A Champions League Final Day Moan

[andy steel 0]

If you have ESPN, you may have been enjoying their season of games from the history of the old European Cup. It's been a pleasure to sit with my youngest and watch games I saw as a kid...last night, Forest's 1-0 win over Hamburg in 1980 was on, a game I recall watching as a 9 year old in my Grandpa's house. A reminder of a time when John Robertson could keep Davie Cooper out the Scotland team (fair enough, really, he was a cracking player) and Kenny Burns could keep Gregor Stevens company in the disciplinary rooms. What a thug!

 

But another reminder hit home much harder, the 7-3 Real Madrid-Eintracht Frankfurt final, held in Glasgow in 1960. I think Frankfurt gubbed us in the semis (it's 7 in the morning, I'm not checking) so that must have been a sore one for Bears, yet 135,000 people turned out to be royally (arf) entertained. 1960 may seem like a world away to a lot of posters, but being born in 1970 it doesn't seem that far back in time to me...but the difference between then and now is staggering.

 

The idea of 135,000 folks at a game in Scotland today is ridiculous. Even for games where demand is high, for example Scotland's qualifier with Italy a few years ago, you wouldn't get that; and even if you optimistically claim you would, we have made it impossible by creating a national stadium with a capacity of under 50,000.

 

It's a fine example of the mismanagement of football since those days, though I have little doubt there were misdeeds then too. But to drive demand for a sport which can attract audiences like that into a niche attraction, on a level with rugby (and that's being generous - given some of rugby's recent attendances, it can seriously claim to be the leading sport in Scotland) is really quite an achievement.

 

You could point to outside forces affecting the game. Impact of TV, certainly. But it can't account for it all; if the product was of any value the audience would attend. I firmly believe the problems are of our own making. Insane increases in price being the prime factor: when I began attending Ibrox, around the 1984-5 season, I paid £1 to get into the west enclosure. I remember being distinctly peeved when they increased it to £1.10 when we had a good start to a season one year. But still, it was affordable for a 13 year old. I don't recall how much a return to Central cost, but it was 30p on the tube, so fling in a programme and it was under a tenner all in. Compare that to today - even allowing for inflation - and see how practical it has been for the generations which came after me to develop a habit of going to the football. A specific plan to exclude potential customers could not have been more effective.

 

Then there's the actual product on the park. Maybe we shouldn't aspire to Real Madrid's 1960s, 5-5 tactic, but it's a dismal thought that with 50 years to practice, all the advances in sports sciences and fitness, and massive exposure to good football from around the world online and on TV, we have regressed to a point hitherto unseen in the annals of association football. Gandalf football - "You Shall Not Pass!"

 

In the late 80s, the SFA brought out a video called 'Scotland the Brave' or somesuch, showing classic games from down the years. I kid you not, we used to play passing football in Scotland; some of the highlights of Baxter ripping Austria to bits were Barca class. It's hard to tell from newsreel footage from before the 60s what the game was like, given their bizarre camera angles and editing, but I doubt it was as bad as St Johnstone offered against us last week.

 

Little needs to be said about the off field world of Scottish football. In the absence of an actual war in Ireland, some seem to feel the need to carry on the struggle by other means in other places (I refer to both sides here). Sordid and depressing and of no help whatsoever. A recent spate of articles citing Rhegan's brother as having an interest in Irish literature (fancy that! it's only been the leading brand of English lit of the last hundred years), thus proving his celtc affiliation, highlights this. I love my brother, but his work doesn't affect me in the slightest, and politically we're miles apart. It proves nothing but obsession.

 

On and off the field, the product is poison. Hatred, bitterness, envy, delusion, all charged at a premium. Why would anyone want to get involved in it? Why on earth would anyone, in the future, look back on it with anything but bewilderment and disdain?

 

So it goes. Today, I'll be getting comfy on the coach, chips, dips and Blue Becks to hand (I am no macho drinker). Me and my youngest will watch the Cup Final - here's hoping it rises to the occasion - then take in the main event, the pinnacle of football in my eyes, the European Cup Final. Drogba style diving apart, it promises to be a good one. In 32 years, my boy might be reliving the Bayern-Chelsea game with his kids as ESPN shows highlights of the old days. What they'll have to watch more locally - whether they have anything to watch at all - is far more open to question.

[Gribz 787]

A fine post there Andy!

 

Sadly I think there is bit too much fat cats and corruption involved in the game these days, combined with TV and money its a different game.

 

That aside Ive just started a CL final thread in football chat section and I think we'll get a decent game tonight. I think this Bayern team are top notch and hope they win it. They are one of Europes finest clubs.