What really gets to me in this crazy and often bizarre money mad world of football is when some players and managers dismiss the views of fans as worthless because they haven’t played the game at the level they have. Of course they never come out and say “your view is worthless” but they dismissively say things like “you have never played the game”.
By the way we are talking about football the simplest game on the planet. Put the ball in one goal and keep it out of the other. That is the game! What goes on in between the two goals is irrelevant when it comes to the final result which is the most important thing.
The game you play or have played at venues such as Senneleys Park is exactly the same game they play at St Andrews or Villa Park or in fact any professional ground in the country. The difference is the professionals play it with more pace, with more ability, with more athleticism, with more organisation, and with definitely more talent. However it’s the same game played under the same bunch of rules. One other major difference of course is that money is involved in the professional game but that doesn’t change the principles of the ninety minutes or the set of rules that apply to every game. The Sunday morning player still plays with competitiveness, passion, desire and works as hard as their physical state will allow them to and, although it’s not for shedloads of money, the result is still very important to them.
It amazes me when I see top professional footballers start with their “you haven’t played the game” nonsense and then start to wax lyrical about a pop concert they have been to claiming the singer/band was brilliant? I would love to say to them “how would you know you have never sang on stage professionally in your life”.
I believe it is the same in most sports. For example any amateur golfer will, over time, hit one shot that any of the world’s greatest golfer would be proud of. The difference is the top players do it regularly. It is the same in football an amateur footballer will at some time score a goal that would grace any pitch in the world but the great players do it regularly.
Of course when the game is about individual players making decisions over 90 minutes then the better players make more good decisions and that is not just about technical ability but about the sharpness between a players ears.
So please stop making football out to be a science, stop over complicating it and remember it’s a simple game.
Finally doesn’t it drive you barmy when watching Match of the Day to see players and managers hiding behind stats i.e. possession, expected goals, corners etc. when they have lost a game? And by the way that is all stats do; provide an excuse for managers and a hiding place for players. IMO.