The game's gone bonkers

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

My first hero Peter Burridge wearing bright yellow gloves while scoring for Palace at Brighton in Jan 1963. Mind you, this was in the midst of "The Big Freeze". And he wasn't alone in wearing them on that day.

But move on to the Play offs, May 15th 1996. A balmy May evening, Palace v Charlton. That little charmer Lee Bowyer wore gloves. I don't have photographic evidence but I'll never forget. I wonder if he wore them when out in Leeds city centre with his mates.

Nor do I have evidence of John Barnes wearing tights, but I expect someone does.

This thread has reminded me of the good things and the bad things.

Going back to Brighton v Palace, but a month or so ago - Palace fans were accused of carrying "knives and knuckle-dusters" when they arrived at the ground. This was all over the local press, and other media, at the time. A few days later police had to admit they hadn't actually found any knives and knuckle-dusters at all. What they did miss was Palace fans carrying flares and smoke-bombs into the ground, and others getting into the ground without tickets, but that's another story.

I hate the weekends where there are no top flight or Championship matches due to often meaningless internationals. I know this might encourage some to venture down the pyramid for their football fix, and good on those who do that.

And I too hate the "football began in 1992" thing - luckily original stamped black & white press photos ended at about the same point in time.

Happy New Year, everyone!

[derby1884]

My pet hate - players' shirts should be numbered 1 to 11 and devoid of their name plastered on the back (and, preferably, without advertising cluttering up the front).

One of my earlier memories of the English game is how mostly every club gave the numbers 5 and 6 shirts to their centre-back pairing but Liverpool used the numbers 4 and 6 shirts. Their number 5 (Ray Kennedy) was in midfield.

I never did figure out why.

Nowadays your defence is as likely to be numbers 18, 31, 52 and 99 as 2,3,5,6.

Perhaps it's the accountant in me coming out.
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[Pete’s Picture Palace]

derby1884 wrote:

My pet hate - players' shirts should be numbered 1 to 11 and devoid of their name plastered on the back (and, preferably, without advertising cluttering up the front). One of my earlier memories of the English game is how mostly every club gave the numbers 5 and 6 shirts to their centre-back pairing but Liverpool used the numbers 4 and 6 shirts. Their number 5 (Ray Kennedy) was in midfield. I never did figure out why. Nowadays your defence is as likely to be numbers 18, 31, 52 and 99 as 2,3,5,6. Perhaps it's the accountant in me coming out.

Doesn't half help with ID on an 80's mystery photo!

[foxes1]

Westbourne wrote:

The six top Premier League teams.. All cry baby buntings, all the rest don't have a chance of winning anything.. Bring back the good old days

We did. But reading comments from fans of the so called big 6 on social media (Not on this site) it was only because they were s**t that season but who cares.

[derby1884]

Funny old game, is football.
Crowds at Derby are down 9.3% on the equivalent last season yet the on-field product (1 goal conceded in our last 8 games) is more likely to get us up to the "promised land" than at any point in the Nigel Clough/Steve Mac eras.
I'm not complaining - Gary Rowett has a remit and meeting that means he's earned his salary - but it's just that I'd hate us to go up and become a West Brom or Stoke, where each season is defined by a "finish 17th and avoid relegation whatever else happens!

We need a level playing field.

We need the return of the maximum wage principle. The present setup is prone to all the compromises necessary for any neo-liberal "marketplace" to "succeed".

What we have now isn't what George Eastham and Jimmy Hill put their careers on the line for.

It's a distorted market place which benefits the few and not the many. Sadly, the way the prize money is allocated means those finishing between 8th and 16th in the table will continue to prop up the whole shenanigans for fear of losing their share of the cake.
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[Tynie Topics]

Have a read of the book Billionaires Club by James Montague, a very interesting read on foreign ownership. It's not going away, and we're probably heading towards closed shop superleagues, franchising etc.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-billionaires-club-9781472923103/
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