Present Day Football, Fans and Any Other Stuff You Hate About It!

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

Steven Mckierney.
Biggest ligger of the fucking lot.
He does not represent me or my families views on City.

 

[jamielowndes]

I hate stats and football manager, modern football fan is obsessed with them, expected goals, passes, percentage of possession, headers, left or right foot shots, distance covered, everything is a statistic.

Just watch the game and make up your own mind if someone has played well or not.

Statisticaly 7/10 people will disagree with me :)

I find stats and analytics really interesting in a lot of sports, but there are certain things that contribute nothing to a discussion of a players performance or the result of a game. For example, I think we can live without XG.

Plus a lot of the time, some people haven't got a clue what they're watching.

 

[jamielowndes]

For me the game is over coached, the days of maverick players are finished, sure you see a few bits od individual skill but 70% of all games are sideways.

Guardiola gets the blame for this, but I think a bigger part of it is the low block getting popularised as a defence for this.

Not to mention England as a country is tactically bankrupt. There are no genuinely great English managers to me.

 

[bridgeblue]

The thing I really can’t get my head around is half and half scarves.

Especially derby ones.

Anyone wearing one of those should be asked to leave by the stewards.

Had a guy in front of me 2 years ago when we played Arsenal, the Arsenal half was draped over his shoulder and almost on my lap, I picked it up with my finger and thumb and moved it so it landed on his chest, telling him I was offended by it, he took it with good humour and tied it with just the City part showing. He cheered all our goals, each time he got up it went dark the guy was huge and more than capable of putting me on my arse. I haven't done it since.

 

[BlindEyeSeesAll]

The "match day experience"

Fuck off !

 

[Macca77macca]

The obsession with the Ballon D'Or.

This really is starting to piss me off. I DNGAF what a load of football writers vote the “best” individual player.

A lot will slate this but I was disappointed in Rodri winning; he is better than that shite. I don’t have any time for players who have winning it as some goal.( I know Rodri didn’t seek it)

It’s not an individual sport.

Although the RM meltdown was very, very funny. It said it all about the balloon bore, it really did

 

[Blue.Roys.Son]

I'm ageing, into my 52nd season of following City "LIVE" as Martin Tyler would say and 47 years a season ticket holder and I'm just about hanging in there with modern day football buy by Christ it's a struggle sometimes. So much I could write about the changing face of the game some for the good and some for the bad. I went to a gig last night straight from the Derby. I couldn't fully focus on it after the defeat but at least it helped the anger and frustration die away a little.

What hasn't died away though and is something I've been struggling with more and more since last season is the present day football fan. In this instance I'm steering clear of all the social media fan stuff, begrudgingly accepting it's all part of the ever changing ways in which people engage in football. Let me also confirm I have no problem with people taking the odd photo or video. I've done it myself for family overseas so they can get a sense of it and stay in touch with it on matchday. I've long since stopped engaging in football talk on Twitter or X which is the only social media I am active on, it rarely if ever ends up in good debate and always ends up in petty point scoring and tit for tat toxicity.

No what really irks me is fans sat in the home end filming the opposing players celebrating with the away fans. It's happened in front of me on a few occasions when I've let it go when it wasn't a local rival or a particular heated game. However last season in the Upper tier corner of the East Stand after Real Madrid beat us I had lads leaning over me filming their fans and players celebrating and I could see it all on their phone. I ever so angrily told them to F**K O** filming Madrid and doing it in front of me and in our end. I'm not a fan he replied in his best pigeon English and it all got heated very quickly until he and his mates took the advice and moved away.

Yesterday at the final whistle whilst I was watching the players leave the field with the exception of Haaland, Gvardiol and Dias who walked around and clapped everyone (well done Haaland for telling the rest to do it) I lost count of the number of lads, well men really walking past me towards the rag end with phone in hand filming the rags celebrating. Until one stopped in front of me and he immediately copped for an earful. "I don't support any of the teams" he said. So stop filming the C***s then if you don't support them or fuck off and take your rag c***ing phone out of my eyesight". My wife was already trying to get me to calm down which always has the opposite reaction. "No fuck him filming them celebrating whilst stood in our end I know exactly what he is doing and I know exactly who he supports". He didn't hang around and quickly moved on where I watched him join his mate about 20 seats away and carried on filming whilst I carried on giving it out to at least 3 other's doing the same thing as I trooped angrily up the stairwell past more half n' half f***ing scarves than I had fingers and toes to count.

