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Is there too much football on television?


Guest stevieintoon
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Guest stevieintoon

Is there fuck.

 

In the 1980's life wasn't as cushy as it was now with regards to media coverage of the game we love. I can even remember times when Newcastle away games weren't on any station, and we'd have to make do with Charles Harrison commentating on the mackems.

 

My first concious football memory was everyone being happy with our promotion in 1984 I was 6 maybe. This kids dad worked at a belt factory, and he came in with 20 white Newcastle belts, to put on our farah's. I could sense something special was going on because everywhere I went people were wearing these belts. Hideous they were looking back. I used to visit my nana's at weekends, and every time I went they'd put going up on, a video made by Tyne Tees about our promotion season. That was my first concious football memory.

 

Football then, and some will argue this point, was a fraction of how big it is today. The first televised game I can remember watching was Manchester United against Everton in the 1985 FA Cup Final. It was such a big thing. "There's football on the telly :lol: ", because literally the TV companies, and the League were shite. Even Match of The Day was only on about 8 or 9 times a season, it was three games and in those days you could've been just as easy watching Luton v Coventry as Liverpool v Manchester United. I suppose that was a good thing about them then, they weren't as prejudiced against smaller clubs as they are today.

 

85/86 came and the TV companies had a massive argument with the Canon Football League, as it was then, the result was everybody lost and there was absolutely no TV coverage of any game at least for the first 6 months of the season. No one will be able to find any BBC or ITV footage for this period because there was none put in to the public domain. Take a step back now, and imagine the 2007/2008 season is only 6 months old and the only football you've seen is at St James' Park or none at all for the armchair fan. There'd be an outcry of spic proportions, millions of pounds lost, riots would be a possibility even. In the mid 80's that was the status quo, and people had no choice but to just get on with it.

 

You would think that with a lack of television coverage the gates would be extraordinarily good, but that wasn't the case. Newcastle's average gate that season was 26,000, the mighty, massive and glorious Spurs averaged 20,271. The reason for me is football was no where near as big as it is now. The amount of people who say "I went through the 80's never missed" we should've averaged 60,000, if they're to be believed. Football has always been important to this city, but in the 80's the marketability of the sport was absolutely shite, it truly was. People had more important things to worry about. The construction industry was on it's knees for almost a decade, and Tyneside felt the brunt of changing from a Manufacturing workforce to a Service workforce as much as anywhere.

 

In 1988/1989 something happened which began to change football. The Hillsborough disaster was obviously significant, but equally significant for me was the deal which for the first time gave a television channel exclusive rights for top flight football in this country. They realised they could charge more for exclusive rights, than for individual games as had been the previous agreement. ITV spent around £20m for the contract which ran for four years. When you think the deal now is worth nearer £1bn it puts it in to perspective. The viewing public weren't complaining though, and the first match, Everton v Man Utd was massive hit with the viewing TV audience, and finally we had regular live football in our homes.

 

The 1990 World Cup and England's superb showing, took football on to another level, families and women were finally coming back to the game. The Taylor report had instigated huge changes behind the scenes, and "the big 5" of Tottenham :D:lol:, Manchester United, Everton, Liverpool and Arsenal, could see the potential of football and revenue from television by moving away from the draconian Football League.

 

As everybody knows SKY changed football, from 1992/1993, it was everywhere, and it felt like Christmas for those of us who lived through the mid 80's often who's main football source was Dickie Davies on World of Sport briefly telling you a few scores at 5 to 5.

 

I remember the first day we got SKY. It was about 1993, and I couldn't get my head round the fact we'd got live satelite football in the house, I was so excited I stayed in and watch Nuneaton Borough v Bournemouth in the FA Cup First Round, with as much interest as I would watch a FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Man Utd now. That's how starved your passionate football loving public was.

 

Fifteen years on we have allsorts, Copa America, Conference, Italian, Spanish, Scottish, Dutch, French, German, even fucking Irish live football on Setanta. It made me laugh the other day, when I saw someone complaining because the Newcastle friendlies at Hartlepool and Carlisle weren't on. If we had've got to the Cup Final in the mid 80's that would've been our only televised game of the season! They didn't even show Semi Finals. So on one hand bloke a) is clearly spoilt and couldn't have lived through the 80's, and bloke :D who complains about too much football on television stifling the game, well he's equally as big an arsehole.

