Just spotted this on Twitter. Agree or disagree?
This is over quite a few tweets, so I've just put it in paragraph form so it's easier to read.
Tony Evans??Verified account? @TonyEvans92a · 2h2 hours ago
Biggest change in game in my lifetime? Idea that football is entertainment. That losing is somehow OK if it's pretty and winning can be dull. Let's call it Arsenalification. It'll do until a better word comes along.
It shouldn't be the way sport works. It's all a bit figure skating, isn't it? The mindset has produced a generation of players who excel on one area (attacking) but can't do the basics in another (defending). It's created an unbalanced game which is actually less interesting. A lot of people don't appreciate defensive skills then yelp when their team leaks goals. Anyway, memo to the 'entertainment' crew. There are no points for artistic impression. Yet the great @SteveNicol61 said something to me that's stuck in mind. It was about Man U in 80s. 'It was like they had a 10yo's view of game'.
'They wanted all the benefits of success in football without putting in the hard work.' Strikes me there's a lot of that going on. I've seen teams that could play the opposition off the park. The best of them could also brawl their way to success. And as a fan, the routs didn't give me much pleasure. The over-my-dead-body, backs-to-the-wall, get-a-result-or-die-trying games were best. Much more satisfying that games that were dead after 5min and became an exercise in flat-track bullying.
Think people go the match differently now, too. When I started it was about going with your mates and local pride. What happened during games was almost tangential. Win equalled happy, loss miserable. Can't remember anyone complaining that a win was dull. But only place you could see live football was in grounds. There was plenty going on
Now most people watch on TV. They are more focused on the action than we were. Even those who go the game can unpick it from the highlights.
Anyway, in my view sport is different to other pastimes because ultimately it's about result. Spectacle is great but it's window dressing. In my view the biggest threat to the game is notion of entertainment. The sense that some teams, some matches are unworthy if not 'stylish'. That there's only one way to win; that talent should be free to dominate and that doggedness and organisation are an afront to the game.
The essence of team games are that the group are greater than sum of their parts. Pulis gets sneered at. Would you like him to roll over?
Anyway, enough from me. If I want to be entertained, I'll go the pictures, the theatre or a concert. I want something different from sport. A contest. And ideally a trophy at the end of it all.
This is over quite a few tweets, so I've just put it in paragraph form so it's easier to read.
Tony Evans??Verified account? @TonyEvans92a · 2h2 hours ago
Biggest change in game in my lifetime? Idea that football is entertainment. That losing is somehow OK if it's pretty and winning can be dull. Let's call it Arsenalification. It'll do until a better word comes along.
It shouldn't be the way sport works. It's all a bit figure skating, isn't it? The mindset has produced a generation of players who excel on one area (attacking) but can't do the basics in another (defending). It's created an unbalanced game which is actually less interesting. A lot of people don't appreciate defensive skills then yelp when their team leaks goals. Anyway, memo to the 'entertainment' crew. There are no points for artistic impression. Yet the great @SteveNicol61 said something to me that's stuck in mind. It was about Man U in 80s. 'It was like they had a 10yo's view of game'.
'They wanted all the benefits of success in football without putting in the hard work.' Strikes me there's a lot of that going on. I've seen teams that could play the opposition off the park. The best of them could also brawl their way to success. And as a fan, the routs didn't give me much pleasure. The over-my-dead-body, backs-to-the-wall, get-a-result-or-die-trying games were best. Much more satisfying that games that were dead after 5min and became an exercise in flat-track bullying.
Think people go the match differently now, too. When I started it was about going with your mates and local pride. What happened during games was almost tangential. Win equalled happy, loss miserable. Can't remember anyone complaining that a win was dull. But only place you could see live football was in grounds. There was plenty going on
Now most people watch on TV. They are more focused on the action than we were. Even those who go the game can unpick it from the highlights.
Anyway, in my view sport is different to other pastimes because ultimately it's about result. Spectacle is great but it's window dressing. In my view the biggest threat to the game is notion of entertainment. The sense that some teams, some matches are unworthy if not 'stylish'. That there's only one way to win; that talent should be free to dominate and that doggedness and organisation are an afront to the game.
The essence of team games are that the group are greater than sum of their parts. Pulis gets sneered at. Would you like him to roll over?
Anyway, enough from me. If I want to be entertained, I'll go the pictures, the theatre or a concert. I want something different from sport. A contest. And ideally a trophy at the end of it all.
ointy:
