older-codger
Active member
I watched my first game at SJP in February 1948 – 56 years ago this month, expecting to see Tommy Lawton play for Notts Co (he didn’t!). Over these years of supporting ECFC through good years (very few) and bad (all too many) I have never questioned my enthusiasm for football, I am now beginning to question whether the game still has the same appeal to me.
IMHO the game has lost its way and I see no way that is going to find it again. The modern game appears to be based more on “professionalism” (a buzz word for gamesmanship and cheating whenever possible), encouraged by officials who seem reticent to enforce even the most basic of rules, e.g. that a player not retreating 10 yards from free kick should be booked. There are of course numerous other examples. This has now reached the stage where the football ability takes second place to the ability to take advantage of weak officials.
I am now being expected to pay an increased amount for my season ticket by a Chief Executive who, with a cricket background rather than a football one, does not appear to recognise that the charge should relate to the attraction or the law of diminishing returns.
And now a player who is probably past his best can look forward to a five and a half year contract worth £300,000 per WEEK! To me this is a total disgrace and indicates where peoples’ priorities lie.
So can I still justify a chunk of my pension being spent on something that for various reasons is losing its appeal to me? I am seriously questioning whether I should blow the final whistle at the end of the season.
IMHO the game has lost its way and I see no way that is going to find it again. The modern game appears to be based more on “professionalism” (a buzz word for gamesmanship and cheating whenever possible), encouraged by officials who seem reticent to enforce even the most basic of rules, e.g. that a player not retreating 10 yards from free kick should be booked. There are of course numerous other examples. This has now reached the stage where the football ability takes second place to the ability to take advantage of weak officials.
I am now being expected to pay an increased amount for my season ticket by a Chief Executive who, with a cricket background rather than a football one, does not appear to recognise that the charge should relate to the attraction or the law of diminishing returns.
And now a player who is probably past his best can look forward to a five and a half year contract worth £300,000 per WEEK! To me this is a total disgrace and indicates where peoples’ priorities lie.
So can I still justify a chunk of my pension being spent on something that for various reasons is losing its appeal to me? I am seriously questioning whether I should blow the final whistle at the end of the season.
