Long Read but spot on

[Redshadow 0]

Read this earlier, don't think it's been done elsewhere. If it has MODS please remove.

 

http://timesonline.typepad.com/fanzine_fan...l-only-mis.html

 

What is it that Guinness advert proclaims? "All good things come to those who wait". Well the Footballing Authorities may not have to wait too much longer until their transition of the game is complete. To rid the game of the bad and populate it only with the good. No more rowdy behaviour, no more rebels of society daring to stand up and make their feelings known, no more problems.

 

Their ideals consist of fans turning up every week, queuing to gain entry in an orderly fashion, having booked their tickets 3 months in advance. Entering the stadium and taking their seats, rising only to applaud goals where they dance along to carefully selected music over the PA, before clearing up their litter and disappearing into the countryside until the following weekend. No hassle, no passion, no noise.

 

"They'll only miss us once we've gone"

 

As the game I know and love becomes more diluted by the passing year, I often wonder just when the breaking point will come. When will those authorised with sanitising our game realise the error of their ways? Or can they not actually see that they are breaking the very foundations of what has made this sport a success? Pound signs blur their vision, seen all too often in every walk of life. Greed takes over, people want more. They've exhausted the Premier League "brand" and now have visions of taking it further afield; the infamous "Game 39". Translated to you and me, meaning they have milked pretty much every penny they can from the "consumers" in this country, and now want to tap into the pockets of those football hungry consumers overseas. All in the name of expanding the pockets of the shareholders, players and governing bodies of our sport. Our sport, not theirs.

 

If I rewind 7 or 8 years; I'm leaving the house on a matchday and making my way to Anfield. There was no need to ring around in the morning; I'd just turn up and walk into one of two or three pubs around the ground, and would bump into people I knew. You knew where everyone would drink, and had done for years. The same faces, the people that made this club what it is. I can pop my head into those same pubs now, and I wouldn't recognise a soul. Those long standing supporters have now all but disappeared, replaced by families from all over, decked out in official replica sportswear and taking pictures of anything that moves. There's a smaller crowd of us left and tend to keep out of the way. We don't conform. Those areas around the ground have now been taken over by the new brigade, while the old guard retreat to pastures further afield.

 

Year after year, more and more people are dropping away. There's still a hardcore of a few hundred that travel everywhere. There's still thousands that go to every home game just like they always have. But it's becoming harder and harder for these people to carry on. Supporters being replaced by consumers. Participants being replaced by spectators. Just how much higher can the bar be raised by the controlling bodies before they've pushed away everyone that gave the game it's appeal in the first place? What happens when the passion disappears for good? You can't manufacture passion, no matter how hard some clubs try.

 

They have mascots running up and down the touchline trying to encourage the fans. At Bolton they play "I feel good" when they score, with two young lads running the length of the pitch with big flags. Music played after goals is now commonplace, as if fans don't know how to celebrate a goal by themselves. Is it because they realise the passion is dead and are trying to hang onto a small semblence of it? Or is it aimed at manufacturing a friendly atmosphere to suit their agenda?

 

Manufactured support; I can't think of anything worse. Handing out those clappers seems to be the next step this season, with the whole of St.Andrews clapping along with them before their opening game. This in a ground that used to be known as one of the most passionate and hostile in football; now transformed into a childrens play ground with everybody doing as they are told. Sat down and singing what the club want them to sing, and clapping when they want them to clap. So sad. Ticket prices on the increase there every season, and a ground I now refuse to visit. £40 for an away ticket some 4 years ago. No thanks. It doesn't take a genius to work out why they barely fill half of that ground any more.

 

Newcastle had their lowest league attendance for nearly a decade at the weekend, with cash turnstiles in operation, entry for £10 if you bought a replica shirt and other such promotions, but still had thousands of empty seats. Manchester United have been contacting everybody on their mailing lists trying to push season ticket sales again this summer. Whereas Old Trafford used to be like Fort Knox when it came to getting in, they're now closer to resembling one of the happy hour bars in Benidorm, with teenagers stood outside handing out cards with promotional offers to encourage trade. What was once a closed shop, is now opening it's doors and trying to drag people in off the streets.

 

Is the football bubble about to burst? I hope so.

