I HAVE this week upgraded my television package and have finally got access to Sky. So now I can watch sport across all platforms. It doesn't help me much, because, the more I watch, the more I am becoming convinced: Football in 2024 is crap.
I can accept we have more-athletic players than we have ever had, but with all the money sloshing around in the game these days, we are seeing a lot of pretty-average journeymen being paid superstar wages for a low level of skill and application.
This is particularly true in the domestic Scottish game, about which I have a theory. In a past life I did a stint as a trade plater. Moving trucks old and new around the country on trade plates.
The company I worked for had contracts with several heavy truck manufacturers, who sold a lot of new trucks on leasing deals, at the end of which I, or one of the other platers would turn-up, collect the end-of-lease truck and deliver it to the manufacturers facility for handling such trucks.
There, they would be assessed, given whatever maintenance work was called for and either sent onto to the second-hand market, or, more-frequently, sent for export.
The end-of-lease facilities were usually along the M4 corridor and the trucks bound for export went out from either Harwich or Tilbury.
I think somebody, perhaps a mega football agency has the same sort of system going, collecting out of contract players from the lower levels of the Football League then exporting them to Scottish clubs, where, although they are not top of the line models, they are seen as better and more exotic than the local models, so, they get to play.
That's my take on how we come to see Scottish Football as, to use the local vernacular: “Pure Pish man.”
OK, I can already hear the advice: “If you think Scottish Fitba is so bad, you've got the TV Sports package, watch the English Premiership”.
Except, I cannot. OK, I admit to that morbid Scottish fascination for watching the not-so-good inaction – Sydney Devine, Fran and Anna, Joe Gordon and Sally Logan, The Alexander Brothers, 90% of the modern “comedians” on BBC Shortbread – there's a proud Scottish tradition of punters paying good money to watch mince in action. But, the truth is, while watching the current Manchester United squads passes the watching mince threshold, the likes of Manchester City, Arsernal and Liverpool are so-efficient, they are making football boring.
This current obsession with passing teams to death for instance. I suppose, in some ways, it dates back to Barcelona and “Tiki-Taka”. This style of football, short passing, at speed, was developed in Barcelona and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, from his time with the Spanish club is considered the High Priest of the tactic. But, right from the start, in the early days of this century, Tiki-Taki had its critics; Atletico Bilbao manager Javier Clemente, back in 2006, is considered the first-person to have used the words “Tiki-Taka” in a derogatory way – he thought it was boring.
But, as demonstrated by the likes of the young Lionerl Messi, Xavi, Andreas Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas, it worked, so it spread. However, the Barcelona Boys wove their patterns in the final third of the park, today, too-often, lesser sides simply pass, for passing's sake, from their own 18 yard box.
Watching Rangers v Dundee on Saturday, four of the first five Rangers passes went backwards, indeed, I am convinced they played more square or back passes than forward ones over the 90 minutes. Yes, they played “Keepball” well, against limited opponents, but,the swathes of unoccupied seats in the Copland Road Stand is surely ample demonstration, they are playing a brand of football which not even the staunchest Bears can stomach.
My very first Old Firm game was in season 1963-64. I was lodging with my Uncle and Aunt in Springburn and Uncle Bobby was a Rangers fanatic, so off to Celtic Park we went with him and his work-mates.
It was, from memory a League Cup tie, Rangrers won at a canter with the young Jim Forrest making his name with a double. Rangers had the game won long before the end, so Jim Baxter decided to have a bit of fun as he, John Greig, Ronnie McKinnon and Davie Provan just passed the ball around among themselves for long periods inside the Rangers half.
OK, they were taking the piss out of a shell-schocked Celtic team, but, on Saturday I watched a Rangers back four, pale shadows of Greig, McKinnon and Baxter, passing the ball around among themselves, because it appears that is what they are expected to do nowadays.
If it was an attempt at Tiki-Taka it was a poor one; and, by the way, it way being played some 40 yards further from goal than Barcelona played it. I am also getting exasperated at the modern fashion for passing backwards.
When Rangers kicked-off on Saturday, they made four back passes, berfore they played one ball forward. There was one period, later-on on Saturday when, from a throw-in to Rangers, some 25 yards out from the Dundee goal, the ball was played all the way back to Jack Butland. To use a time-honoured Scottish Football expression: “That sort o' thing wid get Fitba stoaped.”
If we are going to insist on playing Keepball, in a congested midfield, which means passing back into our own half in an effort to open up space – here's a stream of thought:
Why don't we cut the size of each team?
Make Football a seven-a-side game
Ban passing back into a side's own half, once they have taken the ball into their opponents' half
We could even instead of having a half-way line, divide the field into three sections and limit the number of players who could be in any one section at a time
That way, we would open-up space and make for a more-entertaining game
Football appears much-less willing than other games to tinker with the Laws. I have long believed the Law Book needs major reform. We are now 150 years into International Football, perhaps it is time for that reform.
No comments:
Post a Comment