How the game has changed.

The City v Bolton match was fairly poor by the standards of the First Division of 1980, to be fair. Bolton were on their way down with a pretty meagre points tally and City were also struggling, not to mention bereft of confidence having not won for over three months. I take the general point, though, that the game is so much faster these days that even the best sides of 40 years ago would find themselves seriously outclassed against any decent outfit these days.

One thing that no one mentioned that struck me was the challenge by Tommy Booth in the first half, where he goes straight through Whatmore. The ref makes as if to run across to Booth to take some kind of action, then satisfies himself with a quick word from distance and a wag of the finger before going to check on the injured player. That would be a red these days. Indeed, the awful pitches and lenient officiating are the two things I think modern players would find hard to cope with about the game then.

A couple of other things I recall that didn't show from the video. One is that, in the days of one sub, you could end up with teams having two or three players out of position after having to reorganise to cover for an injury - for instance, say your left-back had to come off and you had a striker on the bench. The other is that penalty retakes for encroachment used to be much more common. Maybe they'll make a comeback with VAR.
 
One thing that no one mentioned that struck me was the challenge by Tommy Booth in the first half, where he goes straight through Whatmore. The ref makes as if to run across to Booth to take some kind of action, then satisfies himself with a quick word from distance and a wag of the finger before going to check on the injured player. That would be a red these days. Indeed, the awful pitches and lenient officiating are the two things I think modern players would find hard to cope with about the game then.

The reason tackles from behind were outlawed, every week in the football league there were at least two players with broken legs
 
The technology and science that goes into modern pitches now is one of the biggest and best things to happen to football. We arent grounds men any more more scientists, makes the job alot more interesting. We are helped with the machines we have now, when I look back at when I started it's like we are in another world !!!

Without the modern technology, science and equipment I dont think we would today's style of play.....regarding pitches and medical.
 
Remember drinking a pint of Greenalls at the bottom of the Kippax steps (early 70's)on a very cold day it was minus 4 or 5 degrees , and the froth on my beer was freezing always knew they watered the beer down , but that was ridiculous :)
 
A lot of the old managers had the "Go out and enjoy yourselves, lads" attitude or even "You're professional footballers - you should know how to defend a corner. Don't expect me to tell you what to do." Can you imagine Pep being like that?

It's nice to be nostalgic about the old days, but what we see now is almost a different game. So much more is demanded of the players and they have to have the right mental attitude and self-discipline. You can't imagine the Chairman going outside, finding Phil Foden eating fish and chips out of a paper, and telling him he's playing today. (Something that happened to Mike Doyle.) Still less can you imagine the Manager looking for David Silva in the Claremont.
 
A lot of the old managers had the "Go out and enjoy yourselves, lads" attitude or even "You're professional footballers - you should know how to defend a corner. Don't expect me to tell you what to do." Can you imagine Pep being like that?

It's nice to be nostalgic about the old days, but what we see now is almost a different game. So much more is demanded of the players and they have to have the right mental attitude and self-discipline. You can't imagine the Chairman going outside, finding Phil Foden eating fish and chips out of a paper, and telling him he's playing today. (Something that happened to Mike Doyle.) Still less can you imagine the Manager looking for David Silva in the Claremont.
Was at Halifax in the FA Cup when we got beat. 22 players on the ploughed field (pitch) covered head to toe in mud. Couldn't tell who was who..
Can't remember the sprinklers popping up out of the pitch before KO ..haha! The stand (if you could call that) I was in was a muddy slag heap and the refreshments were being served out of a 2 berth caravan !! fcuk me it was grim! haha..
 
I think modern pitches are a big factor. I remember Wembley 1970, the League Cup Final. The Horse of the Year Show, or some such event, had used the ground a few days earlier, and the pitch was like a farmer's field, maybe worse. Even David Silva would struggle to play football on a surface like that.

I think "traditional" grounds were the reason the English game used to emphasise power, running and strength over skill. My Dad always used to say "Wait until the heavy grounds come in" as he reckoned that had a big impact on the league table.
 
I think todays players would be shit on the old pitches but only because they have little/no experience of those sort of playing conditions.
 
There is a clip of Frank Worthington scoring at Burnden against Ipswich, so good that even the ref can be seen publicly applauding it as they all run back to the centre circle.

Imagine that nowadays although I am sure that Anthony Taylor's little heart often secretly jumps for joy.
 
I think todays players would be shit on the old pitches but only because they have little/no experience of those sort of playing conditions.

The South Americans would be fine. The pitches in Argentina and Brazil are about 15 years behind and they have a huge pool of vindictive players who didn't quite make it to Europe hacking down any kid who looks like he could be the next big thing. You watch the documentary City did on Jesus a few years ago and he didn't even play on a proper pitch until he was 15, until then it was a bumpy patch of mud and sand.

In general I think most modern players would adapt to it quickly. At the end of the day, they have spent a lot more time being a professional than someone the same age from the 80s or 90s. They do a lot more training, with better coaches from a much younger age and as a result are much fitter, stronger and faster and better technically. That will show up on any pitch.
 

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