 

There's no doubt, and it is stating the obvious, the media and live football have made football what it is today, it HAS NEVER been bigger. It's accesible to all, as it always should've been, we miss the terraces yes, the atmosphere has diminished yes, but would we really have that back with the television blackout of our beautiful game throughout the 80's? No one is as big as sentimentalist as me, but thank god football is everywhere on our screens and it's here to stay.

 

Is there too much on in your opinion?

Edited by stevieintoon
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Of course not, Yes there is a lot of football on Television but I only watch the games that I wish to see, I don't feel obliged to watch every match that is broadcast.

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Of course not, Yes there is a lot of football on Television but I only watch the games that I wish to see, I don't feel obliged to watch every match that is broadcast.

 

I hate to do this but I concur with Mr.Jimbo. Regardless of the amount of football shown on television it comes down to choice, you choose to watch it or choose not to watch it, it's as simple as that.

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I can safely say I haven't missed the footy this close season, not as much as I thought I would anyway, never watched the Copa, although saw a few goals from SSN and flicked through the Final, but I won't be watching all these friendlies coming up. On the other hand, I can't remember the last time I was this excited about a forthcoming season, not just at Toon but in general. Can't wait.

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Of course not, Yes there is a lot of football on Television but I only watch the games that I wish to see, I don't feel obliged to watch every match that is broadcast.

 

I agree. There's shitloads of footy on tv i don't bother with at all, and i watch alot less non NUFC (and England) footy than i did as a kid, but there's nowt wrong with it being there for those who do want to watch it all.

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Screening friendlys is probably overkill. Other than that no probs.

 

That sums it up for me - but that said I don't tend to watch friendlies unless I'm at the pub or something and they happen to be on.

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Agreed, it's more the hype and general saturation around the games that's the problem. If you could just tune in five minutes before kick-off for a quick look at the teamsheet then a match commentary by someone vaguely knowledgeable, that'd be grand. (Maybe ten minutes for the cup final. :lol:)

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Im an old bastard and can remember the pubs chucking out at 2 on a sunday afternoon

 

most of the pub would rush home to watch SHOOT ...it consisted of about 10 mins from each of north east teams

 

the only live games on tv were the fa cup final and if you were lucky the european cup final ....that was if there was an english team in the final

 

its big buisness now but its happy days for those that can only remember a few highlights from the burnley semi or a pitch invasion against notts forest....that got more coverage than the actual game

 

i can go out on a sat or sunday afternoon and watch the team i love play football and get pissed at the same time...it doesnt get any better

 

 

dont knock it ....its progress

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Mind, a few of us have reminisced on here before about the televised 4-0 win over West Ham about two decades ago now - shhhh, and there was something special about a Newcastle match being shown when we weren't on the box all that often, especially when you were a kid.

 

It also made the Keegan years in the Premiership all the more special, the fact that the Sky "revolution" was just taking off at the time seemed to tally perfectly with our style of play and the rollercoaster ride of it all.

 

The novelty wears off surprisingly quickly, particularly when the football's a little less impressive. :lol:

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Guest stevieintoon
Mind, a few of us have reminisced on here before about the televised 4-0 win over West Ham about two decades ago now

Stephenson a little floater in there, and Thomas is there....YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH That was fuckin great. Well done Brian Moore.

 

 

 

 

Im an old bastard and can remember the pubs chucking out at 2 on a sunday afternoon

 

most of the pub would rush home to watch SHOOT ...it consisted of about 10 mins from each of north east teams

 

the only live games on tv were the fa cup final and if you were lucky the european cup final ....that was if there was an english team in the final

 

its big buisness now but its happy days for those that can only remember a few highlights from the burnley semi or a pitch invasion against notts forest....that got more coverage than the actual game

 

i can go out on a sat or sunday afternoon and watch the team i love play football and get pissed at the same time...it doesnt get any better

 

 

dont knock it ....its progress

Mate, you're a breath of fresh air. Truly I mean that. Especially on here, 95% of toon fans on the net, fall in to the following categories - clueless, boring (most), know fuck all about the toon, know fuck all about football. You have restored my faith in the fact that there's a toon fan on the net, who actually graphically remembers the time before Keegan. I'm not getting at young cunts, who weren't old enough, but lets be honest compared to the past, the crack, the knowledge, the fuckin ideology of supporting the toon, it's fucked up. Thank you for restoring my faith in the fact that not everyone is a wank.

