Estragon Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 It's true, and it took me by surprise this afternoon when I learned the Celtic draw, I have absolutely no interest in this millionaires' circus any more, and I can't believe it. I have the most wonderfully visual memories of the first time I really got into the Champions League. Manchester United, Barcelona, IFK Goteborg and Galatasaray - Jesper Blomqvist and co making the Swedes look imperious, Barcelona's dream team succumbing to a late Lee Sharpe equalizer keeping alive Man United's unbeaten record at home in Europe. I remember Ginola and Weah teaming up for PSG, and Patrick Kluivert scoring an unlikely winner against AC Milan in the final. Everything about it just seemed...classy - light years away from what I was already realizing was meagre fare at Rugby Park. Fast forward through various years of Manchester United getting closer, before finally winning in the Nou Camp in eternal fashion. Zidane at Hampden. Jose's Porto team upsetting the odds. Fantastic wins for Celtic and Rangers (RIP) at home and abroad...well...maybe not abroad... Anyway, it's been great! I thought it was great! I sort of thought I still felt it was great...but now I just look at it as bloated, homogenized, repetitive, and...boring. I am bored by the very brand of football I'm supposed to be so enthralled in, that I get goosebumps on hearing it's theme tune - or at least, that's what they tell us. I think it's exactly this way that it's packaged now that pisses me off as much as anything. It's billed as being the biggest thing in football, the climax to everything we're supposed to love about the game...but it's not. It's the same distance from Scottish football I used to love - that makes now me feel alienated. Sky Sports - who would have you believe that football was invented on England's defeat in the semi finals of Italia '90 - now eagerly ramp up the importance of Ronaldo vs Messi in the hunt for the title of all-time-champions-league-leading-goalscorer, and it just feels empty. It's the same as last year, and it'll be the same next year. So here we go. all your favourites. Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, Arsenal, Bayern Munich...again...forever.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babu Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 But hey .. "it's where Celtic belong" what a farce it really all is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thistle_do_nicely Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I'm not one to go all #AMF or the like, but these days I'm inclined to agree with you. Not sure how much of it is an age thing or overexposure or me just being a jaded f**k, but I find myself caring less and less about what I guess would be "large scale", mass marketed football. My reaction, on some intuitive level, to seeing clubs like Crystal Palace flinging £25 million at players (twenty five million fucking pounds) is one of disgust. The only comparable emotion I can think of is when I was 16 or 17 or so and I'd get bored of a save game on Football Manager, then end up just cheating like f**k. It's fun for a while, but it has a shelf life. I suspect that if in real life Thistle were shoving megabux at mercenaries courtesy of Sheikh Muhammad bin Senseless I'd still go to whatever cup finals they managed or European matches (even assuming we got into Europe) but, like my computerised versions of old, it'd get tiresome after a while. (law of diminishing returns?) I mean if you're still wanting to be one of those Scottish football fans that spends time talking about how much Arsenal need a defensive midfielder or whatever then great, go for it, but it's getting harder and harder for me, personally, to give a shit tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvo Montalbano Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 The way the seedings, TV deals and teams from the same countries being kept apart work, there just seem to be too many repeat fixtures. Ironically, this season it seems a little bit more mixed up with Arsenal not with Barca or Bayern, Leicester in there (and with a great chance of going through) and Celtic having Man City and Monchengladbach. But even though I have BT Sport I don't think I've watched a full game in either of the last 3 seasons and only probably watched a half or so every now and again. I think TV viewing figures are down in Europe overall but the TV firms keep paying more so it's going to keep going in this vein. I'd love it if they tried a closed shop, the TV firms paid shed loads of cash then it all imploded like ITV Digital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Estragon Posted August 25, 2016 Author Share Posted August 25, 2016 But even though I have BT Sport I don't think I've watched a full game in either of the last 3 seasons and only probably watched a half or so every now and again. I think TV viewing figures are down in Europe overall but the TV firms keep paying more so it's going to keep going in this vein. I watched the final last season. That was it. And this is another point. I wonder what the TV revenues outwith Europe are - I would suspect they've exploded in the last 10-15 years. My petty malcontent will have absolutely no bearing on the extent to which Chelsea vs PSG is foisted upon me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babu Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 