 

On Monday night, Portsmouth's most famous fan, the bell ringer with the blue hair, or less commonly known as "John", was approached by the ground staff at Fratton Park and asked to keep the noise down. I'm sure it's not only me that's absolutely staggered by that. Asked to stop ringing his bell and keep the noise down, in a football ground! The mind boggles. But it's another notch on the many that have been made previously, in slowly sanitising the way we support our teams.

 

We are told we're not allowed to stand up as it's unsafe; yet rugby sides play in exactly the same stadia and those rules don't apply. Apparently it's safe for rugby fans to stand in those same seated areas, but not football fans (the reasons for that I could write a book on, and will address again). It's madness. They're also allowed to drink in their seats while watching the game. I know of a fan that was facing a 3 year football banning after peering over the exits at White Hart Lane to catch a goal he'd missed when coming down early at half time. He'd walked down the steps, was handed a pint by a friend, and heard the roar from the stands. He went halfway back up the steps to see what had happened, when two officers arrested him for consuming alcohol in view of the playing surface. It defies belief. But I'm told we're different. As our friend from Portsmouth has pointed out this week; would this sort of discrimination be accepted anywhere else, or by anyone else, but football fans?

 

I was on a final warning in my old season ticket seat for foul and abusive language. I was reported by fellow fans for swearing, and risked losing my season ticket. Now in that seat, I was reserved, very reserved. It was on the halfway line and not a noise was made all season by anyone. They were spectators, I'm a participant, or like to be. I want to go to the game and let off some steam. I go to work to pay the bills, put a roof over the family heads, and to enjoy myself during my time off. I choose to do that at the football, something I've grown up with. It's always been a part of who I am. But in that seat, I had to control myself and just sit and watch the game, conforming to those around me for over 7 years. I must have sworn a handful of times in that entire period, when telling the referee where to go or some other trivial slip of the tongue. Yet I faced losing my season ticket and not being able to support my side over it. I was one swear word away from walking away from the game for good. If this was in a family enclosure I'd understand. I know when swearing is unacceptable, and in my view, a football ground is one of those places where it fits.

 

When I go to the match, I want to stand with fellow fans, my friends. I want to participate in the game, I want to support the side. I want to shout and I want to sing. I want to do the things that made me fall in love with the game and going to the match. But one by one, the authorities are trying to take all those things out of our game. To have us sat in silence, only singing when they want us to sing, and singing the songs they want us to sing. Blaring music over the PA system we are supposed to dance along to. We're unable to create an atmosphere ourselves it seems. For the future, see American sports for how it will go. Club issue foam hands can already be seen, dancing girls have been tried, the list goes on.

 

Keep sanitising; you'll soon be wondering where it all went wrong, when the very people that made this game what it is, have all long since disappeared. There's not many of us left. Soon there will be none.

 

Enjoy modern football. Enjoy scratching your heads in some plush office arguing with each other about who's to blame when the crowds start to stay away. I'll be long past the caring stage. You'll have brought it upon yourselves and destroyed a game loved by millions in the process. I hope it's worth it.

 

Paul Jones

[Douggy B 0]

Absolutly bang on.

 

Clubs want the working class out of fans out of football (as long as there is demand by someone who is willing to fill that spot AND use the club shop once in a while)

 

There has been a concerted effort at Man Utd and Arsenal to cleanse the ground of the standers and swearers, replacing them with tarquin and flahmina who clap politely and don't moan too much when things dont go their way.

 

Also at my club they have requested (the were going to demand) that ST holders without kids vacate the paxton end to be relocated.

 

I dont know about you lot but when my Dad took me to games I used to love listen to the grown up effin and jeffin I felt totally safe standing up, near the front.

 

Football seemed a lot more real back then...maybe because I wasnt drunk before every game?

 

It was certainly fun thats a fact

Edited August 29, 2008 by Danny B

[Ugly Mackems 134]

Some good points.

 

Football IS killing itself.

[Asprilla 96]

It wasn't all good though back then. Loads more racism and violence not to mention several deaths.

 

 

I do think it's gone too far though, not sure what the answer is mind.

[Guest alex]

Aye, spot on stuff. As Asprilla says all of the changes have by no means been for the worse but the way things are going is ridiculous in so many ways. The double standards are pretty pathetic too.

