TUFC v Hereford United, Football League 2, 29/10/11

[royalgull]

Agree with all of the above, half of the fun of being a football fan is seeing the highs and lows of YOUR club. How can fans of City or Chelsea have any connection with their club anymore? A rich mans play thing where they happily embrace the foreign mercenary player who they pay £200k a week, then when he gets stroppy they all plead as if it's outrageous. Well who would have thought if you give someone insane money they feel as though they can do as they wish. The hypocrisy of it all is what makes me laugh. If i supported one of those clubs I'd hate what they are now. How can you seriously support any side with ashley Cole and John Terry in? *shudders*

Exactly right on the cost, For me on my own to go to Swindon it would cost me £35 to get into the ground. and I live locally. For folk from Torquay, you are talking a minimum £25-30 coach fare plus your £25 ticket. If you add a family going you are looking at well over £100 to just get in the ground. That's before you take into consideration, programmes, food and drink etc which you will definitely get at some point. This is for tier 4.

There is a global recession on, no one's money has gone up yet football lives in a dream world. Where clubs are slaughtered for 'lack of ambition' because some refuse to pay players a countries debt, then the fans are screwed over by being priced out of games even at our level.

I have a massive love/hate relationship with football and the best thing that could really happen to football was if it was scrapped and started again with a completely new set of rules with regard to ownership, wage caps and costs. Obviously that's never going to happen, what should have happened though was Portsmouth should have gone bust. It would have been an excellent precident to set in that if you cheat the taxman, the public and the sport as much as they did you have to face the consequences. The only thing they've set now is it's ok you can cheat, lie and steal as much as you like because someone will bail you out at the end of it. It would have forced a ton of other clubs to get the house in order, but instead they'll just go along cheating basically. That's what Portsmouth did, crowds of 17,000 paying players £100k a week in some cases, paying massive fees. Then you've got Redknapp having the cheek of saying 'they never 'ad it so good' The real Redknapp legacy was the club in financial meltdown but he left a hero because he knows how to play and manipulate the system. Bloke is an absolute crook and along with Mandaric they really were the dream team. I'm digressing again...

In short, **** off football.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Pompey should have gone to the wall. Sorry Pompey fans. What made me laugh is they made most of their staff redundant like office workers and the like who were on low money anyway but they didn't pay their full wages if i remember. These people would have had bills to pay like everyone else. THEN if memory serves me right Portsmouth go to the USA for a pre-season tour !! Whats all that about?!! One minute they are so skint they can't pay their staff then some knobhead decides it wouldn't be insensitive or inflammatory at all if they all piss off for a tour of America playing football matches! Everytime you hear a club is in trouble and they are days from going bust just take it with a pinch of salt because it only happens to minor clubs like Chester, clubs too small to make an impact and make the powers that be sit up and take notice of what is happening to our game.

[royalgull]

That's the problem mate, Chester or Kings Lynn go out of business 'ahh that's a shame' and coming next on Sky sports News Ashley Cole hands in a transfer request because £100k a week isn't enough for him. If Pompey had gone out of business that would have been a Premiership club that lived way beyond it's means, faield and was wound up. People would have got their houses in order slowly. Now there's no point. Because someone will always bail them out. It was shameful for the Premier League to give them that money so they could finish the season and clear some of their debts. What really gets me as well like i mentioned is the hypocrisy of the fans. 'It's the fans that suffer' Really? Portsmouth fans were happy to lap up winning the FA Cup and finishing 10th while they cheated their way to it, did they ever pipe up with any concerns that 'hang on how are we paying for Sol Campbell when Saints in League 1 are getting bigger corwds than us?' but once it all goes down the gary Glitter, they are the first ones pleading for people to bail them out. Sickening. They should have gone to the wall, started a phoenix club, they'd have been given a hand by being put in Blue Square South or the Southern League, with their core support they would have done just like Wimbledon, Halifax and Chester have done and gone back up the leagues the right way and itw ould have been their club.

Morally football is so wrong, at the top level these days. The thing is these players aren't even THAT good. In my opinion should footballers be paid well? yes absolutely. They provide one of the biggest entertainment industries for this country. They have a very short career which could be ended at anytime and little qualifications if any outside of it. Lets be honest if Joey Barton or Wayne Rooney didn't play football, there is probably a good chance they'd be either a) on the dole or b) in prison. But it's gone far too far the other way. They are massively out of touch with reality. I will never forget going to Chelsea on Boxing day about 4/5 years ago with Reading, £48 a ticket, no public transport, £10 to park the car. In the programme was John Terry's captain notes, in there he explained how he 'and the boys' had been giving Arjen Robben a 'ton of banter' because he's bought 2 yellow Ferrari's. Just...... Times were starting to get tough then, was the time where this recession was really being talked about and this gem appears. Like i say, just completely out of touch with reality.