now that it's back to the duopoly in Scotland, will other fans become more unsatisfied at having to fight for only the European crumbs. With less chance of clubs even getting to the Europa group stages, the way it's structured at present I think the malaise will continue with lower and lower domestic crowds . What is there to play for - one or two rounds in the Europa if lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 5 minutes ago, babu said: now that it's back to the duopoly in Scotland, will other fans become more unsatisfied at having to fight for only the European crumbs. With less chance of clubs even getting to the Europa group stages, the way it's structured at present I think the malaise will continue with lower and lower domestic crowds . What is there to play for - one or two rounds in the Europa if lucky. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueDiamond Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 It's the unfortunate symptom of the desire for 'big clubs' to protect their astronomical incomes. The old European Cup was in hindsight far more interesting. With only one club from each country (generally) then you didn't have the repetitive games you get year on year. Combined with the plethora of football on TV then it's easy to see why people are losing interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paranoid android Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Champions League has been boring for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvo Montalbano Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 21 minutes ago, Estragon said: I watched the final last season. That was it. And this is another point. I wonder what the TV revenues outwith Europe are - I would suspect they've exploded in the last 10-15 years. My petty malcontent will have absolutely no bearing on the extent to which Chelsea vs PSG is foisted upon me. I think I read that Italian viewing figures were down, partly due to Italian teams (other than Juventus) not doing well, partly due to Sky Sports buying the rights that used to be on Mediaset and partly because in the North you could watch games free to air on Austrian, Swiss, Slovenian etc channels with a decent enough aerial. But the money paid for the rights was a lot higher. This was from a scan I had of the Corriere fella Sera in a cafe in Trieste though so it might not be 100% accurate... If I remember right there are a lot of countries where the Champions League used to be free to air but are now on pay TV channels and while the money has increase the amount of viewers have went down. Some of the sponsors were concerned that their ads weren't reaching as many people as they were previously (although some, like Gazprom, presumably don't care so much). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Skidmarks Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 It's predictable, shite and because there's so much money involved, there's always defensive, cagey games. The novelty has worn off and to be honest, when they started introducing top 4 teams my interest wained even then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Stubbs Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I doubt I've watched more than 5 group stage games since BT have had the rights. I have to agree that it's become largely pretty dull. I'm like a giddy wee kid just getting into football before a Champions League final though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1320Lichtie Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Agree with nearly all the posts on here, I also have fond memories of Champions League games from 99-2006ish when I was a kid. Same with the EPL, said on the EPL thread that I'm a bit scunnered with it but in a way I'm quite enjoying it now this and last season with the money gap shortening. Scottish fitba is where it's at, without being arrogant it just feels proper and real. Still enjoy Champions League games from time to time and I do watch them but the most enjoyment I get is watching the 'English' teams pumped because the commentators get absolutely gutted, they're about as deluded over their club sides as they are their national side, which can be very funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I haven't watched it in years. It's never been a credible competition in comparison to the old European Cup and I've only really paid any attention to it when one of the UK teams has been doing well, before the English clubs started camping out in the quarter-finals. Much like that other titanic pan-European competition, the Irn-Bru Cup, I tend to find myself losing interest when the authorities change the rules to help out the big boys I'm very much in the minority, so it doesn't matter. If you were feeling malicious, I'm sure you could take some satisfaction at watching Celtic and (eventually) Rangers getting the diddy treatment they've been happy to dish out to other clubs for so long, but that would be spiteful and wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afca32 Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 2 hours ago, Thistle_do_nicely said: I'm not one to go all #AMF or the like, but these days I'm inclined to agree with you. Not sure how much of it is an age thing or overexposure or me just being a jaded f**k, but I find myself caring less and less