**Official** English Football Season 2024/25

[Molehill]

More VAR rubbish over the last 2 nights. Struggling to see why they didn't get involved on the Newcastle first goal, clear push by Isak which creates the space for him to score. Then we get the first referee announcement last night, a 3 minute wait for an obvious offside and then a confirmation of what we can all see....brilliant!!

Bergvall lucky to be on the pitch for the goal. Ironically, the first foul certainly wasn't a yellow, but the second surely should have been. But it makes for a more interesting 2nd leg anyway.

 

[Furball]

Arsenal are deeply uninspiring, in a year where the Best League in the World is deeply insipid, apart from a bit of schadenfreude towards various clubs, not much to excite.

Football at the top level is pretty insipid tbh. I've found myself completely falling out of love with the game over the last year or so.

 

[Pothas]

Arsenal are deeply uninspiring, in a year where the Best League in the World is deeply insipid, apart from a bit of schadenfreude towards various clubs, not much to excite.

I obviously just make this point because I support one of them but the mid-table sides are really strong. This could be a potentially great season if it wasn't for Liverpool. Still could be I suppose..

 

[GIMH]

Football at the top level is pretty insipid tbh. I've found myself completely falling out of love with the game over the last year or so.

I've been finding it insipid at all levels, for various reasons tbh. Obviously being a TRFC fan is a lifelong commitment, but going the game isn't enjoyable in the post-Covid era for me in the same way it used to be, and not just because we're ****. I can put my finger on some reasons but not others

 

[Uppercut]

Football at the top level is pretty insipid tbh. I've found myself completely falling out of love with the game over the last year or so.

Yeah I've hardly watched any football this year. Mix of:

1. United being terrible. They've been terrible for 12 years and I was still following football very closely for almost all of that time, so it's not just this. But it's also true that if they suddenly became good again I would watch a lot more.
2. Having to retire from 11 a side because of injuries, and sometimes watching just makes me miss it too much.
3. I've found it hard to get much interest in the new Champions League format. The group stages were crap before too, so maybe the format change has just broken my habit of watching them even though they were crap. But this season I've not watched a minute.
4. I don't enjoy goals as much since VAR came in, and the game generally feels much slower and more sanitised than it used to. I.e. I'm becoming an old fart.
5. I have no strong feelings about any of the clubs challenging for silverware. What really gets you through the times when your club is dire is schadenfreude when the clubs you hate implode. But I don't really hate anyone enough any more. Football needs more heels.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah I haven't watched any Champions League at all either. Nothing to do with format, just can't be bothered with it before the knockouts these days.

I don't get the chance to watch anywhere like as many non Brentford games as I used to but that generally means I actually enjoy the ones I do more. Used to watch loads of games just because they were on.

Most importantly though being a Brentford fan is still just so good. Am aware at some point it is supposed to become dull and then slowly miserable before falling back down the leagues but it hasn't happened yet.

 

[Furball]

I've been finding it insipid at all levels, for various reasons tbh. Obviously being a TRFC fan is a lifelong commitment, but going the game isn't enjoyable in the post-Covid era for me in the same way it used to be, and not just because we're ****. I can put my finger on some reasons but not others

Yeah I don't find going to the games enjoyable any more and I'll probably chuck my season ticket at the end of the season.

I've stopped going to European and domestic cup games this season, but when you combine those games with league games I've missed due to various factors, I think I've missed more games this season than the previous 8 combined.

 

[Furball]

Yeah I've hardly watched any football this year. Mix of:

1. United being terrible. They've been terrible for 12 years and I was still following football very closely for almost all of that time, so it's not just this. But it's also true that if they suddenly became good again I would watch a lot more.

This resonates so much with me, it's quite odd how the fortunes of Rangers and Man Utd have essentially mirrored each other for the last 30 years. I think the Scottish Cup Final in May was a huge boot in the balls for me - both the manner of defeat (last minute winner for Celtic in a game where we'd been the better side) combined with it being the 3rd Old Firm game of the season where VAR had intervened to disallow a goal at a crucial phase of the game for us. More on VAR later.

3. I've found it hard to get much interest in the new Champions League format. The group stages were crap before too, so maybe the format change has just broken my habit of watching them even though they were crap. But this season I've not watched a minute.

Ditto, to the point where I cancelled my TNT subscription in November. Couldn't rationalise paying £30 a month for a service I don't watch at all (even Rangers, I don't think I watched 90 minutes combined from our first 4 Europa League games and we've actually been doing well in Europe this season.)

4. I don't enjoy goals as much since VAR came in, and the game generally feels much slower and more sanitised than it used to. I.e. I'm becoming an old fart.

