Have you missed football?

[Spurslove]

nailed it and put that accross far better than I could especially the last sentence about being able to tell people you aren’t interested in football anymore.

I'm very very close to agreeing with that statement. The only problem I have is finding a way in which I can love Tottenham Hotspur, whilst not giving a shit about the rest of football. Like I've said previously it's the moth to the flame syndrome, and old habits are very hard to break...but hand on heart I couldn't care less what happens with or to any other clubs.

Can anyone advise me how to do that?

 

[Gassin's finest]

Yeah, don't miss VAR at all. Load of shite.

 

[Gbspurs]

Yeah, don't miss VAR at all. Load of shite.

Like a new signing people need to give it time to settle. The theory behind it is solid, to remove obvious refereeing mistakes from the game. The issue is the technology is able to go further (instead of just removing obvious mistakes, why not ot use it to ensure that the decision is correct in the first place). This blurs the lines and causes problems with laws designed to be subjective to give referees breathing space.

They will iron these issues out im sure, it just takes time. A revamp of the rules here will help hugely.

 

[RosieFTL]

Since the competitive start of the 2001/02 season (having missed some of the pre season friendlies before the PL started that season) I have missed 1 first team game. That is to say I have physically been present in the stadium in view of the pitch from kick off to final whistle (although usually going downstairs at half time) for every Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup/Europa League, Champions' League and pre, mid and post first team friendly home, away and abroad since then bar once. (I was arrested at Aston Villa away in 2005 for being "drunk whilst entering a sporting arena" but then found not guilty in a subsequent trial). I have seen Spurs play in 130 odd cities in 38 FIFA affiliated countries in 5 continents in that time.

I absolutely miss the lifestyle that stopped when football was suspensed. It seems like it's been many years but in fact it's only been 2 months. In order to be able to go to every game the rest of my life (family, friends and work) fits around Spurs rather than the other way around. Now I'm spending far more time with my wife which I am admittingly enjoying and I hope she is too (I type this whilst she is asleep next to me along with our two cats). I'm keeping in touch with other family and friends including those who I go to games with via Zoom so there is some sort of normality.

Aside from Spurs I don't watch or follow club football (I prefer watching other sports instead if I have the time to do so) so I'm not missing the season in general. I don't have Sky or BT TV and don't watch MotD usually. I love watching the European Championships and World Cup finals though...indeed back in my single days I used to try and watch every match "live" on TV including 2 at the same time in the final round of group matches...I did that from 1990 to 2000, then couldn't because of work then did it again from 2006 until 2016 I think. It's actually far tougher trying to watch 32 or 64 matches in a month on TV than going to all the Spurs games. So I will miss the Euros this summer even if I am no longer to undertake such TV marathons.

Yet putting aside all of the above I'm not missing the actual football that Spurs were playing prior to shutdown as, quite simply, we were crap. I'm also still very upset with ENIC that we were so close to winning trophies in recent years but didn't do so primarily, in my opinion, due to a lack of affordable investment in quality players. (But that I guess is for the ENIC thread).

 

[Spurslove]

Like a new signing people need to give it time to settle. The theory behind it is solid, to remove obvious refereeing mistakes from the game. The issue is the technology is able to go further (instead of just removing obvious mistakes, why not ot use it to ensure that the decision is correct in the first place). This blurs the lines and causes problems with laws designed to be subjective to give referees breathing space.

They will iron these issues out im sure, it just takes time. A revamp of the rules here will help hugely.

A massive and very simple change to VAR, would be to give the referees the final say to every decision and that means he has to go over to the pitch-side monitor and examine the incident in question for himself. So far, although the monitors have been at pitch-side, the refs have been encouraged NOT to go over and exmine the evidence, which is a complete nonsense.

Consequently, when the VAR man sitting in an office hundreds of miles away gives his decision, the ref has had to go with it, which again, is nonsense.

.

 

[dontcallme]

I really fail to understand that people come on to a football board to say that they don't miss football?

Geez what I would give to be going to a game this afternoon a couple of pints with a few mates watch the game have a moan complain about VAR about the referee how shit Aurier is and then make plans to do it all again next week. Some things in football aren't right but don't miss it your having a laugh !!

Frankly no football at the weekends no racing and nowhere to go

I think it's more about the current situation than in general. I have more free time than ever before but have limitations on what I can do with it.

I have missed seeing my friends, playing football, the pub, the cinema, even missing the gym even though I only joined a month before lockdown but for some reason in all this mess I am not watching the Prem or my team.

 

[smallsnc]

I miss it big time. Especially since I am now tied to a computer/phone working 13+ hours a day and could at least have matches on to watch during some of the dead time.

The positive is that my wife and I found out we do really enjoy spending time together again and, with retirement coming in a couple of years, that is a really good thing.

 

[Spurslove]

People get used to the rituals of a match day. I get it. For those who go to games, it's the meeting up of your friends, it's going for a couple of pre-match drinks, it's the shouting and swearing at the players and the ref and the linesman during the game and the post-match drinks or a meal after the game when all the cameraderie continues bla bla bla. I don't have any problem with any of that..

It's the actual game itself I've grown to completely disrespect. Cheating is now part of it all and I hate that. Every player cheats and tries to con the ref.

And then there's the vile habit of all the players spitting and snotting all over the pitch which I can't watch (especially if I'm eating or drinking anything, which invariably I am whenever I'm watching a game) Absolutely no need for it, but it just displays a complete lack of education and an appalling lesson to send out to all the kids watching and playing in the parks etc. who look at players as role models.

So no, I'm not missing any of that rubbish at all, but having said all that, I do miss watching my THFC (slightly hypocritical I know) but as for the rest of football, nah it can go fuck itself.

.

