The Mail Bag
Has football lost something
Comments (33)
International break, 1st win so can't winge about Moyes / Kenright etc etc . I got to thinking about my feelings for football this season.
I just can't get fired up about it as is the norm. Is it our dreadful start, fallout from an appalling World Cup, or just pissed off reading about these rich twats shagging this or that prostitute or wannabe wag. Is it just me or does anybody else feel a bit flat?
Normally, I would be laughing my head off at the kopites, even taking into account our dismal form, I play footie twice a week against diehard Reds fans and I can only muster feeble taunts that lack any real conviction or malice... What's going on? Moyes has made (and is still making, to my mind) some crazy decisions with team selections and I am feeling a bit disinterested.
Even reading some of the posts on here, they seem to lack a bit of bite, even when we where sitting rock bottom; mind you 17th ain't great. Anybody else out there just waiting for that seminal performance that's going to get the juices flowing again? Or am I just getting past it?
Iain Love, Posted 06/10/2010 at 22:21:28
Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
Also I am totally pissed off that those jammy RSs seem to have got the ' get out of jail ' card again...and, no doubt re negotiated their Devils agreement for the next 50yrs.
Q, what do you sell when you have already sold your Soul??
Football definitely has lost something for me. I am (looks around and huddles in to whisper) getting bored with it at the moment.
17th October 1997
Everton 2
Ruddock Own Goal on half time infront of the Gwladys, cue pandamonium.
Cadamarteri skins Kvarme
Liverpool 0
I still have my ticket stub, paid £17 to get into the Lower Gwladys.
Oh for a repeat of that 12 years on.
I've read Toffeeweb pages for ages but not had the enthusiasm to post anything until the Liverpool forum that really got me wound up and that's only because it got me thinking back to my youth and not really to do with the modern game.
Again i know the derbys around the corner but IF we win [last season was a twat against them ] what would that prove ? the're shit and apart from a real tonking 4 or 5 nil i can't get as exited as a used to , maybe you're right maybe i'm dead !.
And as for England-well fuck ?em. Playing this week not interested, don?t know where, when or who. At the last World Cup they were staying in a luxurious hotel with every possible facility, and yet the stories coming out of the camp was that they were bored-Bored FFS! That sounds the like the whining of a 14 year old who?s been grounded not a professional sportsman experiencing an occasion that we can only fantasise about, but it certainly speaks volumes about their priorities.
So yes Iain there is a whole lot of baggage that goes with football that I fuckin hate, from having (ok choose) to give my money to Rupert fuckin Murdoch for the pleasure of watching football, right down to the orangey-brown coloured wags that have become role models for 12 year old girls-fuck me I?m beginning to sound like Mary Whitehouse.
And yes England fuck-em disturbing the prem league fixtures cheeky basterds.
I prefer to think of myself as a grumpy old man who's greatest pleasure nowdays, grandkids apart, is my twice weekly twatting by kids [ blokes really ] half my age at 7 a side.
So the changing point for me for this season (hopefully) has to be last Saturdays win at St Andrews. I was at the game and I actually felt we played really well, fully deserved the three points and looked like a team that has turned the corner at last. I left the ground feeling a dam sight happier than when I entered it!
Then, the fiasco of the RS which has been building to a crescendo this week has again put an even bigger smile on my face - hello neighbours (from hell), welcome to our world! So now I am starting to feel enriched again with the spirit of football and the optimism that Everton will go into the Darby game feeling confident with a good win under their belt.
It's these little things in football that can be recognized as the turning point that make you feel good again. This season it's the result against Birmingham, last season it was when Tim Howard kicked the post with so much anger after saving a last minute penalty against Spurs to earn us a 2-2- draw, and the season before that it was the infamous Neville challenge on Ronaldo and the look he gave him whist he was still on the ground. Every season has one of those moments which you can look back on and say that was the point I rekindled my belief in Everton and football.
Both cups, Wembley, England, European cometition have all had their meaning taken away but who cares when there's money to be made.
I now just watch Everton and Everton only (and Liverpool v Blackpool) and that remains the same, even if football doesn't... which quite frankly, bores me. Get more fun out of Football Manager.
With all whats going on across the park, I have just heard the most stup id phonecall to radio merseyside, some guy just complained that Harry Rednapp had supported Hicks & Gillett on a sky report, and he was disgusted.
Bring on the derby match and quick.
Would the fact that our aspirations for the season are limited to 8th-5th in the league and a decent cup run?
We can't compete for anything better than that. And this has been the state of play for nearly 4 years. Yet nothing changes.
No summer signings, cue slow start, strong New Year showing. Climaxing to a mighty push up the table. Alas to no avail, as we narrowly miss out on 4th. Never mind, we'll get 4th next year and win the League Cup.