Now I'm 60 next year and this isn't a good look ranting at younger men half my age and once I've calmed down I feel a little embarrassed, after all it's only football but f**k me it's great fun and gets the blood flowing. I love the banter and even had a wry smile when they got the second just knowing what shit was about to come. It's what football's all about, giving and taking the banter but FFS have some self awareness when you're in an opposing end.

I'm the same age as you and agree with everything you say.

Yesterday I had an Arab lad next to me who spent the whole game on his phone, speaking into it and then looking down so he could post it on some site or other.

3 rag fans also sat near us.

I'm very fed up of it all and very near to packing it in.

 

[Indaparkside]

Finishing 4th in your league and u can be European champions bullshit

 

[jamielowndes]

This really is starting to piss me off. I DNGAF what a load of football writers vote the “best” individual player.

A lot will slate this but I was disappointed in Rodri winning; he is better than that shite. I don’t have any time for players who have winning it as some goal.( I know Rodri didn’t seek it)

It’s not an individual sport.

Although the RM meltdown was very, very funny. It said it all about the balloon bore, it really did

I was happy for Rodri because as a player, it's an incredible mark of recognition and a well deserved one for him.

But I don't wear it as a badge of pride. It was voted for. He didn't win a tournament for it.

And yeah seriously, fuck Madrid. The absolute entitlement of them was laughable. Peak behaviour for them acting like the rest of the footballing world is graced by their presence.

 

[BamberBridgeBlue]

It’s the creeping Americanism of the game. You can see the slow takeover. With Americanism comes dumbed down soccer opinions on social media for the Angry Bird generation to digest. I’m down about it now, but my sleep apnea is out of control so as my brain cells die I won’t mind so much.

 

[mexico1970]

Times change and with it the people who make a difference, it's not just us it's all the clubs attracting tourists at the top level.

In a few years time we will all be watching it on VR headsets, hell the players may even be AI generated and you could pick your own score :)

 

[citymad]

Fans holding cameras up while the games going on.
The lack of quality pundits
Commentators Ian Darke, Lee Dixon, Jim Beglin, Spit and Ratface
Champions walking off to an empty stadium

 

[failsworthblueboy]

Guardiola gets the blame for this, but I think a bigger part of it is the low block getting popularised as a defence for this.

Not to mention England as a country is tactically bankrupt. There are no genuinely great English managers to me.

The over coaching started well before Pep. Pep introduced a different and successful way of playing the game which is possession based, but he is not responsible for the over coaching, that will have been the money men who have in there opinion to much to lose.

 

[cheddar404]

Pretty much everything. Attending modern football is shit. Stupid kick off times, sanitised stadia, this unfounded fascination with the champions league which is utter dross and corporate syphoning off loads of away tickets. I've had a season ticket since 88, on the cup schemes and used to go away too until recently and if it wasn't for the fact I'd fall behind with ticket points and never claw my way back, I'd give it up at least for a while. Oh and the shit transport too, getting home to Altrincham which is 9 miles away from the ground is like getting home from the fucking moon.

 

[eastmanc]

The thing I really can’t get my head around is half and half scarves.

Especially derby ones.

Anyone wearing one of those should be asked to leave by the stewards.

There were fucking loads of them near us on Sunday.

 

[MCFCFanTX]

1. Hate the schedule.
a. Leading to injuries
b. Affecting the product for spectators and TV viewers. Best players aren't in their best moments at crucial times end of season because they're knackered or just out injured.
c. All about money. What is the point of UEFA nations league, expanded champions league, expanded club world club, etc. only money
d. Some kick off times are dumb ash. TV rights/contracts also come before common sense and player safety when scheduling/rescheduling cup ties or games due to cup ties.
2. Too expensive
3. All about pics and videos. This isn't just about football but concerts and any other live event.
4. Social media fans and fan TVs that are now so popular are cringe and unnecessary.
5. Referees and punditry is mostly bad especially in England.

