in the context of the Super League attempt but as a whole, the wider media, fans, et cetera. Top level European football is a quasi plutocracy anyway but I fucking despise when clubs, managers, journalists, fans, pundits talk in such a manner. Klopp on 5 subs for example, get to fuck you odious cunt. Constantly looking for ways to add to what is an already gapingly wide gulf between his club and those below.

 

Ties into punditry and journalism too. If a "big 6" is struggling it'll always be along the lines of "this is club x, club x is enormous, this shouldn't be happening". No, club x is where they are on merit, if they're fucking shit they're fucking shit, because they won a few trophies a decade or so ago doesn't or shouldn't change that. 

 

That clubs below the "big 6" should 'stay in their lane' when they try for big players or try challenging the Super League nonces for European football or honours. Just absolutely hate it and it's been a staple of the Premier League era.

 

Aye.

 

Can't stand it when pundits or commentators speculate which big club will buy the standout player from some small club in every fucking game, so disrespectful.

 

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by Pata

[Pata]

13 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Watching cheating cunts like Kane, Son, Salah and especially Grealish diving their way through every single game. The way blatant cheating has become 'gamesmanship'. Fuck off.

 

Wouldn't want Grealish at NUFC even if we got him for free. He's a very talented player, but I can't stand his constant diving and cheating. Kids look up to that cunt ffs.

 

 

 

There's really no attempt to even get rid of it anymore and it is absolutely accepted as being part of the game. The dive by Vinicius in El Clasico should be a red card but it's rare to see even yellows for them anymore. Also ties in to the incompetence of refereeing, you'll not get shit if you don't go down. 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by Pata

[Fantail Breeze]

1 hour ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

Already put mine on Twitter but if I could only pick 1 (as there's fucking loads) it's the sheer elitism. Not just in the context of the Super League attempt but as a whole, the wider media, fans, et cetera. Top level European football is a quasi plutocracy anyway but I fucking despise when clubs, managers, journalists, fans, pundits talk in such a manner. Klopp on 5 subs for example, get to fuck you odious cunt. Constantly looking for ways to add to what is an already gapingly wide gulf between his club and those below.

 

Ties into punditry and journalism too. If a "big 6" is struggling it'll always be along the lines of "this is club x, club x is enormous, this shouldn't be happening". No, club x is where they are on merit, if they're fucking shit they're fucking shit, because they won a few trophies a decade or so ago doesn't or shouldn't change that. 

 

That clubs below the "big 6" should 'stay in their lane' when they try for big players or try challenging the Super League nonces for European football or honours. Just absolutely hate it and it's been a staple of the Premier League era.

 

 

VAR.

 

I can deal with what you’ve mentioned because I don’t watch pre-match or post match crap anymore, or any highlight shows, SSN etc. I tune in to watch the matches and that’s about it. 
 

VAR you can’t get away from. The biggest disgrace of it is that it takes grassroots football away from elite football. It should be the same game, played with the same rules - it’s not anymore.

 

It’s ruined my enjoyment of football, it’s made it farcical. There are so many things wrong with it and so many reasons not to have it, but it’ll stay and probably get worse. We can’t be far away from adverts during VAR breaks or “this VAR decision is sponsored by…”

[Fantail Breeze]

6 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Watching cheating cunts like Kane, Son, Salah and especially Grealish diving their way through every single game. The way blatant cheating has become 'gamesmanship'. Fuck off.

 

Wouldn't want Grealish at NUFC even if we got him for free. He's a very talented player, but I can't stand his constant diving and cheating. Kids look up to that cunt ffs.

 

 

 

Do you hate ASM? He’s one of the worst for it. Almiron and Wilson too. Hayden to some degree.

 

I don’t disagree by the way, but they’re not cheating, they’ve recognised something and exploit it.

 

The worst of these is when players are running back towards their own byline trying to shield the ball and collapse to the floor as soon as a player arrives behind them, given as a foul almost every time despite nothing occurring. 

[Kid Icarus]

Can't stand diving but weirdly the two players I always see brought up, Grealish and Zaha, I don't think are that bad and do often get some pretty rough treatment. Or at least they seem no worse than everyone else, it's endemic now. 

[The Butcher]

5 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

Do you hate ASM? He’s one of the worst for it. Almiron and Wilson too. Hayden to some degree.

 

I don’t disagree by the way, but they’re not cheating, they’ve recognised something and exploit it.

 

The worst of these is when players are running back towards their own byline trying to shield the ball and collapse to the floor as soon as a player arrives behind them, given as a foul almost every time despite nothing occurring. 

Don't hate ASM, but certainly don't love him. Can't stand Hayden.

[Pata]

8 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

The biggest disgrace of it is that it takes grassroots football away from elite football. It should be the same game, played with the same rules - it’s not anymore.

 

I've never understood this point, the rules are still the same. I would honestly expect the decisions in the highest pro level to get more scrutiny than in a Sunday League match. There's no fourth official in in grassroots either and no one cared.