This is a huge one for me. I still support VAR as a concept because there were games last season we'd have been shafted in had it not been for VAR - but it completely ruins a critical aspect of the game for me. Goals are special in football because they're so rare, and because I'm now conditioned to obsessively watch the referee to make sure he points to the centre circle and isn't potentially going to be called to the monitor to disallow a goal for some spurious reason, you completely lose the instant feeling of joy when the ball hits the back of the net. Celebrating 30 seconds later when the opposition kick off just isn't the same.

The amount of play acting and time wasting in the game is also just incredibly ****. Clinging on to a result? Just fake a head knock when the ball hits your knee or go down with that mysterious brand of cramp that never affects players when they're losing and kill your opponents momentum that way.

5. I have no strong feelings about any of the clubs challenging for silverware. What really gets you through the times when your club is dire is schadenfreude when the clubs you hate implode. But I don't really hate anyone enough any more. Football needs more heels.

Still ****ing hate Celtic but we're so badly run and the financial gap is so big between the sides that there's just no point caring that much. We battered them 3-0 at New Year, one of the most one-sided Old Firm games I've seen recently, and it meant nothing because we're so far off.

 

[grecian]

Blimey I just thought it was a **** season, didn't know I was tapping into such dread aging existential angst and frustration, hey welcome to my life..

 

[sledger]

It's just like any other form of entertainment imo. You'll always get burned out with it after a while, especially after an intense period of engagement, and then likely come back after a cool off period of a few years or whatever. And ultimately, as good as football is (or at least can be), it's just a bunch of grown men in silly outfits running around swatting a little ball about.

 

[sledger]

I generally find Football Manager more interesting/exciting/enjoyable than real football these days tbh. And that's not just because I can arrange it so that Bellingham plays for Arsenal.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah I've hardly watched any football this year. Mix of:

1. United being terrible. They've been terrible for 12 years and I was still following football very closely for almost all of that time, so it's not just this. But it's also true that if they suddenly became good again I would watch a lot more.
2. Having to retire from 11 a side because of injuries, and sometimes watching just makes me miss it too much.
3. I've found it hard to get much interest in the new Champions League format. The group stages were crap before too, so maybe the format change has just broken my habit of watching them even though they were crap. But this season I've not watched a minute.
4. I don't enjoy goals as much since VAR came in, and the game generally feels much slower and more sanitised than it used to. I.e. I'm becoming an old fart.
5. I have no strong feelings about any of the clubs challenging for silverware. What really gets you through the times when your club is dire is schadenfreude when the clubs you hate implode. But I don't really hate anyone enough any more. Football needs more heels.

I can relate to number 1, but TRFC have been crap since 2001 bar maybe 6-7 seasons, and 2 of them were at a ghastly low level. So like you say it's not just that.

I can't blame VAR because I've only ever been to one game with it, and loved it because it worked in our favour. But it does kill the best thing about football.

I am surprised you don't hate the thought of Liverpool winning the title. But I think I relate to point 5 too. I despise Wrexham and B*lton but what's the point. They can both throw money at it. Maybe if A$AP Rocky and Rihanna rock up to save us we can build rivalries with them again. As it is I'll just savour the fact we beat both last time we played them and are unlikely to play either again. And hating Chester would just be pathetic frankly.

 

[Molehill]

It's arguably too much exposure which is annoying me this season. Half of Pompey's games are now on TV, but that means far less at 3pm on a Saturday. What is the point of a 3pm Sunday game (see last weekend at Sunderland FFS) which clashes with Prem matches and makes it a nightmare for travelling fans? Why do we need 3 different games on a Saturday lunchtime? The Sky red button coverage is shite anyway as it's about a minute behind, the commentators are clearly watching a TV feed and aren't actually there (in fact, their feed seems to be behind what we're watching much of the time). I have to turn off the BBC alerts as they tell you when a goal has been scored before you see it.

The Prem may yet turn into a cracker if a Liverpool implosion happens, but that would be more like the 2019 World Cup Final which was a dire match until the last 10 overs.

 

[sledger]

High level football (or the high level of most sports actually) is just a very polished, clinical, corporate thing these days. The way so many of the decisions, tactics, analysis etc. are data-driven has in a big way changed the feel of being a fan I think, or at least what it is to engage with football as a "product". There is still enjoyment you can take from that I guess, but I get the feeling it's different from the enjoyment fans generally took 20 or so years ago. But I remember saying something similar about a decade ago.

I remember meeting Cabinet in a pub with Pothas before going to watch Arsenal play Brentford in the Emery days, and being struck at his interest in discussing things from a purely metrics/statistics point of view. Not having a pop at him or anything, he's a great lad. But I can remember thinking "it's just some blokes kicking a ball around a field lad". Fair enough if you enjoy breaking things down into extreme granularity and analysing them on a mathematical level or whatever, but when people do that I sometimes feel like I'm talking to an AI who has been told what football is, and asked to describe it, without ever actually watching it.