It's all linked to modern stadia (note that term, they aren't grounds anymore) Elm Park, Boothferry Park, Manor Ground, Layer Road, Baseball Ground, Filbert Street, Saltergate, Vetch Field. Football Grounds, now it's the Madejski Stadium, The Kingston Communications Stadium, Weston Homes Community Stadium, LG Stadium etc etc etc. Marketing tools, because football is now played as much on the balance sheet as it is on the pitch. How can we make more money? How can we get sponsors, and the prawn sandwich brigade in and hell to the rest. People in this country continue to pay it, we moan about fuel but we pay it. We moan about football cost but we pay it. We moan about Sky but how many own Sky subscriptions, millions. It's just a vile rotten circle where the rich get richer and the rest of us that try to play by the rules get shat on. It's a completely unfair system and while there is talk and groups trying to change it i'm not sure how they can.

Even our level isn't safe from footballing antichrists *cough crawley cough*.

[HRG]

I've only been once HRG and i was shocked to be faced with the narrowest turnstiles i've ever encountered. I'm no Peter Crouch lookalike but i struggled to get through them. I stood on the terrace on that occasion and i think there were away seating above us but i couldn't see. In fact i couldn't see much due to the massive concrete pillars dotted about the place. Is this the terrace area that you mentioned was now shut HRG? Make no mistake Edgar Street is a sh*thole but the benefits are it is easy to park, easy walk to the town centre which is nice, cathedral area etc and there are some nice places to eat and drink. The views from the terrace are awful, the programme i bought was one of the worst i have ever read in terms of quality, content and value and i didn't even taste their food. We lost too! Bugger.

First pink bit. Tell me about it. I'm on the large side and feel like doing a victory jig every time I get through the turnstiles anywhere :Oops: .

Second pink bit. No. The area behind the goal used to go in there before Hereford got relegated to the Conference when I was a kid. There was always a man and his guide dog on the flat bit at the bottom.

Hereford in general is being done up. Pavements in town have been redone and the Cathedral area has been given a revamp. Looks quite nice. The Cattle Market next to the ground is also going to be pulled down at some point and that area improved. I don't know what will happen with the ground but I hope it doesn't get left behind.

I also prefer Edgar Street to The New Meadow.

[ferrarilover]

Oh HRGie, that's just more of you to love.

[AustrianAndyGull]

It's really as simple as that Matt as you so succintly put it. Why is it that its the people at the very top in all walks of life are swimming in money AND also in a position to change the world, or at the very least make people change the world. Yet they do nothing, content with feathering their own nest and losing all moral fibre in the process. The people at the bottom just want a voice to be heard so that their lives can be made a little more bearable. Thats why the country / world is knackered because those that can, won't and those that can't will if afforded the chance but then they generally wake up and smell the coffee when they've taken that chance and hop on the same gravy train as the rest. Why should football be any different?

[HRG]

Aw, thanks Matt.

I'm working on there being a bit less of me so I can stroll through those pesky turnstiles with ease. That'll show 'em. :whip:

[AustrianAndyGull]

Aw, thanks Matt.

I'm working on there being a bit less of me so I can stroll through those pesky turnstiles with ease. That'll show 'em. :whip:

Oh by the way HRG thanks for the info on Edgar Street.

[ferrarilover]

Haha, since I like you, dearest Emily, I'll pass to you one 'trick of the trade' which'll save you probably twenty years of effort compared to your friends. There is one way guaranteed to ensure you lose weight. It's 100% scientifically proven to work. Contrary to popular belief, all the 'celebs' (it causes me physical pain to type such a stupid word) are using it. The secret to losing weight is...

To expend a greater amount of energy than you take in during a specified period...

Matt.

[HRG]

Is it really?! You are indeed a genius. Time to dig out the Wii Fit then.

[royalgull]

I'll take responsibility for the tangents Matt, think we were discussing football grounds comparing Torquay and Hereford - how both are far greater than the identikit shite grounds or 'stadia' that most sides inhibit these days. That then led to my massive rant about modern football and all those involved in making the game we love into the hideous, unfair and grotesque animal it is today.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I had a rant too! Sorry everyone! Oh and well done the lads for beating Hereford (back on topic).

[Southampton Gull]

Andy, that made me chuckle. Can't see the problem with carrying on the interesting discussion...............................awaits complaints

[ferrarilover]

No complaints from me, was more a slant specifically at how the thread had developed. It helps that it was a constructive conversation rather than a pathetic argument, any coincidence that it was between two of our more intelligent and knowledgable posters?

Get yourself to the gym, HRGie!

Matt.

[AustrianAndyGull]

No complaints from me, was more a slant specifically at how the thread had developed. It helps that it was a constructive conversation rather than a pathetic argument, any coincidence that it was between two of our more intelligent and knowledgable posters?Get yourself to the gym, HRGie!

Matt.

Cheers Matt. I've been called worse! By the way i think i shall use your pearls of wisdom regarding rapid weight loss before i go to Hereford this season. Classic. Who needs Slimming World? Just for the record i am not morbidly obese, just big boned.