 

[Kingellesar]

I miss the social aspect of it, discussing/arguing with mates. I don't miss the actual football itself, as this season has been a complete shambles with regards to VAR. The atmosphere at the stadium has been dead this season as well, partly because of VAR. Celebrating a goal has turned into a "wait for it.....".

It probably doesn't help that we have been dreadful this season as well. Its actually been a nice break really.

 

['O Zio]

I miss the social aspect of it, discussing/arguing with mates. I don't miss the actual football itself, as this season has been a complete shambles with regards to VAR. The atmosphere at the stadium has been dead this season as well, partly because of VAR. Celebrating a goal has turned into a "wait for it.....".

It probably doesn't help that we have been dreadful this season as well. Its actually been a nice break really.

I reckon VAR being the cause of the poor atmosphere is just and easy scapegoat to be honest. It may make goal celebrations slightly less intense but that doesn't explain why it's poor the rest of the time. Atmosphere in PL matches in general has been poor for years and that coupled with our performances either being terrible or boring (often both) has had far more of an impact on atmosphere than VAR.

 

[Spurslove]

I reckon VAR being the cause of the poor atmosphere is just and easy scapegoat to be honest. It may make goal celebrations slightly less intense but that doesn't explain why it's poor the rest of the time. Atmosphere in PL matches in general has been poor for years and that coupled with our performances either being terrible or boring (often both) has had far more of an impact on atmosphere than VAR.

I may be wrong but it's my impression that every club who moves into a new much bigger stadium suffers the same lack of atmosphere initially. This coud be for any number of reasons. Maybe it's down to the majority of new fans being more of the 'prawn sandwich' type who dont' like to join in with the singing. Maybe the clubs in their previous, smaller stadiums have regular fans in certain seats and blocks of seats who've been in their place for many years who knew and were used to each other, making them feel more comfortable about singing together, but in the much larger stadiums, all those 'cliques' have been broken up and have found themselves sitting all over the place.

.

 

[Japhet]

Still no. To the point where if I'm checking out a news site like the BBC or summat and I see a link to a story where someone connected to football is putting forward some kind of plan for how it can all be re-started somehow (be it finishing the 2019/20 season or starting a new season later in the future), my first reaction is to think, "Oh fuck, I hope that doesn't happen."

Find myself in a personally contradictory position where I don't want the entire game to collapse because it would have disastrous economic implications for a lot of decent hard-working wage-earners employed by football clubs and the rest of the associated supply chain*, but also from my own selfish perspective I simultaneously hope that it doesn't ever start again because the last couple of months have shown me pretty emphatically that I'm happier without Spurs and football in my life.

*albeit zero fucks given about the players and staff at the top of the game earning vast salaries well beyond the dreams of us working stiffs; I would shed not a single tear if no player ever again earned tens of thousands of pounds per week

It would be the very epitome of 'Spursy' if the game were to disappear up it's own arse almost to the moment when we unveil the best and most lucrative stadium in the World. I too though am utterly sick and tired of the greed endemic in the higher reaches of the game and would dearly love that bubble of smugness to be popped.

 

[Yid-ol]

The government is "opening the door" for the return of professional football in England, the culture secretary has said after a meeting with the Football Association, Premier League and English Football League.

Oliver Dowden said plans for the resumption should "include widening access for fans to view live coverage and ensure finances from the game's resumption supports the wider football family".

That's on the BBC website

 

['O Zio]

I may be wrong but it's my impression that every club who moves into a new much bigger stadium suffers the same lack of atmosphere initially. This coud be for any number of reasons. Maybe it's down to the majority of new fans being more of the 'prawn sandwich' type who dont' like to join in with the singing. Maybe the clubs in their previous, smaller stadiums have regular fans in certain seats and blocks of seats who've been in their place for many years who knew and were used to each other, making them feel more comfortable about singing together, but in the much larger stadiums, all those 'cliques' have been broken up and have found themselves sitting all over the place.

.

Yeah that definitely plays a role too. No doubt about it. But to act like the atmosphere was fine until VAR came along is just scapegoating IMO

 

[Spurslove]

Yeah that definitely plays a role too. No doubt about it. But to act like the atmosphere was fine until VAR came along is just scapegoating IMO

That's largely true, but it has to be said, I don't think VAR has done football any favours.

.

 

[Mr Pink]

My cat is a lot happier though.

 

[McFlash]

I'm still badly missing football, that and my local pub.
I'll happily sit and watch any game, from any league, and be a happy little bunny. I enjoy the pub chat with various other fans too.
Being a middle-aged divorcee, it's a massive part of my social life and without it, I'm realising that I don't really have much else.


Well, I've got 3 beautiful children but, you know what I mean!

 

[Metalhead]

My cat is a lot happier though.

There are a lot of computer keyboards breathing a sigh of relief too.

 

[Phantom]

I am 50 50 on whether I will bother watching games anymore, maybe that changes when it starts up.

But for me football has lost its soul, the sickening amount of money in the game, the diving, seemingly random VAR decisions, the fact that we never ever seem to get a break on anything major. I mean only Spurs could build a stadium and look to kick on then get hit by a pandemic which impacts footballs finances and potentially long term attendance, oh and turn our old ground into a fortress as we knock it down.

 

[dontcallme]

I am 50 50 on whether I will bother watching games anymore, maybe that changes when it starts up.

But for me football has lost its soul, the sickening amount of money in the game, the diving, seemingly random VAR decisions, the fact that we never ever seem to get a break on anything major. I mean only Spurs could build a stadium and look to kick on then get hit by a pandemic which impacts footballs finances and potentially long term attendance, oh and turn our old ground into a fortress as we knock it down.

I think a lot will depend on if you can change your habits.

I organise a Sunday football group and we go to the pub after and watch the 4pm game. My interest can wane in time but to stop watching would end a large part of my social life.