There's a lot lol

 

[Bez]

People film everything these days. Was at a gig recently and couldn’t move for cameras in the air. Will they ever watch it back? Will anyone ever watch it if they put it on line. Dunno!

It all ends up on the cloud. Mostly forgotten after the moment has gone.

 

[Maybeinanothergeneration]

Pretty much everything. Attending modern football is shit. Stupid kick off times, sanitised stadia, this unfounded fascination with the champions league which is utter dross and corporate syphoning off loads of away tickets. I've had a season ticket since 88, on the cup schemes and used to go away too until recently and if it wasn't for the fact I'd fall behind with ticket points and never claw my way back, I'd give it up at least for a while. Oh and the shit transport too, getting home to Altrincham which is 9 miles away from the ground is like getting home from the fucking moon.

Move closer then ;)

All jokes asides fully agree with you

 

[Damocles]

Man, you lot really hate YouTube lol

 

[.db.]

Choose modern football…

Choose pathetic footballers and their incessant diving, feigning injury, forced ‘Time Outs’ while a player has a sit down, fake limping, time wasting, claiming everything is their ball, moving the ball off the mark, arguing against every single decision…

Choose tourists, day trippers, nobodies, half’n’half “friendship” scarves, fans wearing other teams’ colours in home sections of our stadium, fans of the opposition in our home sections, fans of opposition players in our home sections, general football visitor non-City fan (nor fans of the opposition) in our home sections when those tickets could go to a local fan, constantly ignoring and doing things contrary to the wishes of the core fanbase, calling us ‘Legacy Fans’, prioritising global ‘fans’ over local core fans, advertising themselves to global ‘fans’ yet the club having no presence in areas like Wythenshawe (the largest district in Manchester with a gigantic City following, yet never see the club active down here in any way whatsoever), Trophy Tours all over the world and never in Manchester for local fans, big groups of kids from Scotland/London/Birimgham/USA sat together in big chunks in the ground and never groups from Manchester, YouTube dickheads and OnlyFans slags being given tickets for City games when those tickets could go to proper core fans…

Choose incessant season ticket price rises, constant stupid match ticket prices for games, the price of tickets for kids, no new Season Tickets, no ticket initiatives for local people like Liverpool have, real lack of numbers of cheap tickets like German clubs have in huge numbers, Platinum Loyalty Points, kicking fans out of seats to create new types of areas and in some cases not giving those fans seats with people they used to sit with or not giving them seats at all, core fans who used to have season tickets not being allowed one back yet chunks of seats are available on foreign tour and foreign tout sites, despite years of fans wanting a proper home stand for atmosphere the club building one and then not making it specifically for atmosphere despite it probably being the last ever chance we’ll have to have a dedicated proper home end for atmosphere, games like the Madrid semi where tickets went to any wanker who wanted one by signing up the day before and not to City fans, the way away ticket allocations are divided and handled with a massive issue with far too many tickets not going to our core supporter base…

Choose stupid gimmicks like the Moon being associated with Manchester City when the Moon has got fuck all to do with our football club, Blue Moon banners on the pitch, a Blue Moon on the big screens, Moon crater print on kits, aliens from the Moon as mascots… we are the Citizens (look up the meaning of that word), City from the city of Manchester, Mancunians, aim to be Manchester City FC, not portraying us as some generic non-Manchester specific bollocks like we’re called AFC Moon City or something…

Choose signing up to the European Super League, releasing a statement by Joel Goazer as our official statement on the matter, staying silent over the disgraceful Istanbul car park situation, sending close-up pictures of Blues invading the pitch to the press yet when Liverpool fans hospitalised a teenage girl those amazing cameras that zoomed in to pick out freckles on City fans’ noses against Villa couldn’t pick out a single one of the Lpool fans throwing things down at City fans, bringing out statements in the media reprimanding our support for things like ‘Tragedy Chanting’ or graffiti on toilet cubicles of a word City fans never use before any proof was established or where they don’t understand that ‘It’s never your fault’ is not a tragedy chant, yet never having our backs when we need them…