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Two stories. Both in the Telegraph. Modern football is a bit shit isn't it?
This is the thing about our stadium. Its not great as we all know. But these two stadiums, one regarded as the best modern football stadium in the world and the other an old skool stadium, yet they are both having the same problems we are having.
Whilst not detracting from these views, I think that one important element is missing. OUR expectations.
Health warning! This is waffle. If you're easily offended, exit the post now(!) and find something more agreeable.
That's not a criticism of us (as fans) but simply that as we (all) get older (and hopefully wiser). our needs and expectations change - mine...my Road to Jericho, if you like... happened not long after we beat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final; I basically had to make a choice between my career - my (not your) future - and my then current lifestyle. I chose my future.
That meant my expectations from the game as a whole dropped - something I never expected to happen when I eventually got a seat in the stand above the Chicken Run, in line with the North Bank penalty box only 2-3 seasons earlier. My younger, Manchester United supporting - brother was in that seat more than me and I finally relinquished it when he, too, changed his priorities.
I suspect that I was not alone in having that choice to make. Then along came relationships, family and homes to build, all deemed more worthy of my time and money; money was never really the issue though - it was time. Even I couldn't be in two places at the same time.
Rinse & repeat down the years and football becomes the insignificance - to me- that it now is.
My love for the West Ham I grew up with though,holds a very special place in my heart that nobody, absolutely nobody, can occupy or even bid for occupancy. THAT West Ham, though, long ceased to exist and the reasons why probably extent way beyond what I've suggested above.
It certainly didn't help when the bean-counters & parasites took over in the game and tried to monetise that love for their own personal gain; THAT moment I certainly recognise as a point of no return, but, for me, I'd probably reached that point much earlier in my life.
But, what of the future? If "big" clubs cannot attract the fans they expected to keep filling their stadiums, creating the atmosphere that made attending the game such a memorable experience, where will the game go?
Sadly, I think, far, far away from it's birthplace as those now controlling the game switch their focus onto areas of potential financial growth - namely the Middle East & North America.
100 - or even just 50 - years from now, the game (in Europe, at least) will be unrecognisable from what it is today, and certainly what it was in the pre-PL era.
Names we (or even just the media) currently recognise as "big" clubs will just be footnotes in (the game's) history, alongside such greats as The Royal Engineers AFC, Sheffield FC, Wanderers FC, Hallam FC & Barnes FC.
Selfishly, I'm glad I was young enough to enjoy the game as it was in my youth/early days and get far more pleasure from watching the (free) historical clips of games on the internet than I do from watching any current or recent games - even when we win.
It is expensive to go to games and no longer affordable as afternoon out with your mates or kids. Most matches are boring to watch and bogged down in tactics. VAR has killed the spontaneity. Football is now optimised for media. They love VAR as it provides their talking points and gives them inside information that fans in the stadium don't get to see and hear. It's all about hype and marketing now.
Ive felt this for a while. Its not the stadium or the board etc. Most people are fucking annoying and the era of watching football in a stadium as we experienced has ended.
The nail in the coffin, i think, was covid. Our best season in recent memory, no one was there.
People got used to watching at home, and didnt go back. Or they accepted being herded around like idiots and sitting quietly.
Its not just football, any sort of major public event is the same - Pubs are not what they were. Its a shift in society - not just football supporters.
