love/hate football?

[Wile E Coyote]

not been a particularly decent few weeks as a fan of football.
horrendous attempt at a breakaway super league, followed by disgusting scenes at man utd.
listening to the claims and counter claims from everyone from fans to ex professionals does not make things better.
I have probably been blinkered for years, but the double standards and blatant lies are eroding the love of the game for me.
I detest the media coverage at the best of times, but the slovenly coverage and bias each day is becoming unbearable.
I am in the camp that believes the rot set in long ago. this recent debacle was just another nail in the coffin.
Like a naive idiot, I regard Burnley as somehow detached from this fiasco, but deep down I realise we are part of a murky money driven charade. Takeovers, colossal wages, agents, ridiculous pricing and a new brand of corporate gibberish . sometimes it get too difficult to see the good side of the game.
Vandalism and thuggery by so called fans of the wealthiest around make it hard to stomach. I hope the summer will be a time to reset and go again. Its a shame when the love of your life lets you down.

[TommyPicks]

The love of your life?

Come on mate, seriously?

[Wile E Coyote]

The love of your life?

Come on mate, seriously?

not serious, but most fans i hope would get the point. I assume you are above such trivialities and lead a life full of fine women and wine and literary distractions.

[superdimitri]

I've detached myself more and more from football news. Particularly other clubs. I've given up on the cheating front and accepted it's part of the game. I focus only on supporting Burnley and England and drown out the politics and hit the mute button if there's a pundit I don't like on TV.

A suggestion from me I guess would just to focus on the games alone and try to enjoy each one for what it is. Try to ignore the off the pitch stuff.

And yes, we may be part of it but that doesn't mean we're to blame. There's no way we would act as others have done in a similar position and that's something to be proud of.

[Vegas Claret]

I stumbled across this youtube channel the other day, some nice vids on here as he goes around some non-league grounds etc, the Scottish ones are good too. I'm finding it more and more difficult to be passionate about the elite end of football
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BnhRLlt8h4

[SussexDon1inIreland]

I love Burnley and the way we punch above our weight
But I HATE football the way the foreign players in particular cheat all the time and feign injury and the media coverage of the football and the bias in favour of the bigger clubs, the disappointment of VAR and how referees bias the bigger clubs etc

If it wasn’t for Burnley I would give up on football

I also have not watched England matches for some years now.

UTC

[pushpinpussy]

I love Burnley and the way we punch above our weight
But I HATE football the way the foreign players in particular cheat all the time and feign injury and the media coverage of the football and the bias in favour of the bigger clubs, the disappointment of VAR and how referees bias the bigger clubs etc

If it wasn’t for Burnley I would give up on football

I also have not watched England matches for some years now.

UTC

couldn't say it better myself

[pushpinpussy]

My mates a WBA fan and they had a massive Derby against Wolves the other night. If any one knows that area this game is huge. All sky sport went on about prior to this game was the Man Unt v Liverpool game and the ESL. My mate text me and said it would nice if Sky mentioned the Derby before kick off. Disgraceful from Sky

[bfcjg]

Football is shooting itself in the foot, it is over exposed, over regulated, bloated by greed and in the main a desire not to lose making most games boring, if it wasn't for Burnley and I was seriously peed off with them over the ticketing fiasco I could happily pack in the professional game and just watch amateur football.

[Bosscat]

My mates a WBA fan and they had a massive Derby against Wolves the other night. If any one knows that area this game is huge. All sky sport went on about prior to this game was the Man Unt v Liverpool game and the ESL. My mate text me and said it would nice if Sky mentioned the Derby before kick off. Disgraceful from Sky

Always the same Ppp ... when we are on they talk about every other bloody game or anything involving the "Six" than ours .... its no wonder Yoontid, Citeh, Chelski, Spuds, Arsenil and Liverpool thought they could do what they like ...

