General Modern Football: Is It Just Boring?

[QR]

More boring modern football like the Chelsea V Man Utd game last night will be the end of football.

 

[Essexyellows]

Which is why I hope in the new ground season tickets aren't sold in the block directly behind the goal. Make it a 'membership stand' with people getting points for all games they attend, meaning should we draw a big team in the cup those with most points get tickets first.

Season ticket holders should get the seat of their preference in the stand of their choosing. Especially those who selected it "off the plan".

Anyway the new stadium will be all about debentures. When Arsenal issued its Category A debentures in 1993, they cost £1,500. They now fetch around £12,500.

Pricing the working man out of the game is what its all about..............

 

[SteMerritt]

Season ticket holders should get the seat of their preference in the stand of their choosing. Especially those who selected it "off the plan".

The only problem with that is, as we have found, you then have people getting older, then blocking others who are trying to get an atmosphere going. Keeping a couple of sections free from ST holders won't cause much of a disadvantage in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Bigdwoolly]

This thread is interesting. While there's no "right" answer to it (I guess "boringness" is subjective) I think overall the answer to "is football more boring" is...

Yes, but probably not by as much of a margin as some think.

Maybe there is an aspect of rose tinted glasses.

Older heads on here, in the 00s, 90s and 80s did older fans say it was better back in their day?

There is nothing more certain in life than older people complaining about how much better things were back in their day. Although those in the 80s might struggle to identify a "better".

It's an unanswerable entirely subjective question. Fans who grew up at watching at the Manor (I include myself in this) have rose-tinted glasses about the games there but there were just as many crap games/performances back then. My view is the speed and physicality of football these days is vastly improved compared to the 80s/90s/00s, skills wise probably not, but they have to execute those skills so much more quickly now.

As someone else said, if you watched the Chelsea v Man U game last night you can't deny it was very entertaining. Quality wise questionable, but it depends what you watch football for, some (ok, some might be an exaggeration) would love an Ian Atkins disciplined 1-0 victory every week so they can execute some elite banter on Twitter. Personally, I prefer Buckingham's most recent approach of not picking a midfield and playing a 4-1-5 formation. At least until we lose, then I reserve the right to call him "tactically naive/clueless" etc.

 

[Essexyellows]

The only problem with that is, as we have found, you then have people getting older, then blocking others who are trying to get an atmosphere going. Keeping a couple of sections free from ST holders won't cause much of a disadvantage in the grand scheme of things.

That`s a seating issue - bring back terracing.

At least that was a natural aging process - Dads brought the kids to either the Beech Road terrace or the edges of the LRT, those kids went on to the middle of LRT then over time to the Osler Road, then to the Beech Road seats and then in to the Cemetery behind the JR.


Seats just encourage us old grumpy buggers to remain stoically where we chose from the plan.

 

[MustardYellow]

There is nothing more certain in life than older people complaining about how much better things were back in their day. Although those in the 80s might struggle to identify a "better".

It's an unanswerable entirely subjective question. Fans who grew up at watching at the Manor (I include myself in this) have rose-tinted glasses about the games there but there were just as many crap games/performances back then. My view is the speed and physicality of football these days is vastly improved compared to the 80s/90s/00s, skills wise probably not, but they have to execute those skills so much more quickly now.

As someone else said, if you watched the Chelsea v Man U game last night you can't deny it was very entertaining. Quality wise questionable, but it depends what you watch football for, some (ok, some might be an exaggeration) would love an Ian Atkins disciplined 1-0 victory every week so they can execute some elite banter on Twitter. Personally, I prefer Buckingham's most recent approach of not picking a midfield and playing a 4-1-5 formation. At least until we lose, then I reserve the right to call him "tactically naive/clueless" etc.

I don't think it helps every game at every level is played in the same style. 99% of teams try (being the key word) to play the same way. It leads to most games being 80% just taking it in turns passing around the back. For example, in 2019 there were 67 Premier League games where one team had 70% possession or more. In 2004 there was just 1. It's changed so much.

Football should ultimately be fun. Watching one team have 70% of the ball while the other just sits 11 men behind the ball without any real intention of winning the game most definitely is not fun.

The Chelsea Man U game last night was what football should be. 2 teams going at it, trying to win the game.

 

[m]

It's just people getting old.

Everything, EVERYTHING was better in the day.

Football, music, nightclubs, beer, holidays in Spain, fishing, stamp-collecting, birdwatching, serial killers, breakfast cereals, the Royal Family, road surfaces, trains, summer weather, snowy winters, FoSB. I could go on randomly typing stuff.