[Guest Stevie]

The game has become an entity ran by posh cunts, tailored for posh cunts. I think its should be compulsory to swear at the match, it's a game the evokes passions like no other.

 

There's nothing like becoming engrossed in a match, it happens now and then, where you forget people are around you and you're the only one there, the only one that can see a dirty foul 100 yards away, thinking your cries WILL influence the referee. The money men don't want that, they want people with money who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I think if there was many fans with a rugby supporter type profile, the £600,000 hoose at Darras Hall, the Barbour jacket, the Land Rover, the dead Pheasant on the back seat, the friend called Forbes, the brother in law called Henry, the wife called Agnes, the shares in ICI, the golf club membership type, the lifetime Conservatives voter, the holiday home in Tuscany owner.....they don't want me or the majority of people on this forum, they want posh cunts. Even MA deep down if he's running NUFC for pure profit wants this, as does Rupert Murdoch. These people are born in to sterile environments, and that's what they expect their social lives to be surrounded by.

 

That might be a bit extreme but that's why football is watered down today. Cunts who take being civilised to the extreme. Reading what HF said last week about the fatha who told him to sit down because his son couldn't see, why the fuck was he in singers corner? It's that type of cunt who has the power.

[Douggy B 0]

Exactly Stevie, surely there were plenty of other spare seats knocking about he could have gone to.

[Guest alex]

I don't even think it's as simple as 'posh cunts' v. working class people, although the boundaries between the new and old breed of fans often seem to follow those lines. For me the worst fans of the lot are the JCL types. By that I mean people who don't even really give a shit about football. There are obviously lots of people at SJP who didn't go in the darkest days of the 80s and early 90s, for a variety of reasons. But a lot of those people were put off by the violence and conditions as well as the shit football. But they still cared about NUFC. I can't stand the types who didn't even like football until sometime between Italia '90 and the beginnings of the PL (obviously that doesn't apply to any young 'uns). They're the ones the clubs chased after with schemes like the Platinum Club etc. They're the first ones to not bother turning up and when they do they moan incessently if it's not like watching Brazil or if someone uses foul language and all that sort of thing.

[Besty 4]

Exactly Stevie, surely there were plenty of other spare seats knocking about he could have gone to.

 

[Chaser 1276]

Ive been to both Football and Rugby games (Not so much a fan, but interested to watch it) and the biggest difference noted here is the police presence. Now at Rugby games, you get fans of both clubs stood side by side. In football, they have to be separated. Why is it that our sport has to be managed completely different to another ball game? Im not talking upper class union, im talking rugby league in the heartlands of where the game grew up.

 

There are always gonna be numpties going to matches who will cause trouble but theyre in the minority. Its good that the racism & violence has been very much taken away from Stadia, but the real essence of the game, the passion of the fans and the feeling of unity that you get with the people around you is slipping. Seating probably doesnt help this, but neither does "over policing" of the event. The author of that piece makes reference to a lad running up the stairs with a pint in his hand, not taking his seat but observing a goal and being locked up for it. Thats over policing, and more about a figures game than crowd control.

 

In the family enclosure, no swearing - fine. Kids are there, maybe parents dont want to let their kids hear it so they make a choice to sit in that area. The majority of other supporters are lads who have grafted hard for the week, pay a hefty chunk of that money for their fix on a Saturday lunchtime/afternoon/Sunday so why cant they be entitled to enjoy the game for what it was and still should be? If people are offended by swearing, dont go to the game or sit in the family enclosure. Its your choice.

 

If you want a taste of what football should be about, without the greed of a governing body, go to a game in league 1 or 2 and just see how it is. Its a lot less sanitised than it is in the Premier League.

[Tooj 17]

The game has become an entity ran by posh cunts, tailored for posh cunts. I think its should be compulsory to swear at the match, it's a game the evokes passions like no other.