I don't see value for money in EFC any longer, the product/service on offer isn't worth my money in my opinion. In the tough economic times we are going through the reality is for me like many others i'm sure, paying the bills, maintaining a roof over your head and able to feed the family. Anything else is just second nature.
But when the Premier circus is'nt on I'm at a loss.
I've come to realise what I miss most is continually moaning about how shit it is.
I realise this is a fragile mental situation.
Ok we 've had another bad start to the season, and we're now in the position (17th)that seemed to be our own 10 years ago under Walter Smith. Now it seems awful - then it was a habit. And almost a success (ie not 18th)
You can't tell me football or Evertpn is worse than it was 35 years ago ? or 15 years ago. But, 25 or 45 years ago, we were great! (and I was there). I've been an Everton fan through all that and more and always will be.
You might be "getting past it" if the whingeing is all that you feel is left to you.
I will say, we're 7 games in needing radar to put it in the net. Yet, with very little changing, we could be sitting on 21 points.
I don't know why EFC starts slow most years (a guess is lack of a predator (s)). But we'll get there. We have a good team. Need to stop hitting the frame or bungling sitters. I thought we were Top 4 before the season and still think we'll get there.
And yes, still consider Top 1 in the Top 4. Perk up Brother. We'll get there.
Is there a north-south divide? Every fan (and there were many) wearing an England shirt seemed to be from south of Watford. I spoke to quite a few scousers (Oh God ? the joy of Blackpool) and the attitude seemed to be total indifference towards England... Why?
And the Reds might struggle to resolve their ownership issues before the Xmas transfer window closes (H&G are a wily pair of bastards) and stay behind us for the rest of this season. That might buck me up a bit too.
And maybe their new owners will want to put Torres on first base and Ngog might turn out to be a great homerun hitter.
You gotta laugh, you support Everton.
Andy 25: Separate issue, but yes there is a north-south divide over England, partly due to Wembley being in the south, so it's far easier to watch an England match if your a southener. I used to work in Liverpool city centre and it always amused me that when Everton where at home you might see 10 or 20 fans shirted up for the game, but if the R/S was at home you would see thousands ? obviously fans travelling in from great distances and using the city centre as a focal point, whereas Everton fans where local and used Goodison as their focal point.
Was not interested in the World Cup, and also finding it hard to 'get going' with it all this season too.
But to be honest, a Derby victory would put me right back on track!
COYB
Finally, the new season starts... and we are fucking useless! ... but wait ? we've just won a game, our spirits are lifted slightly, bring it on now!!! But we can't, why not? Because of another shitty fucking England game that no-one gives a fuck about. Fuck off, England. Fuck off, Rooney. And fuck off, Parry, even though you're one of us.
Perhaps it's just that everybody I know is a miserable twat like I am at the moment!
Maybe it's all the hype and raised expectation over the summer coming (so far at least) to nowt... and that prick Nick Clegg isn't helping either... jeez how I hate him.
Maybe it's the winter round the corner and we haven't even had a summer. Or maybe I'm just getting old.
Mind you, a 5-0 win in the derby just might cheer me up a bit though! Here's hoping.
I think 6-0 would put the shite on the bottom, I'll take five though.
Reasons?
The England team has become a symbol of all that is wrong with English football:
1/ There are so many players in it that just get right up my nose. Terry, Cole, Lampard, Rooney, Gerrard, Lescott, Ferdinand, Crouch, Barry etc. All money grabbing, cheating bastards who the man in the street has very little in common with. And it's all very well saying that you'd take £150k a week and shag around if you could, because actually you are not in that situation are you? These cocks are and yet they have no class, no morals, no gratitude, no nothing.
2/ The Manager is another overpaid, underperforming waste of space, being paid more than double any other international manager in world football. And, he's not English, so again it's not easy to relate to him or believe he really cares thne same as we do ( did ).
3/ The people who follow England are in the main a mix of old time hooligans who refuse to grow up, glory hunting small time yobs from places like Grimsby, Shrewsbury and Carlisle and the odious and ignorant new age Sky fan who believe football revolves around Jeff Stelling and the SKY 4 and drive round with silly little flags on their cars and 20 foot wide flags draped across their rooftops when a tournament is on. Again, I can't identify with these people.
I'd rather watch a Scotland or Ireland game or even an Australia or USA game where at least the players seem to be there for national pride and the right reasons not just to screw more money out of everybody. They are often underdogs and their fans go to away games in hope and for a generally fun time, not to lord it over the locals, smash up bars and behave like knobheads whilst complaining to 606 in droves if we don't put 9 goals past Macedonia.
' The thing about footbal...
The IMPORTANT thing about football...
Is...it's not just about Football '
Terry Pratchett ... Unseen Academicals
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to the MailBag, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.


1 Posted 06/10/2010 at 23:49:21
Report abuse