 

[holdsteady]

It's just people getting old.

Everything, EVERYTHING was better in the day.

Football, music, nightclubs, beer, holidays in Spain, fishing, stamp-collecting, birdwatching, serial killers, breakfast cereals, the Royal Family, road surfaces, trains, summer weather, snowy winters, FoSB. I could go on randomly typing stuff.

What was left of the generation that survived the plague probably looked back on it with some fondness and slagged off what came after, its just human nature.

If any of you are on Facebook and want to see this in full effect join a group called nostalgic Oxford, the pissed stained and smelling Westgate stairways are fondly remembered while the modern one is almost as big an enemy as LTNs as Karen and Trevor say they are never going back into Oxford now woolies has shut.

 

[WuTang]

One thing I'll probably never understand is fans who often laud how better it was "back in the day" on the London Road terrace, but will now prefer to have allocated seats on season tickets to reserve their exact seat every game. The modern practice of reserved seats prevents larger groups of friends (singers!) grouping together to improve the atmosphere, like you can do on a terrace.

If you used to have your favourite spot on the LR terrace, I presume you entered the stand within reasonable time and stood *roughly* in the same spot each week? If the East Stand was made entirely unallocated seating, nothing is preventing those who have a favourite seat entering at a reasonable time and sitting / standing in their preferred spot. But that would allow larger groups to congregate together and improve the atmosphere each game, and allow it to grow.

The only end result is more people in the stand earlier to make sure they get their favoured seats, surely improving the atmosphere yet more?

Allocated seats, keep it to the North and South Stands and leave the East Stand unallocated! The club can still change it to allocated seating for those sell out FA Cup draws, how many times does the East Stand sell out for a regular league game? That, for me, would be the easiest thing the club could do to improve atmosphere at the Kastad and they'll hopefully consider it at the new stadium.

 

[werthersoriginal]

What was left of the generation that survived the plague probably looked back on it with some fondness and slagged off what came after, its just human nature.

If any of you are on Facebook and want to see this in full effect join a group called nostalgic Oxford, the pissed stained and smelling Westgate stairways are fondly remembered while the modern one is almost as big an enemy as LTNs as Karen and Trevor say they are never going back into Oxford now woolies has shut.

Exactly. Sadly Karen and Trevor seem to be in charge of the political direction of the country, and everyone is running around trying to please them.

They infest Next Door, and are always saying that you can't get to Oxford now because of the LTNs, and it's simultaneously too busy and also a dying ghost town.

 

[MustardYellow]

It's just people getting old.

Everything, EVERYTHING was better in the day.

Football, music, nightclubs, beer, holidays in Spain, fishing, stamp-collecting, birdwatching, serial killers, breakfast cereals, the Royal Family, road surfaces, trains, summer weather, snowy winters, FoSB. I could go on randomly typing stuff.

Is it not plausible that maybe things are just (subjectively) worse?

To put people finding things less enjoyable/not as good down to them just getting older or being nostalgic and not considering that lots has changed and those changes could've made things less genuinely less enjoyable for some seems a bit unfair.

 

[MustardYellow]

One thing I'll probably never understand is fans who often laud how better it was "back in the day" on the London Road terrace, but will now prefer to have allocated seats on season tickets to reserve their exact seat every game. The modern practice of reserved seats prevents larger groups of friends (singers!) grouping together to improve the atmosphere, like you can do on a terrace.

If you used to have your favourite spot on the LR terrace, I presume you entered the stand within reasonable time and stood *roughly* in the same spot each week? If the East Stand was made entirely unallocated seating, nothing is preventing those who have a favourite seat entering at a reasonable time and sitting / standing in their preferred spot. But that would allow larger groups to congregate together and improve the atmosphere each game, and allow it to grow.

The only end result is more people in the stand earlier to make sure they get their favoured seats, surely improving the atmosphere yet more?

Allocated seats, keep it to the North and South Stands and leave the East Stand unallocated! The club can still change it to allocated seating for those sell out FA Cup draws, how many times does the East Stand sell out for a regular league game? That, for me, would be the easiest thing the club could do to improve atmosphere at the Kastad and they'll hopefully consider it at the new stadium.

I get the logic but how many people would actually turn up early? I reckon you'd have a core group that would, but you'd just get what you get now which is an influx just before kick off of those who want to be stood with said core group. You'd be relying on a considerable number of people being dedicated enough to make it worth it and make a difference and I'm not sure there's the 'market' for that at Oxford.