[LeadBelly]

I love Burnley and the way we punch above our weight
But I HATE football the way the foreign players in particular cheat all the time and feign injury and the media coverage of the football and the bias in favour of the bigger clubs, the disappointment of VAR and how referees bias the bigger clubs etc

If it wasn’t for Burnley I would give up on football

I also have not watched England matches for some years now.

UTC

Agreed. I still sometimes watch as a neutral (watched Man City last night) but if there's rugby and footy on TV clashing, I'll usually go for the rugby and quite like the commentary/punditry there. Any Tv footy I watch is switched on 2 minutes after advertised KO time and watched with the sound off, dont watch the pre/post/HT punditry.
I watch a lot of England cricket and rugby but havent tried to get to England footy for decades.

[pushpinpussy]

never thought id say this must i much prefer to watch cricket than football these days. Obviously not when the clarets are playing but the diving, cheating etc as knocked the enjoyment out of football.

[Darthlaw]

It's the over saturation of Football on our telly boxes which has got me disinterested. Obviously covid made this worse with the staggered kick off times, but even before it seemed there was televised games played every night.

In the days it was Monday night football, CL Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday games I used to watch pretty much one game on each of the nights. Now, it seems that there's MNF, CL Tuesday and Wednesday, Europa league Friday and back to PL football Friday, Saturday and Sunday it's just too much. As a result, I found I got bored with it and now only watch Burnley games and the occasional PL Derby.

The title race is boring as you watch Man City or Chelski compete to buy the title, Arsenal and Spurs fluff their lines or Man U implode with their primadonna team. Liverpool and particularly Leicesters title races were good but in the main the rest has just been meh.

[HB Claret]

Love Burnley and what our club stands for. Hate the way referees are spineless and weak when it comes to the blatant cheating and play acting (particular from foreign players) and wish the authorities would be stronger in sorting out / cleaning up the game. The recent super league debacle can change the balance of power as the other PL clubs have the opportunity to pull together. Pains me to say it but I am not really interested in England as the whole set up is flawed - Southgate has his favourites and although we have some seriously talented young players we just don’t have the mentality to win tournaments. Burnley is a club in transition with the new owners and it is early days but Pace seems to have bought in to the traditions and history of our club - hopefully he and Dyche can continue to develop the club further.

[djemba-djemba]

It's the over saturation of Football on our telly boxes which has got me disinterested. Obviously covid made this worse with the staggered kick off times, but even before it seemed there was televised games played every night.

In the days it was Monday night football, CL Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday games I used to watch pretty much one game on each of the nights. Now, it seems that there's MNF, CL Tuesday and Wednesday, Europa league Friday and back to PL football Friday, Saturday and Sunday it's just too much. As a result, I found I got bored with it and now only watch Burnley games and the occasional PL Derby.

The title race is boring as you watch Man City or Chelski compete to buy the title, Arsenal and Spurs fluff their lines or Man U implode with their primadonna team. Liverpool and particularly Leicesters title races were good but in the main the rest has just been meh.

That’s sort of your own fault though, isn’t it?

Nobody forced you to watch every game they show. Should have just stuck with the three or four a week you used to watch.

[SussexDon1inIreland]

I think Darthlaw means that because of the over saturation of soulless football virtually every night it takes away the special feeling of 'hey football's on TV tonight'

UTC

[RammyClaret61]

Every single English Premier League game is on live here. I’ve watched 3 this season. Our games against Leeds, Southampton & Wolves. No interest in any other games. Cheating, crap refs, bloody VAR. but mainly, it’s the players & their agents. All bleeding the game dry. Players on £250,000 a fuckin week!! Give me strength. For playing football. They don’t give a toss about the clubs, or the fans. If they all took a 50% pay cut, they’d still be rich. But clubs would be stable, fans would be able to afford tickets. But they don’t care. Kissing the badge, yeah right.
The last straw, VAR, it’s killed the flow of the game, it’s killed the instant joy of the main reason for football, scoring a goal.
We’ve had VAR 6 years in Australia. As a percentage in that time, it’s improved a big fat 0%. I went from season ticket holder at Melbourne Victory, and watching most games, to watching on tv and the occasional game, all the way to having not watched a game in 3 years. I just see the sports news, mainly about howlers of var decisions.
It’s just not the beautiful game anymore.