 

There's nothing like becoming engrossed in a match, it happens now and then, where you forget people are around you and you're the only one there, the only one that can see a dirty foul 100 yards away, thinking your cries WILL influence the referee. The money men don't want that, they want people with money who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I think if there was many fans with a rugby supporter type profile, the £600,000 hoose at Darras Hall, the Barbour jacket, the Land Rover, the dead Pheasant on the back seat, the friend called Forbes, the brother in law called Henry, the wife called Agnes, the shares in ICI, the golf club membership type, the lifetime Conservatives voter, the holiday home in Tuscany owner.....they don't want me or the majority of people on this forum, they want posh cunts. Even MA deep down if he's running NUFC for pure profit wants this, as does Rupert Murdoch. These people are born in to sterile environments, and that's what they expect their social lives to be surrounded by.

 

That might be a bit extreme but that's why football is watered down today. Cunts who take being civilised to the extreme. Reading what HF said last week about the fatha who told him to sit down because his son couldn't see, why the fuck was he in singers corner? It's that type of cunt who has the power.

[Kitman 2207]

They could easily have standing areas with no Hillsboro type issues and that would help the atmosphere massively imo. They won't allow it because they don't want rowdy pissed up working class fans enjoying themselves.....not good for the image of the game. It's got nothing at all to do with safety

[Guest Stevie]

Ive been to both Football and Rugby games (Not so much a fan, but interested to watch it) and the biggest difference noted here is the police presence. Now at Rugby games, you get fans of both clubs stood side by side. In football, they have to be separated. Why is it that our sport has to be managed completely different to another ball game? Im not talking upper class union, im talking rugby league in the heartlands of where the game grew up.

 

There are always gonna be numpties going to matches who will cause trouble but theyre in the minority. Its good that the racism & violence has been very much taken away from Stadia, but the real essence of the game, the passion of the fans and the feeling of unity that you get with the people around you is slipping. Seating probably doesnt help this, but neither does "over policing" of the event. The author of that piece makes reference to a lad running up the stairs with a pint in his hand, not taking his seat but observing a goal and being locked up for it. Thats over policing, and more about a figures game than crowd control.

 

In the family enclosure, no swearing - fine. Kids are there, maybe parents dont want to let their kids hear it so they make a choice to sit in that area. The majority of other supporters are lads who have grafted hard for the week, pay a hefty chunk of that money for their fix on a Saturday lunchtime/afternoon/Sunday so why cant they be entitled to enjoy the game for what it was and still should be? If people are offended by swearing, dont go to the game or sit in the family enclosure. Its your choice.

 

If you want a taste of what football should be about, without the greed of a governing body, go to a game in league 1 or 2 and just see how it is. Its a lot less sanitised than it is in the Premier League.

Wasps fan: jolly god game

"Quins fan": yerrrrrs

Wasps fan: did you watch that spiffing game at the Epsom Polo club on Saturday?

Quins fan: yerrrs wasn't it magnificent

Wasps: Giles Taylor-Brown is one for the future

Quins: I'm acquainted with his father from the Lodge

Wasps: The new "AFRICAN" type has to go

Quins: Splendid point, Uncle Urquhart would turn in his grave

 

Now why would you need a police presence for that type of cunt? It's boring. We need council estate scum in football matches.

[Chaser 1276]

Ive been to both Football and Rugby games (Not so much a fan, but interested to watch it) and the biggest difference noted here is the police presence. Now at Rugby games, you get fans of both clubs stood side by side. In football, they have to be separated. Why is it that our sport has to be managed completely different to another ball game? Im not talking upper class union, im talking rugby league in the heartlands of where the game grew up.

 

There are always gonna be numpties going to matches who will cause trouble but theyre in the minority. Its good that the racism & violence has been very much taken away from Stadia, but the real essence of the game, the passion of the fans and the feeling of unity that you get with the people around you is slipping. Seating probably doesnt help this, but neither does "over policing" of the event. The author of that piece makes reference to a lad running up the stairs with a pint in his hand, not taking his seat but observing a goal and being locked up for it. Thats over policing, and more about a figures game than crowd control.

 

In the family enclosure, no swearing - fine. Kids are there, maybe parents dont want to let their kids hear it so they make a choice to sit in that area. The majority of other supporters are lads who have grafted hard for the week, pay a hefty chunk of that money for their fix on a Saturday lunchtime/afternoon/Sunday so why cant they be entitled to enjoy the game for what it was and still should be? If people are offended by swearing, dont go to the game or sit in the family enclosure. Its your choice.