about what I guess would be "large scale", mass marketed football. My reaction, on some intuitive level, to seeing clubs like Crystal Palace flinging £25 million at players (twenty five million fucking pounds) is one of disgust. The only comparable emotion I can think of is when I was 16 or 17 or so and I'd get bored of a save game on Football Manager, then end up just cheating like f**k. It's fun for a while, but it has a shelf life. I suspect that if in real life Thistle were shoving megabux at mercenaries courtesy of Sheikh Muhammad bin Senseless I'd still go to whatever cup finals they managed or European matches (even assuming we got into Europe) but, like my computerised versions of old, it'd get tiresome after a while. (law of diminishing returns?) I mean if you're still wanting to be one of those Scottish football fans that spends time talking about how much Arsenal need a defensive midfielder or whatever then great, go for it, but it's getting harder and harder for me, personally, to give a shit tbh. Agreed. There are still classic games, the second leg of Juve-Bayern last season was amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambomo Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I think overexposure is a big part of the issue. There's no real surprise in these games anymore because you can watch all these teams week in- week out, and they often end up playing the same teams in the group stages each year anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue_e'hm_A_Dee Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 19 minutes ago, KingQuerrey said: It's not even that bad. Definitely underestimated in England, and by ourselves. Just look at Joey Barton, the best player in the English Championship last season. On record as saying he was going to be the best player up here by a mile, and he looks still looks utter shite over a month into the season. Yeah I agree. There was a video on Facebook on the Paddy Power page slagging our game with a clip from a Celtic V Aberdeen game not long ago titled 'the floor is lava' and its just the two teams booting the ball back to each other in the air, head tennis ect.. The comments consisted of the English firing in at all angles at us. While I watched West Ham v Bournemouth on Sunday, which was an awful football match btw, and there was a sequence almost exactly like the one in that video in front of my very eyes.. Was just like the amount of piss poor average, boring games in the premier league I watch year in year out, with the odd exception. They still have the superiority complex going on about their league, although I suppose as has been said on here at least they promote their product while we lambast and put ourselves down at every opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoseKillie Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 3 hours ago, paranoid android said: Champions League has been boring for years. Only since its inception, to be fair. At the risk of getting all "when ah were a lad" about it, the straight knock-out format, coupled with a tournament solely for Cup Winners, made for much more interest for the neutral - as well as allowing more and different teams' fans to dream for longer each season. Aberdeen celtic and rangers might well have had the consistency to negotiate a wee league on the way to their wins years ago, but I simply can't see that being the case with any team outside of the TV-funded elite nowadays. Money has gone to money for so long that teams in the CL are often unrecognisable from the same clubs' domestic sides, as the favoured few can maintain massive squads and pay them enough to get over the pain of not being an ever-present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogmc Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 I doubt I've watched more than 5 group stage games since BT have had the rights. I have to agree that it's become largely pretty dull. I'm like a giddy wee kid just getting into football before a Champions League final though. It's essentially the same sides playing each other year in year out due to the loaded dice of seeding. When sky lost the cl it didn't even enter my mind to switch to BT. Feels like it's turned into almost a American style franchise league. At some point they will guarantee qualification to group stages for the big teams so that likes of Leicester can't interrupt the cash flow with a domestic league win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambomo Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 It's essentially the same sides playing each other year in year out due to the loaded dice of seeding. When sky lost the cl it didn't even enter my mind to switch to BT. Feels like it's turned into almost a American style franchise league. At some point they will guarantee qualification to group stages for the big teams so that likes of Leicester can't interrupt the cash flow with a domestic league win. Agreed. The fact that domestic leagues themselves are a bit dull in terms of competition doesn't help, you pretty much know which teams will be in the Champions league before a league ball is kicked. It was part of what made Leicester's win last season so special that it was breaking all kinds of established club hierarchies and expectations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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