How I miss the late 90s/early 2000s!
by Jonbo
I love watching football at any point in time. Even if it isn’t Arsenal. It’s great watching other clubs, other styles of football, and who doesn’t love two or three games a day during international tournaments, even if your country isn’t represented!
However, for me, nothing compares to the late 90s/early 2000s. Not just because Arsenal were playing successful competitive football, and we had the huge Arsenal vs Man Utd games, but the game felt different back then. Those were simpler times.
There was no Twitter, where people go into an absolute meltdown after EVERY game…even when you win! It’s amazing how many negatives can be found after a victory. No online abuse, or racial slurs aimed at a player or fan after a game, or even before a game. It’s not to say unsavoury things were not shouted from the stands before the birth of online opinion, but at least it was more or less contained to a match day.
Back then, not EVERYTHING was politicised as it is now. No doubt we all have different opinions on such things as BLM (Black Lives Matter), but we should not be having players taking the knee before every game, almost like a pledge of allegiance for what is clearly a political organisation. Even if one disagrees on the political side of it, no one can deny how violent and destructive BLM are. Players should not be forced/shamed into supporting such things. It should be a personal choice.
Then we get onto the vaccines. I did not want to get into this subject, as it opens a HUGE can of worms (I apologise Admin), but it would be impossible to write this article without touching on the most emotive, and divisive subject of our times. Similar to the BLM issue, but far more intense, we now see public shaming at an inhuman level for those who have not taken the shot, or four, as it is the case in some countries now. A player’s likability can now be interlinked to their medical procedures, which legally, should be private by the way! Again, this should be a personal choice.
In the old days, it seemed far easier to have a difference of opinion. Now those days are gone! Just look at the Wenger IN/OUT debate, which raged for years. I love a difference of opinion, it makes life interesting, but that one got nasty. I saw Arsenal fans fighting amongst themselves at games, and even spitting at each other. Whatever happened to civil discourse?
Too much money has also had a negative effect on the game. Players getting paid insane amounts, and clubs essentially buying trophy success, whilst also lobbying with the likes of UEFA and the Premier League for preferential treatment. We, as fans, now often judge a player on their pay packet above anything else.
I also feel with all these apps, 24 hour news, online influencers, that we’ve become overly saturated with football. Too much of a good thing can be bad.
I miss the days when a football match was what it said on the tin – a game of football. Where we discussed football and that was it. There is not really an overall point to my article, other than I miss the old days. I feel the turn of the century had just about the right balance of everything we enjoy about football, but now it’s morphed into this politically correct, business enterprise… like everything else I guess.
Jonbo