[aclaretinstevenage]

Yes, the saturation coverage of "the big six" in particular but Premier League stuff in general has taken me to the point of being bored with the football that Sky and the others want to feed us.

Don't watch MOTD preferring to watch EFL on Quest on Saturday's. Premier league games involving Burnley I can stream and my attendance at games will largely be at Stevenage and or local non league games going forward. Cheating, lying overpaid prima donna's have done the game irreparable damage in my view.

Oh! and I won't invite the usual suspects in by commenting on female presenters and pundits - save for Michelle Owen and Bianca Westwood - not for me thanks!

[NottsClaret]

I realise the OP likes a bit of hyperbole, but you're overthinking it again. Go and watch non-league or grassroots. It's great, you'll soon start enjoying football again. At the top end, just enjoy it for what it is.. a slickly packaged, mass consumer product.

The speed and skill on show last night was incredible from Man City and PSG. Of course it left me completely cold - it was essentially two oil states showing off their wealth and influence in Europe - the theatrics were comical but there was still plenty to appreciate from elite sportsmen at the top of their game.

So go and enjoy 'real' football wherever you live and enjoy the best bits from the Sky/Gazprom show on telly and don't let it bother you so much.

[Darthlaw]

That’s sort of your own fault though, isn’t it?

Nobody forced you to watch every game they show. Should have just stuck with the three or four a week you used to watch.

What SussexDon said.

More to the point, conceivably you could have the following in the past:

Monday: PL Game
Wednesday: Good Quality European Game overt other week.
Saturday: 2 Games
Sunday: 2 Games

Now, Covid aside, it’s
Monday: PL Game
Tuesday: Chelski vs some European no mark
Wednesday: Man City vs Some European no mark
Thursday: Man U vs some Hungarian pub team
Friday, PL Football
Saturday : 2 Games
Sunday: 3 Games

Being bombarded with betting adverts for all these games is also quite tedious.

[ewanrob]

Dont really enjoy my footbal at the moment, I just find the whole thing to stressful the year in year out battle at the bottom. I coming upto 60 and have seen many a seasons football, but the last promotion season gave me so much enjoyment. Being the biggish fish in the little(ish) pond was very enjoyable.

[alf_resco]

I agree with the sentiments - pro footie always was a business but it's just exploded in the last 30 years. Much of it these days is not nice. I have all the sport channels, including BT and could watch pretty much any game but Burnley apart, rarely do. I know I'm contributing to the situation by paying for TV sport but I'll stop when my current contract ends. The commentary and pundits drive me mad, so I tune in at kick-off and watch on mute. It goes off at the final whistle. In my opinion VAR, far from improving matters, is ruining the game but again, provides fodder for the pundits ro talk ad infinitum.
Finally, it's probably an age thing; I'm approaching 70 and remember the good old days. I'd give anything to be back in the early 1960s.
Sic transit gloria mundi.

[martin_p]

I love Burnley and the way we punch above our weight
But I HATE football the way the foreign players in particular cheat all the time and feign injury and the media coverage of the football and the bias in favour of the bigger clubs, the disappointment of VAR and how referees bias the bigger clubs etc

If it wasn’t for Burnley I would give up on football

I also have not watched England matches for some years now.

UTC

Media bias towards the big clubs has existed for the nearly 50 years I’ve followed football, it’s hardly a modern invention.

[Silkyskills1]

Love the game, detest the profession.

[RammyClaret61]

Media bias towards the big clubs has existed for the nearly 50 years I’ve followed football, it’s hardly a modern invention.

Yes, but it wasn’t 24/7, and on every channel. It was the morning paper, Grandstand, World of Sport, MOTD, Granada Soccer & Sportsnight. That was about it.

