...it has had its heart ripped out....

Does anyone else feel like this?

That football over the last 15 or maybe 20 years has just become too commercialized?

Major Tournament's, including international events seem to have become somewhat sterile since the late 1990's.

No, please do not turn this into a debate of messi vs ronaldo, or barca playing beautiful football therefore everything is fine.

Back in the day as it were, it just seemed more exciting watching players and certain teams, now it appears that the huge amount of money thats involved on a respected domestic league level has basically destroyed any decent competition.

It lacks soul, of course players are still professional, but the excitement of the past is just not there.

FIFA's corruption and the god awful officiating has made me indifferent towards leagues and major comps etc.

You here Commentator's now on Sky talking about money, and whats at stake...what ever happened to playing for a club for pride and passion?..It is ironic in a way as now there is so much 'money' involved that it has kind of ruined the game.

Thanks for reading.

to make my comment short, I disagree I just believe we got older and wiser of situations.

Anyone who feels that footy has been ruined by money should concentrate on following some small league, problem solved.

Art Morte wrote:Anyone who feels that footy has been ruined by money should concentrate on following some small league, problem solved.

Eredivisie is the way to go.  

Art Morte wrote:Anyone who feels that footy has been ruined by money should concentrate on following some small league, problem solved.

...but thats the problem though..

I mean take Bayern last season for example...they won the league by 30 points whatever and then went onto buying one of the best young talents from the bitter rivals Dortmund.

Wheres the fun in that?? ...who is going to win Bundi next season? hmmm, i wonder.

Grooverider wrote:

Art Morte wrote:Anyone who feels that footy has been ruined by money should concentrate on following some small league, problem solved.

...but thats the problem though..

I mean take Bayern last season for example...they won the league by 30 points whatever and then went onto buying one of the best young talents from the bitter rivals Dortmund.

Wheres the fun in that?? ...who is going to win Bundi next season? hmmm, i wonder.

That already happened 30 years ago.

It's nostalgia only.

Disagree, to dismiss it as 'nostalgia only' is simply missing the point.

Football was better before the 'money men' came in and commercialised it.

Now its just about money, hence the reason alot of people feel indifferent to the game.

It was always about money, admittedly. But the Sheiks and Oligarchs have made matters worse, especially in leagues that don't regulate investments, the gaps have widened.

I don't even have a huge problem with City, for example, at least that's competition for United, Chelsea and Arsenal - but I just think, when you blow half a billion Euros into a club, it's just gutting the small clubs. I'd rather see money of that magnitude spread among the minnows, to improve overall quality.

Of course that doesn't make sense for the investor, but it would sure be nice. Competition just makes everything more exciting, and we're at a point where not having a sugardaddy makes your club unable to compete in certain leagues. That's just sad.

Of course one solution would be to get each club his own sugardaddy, but I don't like the influence they take, and they're often shady people. I prefer my club to stay in 2nd flight mid-table obscurity, ahead of buying brazilian superstars with 500m of money our owner made by having 9 year olds assemble basketball shoes and iPhones, or turning small villages into massive oil wells.

Well, A lot of the fans on this forum have barely watched football for 15-20 years.

I understand where you are coming from but instead of wanting the good old days back, why not enjoy football for what it has become?

It happens to everything, times change.

I think football watchers ourselves need to ingore and clear that stuff out and focus on watching the games when we watch them, and I find the level of plays very good, very intense and entertaining still. Good football still.

i think football's exponentially rising fanbase would disagree with you.

i would also disagree that its all about money. you can see the passion on the player's faces. football was just as passionate as it was 20 years ago. the fact that players are making more due to the sports popularity rise is irrelevant.

if anything it has increased the competition.

this is not just football. this is all sports across all plains have become about the money and commercialization....afraid if you don't like it you should just stop watching sports cuz it is happening everywhere not just football

The best example of our footballing world is to look at English football. The supposedly called 'best league in the world'. Ever wondered why their national team is such a laughing stock in football world?