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Mind, a few of us have reminisced on here before about the televised 4-0 win over West Ham about two decades ago now

Stephenson a little floater in there, and Thomas is there....YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH That was fuckin great. Well done Brian Moore.

 

 

 

 

Im an old bastard and can remember the pubs chucking out at 2 on a sunday afternoon

 

most of the pub would rush home to watch SHOOT ...it consisted of about 10 mins from each of north east teams

 

the only live games on tv were the fa cup final and if you were lucky the european cup final ....that was if there was an english team in the final

 

its big buisness now but its happy days for those that can only remember a few highlights from the burnley semi or a pitch invasion against notts forest....that got more coverage than the actual game

 

i can go out on a sat or sunday afternoon and watch the team i love play football and get pissed at the same time...it doesnt get any better

 

 

dont knock it ....its progress

Mate, you're a breath of fresh air. Truly I mean that. Especially on here, 95% of toon fans on the net, fall in to the following categories - clueless, boring (most), know fuck all about the toon, know fuck all about football. You have restored my faith in the fact that there's a toon fan on the net, who actually graphically remembers the time before Keegan. I'm not getting at young cunts, who weren't old enough, but lets be honest compared to the past, the crack, the knowledge, the fuckin ideology of supporting the toon, it's fucked up. Thank you for restoring my faith in the fact that not everyone is a wank.

 

Yeah, cos all of us are keeganites.....

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Guest stevieintoon
Mind, a few of us have reminisced on here before about the televised 4-0 win over West Ham about two decades ago now

Stephenson a little floater in there, and Thomas is there....YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH That was fuckin great. Well done Brian Moore.

 

 

 

 

Im an old bastard and can remember the pubs chucking out at 2 on a sunday afternoon

 

most of the pub would rush home to watch SHOOT ...it consisted of about 10 mins from each of north east teams

 

the only live games on tv were the fa cup final and if you were lucky the european cup final ....that was if there was an english team in the final

 

its big buisness now but its happy days for those that can only remember a few highlights from the burnley semi or a pitch invasion against notts forest....that got more coverage than the actual game

 

i can go out on a sat or sunday afternoon and watch the team i love play football and get pissed at the same time...it doesnt get any better

 

 

dont knock it ....its progress

Mate, you're a breath of fresh air. Truly I mean that. Especially on here, 95% of toon fans on the net, fall in to the following categories - clueless, boring (most), know fuck all about the toon, know fuck all about football. You have restored my faith in the fact that there's a toon fan on the net, who actually graphically remembers the time before Keegan. I'm not getting at young cunts, who weren't old enough, but lets be honest compared to the past, the crack, the knowledge, the fuckin ideology of supporting the toon, it's fucked up. Thank you for restoring my faith in the fact that not everyone is a wank.

 

Yeah, cos all of us are keeganites.....

You're not even a "Keeganite" you're a product of SKY, which is a whole lot different.

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Since I'm only 17 I don't know any different. But like others have said I only watch games I want to, all the Toon games and the odd CL game, and even if they're not on the tele they're on the internet.

 

Don't see the problem with it to be honest, if you don't want to watch some of the games then don't, not like you're forced to, rather it was like it is now than like some of you have mentioned above.

 

Although I suppose it's a big factor in the attendances deteriorating at games like.

Edited by Besty
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.............................................................. 95% of toon fans ....................... fall in to the following categories ................ clueless ............. know fuck all about the toon ............. know fuck all about football .......................... the time before Keegan ................................. I'm not getting at .............................. old enough, ....................................

 

Hey Stevieintoon, have you been talking to LeazesMag?

Sounds like the things he used to say about this old fart, and I mean old, old enough to have watched Stubbins in a black n' white shirt. :lol:

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Guest stevieintoon
.............................................................. 95% of toon fans ....................... fall in to the following categories ................ clueless ............. know fuck all about the toon ............. know fuck all about football .......................... the time before Keegan ................................. I'm not getting at .............................. old enough, ....................................