[bfcjg]

Love Burnley and what our club stands for. Hate the way referees are spineless and weak when it comes to the blatant cheating and play acting (particular from foreign players) and wish the authorities would be stronger in sorting out / cleaning up the game. The recent super league debacle can change the balance of power as the other PL clubs have the opportunity to pull together. Pains me to say it but I am not really interested in England as the whole set up is flawed - Southgate has his favourites and although we have some seriously talented young players we just don’t have the mentality to win tournaments. Burnley is a club in transition with the new owners and it is early days but Pace seems to have bought in to the traditions and history of our club - hopefully he and Dyche can continue to develop the club further.

Surely the first line should be" stood for". We are a debt laden American business now with owners who know as much about us as we do about them, sod all.

[edlass]

I have been struggling with it for a bit but attending the matches always kept the same enjoyment. I think i am still in love with what football is supposed to be but not what it is. It seems crazy that Man City get to the champions league final and we are technically their equals. But we aren't. Its like le mans 24 hours. There are plenty of cars on the same track but they aren't all in the same race. The difference being they don't pretend it is.

A strange frustration for me was the latest outcry against the Super league. I know i am supposed to celebrate the fact that everyone stood up for football but there are so many other things wrong with the way it is that it just annoyed me more! There are two other competitions that most people don't care about any more and it doesn't seem like there was much fight for them. When i read CT's older FA cup reports it amazes me that it was once so loved. It feels like a week off when it is FA cup weekend and i am sure it even does for City/Chelsea/Man U/Arsenal etc -who usually win it- until perhaps the last 2 rounds. Its not even on a Saturday at 3pm any more and the Prem is slowly moving away from that too. It used to be a Friday enjoyment looking forward to Saturday and now We are playing at 12 on Sunday or Monday evening etc. Maybe that's covid but i am not convinced!

Where was the media/politician outcry when the overseas money was changed to be distributed as prize money so that the big six make more (shout out to Chester Perry and his MMT thread).

Anyway. I still show up every week, still read forums, still look at tables, still get excited at this point in the season when teams can go up/down so there you go:)

[martin_p]

Yes, but it wasn’t 24/7, and on every channel. It was the morning paper, Grandstand, World of Sport, MOTD, Granada Soccer & Sportsnight. That was about it.

But that’s the all pervasiveness of tv and social media, nothing to do with football. We also get 24 hour news, 24 hour celebrities and 24 hours of everyone in the world having an ‘opinion’.

[welsbyswife]

Agree with much of the above but would take issue with the notion that players cheating and diving is somehow the domain of foreign players. Maybe 20 years ago but our players are equally to blame now. Dele Ali, Lingard, Kane, Maddison, Grealish, Sterling all at it, just to name a few off the top of my head. Any hope of returning to a contact sport seems to have gone and that is a big loss for me. Not the game I once loved. Not saying I want a return to the old days of kicking lumps out of skillful players but a balance is required where contact and immediate fall to the ground does not equal free kick.

The ref in the City v PSG game last night was a slight beacon of hope. He didn't seem to stand for it at all. More like him please.

[bennitor]

I'm lucky enough to have two kids who love playing football. Watching them play on the weekends is far more interesting and entertaining than 99% of professional football (Burnley being that 1% of course).

[Elizabeth]

A lot of people are at breaking point and trying to stop falling out of love with football. Idealism has been lost as full scale commercialism and loss of integrity has worn many down.
As Burnley supporters we have club pride. Beating Liverpool at Anfield is one of the things that makes the effort of keeping in love with the game worthwhile. We are still being able to connect with the players and I think that’s also holding a lot of us together. Let’s hope that continues with the new owners.
Getting older changes people and I will know when I’ve fallen out of love for good. It’s the only thing that gets me into a proper bad mood.
My coping mechanisms this season have been watching games with the sound off and being more selective of the airways and channels open to me. The action is excruciatingly moderate but at least I don’t have to listen to the talking points which only seem to be centred on the big clubs,referee controversies , behind the scenes bust ups and transfers. It has helped me a lot.

