[Football] Were the 70s and 80s the golden era of football?

tigertim68 · Jun 26, 2020

I loved the football in the 70s and 80s , it was cheap to watch , you could go to away matches , you could stand up and watch the matches ,
I loved going to the Goldstone , you cannot compare to football of today , it was a different game , you could tackle , no diving , it was just as exciting as football is today , you could swear , smoke and no one would moan , and of course it was so easy to get to Goldstone ,

blue-shifted · Jun 26, 2020

studio150 said:
Mud fields for pitches
Dirty Leeds kicking lumps out of everyone
Hoof football
Needing a sixth sense to avoid violence
Racism
Getting drowned on open terraces
Guaranteed food poisoning if you ate any food at the ground

Yep great times

Yet, if I had the one off chance to pay 5 grand for a trip in a time machine to spend an afternoon supporting the Albion in a packed rowdy terrace, with a tonne of edge, blatantly i'd do it. Terrible football or not

Shooting Star · Jun 26, 2020

Great to see this topic has stimulated conversation and hope to see some of you there virtually at the talk on Wednesday!

Kieran Maguire and Kevin Hunter Day on their Price of Football podcast a couple of weeks ago talked about this very issue and they said that those claiming it to be a golden era are often those of my generation, i.e. people in their late 20s or younger who actually didn't experience it themselves, but have a doughy-eyed nostalgic sense of what it was like! They used horrible toilets as an example of this, something which my dad when I asked him certainly attested to. How true do people find that claim to be?

lawros left foot · Jun 26, 2020

Shooting Star said:
Great to see this topic has stimulated conversation and hope to see some of you there virtually at the talk on Wednesday!

Kieran Maguire and Kevin Hunter Day on their Price of Football podcast a couple of weeks ago talked about this very issue and they said that those claiming it to be a golden era are often those of my generation, i.e. people in their late 20s or younger who actually didn't experience it themselves, but have a doughy-eyed nostalgic sense of what it was like! They used horrible toilets as an example of this, something which my dad when I asked him certainly attested to. How true do people find that claim to be?

I never went in the toilets, I used to just piss in the pocket of the bloke in front

Sirnormangall · Jun 26, 2020

Leekbrookgull said:
So subjective,Ward 4/Mellor3. Case at Highbury. Robbie at Hereford. Stuart the week before and the list goes on.Good Luck.

Exactly - for Albion fans 70s & 80s saw first ever promotion to top division and first ever FA cup final. But last 10 years saw fantastic new Amex stadium and promotion to top division. Difficult to decide.

The Large One · Jun 26, 2020

The football kits were better.

That's about it.

Hu_Camus · Jun 26, 2020

Who else remembers the Tykes down on the day of the Bradford Fire?....in charge of my 4 year old and bricking it.
No thanks.... Players like Hoddle hobbled by the hammer-throwers, shit pitches, ....mind you, there was Nobby Horton.

Mr Bridger · Jun 26, 2020

studio150 said:
Mud fields for pitches
Dirty Leeds kicking lumps out of everyone
Hoof football
Needing a sixth sense to avoid violence
Racism
Getting drowned on open terraces
Guaranteed food poisoning if you ate any food at the ground

Yep great times

You forgot the fog coming down at half time at Anfield, always baffled me as a kid watching Match of the Day.

jakarta · Jun 26, 2020

Baseball Ground in 1971, everything covered in Mud...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLsb_ABM1H4

drew · Jun 26, 2020

jakarta said:
Baseball Ground in 1971, everything covered in Mud...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLsb_ABM1H4

Including Mike Bailey!

Mackenzie · Jun 26, 2020

I was a teenager in the 80’s so of course football was better then, it was my first bit of freedom. Season 1987/88 was the best ever for me personally.

pastafarian · Jun 27, 2020

FA Cup finals in the 70s and 80s were cracking.

Simster · Jun 27, 2020

GREASED WEASEL said:
Derby,Forest,Everton & Villa winning the league

Forest & Villa winning the European Cup

Man Utd in Div 2

Sunderland & Southampton genuine shocks winning the FA Cup

England v Scotland games were massive

Modern day football is massively overrated as illustrated last night watching Burnley against Watford

Spurs also in division 2.

Still, you've picked the best bits only. I could remind you that Leicester won the league not long ago, and Wigan beat Man City in the cup final, as much a shock as Sunderland beating Leeds.

Gates slumped in the 80s for good reason. I grew up with it and loved the buzz, but it was genuinely dangerous going to some football matches back then.

