Is the quality of football any better now than 20/30/40years ago?

[OldNick]

With the Chinese likely to take a large slice of the top players in the next 20years due to the extortionate wages they will pay the EPL will no doubt be watered down of the foreign mercenaries.

I see the odd clip of football in the 70's and 80's. Taking into account the pitches in poor condition, the football was still pretty good.

There were no foreign players and the excitement was pretty good. If Sky had been hyping the games then like now we may have a different view, after all England were the kings of Europe at that stage.

Perhaps the players may understand the glory of the FA cup etc

[Saint Charminster]

I remember watching saints play Liverpool at the Dell in 1983 and beating Liverpool 2-0, Danny Wallace got both goals. The quality of football was as good as any of any recently.

[Pass the Dutchie]

Every sport progresses over time. That's why world records are still being broken again and again in sports where that's relevant. Football has also gotten 'better' in that way. Most teams from now would beat teams from back in the day. But this obviously doesn't mean that all the players are more talented, or that the games are more entertaining.

[Wurzel]

Depends how you define "better". I've been watching since late 60s. There have always been the odd stand out exceptions but talking in general ....Players are now more technically skillful. Definitely faster. Definitely physically stronger. But because all teams have progressed equally the effects of those improvements cancel each other out. Is the entertainment aspect of the game "better"? The excitement? The unpredictability? Definitely not.

[beatlesaint]

I remember watching saints play Liverpool at the Dell in 1983 and beating Liverpool 2-0, Danny Wallace got both goals. The quality of football was as good as any of any recently.

 

I agree, some of the matches I saw at The Dell between 1979 and 1984 leaves todays football standing. Ok it might be looking through old rose tinted glasses but some of the stuff we saw, a 4-1 demolition of Notts Forest in 79 is the one that instantly springs to mind, was sublime.

[whelk]

Quality doesn't matter as much as entertainment. You could watch a sh1te game between Argentina and Spain knowing the players were the best around. Some of PL defending is as bad as anything I can remember regardless that the CBs run 2km more than their 90s counterparts.

[angelman]

To me a very important question is whether the standard of competition is any better. With the top 6 pulling away, then the answer to that is obvious.

[John Boy Saint]

I agree, some of the matches I saw at The Dell between 1979 and 1984 leaves todays football standing. Ok it might be looking through old rose tinted glasses but some of the stuff we saw, a 4-1 demolition of Notts Forest in 79 is the one that instantly springs to mind, was sublime.

+1

That game sticks out in my mind too, champions of Europe and we made them look like chumpions. As does a 3-2 game v Liverpool from a similar time, where the ref's watch seemed to stop as Liverpool were pressing hard, and someone stepped out from under the West stand ran on the pitch and told him the time.

Players are obviously much much fitter now, you never saw a pre match warm up like now, 5/10 to 3pm both sides would come out have a run about fire a few at goal, then kick off, never saw half time with players on the pitch, but you walked out of the Dell having seen Saints win with the same buzz you do now.

 

Its evolution the game is the same, but much more technically advanced making the players fitter, faster, with more endurance, the biggest change is effect money has had, before football was invented when the premier league started, the playing field was very level. You beat a big name team on merit, not because they had a bad day at the office.

[sadoldgit]

As has been said, the game is quicker and the players more technically adept now but it was very entertaining in the past. You do get more goals at the end of games now whereas teams used to play out time years ago. There was more room for players in the past. Now players receive the ball with two or three players on their backs. When I used to play the brief was not to pass to a man who was marked! You have to wonder how todays prima donnas would cope on the Somme like conditions of Plough Lane in mid winter!

[OldNick]

Pitches, the way players were kicked out of the game was a major factor in the technical ability on show. Transport a lot of those teams to now, have them fitter and they would entertain big time

[Horley CTFC Saint]

Well the drugs have got so much better so the games improved no end!

[OldNick]

Well the drugs have got so much better so the games improved no end!

lol

[spyinthesky]

It would be interesting to see the result if a top team from the 30's played a team from todays Prem

 

The tactics and conditions would be completely different.

 

In todays conditions ie perfect pitch, light ball, physically strong and tall players able to keep hold off the ball, the Prem team would win easily.

 

However play the game on a mud heap in the middle of winter, with a heavy leather ball, uncomfortable high cut leather boots, tackles flying in from every angle and it would be a completely different game.

 

I still think todays team would probably win but wonder if the Prem side contained a number of foreign players, the game might not run its full course.

 

The hefty challenges allowed in the 30's would not be well received by todays prima donna's.

[OldNick]

imagine the modern prima donnas being told to play on a surface like this.

[John Boy Saint]

Well the drugs have got so much better so the games improved no end!

