Believe me, I'm happier sitting, happy that the mindless morons can be easily found, and that going to a football match is no longer a game of Russian roulette. The point I was trying (and failing) to make was that a lot of the soul has gone out of the game. The fans that go along week in week out, rain or shine, good team or utter shite, are an endangered species. Yes, I'm an old fart---but we have lost something of the spirit of football along the way. I'm glad not to have racist thugs intimidating everyone, or fans charging at each other across the football pitch, but I'd like a return to the illusion (which it probably was) of a local club catering for its local community and not seeing fans as walking wallets to be gouged out of money as often as possible.
Huns out of Champions League---good. Theyare in financial bother themselves, and should probably get some sympathy---but they have already cheated a club out of a legitimate transfer fee and are looking to pick up another couple of the Dundee players on the cheap, so to hell with them.
Oh, and as Crofter points out, it's the directors to blame for the financial situation. The players, coaches and backroom staff that have suddenly been deprived of their livelihood are victims in this.
Leeds
Re: Leeds
A lot of the loyalty has gone out of the game, abetted by the example of the players, increased social and geographical mobility and the 'success' culture (i.e. where winning is seen as the ONLY valid criterion).
Ted Bates was a fine exemplar of an admirable and increasingly rare tradition.
Ted Bates was a fine exemplar of an admirable and increasingly rare tradition.
"a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the
signification...."
signification...."