 

If you want a taste of what football should be about, without the greed of a governing body, go to a game in league 1 or 2 and just see how it is. Its a lot less sanitised than it is in the Premier League.

Wasps fan: jolly god game

"Quins fan": yerrrrrs

Wasps fan: did you watch that spiffing game at the Epsom Polo club on Saturday?

Quins fan: yerrrs wasn't it magnificent

Wasps: Giles Taylor-Brown is one for the future

Quins: I'm acquainted with his father from the Lodge

Wasps: The new "AFRICAN" type has to go

Quins: Splendid point, Uncle Urquhart would turn in his grave

 

Now why would you need a police presence for that type of cunt? It's boring. We need council estate scum in football matches.

 

Stevie, im not talking about fucking wasps/harlequins. Im on about Council scum from places like Castleford/Bradford/Wigan/Warrington. They have shit holes down there just like we have up here. You're stood on terraces and if you're one of the "posh cunts" then you get to sit in a box which is a porta cabin with a fridge and a couple of seats in.

[Guest alex]

By his own admission, he knows nothing about any other sports tbf

[Tooj 17]

By his own admission, he knows nothing about any other sports tbf

[Chaser 1276]

By his own admission, he knows nothing about any other sports tbf

 

He seems to know a lot about well-to-do folk though

[Del Pede 0]

If I rewind 7 or 8 years; I'm leaving the house on a matchday and making my way to Anfield. There was no need to ring around in the morning; I'd just turn up and walk into one of two or three pubs around the ground, and would bump into people I knew. You knew where everyone would drink, and had done for years. The same faces, the people that made this club what it is. I can pop my head into those same pubs now, and I wouldn't recognise a soul. Those long standing supporters have now all but disappeared, replaced by families from all over, decked out in official replica sportswear and taking pictures of anything that moves. There's a smaller crowd of us left and tend to keep out of the way. We don't conform. Those areas around the ground have now been taken over by the new brigade, while the old guard retreat to pastures further afield.

 

As a Danish part time Newcastle fan, that really talks to me, and kinda pains me, 'cause i'd be one of those consumers when i attend Newcastle matches. I don't really like the idea of football supporters being made in to a tourist spectacle, when horders of people from abroad invades theire "home" in replica kits and photographing anyone that might be a genuine fan. I wouldn't want to be on the other end of that, but i wouldn't want to give up watching Newcastle either.

 

I've only been to St. James once, and I painfully remember a conversation with a geordie and his canadien girlfriend the day after. He had easily spotted we weren't from Newcastle, since we where ALL overly dressed in new merchandise.

He asked if we had been to the game, and I said yes. He's girlfriend asked, why they had not went to the game, and he bitterly said, that there was no way they could get tickets. We could on the, on the otherhand, easily get tickets. We just had to email a contact, and he'd sort us out. We got some nice 42£ lounge tickets, wich included a matchday program and a dinner voucher, and access to a bar on top of St. James. It felt ackward sitting there. Fully knowing, that we took up spaces from people whole really wanted to be there. But the club knew that we would spent silly money in every superstore we came accross, and therefor we were deemed good money.

 

The same thing with football is happening here in Denmark. Our stadiums are slowly transforming to all seaters, with more add space, and big screen tv's. The beer is getting more expensive, with lesser alchohol and in smaller portions. We are no where near the situation in England, but we're getting there. Some guy got slammed with a half a year ban from every ground in the country, for putting up a sticker.

 

I do sympatise with english supporters, that has been priced out of the stadiums.

I would never call myself a sooperfan, and I try to conduct myself with a bit of humility when i do post here, unlike some other supporters from abroad

[Park Life 71]

"Shoplifters of the world unite and takeover". Morrissey.

[Asprilla 96]

The game has become an entity ran by posh cunts, tailored for posh cunts. I think its should be compulsory to swear at the match, it's a game the evokes passions like no other.