 

[m]

Is it not plausible that maybe things are just (subjectively) worse?

To put people finding things less enjoyable/not as good down to them just getting older or being nostalgic and not considering that lots has changed and those changes could've made things less genuinely less enjoyable for some seems a bit unfair.

Unfair? Jesus...

I was deliberately glib if I'm honest, and actually think it's an interesting discussion in the context of football.

The year 2005 seems a bit arbitrary to me though. (A bit 1982 Amish if you will*)


*comedy is also not as good as it used to be

 

[LowerSouth]

It’s clear after witnessing the 4-0.
The 125 Fleetwood fans and there drum, created more atmosphere than the 8500 homers .
We need a drum !

 

[holdsteady]

Is it not plausible that maybe things are just (subjectively) worse?

To put people finding things less enjoyable/not as good down to them just getting older or being nostalgic and not considering that lots has changed and those changes could've made things less genuinely less enjoyable for some seems a bit unfair.

Someone once said the "the only change you cannot avoid is change", so you might as well go with the flow a bit and accept it, also Bruce Lee said don't be strong like the big tree but like the grass, the wind doesn't blow that down. You can go mad moaning about everything or just relax, try and enjoy your life as much as you can can your way and let others do it their way.

For example I like going out for a drink, pubs have shut down and you get less young people out, but a plus side of that for me is I don't have to be around young people who are annoying when they are drunk so often and even at the age of 45 I can still occasionally feel young in the pub, not many places that happens.

VAR is s**t though.

 

[MustardYellow]

Unfair? Jesus...

I was deliberately glib if I'm honest, and actually think it's an interesting discussion in the context of football.

The year 2005 seems a bit arbitrary to me though. (A bit 1982 Amish if you will*)


*comedy is also not as good as it used to be

Nostalgia/recency bias is always interesting, although the trouble with it is it's often hard to identify!

 

[MustardYellow]

Someone once said the "the only change you cannot avoid is change", so you might as well go with the flow a bit and accept it, also Bruce Lee said don't be strong like the big tree but like the grass, the wind doesn't blow that down. You can go mad moaning about everything or just relax, try and enjoy your life as much as you can can your way and let others do it their way.

For example I like going out for a drink, pubs have shut down and you get less young people out, but a plus side of that for me is I don't have to be around young people who are annoying when they are drunk so often and even at the age of 45 I can still occasionally feel young in the pub, not many places that happens.

VAR is s**t though.

They're also expensive as f**k!

 

[Essexyellows]

One thing I'll probably never understand is fans who often laud how better it was "back in the day" on the London Road terrace, but will now prefer to have allocated seats on season tickets to reserve their exact seat every game. The modern practice of reserved seats prevents larger groups of friends (singers!) grouping together to improve the atmosphere, like you can do on a terrace.

If you used to have your favourite spot on the LR terrace, I presume you entered the stand within reasonable time and stood *roughly* in the same spot each week? If the East Stand was made entirely unallocated seating, nothing is preventing those who have a favourite seat entering at a reasonable time and sitting / standing in their preferred spot. But that would allow larger groups to congregate together and improve the atmosphere each game, and allow it to grow.

The only end result is more people in the stand earlier to make sure they get their favoured seats, surely improving the atmosphere yet more?

Allocated seats, keep it to the North and South Stands and leave the East Stand unallocated! The club can still change it to allocated seating for those sell out FA Cup draws, how many times does the East Stand sell out for a regular league game? That, for me, would be the easiest thing the club could do to improve atmosphere at the Kastad and they'll hopefully consider it at the new stadium.

Doesn`t unallocated seating reduce the overall capacity for some silly regulation or another?

PS: Concur with "how it was" (1 barriers down from top left side, 2 in from the middle fence) is how it could be!

 

[QR]

It’s clear after witnessing the 4-0.
The 125 Fleetwood fans and there drum, created more atmosphere than the 8500 homers .
We need a drum !

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

[holdsteady]

They're also expensive as f**k!

Depends where you go, Weatherspoons is probably cheaper than what I paid when I was young. Relatively speaking pubs are not really more expensive than what I was paying 30 years ago, £40 for a night out back then must be comparable to now. Youngsters would rather spend that money on something else now, their choice, I don't regret enjoying myself back then but it was a different time,, no smart phones etc so you had to go out to meet up with people.