werthersoriginal
Well-known member
- Joined
- 9 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 13,397
Eeeee, I bet people were saying that in about 1980 - or when the players wage cap was lifted in the 60s. It's odd to be nostalgic about the PL when that's the thing that has accelerated the changes you refer to.The issues around TV revenue and access to games via streaming platforms is something that clearly needs addressing, but the whole game needs a complete overhaul, from a moral point of view, as at the top level, clubs have become foreign run companies with largely foreign players and very few homegrown players, all on astronomical wages, supposedly representing communities that were at one time intrinsically linked to their football clubs, but who they simply can't relate to anymore.
Gone are the days when players would come through the ranks at clubs, and go on to become club legends, making hundreds of appearances, and sharing memorable moments with the fans that will be remembered for a lifetime. You might get the odd one, but most players who do come through these days, predominantly sit on the bench whilst a bunch of foreign players come in and get paid obscene amounts of money, and walk straight into the side, stunting the homegrown players' progression, leading to those players either spending their career on the fringes of the first team, or moving on to a Championship club, or forever being shipped out to lower league clubs on loan, until they fade into obscurity.
Premier league games used to be a great spectacle, when fixtures really meant something to the players, and there were club rivalries and individual player rivalries, back when you'd have a handful of foreign players in the squad, who would buy into the ethos of the club, and develop a huge bond with the club, the fans and the local community, and go on to become club legends.
Players like Cantona, Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Lundberg, Viera, Van Nistelrooy, Torres, Klinsmann, Drogba, Zola, Ronaldo, Evra, Stam, Vidic, to name a few!
These players didn't just chase the dollar, they went to clubs for success, learnt about the history of their clubs, and understood the rivalries, and what the club meant to the fans and the local communities, and fought for that club, putting their bodies on the line each week, along with the homegrown players who went on to become premier league and club legends themselves, it made the premier league a cauldron for intense competitive matches week in week out, and was a great spectacle, and whoever was playing, you knew you were going to be entertained.
Now, players go where the money is, and they barely bother to learn the language, let alone anything else, such as the club's history, they play like they're more bothered about themselves, and preserving their latest tattoo and hairstyle, before securing another big money move elsewhere, and due to their disgusting wages, are so far removed from the reality of the communities that their clubs represent, that the bonds that used to exist between players, clubs, fans and communities are no longer there. At the top level of the game, fans are considered paying customers now, nothing more.
The passion from the players for their club isn't there anymore, and it shows in the lacklustre performances in the premier league every week, the games are flat, sterile and lacking passion, intensity and desire, with players from opposing teams laughing and chatting after games, even if one team has thrashed the other. They're not bothered.
In my opinion, it's due to the overwhelming influx of money, technology, and foreign players, foreign managers and foreign owners.
Football originated from a working class background, but has now evolved into a money generating monster for the elite mega rich, and the clubs are losing their identities in the process.
It's like an infection, that's already trickled down from the premiership into the Championship, and needs to be stopped in it's tracks, before it can trickle down in the lower leagues, although I fear we're already seeing the first signs that it may already be too late...
I don't mind seeing players chatting with opponents, some of them are ex colleagues after all and maybe friends, as long as they are competitive in the actual game.