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When did Football peak?


big bill said:
I’m not saying when football reached its peak can only be based on attendance alone, they may well be higher I’m 10 years time than they are now, if clubs expand their grounds, but I am saying apart from the Everton fan understandable point of view the mid 80s was footballs lowest point, which is also the time I become old enough to drive and started going to games on my own. Fuck me, Doncaster away in 1987 we we’re literally in a cage with fences over our heads in a ground that if I remember correctly only had two sides.
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Maybe. It was still the most fun I ever had.

Football now is technically better than it has ever been. The players are fitter, more professional, less frequently drunk, better paid, in every objective sense now is the peak. But I don’t think it’s just nostalgia that makes me miss the old days. As a form of entertainment, as a day out, there were still senses in which it was at its best then, not now.
 
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Good Teeth Keith said:
Really difficult one as I think many of us will have a bias for the era we were around 8-14 or around then as that’s the age you tend to view players as “icons”. Maybe even from younger. So naturally, Football seems more magical.

I personally think late 90’s early 2000’s before diving and play acting in general became so common but the standard of pitches, stadiums and the football had improved to a point where it was more enjoyable
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2028
 
Good Teeth Keith said:
Really difficult one as I think many of us will have a bias for the era we were around 8-14 or around then as that’s the age you tend to view players as “icons”. Maybe even from younger. So naturally, Football seems more magical.

I personally think late 90’s early 2000’s before diving and play acting in general became so common but the standard of pitches, stadiums and the football had improved to a point where it was more enjoyable
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1966, mate. Then downhill after that ☹️.
 
Im wrang oni said:
depending on your definition of peaked I'd suggest it hasn't. If you're talking about the monetary value within the game. there's certainly more people invested in football now than there ever was before, in terms of investors, gender and nationality. it's definitely more accessible to everyone now.

you could also argue that the skills set is higher than ever as the game is now ultra professional and will probably continue to evolve, in terms of speed and physicality at least, as most sports do. helped no doubt by the standard of pitches.

from a spectators perspective there's more people watch the game in various ways than ever before. I don't know viewing figures but I imagine the next set of media deals will only increase in value.

actual attendances are probably higher now than since the 30's and 40's but if you define peak as most people attending fixtures that has to be the 1930's.

but if you're defining peaked as when it was best as a spectacle/most entertaining I'd have to say 1966 to 1974. 7 different teams won the first division 9 different teams won the FA Cup, 7 different teams won the European Cup (6 different countries). loads of personalities in the game (Cloughie, Shankly) some of the greatest ever players (Pele, Best, Greavsie, Charlton, Beckenbauer, Cryuff, Brazil 70) started to become global superstars, colour TV the evolution of tactics. All of this whilst being relatable to the man in the street. i.e. more locally based (home grown) players.

Towards the end of that period violence started to blight the game for the next 15=20 years or so and crowds deteriorated as a result of that and outdated stadia. The price of resolving that is what we have today. not much variety not many personalities and not very relatable. There's just a smuch interest in what goes on off the pitch nowadays as that can have a massive impact.

PS I wasn't born until 1972 so it's not based on rose tinted memories but rather on how great it would be today if there was more variety, personality and relatability in the game. Still love it like but it has lost some of it's charm.
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Excellent post.
 
ihamsafc said:
Went downhill after about 1578, when they started to think about 'rules.' Up to then, 150 a side carrying a pig's head from one end of town to the other, with kicking, gouging, butting, hacking allowed. Pure, simple. glorious. Never been the same since.
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Look at what the wokes have taken from us!
 
I personally pinpoint it at 2005/6 when mourinho started taking it far too seriously in terms of dossiers and stuff on every team and players and playing a pragmatic style of play, I like mourinho as he’s a character but that’s when football finished for me, maybe it’s also I was an adult then so wasn’t the same
 
Everyone is just going to say their late teens and early 20s aren’t they. For a whole generation of Sunderland fans they’ll think this is the peak. I don’t think the technical quality and athleticism has ever been better tbh. It’s just different to bygone eras and we naturally reject change don’t we.
 
In my opinion its gone downhill maybe since Prem was invented but definetly since VAR and easier entry into Euro Comps and World Cup

However in my defence Im an old fart and far enjoyed the matchday experience in 70s and 8oss when camaradarie was built on the terraces, you could wake up and decide to go to go to a game, without planning it like a military invasion like nowadays.

Less corporate glory hunters, less play acting by the overgrown fannies, less inter,uption by TV, better pre match atmosphere,more edge

Peaked at least 40 years ago or more imo

Fcuk the Money and the Prem
HTFL
 
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