 

VAR is shite now (especially in England) but it will get better. The weird respect for the original decision and the bullshit clear-and-obvious shite has to go first. The reason for VAR was that the officiating really was shite but they are still too scared to change those terrible decisions made by those same incompetent refs.

[Guest neesy111]

I don't think people realise how bad officiating was in the past.

 

You know when they said football was tougher and harder in the past, it was because refs were absolutely hopeless in enforcing the rules of the game.

[Foluwashola]

Could list thousands of things around the sanitising of the sport and, like KI says, attempts to monetise every aspect of it.

 

At the minute though, fans filming themselves at matches or, even worse, filming themselves watching the match on telly. Get it in the bin with VAR.

[Rafalove]

5 minutes ago, neesy111 said:

I don't think people realise how bad officiating was in the past.

 

You know when they said football was tougher and harder in the past, it was because refs were absolutely hopeless in enforcing the rules of the game.

 

Mentioned this a little while ago but I watched England v Scotland 1971 in YouTube. Players who didn’t even have the ball were being kicked knee height, 5 yards infront of the referee, and the ref was like “meh”. Goalkeepers once catching the ball from a corner or cross would have to hold their ground otherwise strikers would literally try and push them behind the line.

[Fantail Breeze]

12 minutes ago, Pata said:

 

I've never understood this point, the rules are still the same. I would honestly expect the decisions in the highest pro level to get more scrutiny than in a Sunday League match. There's no fourth official in in grassroots either and no one cared.

 

VAR is shite now (especially in England) but it will get better. The weird respect for the original decision and the bullshit clear-and-obvious shite has to go first. The reason for VAR was that the officiating really was shite but they are still too scared to change those terrible decisions made by those same incompetent refs.

 

Are they? When was the last time you saw a handball given in Sunday leagues for the shite we’re seeing now, after the rules were changed specifically for VAR.

 

It’s not just grassroots too - we’re playing FA Cup games where some games do and some games don’t have VAR. What a farce.

 

How is that fair? 

 

Referees are humans. They’ll make mistakes. You’re never going to get perfect decisions, but football is very subjective, so even with an AI robot - you’ll still not get perfect decisions. Two people will view one foul very differently.
 

We’re measuring offsides now in a way that’s not even possible to measure them with the technology we have. May as well measure a hair with a metre stick.

 

It’s all shite and a pointless addition to the game at only one level.

[Yorkie]

3 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

The same answer I have for most pastimes that reach a certain level of popularity - the way that capitalism has monetised it into ever increasing meaninglessness.

 

More or less every problem I have with football (the one you mention being one of them) can be traced back to that being the source.

 

 nailed it as usual. Even VAR traces back to that.

 

In terms of some things that might not stem from that issue; racism on the terraces, online tribalism/lack of empathy between supporters.

[Conjo]

12 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

The same answer I have for most pastimes that reach a certain level of popularity - the way that capitalism has monetised it into ever increasing meaninglessness.

 

More or less every problem I have with football (the one you mention being one of them) can be traced back to that being the source.

 

Spot on.

 

Diving/cheating, club ownerships, prices for fans, over paid primadonnas, VAR and refereeing standard, corrupt officials and institutions, late schedule changes, corrupt/predatory/greedy agents etc all of it can be traced back to this.

[madras]

17 minutes ago, Conjo said:

 

Spot on.

 

Diving/cheating, club ownerships, prices for fans, over paid primadonnas, VAR and refereeing standard, corrupt officials and institutions, late schedule changes, corrupt/predatory/greedy agents etc all of it can be traced back to this.

Hasn't it (football) always been like this? In amateur days the better players still got paid then I general those with the biggest pockets won out. Just now the figures are larger.

[leffe186]

9 hours ago, Yorkie said:

 

 nailed it as usual. Even VAR traces back to that.

 

In terms of some things that might not stem from that issue; racism on the terraces, online tribalism/lack of empathy between supporters.

I think lack of empathy does stem from monetization, because it stems in part from the lack of parity. As well as making it harder for, say, your typical Ipswich fan to have empathy with your typical Liverpool fan it’s even harder for  them to have empathy with, for example, some Indonesian guy who’s decided he supports Liverpool because they’re good. Or whatever.

 

Not that those guys didn’t exist years ago, but there are so many more of them now, we’re in more direct contact, and they factor more into clubs’ financial considerations.

[Papavasiliou]

Really specific stats that mean absolutely nothing.

 

"The youngest player to reach 76 goals from open play, in this specific league while not playing for some arbitrarily picked top teams since the last player to do this 5 years ago, who was even younger and therefore completely invalidates this as a record anyway." 

[Pixelphish]

90, 98

[leffe186]

12 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

Can't stand diving but weirdly the two players I always see brought up, Grealish and Zaha, I don't think are that bad and do often get some pretty rough treatment. Or at least they seem no worse than everyone else, it's endemic now. 

I think Grealish comes up so much because there are some pretty clear and egregious examples of him flinging himself to the ground when he clearly hasn’t been touched. He certainly did get rough treatment on the regular.

 

Mane’s the one that gets me riled up. Yet all this frustration with Premier League players diving gets put into perspective with every Clasico I watch.