It is because football has become about money, with chairmen concentrating on short term glory and profit (why else would someone like Mourinho be deemed by almost every pundit as 'the best coach in the world'?). The downside to all the glory and cash is, of course, loss of long term values and longevity, youth development and giving back to community. Pep Guardiola, on his first season played a lot of home-grown youngsters, some coming from the third division of Spanish football who then went to win the World Cup two years later. Once he won everything, suddenly he's obliged to win La Liga/Champions League every season. Even he became more and more reluctant to develop the team from the roots, having to put a blind eye to his philosophies of football.

Foreign investors who come to big footballing countries for their profit and care nothing about the host country. The host country accepts them with open arms, as they'll bring their oil money and pay the tax, sign eye-catching players and make their league more exciting to watch and up the revenue for TV. What is forgotten, is that this is a deal between chairmen, TV company. The average fan has to pay for all this.

As for the capitalist, "free market" world, watch bigger teams get bigger and smaller clubs get smaller and smaller to the point that there would be no point in their existence. You already see a lot of Spanish players from La Liga move to England, because there is not much left for them in Spain but getting eaten by the two big giants every season, and the gap is getting wider and wider every year.

the world dosen't need small clubs .

what we need is a pan-european league that consists of 20 billionaire-owned teams , NBA /NFL style. 

Donuts wrote:to make my comment short, I disagree I just believe we got older and wiser of situations.

Take a bow son

B-Mac MUFC wrote:this is not just football. this is all sports across all plains have become about the money and commercialization....afraid if you don't like it you should just stop watching sports cuz it is happening everywhere not just football

You too

farfan wrote:the world dosen't need small clubs .

what we need is a pan-european league that consists of  20 billionaire-owned teams , NBA /NFL style. 

The thing about those American teams is yeah they're owned by Billioanaire's, but the salary caps they have allow smaller markets to compete more than European football does..  Transfer fee's don't exist, if a player is on a contract they can't go to another team unless they are traded, or are released and then join another team as a free agent

I like how in European footy you can just poach who you want, and contracts don't mean anything

Grooverider wrote:Does anyone else feel like this?

That football over the last 15 or maybe 20 years has just become too commercialized?

Major Tournament's, including international events seem to have become somewhat sterile since the late 1990's.

No, please do not turn this into a debate of messi vs ronaldo, or barca playing beautiful football therefore everything is fine.

Back in the day as it were, it just seemed more exciting watching players and certain teams, now it appears that the huge amount of money thats involved on a respected domestic league level has basically destroyed any decent competition.

It lacks soul, of course players are still professional, but the excitement of the past is just not there.

FIFA's corruption and the god awful officiating has made me indifferent towards leagues and major comps etc.

You here Commentator's now on Sky talking about money, and whats at stake...what ever happened to playing for a club for pride and passion?..It is ironic in a way as now there is so much 'money' involved that it has kind of ruined the game.

Thanks for reading.

I have to agree with you on that.

One thing that comes to mind (to me at least) in this "modern football" is that, we miss players like Zanetti, Totti, Del Piero, Raul, Giggs, Scholes and many more(you know what kind of players I'm talking about), players that are in love with the club, the fans and the city, not contracts. I cannot see any players from current young generation (bar a few) that would turn into a "classic player", an attitude "just give me the papers to sign, I dont have to read the terms and show me the pitch".

The passion has been replaced by money now, any player is transferable as long as you are willing to pay the dough.

Swagg wrote:

farfan wrote:the world dosen't need small clubs .

what we need is a pan-european league that consists of  20 billionaire-owned teams , NBA /NFL style. 

The thing about those American teams is yeah they're owned by Billioanaire's, but the salary caps they have allow smaller markets to compete more than European football does..  Transfer fee's don't exist, if a player is on a contract they can't go to another team unless they are traded, or are released and then join another team as a free agent

I like how in European footy you can just poach who you want, and contracts don't mean anything

Your exactly right haha contracts at these football clubs don't really mean anything. Look at ancelotti, a manager that was basically lured away. It's a sad thing.

I'd like to add on the commercializations of football in recent times is due to the fact everyone basically has access to Internet nowadays. We can stream any match, and there is a harsher critical analysis of every player especially the striker given as soon as the match is finished. But yea more exposure is more money and that equals more commercialization.