 

[Bahseph]

@Uppercut , what injury stopped you from playing 11 a side? I had a pretty bad left ankle ligament tear and a couple of MCL sprains in the last year and I’m struggling to get the motivation back to put my body through it anymore.

 

[Molehill]

High level football (or the high level of most sports actually) is just a very polished, clinical, corporate thing these days. The way so many of the decisions, tactics, analysis etc. are data-driven has in a big way changed the feel of being a fan I think, or at least what it is to engage with football as a "product". There is still enjoyment you can take from that I guess, but I get the feeling it's different from the enjoyment fans generally took 20 or so years ago. But I remember saying something similar about a decade ago.

I remember meeting Cabinet in a pub with Pothas before going to watch Arsenal play Brentford in the Emery days, and being struck at his interest in discussing things from a purely metrics/statistics point of view. Not having a pop at him or anything, he's a great lad. But I can remember thinking "it's just some blokes kicking a ball around a field lad". Fair enough if you enjoy breaking things down into extreme granularity and analysing them on a mathematical level or whatever, but when people do that I sometimes feel like I'm talking to an AI who has been told what football is, and asked to describe it, without ever actually watching it.

Totally agree. My Portsmouth related twitter feed used to include a student who would write an article after every signing to explain how he would fit into our set up and what we could expect from them. At first I thought he was incredibly well informed, knowledgeable and articulate, and he included very detailed diagrams of how best to play the ball into each player. But by the time we actually started seeing these players in action I came to the conclusion he was just full of ****. My favourite was a striker playing in the Danish 2nd Division, we were told he was going to be a great addition and had all the right skills to light up the Championship. Yeah, after 6 months we've just sold him to some club in Norway, he wasn't even League 2 standard.

The student by the way got a gig scouting for Barrow!! I blame Pep.....

 

[Uppercut]

@Uppercut , what injury stopped you from playing 11 a side? I had a pretty bad left ankle ligament tear and a couple of MCL sprains in the last year and I’m struggling to get the motivation back to put my body through it anymore.

I had tendinitis around my groin that kept me out for 21 months and eventually needed surgery. This was about 5 years ago, and I came back, but since then I've had constant soft tissue injuries - I've basically strained every major muscle in both my legs. I can play, but I need to continually do a lot of rehab, and I need more recovery time. Eventually I gave up on trying to work around the training schedule of a semi-serious team. But when I think too much about it I still do miss it pretty badly.

 

[sledger]

Totally agree. My Portsmouth related twitter feed used to include a student who would write an article after every signing to explain how he would fit into our set up and what we could expect from them. At first I thought he was incredibly well informed, knowledgeable and articulate, and he included very detailed diagrams of how best to play the ball into each player. But by the time we actually started seeing these players in action I came to the conclusion he was just full of ****. My favourite was a striker playing in the Danish 2nd Division, we were told he was going to be a great addition and had all the right skills to light up the Championship. Yeah, after 6 months we've just sold him to some club in Norway, he wasn't even League 2 standard.

The student by the way got a gig scouting for Barrow!! I blame Pep.....

I get it being used for scouting and recruitment purposes tbf, I just think it makes for terminally boring casual conversations.

"Well actually, that player you thought played well is actually in the lowest quartile for players in his position making third man runs, his defensive shape metrics are low, and his xDI was the lowest of all players in the team"

Nah **** off ****.

 

[Uppercut]

Totally agree. My Portsmouth related twitter feed used to include a student who would write an article after every signing to explain how he would fit into our set up and what we could expect from them. At first I thought he was incredibly well informed, knowledgeable and articulate, and he included very detailed diagrams of how best to play the ball into each player. But by the time we actually started seeing these players in action I came to the conclusion he was just full of ****. My favourite was a striker playing in the Danish 2nd Division, we were told he was going to be a great addition and had all the right skills to light up the Championship. Yeah, after 6 months we've just sold him to some club in Norway, he wasn't even League 2 standard.

The student by the way got a gig scouting for Barrow!! I blame Pep.....

It's funny you say this, I kind of think the problem is that it works too well. It's hard to get excited by a few wins when the underlying numbers tell you you're still shite and are still going to do badly. And you come up with all these reasons why the numbers are wrong and stupid, but you know in your heart that 9 times out of 10 they're right, and then they are. Again this is very much coloured by being a United fan.

The scouting data stuff works pretty well, though it's far from perfect. Personally I just really enjoy that stuff.

 

[sledger]

It's funny you say this, I kind of think the problem is that it works too well. It's hard to get excited by a few wins when the underlying numbers tell you you're still shite and are still going to do badly. And you come up with all these reasons why the numbers are wrong and stupid, but you know in your heart that 9 times out of 10 they're right, and then they are. Again this is very much coloured by being a United fan.

The scouting data stuff works pretty well, though it's far from perfect. Personally I just really enjoy that stuff.

It's weird, I really like it when playing FM. But in the context of real football I find it an utter snoozefest.