Also, it bothered me that the standard was relatively poor back then - no player these days can honestly expect to make a good living out of the game whilst maintaining a drinking habit, for example. Yet England internationals like Bryan Robson and Ray Wilkins spent half their lives down the pub. These people were supposed to be professional athletes ffs. I don't mind the very best being paid handsomely if they are making sacrifices, but that really wasn't the case back then.

Palacefinder General · Jun 27, 2020

Simster said:
Also, it bothered me that the standard was relatively poor back then - no player these days can honestly expect to make a good living out of the game whilst maintaining a drinking habit, for example. Yet England internationals like Bryan Robson and Ray Wilkins spent half their lives down the pub. These people were supposed to be professional athletes ffs. I don't mind the very best being paid handsomely if they are making sacrifices, but that really wasn't the case back then.

Tony Adams and a few others in the Arsenal squad being on the lash all night before an FA Cup final, playing the match having not been to bed, and still winning I believe. The word ‘professional’ shouldn’t be anywhere near those players I agree. Utterly absurd. No wonder the Italians who began arriving in the English game were stunned by just about everything they saw.

Barry Lloyd and his dugout chain-smoking drifting passively over the substitutes.
:lolol:

Is it PotG? · Jun 27, 2020

THIS is the type of surface on which football should be played, not the snooker tables currently proffered.

Farehamseagull · Jun 27, 2020

All totally subjective and dependent on age like those things that do the rounds on Facebook about how wonderful your childhood days were.

For me the golden age of football was the early 2000’s. The quality of football generally had improved dramatically from 10/20 years ago as had most stadiums and hooliganism was not evident around grounds. It was a little more innocent and didn’t seem quite as obsessed by money or business as it does now and Euros 2000, 2004 and World Cups 2002 and 2006 were also fun international tournaments which always helps.

I know there will be exceptions but will also say that the country generally seemed to be a bit ‘happier’ then than it is now and from what I hear and read, the 70’s and 80’s.

On a personal level, I was a teenager/early 20’s, so a happy and exciting time anyway, going to every home and nearly every away game which is something I certainly haven’t got the time, or more pertinently, the money to do now. We were back in Brighton and doing well (relatively) on the pitch with some real characters and club legends on and off the pitch. It was a fun time to be following the Albion and going to matches so again, that will help my memories of that era.

jakarta · Jun 27, 2020

Is it PotG? said:
THIS is the type of surface on which football should be played, not the snooker tables currently proffered.

Wilf would fall over as he got onto that pitch, have a couple of St.Johns Stretcher bearers take him away, loaded into a Bedford J1 Ambulance, never to be seen again... :lolol:

Shooting Star · Jun 28, 2020

Simster said:
Also, it bothered me that the standard was relatively poor back then - no player these days can honestly expect to make a good living out of the game whilst maintaining a drinking habit, for example. Yet England internationals like Bryan Robson and Ray Wilkins spent half their lives down the pub. These people were supposed to be professional athletes ffs. I don't mind the very best being paid handsomely if they are making sacrifices, but that really wasn't the case back then.

It's interesting isn't it. I feel like when we hear those stories today we chuckle wistfully, but if we heard that Trossard had done that before a game, we'd be utterly livid.

highflyer · Jun 28, 2020

I have no idea what football was like in my childhood years. I wasn't allowed anywhere near it. My dad was brought up with football, but utterly detested the racism and mindless hooligan culture of that era.

Took me a long time to find out how much I enjoyed it (football that is, not racism)

I wonder how many others were similarly robbed by those that now look back with nostalgia on those days when things got a bit 'tasty' and, 'while you wouldn't do it now', monkey chanting was 'just the way it was'?

1066familyman · Jun 28, 2020

Shooting Star said:
Great to see this topic has stimulated conversation and hope to see some of you there virtually at the talk on Wednesday!

Kieran Maguire and Kevin Hunter Day on their Price of Football podcast a couple of weeks ago talked about this very issue and they said that those claiming it to be a golden era are often those of my generation, i.e. people in their late 20s or younger who actually didn't experience it themselves, but have a doughy-eyed nostalgic sense of what it was like! They used horrible toilets as an example of this, something which my dad when I asked him certainly attested to. How true do people find that claim to be?

Well just when we last played there, and it wasn't all that long ago, the loos at Fratton Park, Kenilworth Road and Roots Hall, to name three that immediately spring to mind, were pretty sub standard to say the least!

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