Thought my cuppa on match day tasted a bit different!

[simo]

Well the drugs have got so much better so the games improved no end!

They haven't my end hook me up

[hughieslastminutegoal]

Depends how you define "better". I've been watching since late 60s. There have always been the odd stand out exceptions but talking in general ....Players are now more technically skillful. Definitely faster. Definitely physically stronger. But because all teams have progressed equally the effects of those improvements cancel each other out. Is the entertainment aspect of the game "better"? The excitement? The unpredictability? Definitely not.

 

Agree 100%

[hughieslastminutegoal]

When I started watching, tackling was allowed. Over the top challenges were commonplace. Kicking through people by central defenders was normal. And there were no subs allowed. Then only one sub for injury only.

So hardly surprising the game was slower.

 

We all enjoyed watching the games, but at the expense of something like 40% of ex-pros becoming registered disabled.

[OldNick]

China may take the best players long term but the thought of the traditional names of clubs coming to town would not be lost even if the foreign stars were not playing.

 

Football has improved for the family being able to go to stadiums in safety, that is a major modern plus but I do wonder if the football now is quite negative and the ball spends more time in the defenders posession than with the creative players. I long for the bite and cut and thrust that we had back then, not as pretty perhaps but perhaps why football from England was so admired by foreign fans.

[OldNick]

When I started watching, tackling was allowed. Over the top challenges were commonplace. Kicking through people by central defenders was normal. And there were no subs allowed. Then only one sub for injury only.

So hardly surprising the game was slower.

 

We all enjoyed watching the games, but at the expense of something like 40% of ex-pros becoming registered disabled.

I wouldnt want the game to still have the cloggers and the very aggresive stuff, but feel that we believe the modern players are so much better when they have such better conditions to ply their trade. Imagine Best, Bowles etc playing in todays conditions they would tear teams apart as they rightly would be protected by refs

[Golac's Iron Gonads]

People seem to forget (or simply weren't born) when you could pass back to goalkeeper. Christ, you could write off 10 minutes of the game with goalkeeper and center backs passing to each other.

[Disco Stu]

Without a doubt.

[Nordic Saint]

As in all sports, the physical performances have improved. The game is much faster now and players' ball control at high speed and their accuracy of passing have both improved considerably. It would be interesting to see a comparison of passing stats from now compared to the 60s, when a much higher percentage of passes went astray. It was rare to see a player on the touchline back then control a high cross field pass like most top flight players can do with ease now. Also, you used to see players standing with hands on hips taking breathers regularly during games back then, as many of them smoked and drank heavily. Nostalgia makes us look back on most things as being better in 'the old days' even if in reality they weren't.

 

I miss the mazy, dribbling runs that players like Channon, Best and Bowles used to do, because the game is just too fast and defenders are too well drilled to allow it now. Messi is one of the few who still attempts that type of dribbling now and if he went back to the 60s or 70s he'd seem like a superman with his ability. The 70s was probably my favourite football decade maybe because of the age I was then and the nostalgia factor but the standard of play is definitely superior nowadays. The atmosphere at the Dell peaked in the late 70s, after we won the FA Cup. The home and away support in the 76/77, 77/78 and 78/79 seasons was incredible, with all sides of the ground singing and huge numbers going to many away games. It just goes to show what winning a trophy can do.

 

Apart from the fact that it was a great decade for Saints, the 80s were awful. Crowds plummeted to all-time lows and the standard of football was poor. The 90s were made even worse by the fact that it was a decade of struggle for Saints and we only had one top class player in our team. But, I'm sure for any fan that was in his teens in either of those decades, they'd seem like the best decades of football ever. That's the way nostalgia works its magic.

 

Man for man, last season's Saints team was better than any of our teams from the 60,70s, 80s, 90s and 00s. The team that finished runners-up to Liverpool was more successful but back then there was only one good team in the country: Liverpool. The top flight is much more competitive nowadays, when there are half a dozen teams at least that can win it and 4 different teams have won it in the last 4 years. In previous decades it was usually dominated by just one team: Liverpool and then Man United. The rest just made up the numbers.

[Supersubpuckett]

I remember watching saints play Liverpool at the Dell in 1983 and beating Liverpool 2-0, Danny Wallace got both goals. The quality of football was as good as any of any recently.

 

I was at that game too.....incredible atmosphere. Our football in the 80s was generally highly entertaining, maverick stuff. I'm sure there was one season we finished in the top ten having scored and conceded over 60 goals. The 90s was awful, the 00s workmanlike and then we have what we've enjoyed for the last 6/7 years.

 

Depends what you're own preferences are and how you define 'quality'.