NOTE FROM IAIN: The Predictor League for Chelsea is open HERE. Entries can be submitted until 6pm tonight.
Guest Post by Beniron
It’s been a long time since I posted an article – some of you may remember my series Life, The Universe etc (I sound like the guy off the Simpsons, Kent Brockman!) that I penned during the first lockdown.
Those few posts were an attempt at looking back on the years before Premier League football, when fans were fans and clubs were glad of it! Seriously this one-off post will be more of a rant and some musings about how football has changed with society and life as we move forward over the years. I don’t know if football reflects life or life reflects football, bit like nature or nurture, and to be honest I don’t really care that deeply, all I know is that it has changed, much like my life over the years.
I grew up in east London, born in Stepney, moved to Poplar and then onto the Isle de Chien and finally out to sunny Essex – a stone’s throw from Lids – well a coupla minutes drive!
I’m of the older generation – I took the 11-plus and passed so went to Grammar School. I thoroughly enjoyed school and spent my childhood like all kids around me at that time playing football, riding bikes, getting a Red Rover and exploring London, blissfully unaware that we were poor.
The industry I joined led the way in change over the next few years (I started on Strowger – Google that!) and moved on to what is now known as IT, with a couple of other jobs in between, including working at the LDA. One of my roles was running the team that looked at sustainability in the Olympic bid, and it didn’t include football! So in my professional life I’ve lived and embraced change for near on 50 years.
I’ve been fortunate to live and work all over the world, Germany, France, Holland and the good ol’ US of A. I also did some short stints in Africa (Nairobi and Namibia) and Asia (HK and Singapore).
Before the travelling I was a season ticket holder and every trip home my mates managed to get me tickets for the Hammers! In those days (1994 – 2002) the inter web was in its infancy so news was via friends and phone calls etc, particularly in the States where the concept of foreign news was unknown; at least in Europe I could go down to the central station and get the English papers.
Anyway, a long introduction for what is now going to be perceived as a rant I’m sure, even though the aim was to provide insight into a different look at football.
I must caveat that all that comes next is my personal view – see I’m an old romantic when it comes to football, I want to see a good game of football first and a good result second. Some of my favourite games have been losses – Tiblisi, Anderlecht, Man U when Beckham chipped James from near the halfway line on the wing. Seen some great wins as well, Frankfurt, Man U last game at Upton Park, Derby away when Brooking ran the show.
I’ve seen football change – whether it’s for the good or bad is up to each person’s perspective, my view is that it’s got steadily worse – the quantum change was the Premier League and the influx of money.
I’d seen West Ham relegated several times and come back and the players and the club survived relatively unscathed and could carry on with its ethos of trying to play good football and long-term strategy, we never sacked managers. We always suffered from lack of investment and we were never a big club, but it was great experience and when you told people you were a Hammers fan, along with the stick there was a begrudging respect.
The Premier League changed all that, aligned with the Sky money it became all that mattered was staying in the PL, sod the cups, sod the fans, sod the football, just don’t get relegated.
At this time sports science and the like were coming to the fore, tactics and personnel were changing, back in the day every team had a ‘number 10’ type player, players that were comfortable on the ball. Brooking, Tony Currie, Alan Hudson, Frank Worthington, Glenn Hoddle etc, all could play a bit, course we all had our hard men but you get the gist.
Gradually over the years of the PL we have moved to a situation where the top clubs have the luxury of those players De Bruyne, Hazard etc but the rest cram their teams with hard working, organised athletic types. I blame Wenger, not directly, but his introduction of Petit and Vierra changed football for me, teams saw this and went out and bought as many athletic box to box, built like warriors as they could. Most missed the point that Wenger spotted they were bloody good footballers to boot!
So the era ushered in the likes of Pulis, BFS etc who built teams that were hard to beat, got the ball forward as quick as possible and bullied teams. The standard of refereeing was poor then, Stoke, Bolton etc used to get away with murder, a throwback to the Leeds days without the skill. That set the scene for the tier system in top flight football, top 4-6, one group, next 6 safe every year, the rest fighting for survival and doing anything but attack to stay in the league. Respect the point, hard to beat, those are the mantras, when someone plays with the ‘we’ll score more than you’ attitude they are scoffed at as mad!
As an old git I remember the days pre Premier League a lot more fondly, it was about attracting fans to the game, and on pitches like Hackney Marshes, tackles from behind allowed but still the players could play and pass.
This is why I never liked BFS, his whole ethos of respect the point was alien to me. I remember talking to a Blackburn fan in the Black Lion after BFS brought them to UP “wasn’t the best game“ I said “you only have to watch it once a year – I get it every week!” he replied. I was going to ask why he goes but I thought better of it. Fast forward a few years and I’m doing the same, moaning about the football but going every week, at that time home and away.
So there you have it, the only constant is the fans; players come and managers come and go, even the board (I’ve seen 5 different regimes I think), but fans always come, different fans nowadays but football has reinvented itself over the course of the years and the current incarnation is one that is finally leaving me behind.
I see on this site and others more and more now that winning is more important than performance, – everyone is a manager, tactical genius, football business guru, chief scout and bottle washer, intolerant and fickle as hell.
In one breath slagging players off for wanting to leave and not showing loyalty, next breath drop ‘em and sell ‘em for two bad games. It’s probably the plethora of information and sites out there with stats etc. Who really gives a sh!t about the last 5 minutes possession? I’m watching the same bloody game! As my dad used to say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
I don’t see many comments nowadays about enjoying a move or a pass or a feint etc and not really worrying about the result. You knew in the past that some days you’d win, some you’d lose, irrespective of who you were playing cos that’s what happened. Now fans are much more demanding, some games seem to be seen as it’s our right to win. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s a West Ham thing, I know other fans and as most are younger than me (not hard I hear you chorus) they all have similar views, as though the other teams should obey the rule book.
That’s what set me thinking about why I don’t particularly warm to Moyes – results are going well, he’s done nothing wrong, football is ok but there’s something missing. When looking at the site I find myself more and more agreeing with Simon and a couple of others who dare to criticise and immediately get set upon by the "mob” and get bombarded with stats and how well we are doing etc. (except for HH – he just blames the board :))!
I keep going back to my romantic soul that tells me there is more to it than watching a well drilled team that is organised and no push over – that’s how Stoke and Burnley got into Europe for Christ sakes!
So I’m happy to take some of the flak off of Simon and say I think Moyes is 6/7 out of 10 so far, he lets himself down on making those key decisions on when to grasp the game and go for it rather than protecting what you have. I don’t give a monkey’s chuff about what the pundits say, they don’t pay to see the game – I do and I can honestly say I’m still waiting for that thrill under Moyes that I’ve had in the past, and the frustrating thing, the really frustrating thing is I think he wants to do it, you could see how happy he was with Benrahma, and Lanzini against the Spuds.
He just needs to let his inner romantic out and we’ll all be happy!