[SussexDon1inIreland]

I listen to Phil Bird whilst watching our games - unfortunately for some reason the commentary is about a minute behind the TV pictures which is a pity but I put up with it.
Otherwise I also turn the sound off.

UTC

[superdimitri]

My coping mechanisms this season have been watching games with the sound off and being more selective of the airways and channels open to me. The action is excruciatingly moderate but at least I don’t have to listen to the talking points which only seem to be centred on the big clubs,referee controversies , behind the scenes bust ups and transfers. It has helped me a lot.

This is the only way to combat it really. Don't tune in read the stupid politics, don't watch the crap punditry. If everyone did the same the broadcasters would soon know that people are just switching off from it.

[Silkyskills1]

A lot of people are at breaking point and trying to stop falling out of love with football. Idealism has been lost as full scale commercialism and loss of integrity has worn many down.
As Burnley supporters we have club pride. Beating Liverpool at Anfield is one of the things that makes the effort of keeping in love with the game worthwhile. We are still being able to connect with the players and I think that’s also holding a lot of us together. Let’s hope that continues with the new owners.
Getting older changes people and I will know when I’ve fallen out of love for good. It’s the only thing that gets me into a proper bad mood.
My coping mechanisms this season have been watching games with the sound off and being more selective of the airways and channels open to me. The action is excruciatingly moderate but at least I don’t have to listen to the talking points which only seem to be centred on the big clubs,referee controversies , behind the scenes bust ups and transfers. It has helped me a lot.

In our house it's a bit of a throwback to years gone by when Peter Dimock or David Coleman would say 'and now we can go over to ************ for the start of the first half (second half). Nothing else. If I do watch some football where we are not involved then there is no sound at all. It does make me wonder where my relationship with football has gone and I'd surprise myself if I saw any international football this summer.

[boatshed bill]

I listen to Phil Bird whilst watching our games - unfortunately for some reason the commentary is about a minute behind the TV pictures which is a pity but I put up with it.
Otherwise I also turn the sound off.

UTC

I've tried that too.
These days I prefer listening to Phil Bird's commentary whilst not watching at all.
I like watching the games when they are available on Clarets+.
The simple reason for this is that I am totally brassed off with pundits and summarisers. I really don't want to hear comments like "there was contact", "he's entitled to go down" etc. It's killing the game, you pillocks, stop justifying it!

[Gerry Hattrick]

I listen to Phil Bird whilst watching our games - unfortunately for some reason the commentary is about a minute behind the TV pictures which is a pity but I put up with it.
Otherwise I also turn the sound off.

UTC

Pause and restart the TV to synchronise perhaps?

[Claret]

Stupid goal celebrations.
Diving and screaming and rolling over and over.
A proportion of the wealthiest footballers acting like spoiled brats.
So much money in football that it attracts the worst kind of people like the Glazers and agents.
FA Cup semis played at Wembley.
All seater stadiums.
Wall to wall saturation of footy on the telly.
Clubs so wealthy they play their reserves in Cup games.
Greed making the premier league a competition for the just the richest.
FIFA and UEFA as corrupt as anyone in football.
Referees giving fouls for nothing.
Changing rules to suit VAR.
VAR (we can have a whole chapter on the farce that is VAR)
The American sports system creeping into the game.
Fleecing the fans.
Stupid hand ball rules.
Bastards like that bloke at Bury who allow clubs to disappear just to line their own pockets.

[Devils_Advocate]

Here you go chaps, you'll just fit right in on here

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable

[boatshed bill]

Here you go chaps, you'll just fit right in on here

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable

I like this one.

If you're from Cornwall, how do you personally feel about tourists and second home owners?

If you are in Cornwall you probably are one!

[Devils_Advocate]

I like this one.

If you're from Cornwall, how do you personally feel about tourists and second home owners?

If you are in Cornwall you probably are one!

Im a moderator on there and its brilliant