 

There's nothing like becoming engrossed in a match, it happens now and then, where you forget people are around you and you're the only one there, the only one that can see a dirty foul 100 yards away, thinking your cries WILL influence the referee. The money men don't want that, they want people with money who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I think if there was many fans with a rugby supporter type profile, the £600,000 hoose at Darras Hall, the Barbour jacket, the Land Rover, the dead Pheasant on the back seat, the friend called Forbes, the brother in law called Henry, the wife called Agnes, the shares in ICI, the golf club membership type, the lifetime Conservatives voter, the holiday home in Tuscany owner.....they don't want me or the majority of people on this forum, they want posh cunts. Even MA deep down if he's running NUFC for pure profit wants this, as does Rupert Murdoch. These people are born in to sterile environments, and that's what they expect their social lives to be surrounded by.

 

That might be a bit extreme but that's why football is watered down today. Cunts who take being civilised to the extreme. Reading what HF said last week about the fatha who told him to sit down because his son couldn't see, why the fuck was he in singers corner? It's that type of cunt who has the power.

 

Have to admit, that one got me too.

[Kitman 2207]

"Shoplifters of the world unite and takeover". Morrissey.

 

Wasn't that "Shirtlifters of the world unite and take over"?

[Guest Stevie]

The game has become an entity ran by posh cunts, tailored for posh cunts. I think its should be compulsory to swear at the match, it's a game the evokes passions like no other.

 

There's nothing like becoming engrossed in a match, it happens now and then, where you forget people are around you and you're the only one there, the only one that can see a dirty foul 100 yards away, thinking your cries WILL influence the referee. The money men don't want that, they want people with money who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I think if there was many fans with a rugby supporter type profile, the £600,000 hoose at Darras Hall, the Barbour jacket, the Land Rover, the dead Pheasant on the back seat, the friend called Forbes, the brother in law called Henry, the wife called Agnes, the shares in ICI, the golf club membership type, the lifetime Conservatives voter, the holiday home in Tuscany owner.....they don't want me or the majority of people on this forum, they want posh cunts. Even MA deep down if he's running NUFC for pure profit wants this, as does Rupert Murdoch. These people are born in to sterile environments, and that's what they expect their social lives to be surrounded by.

 

That might be a bit extreme but that's why football is watered down today. Cunts who take being civilised to the extreme. Reading what HF said last week about the fatha who told him to sit down because his son couldn't see, why the fuck was he in singers corner? It's that type of cunt who has the power.

 

Have to admit, that one got me too.

I wasn't thinking about Parky there you know, just to clear that up.

[Douggy B 0]

Stevie since were on the subject, what do you think of your fellow fans supporting Sunderland at the weekend?

 

And

 

Saying people should pick what team to support on the basis of success?

[Guest alex]

The game has become an entity ran by posh cunts, tailored for posh cunts. I think its should be compulsory to swear at the match, it's a game the evokes passions like no other.

 

There's nothing like becoming engrossed in a match, it happens now and then, where you forget people are around you and you're the only one there, the only one that can see a dirty foul 100 yards away, thinking your cries WILL influence the referee. The money men don't want that, they want people with money who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I think if there was many fans with a rugby supporter type profile, the £600,000 hoose at Darras Hall, the Barbour jacket, the Land Rover, the dead Pheasant on the back seat, the friend called Forbes, the brother in law called Henry, the wife called Agnes, the shares in ICI, the golf club membership type, the lifetime Conservatives voter, the holiday home in Tuscany owner.....they don't want me or the majority of people on this forum, they want posh cunts. Even MA deep down if he's running NUFC for pure profit wants this, as does Rupert Murdoch. These people are born in to sterile environments, and that's what they expect their social lives to be surrounded by.

 

That might be a bit extreme but that's why football is watered down today. Cunts who take being civilised to the extreme. Reading what HF said last week about the fatha who told him to sit down because his son couldn't see, why the fuck was he in singers corner? It's that type of cunt who has the power.

 

Have to admit, that one got me too.

I wasn't thinking about Parky there you know, just to clear that up.

I was.

[Guest Stevie]

Stevie since were on the subject, what do you think of your fellow fans supporting Sunderland at the weekend?

 

And

 

Saying people should pick what team to support on the basis of success?

People should never support Sunderland and want them to lose every game. If you give a club a cunt rating Sunderland would be 10 and Tottenham 8. However, in terms of where we finish this season it was better for us that Sunderland won because they won't be challenging top 6 at the end of the season, like you could be and we could be, so I understand why some weren't disappointed.

 

The second thing you mentioned...total bunch of wanks.