 

Hey Stevieintoon, have you been talking to LeazesMag?

Sounds like the things he used to say about this old fart, and I mean old, old enough to have watched Stubbins in a black n' white shirt. :lol:

LeazesMag is invariably right, despite regularly being attacked by the JCL/young majority.

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Good initial post from Stevie as usual, only spoiled by his answering the question (in his opinion) in the first-line and then a truely Leazesesque follow-up post, as pointed out by Noelie. In fact the initial post had more than a touch of Leazes about it, because imo you didn't answer the question.

 

What you did perfectly answer was that previously there was not enough football on telly. Agreed, but then the digital world in general has changed beyond recognition since then, not just football. Most people only had 4 channels in the 80s (in fact 3 in the earlier part of the decade). How could there be as much coverage of club football? Not surprisingly, the TV companies tended to focus on internationals, and the coverage then of England was pretty much on a par with today.

 

But just because there wasn't as much televised football then does not mean there is not too much today - that's where the Leazes logic has come in. How come Stevie you have failed to mention the huge drawback of televised games for those that actually attend matches, the altered kick off times? Is that because you admitted you didn't have a season ticket or attended a single away match last year? No wonder you obviously don't care about 3 o'clock saturday kick offs, it suits you to watch the matches on TV, yet at the same time you have the brass neck to berate other Newcastle fans who have to put up with changing fixture lists and fucked up kick off times. :lol:

Edited by Renton
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.............................................................. 95% of toon fans ....................... fall in to the following categories ................ clueless ............. know fuck all about the toon ............. know fuck all about football .......................... the time before Keegan ................................. I'm not getting at .............................. old enough, ....................................

 

Hey Stevieintoon, have you been talking to LeazesMag?

Sounds like the things he used to say about this old fart, and I mean old, old enough to have watched Stubbins in a black n' white shirt. :lol:

LeazesMag is invariably right, despite regularly being attacked by the JCL/young majority.

 

Ha ha, hilarious. Was he right in saying Souness was a top class manager?

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Guest stevieintoon
.............................................................. 95% of toon fans ....................... fall in to the following categories ................ clueless ............. know fuck all about the toon ............. know fuck all about football .......................... the time before Keegan ................................. I'm not getting at .............................. old enough, ....................................

 

Hey Stevieintoon, have you been talking to LeazesMag?

Sounds like the things he used to say about this old fart, and I mean old, old enough to have watched Stubbins in a black n' white shirt. :lol:

LeazesMag is invariably right, despite regularly being attacked by the JCL/young majority.

 

Ha ha, hilarious. Was he right in saying Souness was a top class manager?

Obviously that is a ridiculous point of view but people can't be right all the time.

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Guest stevieintoon
No wonder you obviously don't care about 3 o'clock saturday kick offs, it suits you to watch the matches on TV, yet at the same time you have the brass neck to berate other Newcastle fans who have to put up with changing fixture lists and fucked up kick off times. :lol:

I have a season ticket now for the coming season, as I have had done for the vast majority of years since 1992, and in all that time I've missed 25 league games tops. So that was a cheap uncalled for dig that Renton pal.

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.............................................................. 95% of toon fans ....................... fall in to the following categories ................ clueless ............. know fuck all about the toon ............. know fuck all about football .......................... the time before Keegan ................................. I'm not getting at .............................. old enough, ....................................

 

Hey Stevieintoon, have you been talking to LeazesMag?

Sounds like the things he used to say about this old fart, and I mean old, old enough to have watched Stubbins in a black n' white shirt. :lol:

LeazesMag is invariably right, despite regularly being attacked by the JCL/young majority.

 

Ha ha, hilarious. Was he right in saying Souness was a top class manager?

Obviously that is a ridiculous point of view but people can't be right all the time.

 

Waht does invariably mean?

 

Leazes has his opinions, some are right, some are probably not, just like everything else. Just like your first post though, his view of the past has skewed his view of the future, the bloke simply can't understand how times have changed in football and a comparison with the past is pointless.

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