ROB GUTMANN is joined by Gareth Roberts , Ian Salmon and Mike Girling to discuss Richard Felton’s TAW article on his decision to give up LFC and modern football .
The group also discuss Rob’s response piece.
// TAW SHOP
// TAW APP
// PARTNERS
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ROB GUTMANN is joined by Gareth Roberts , Ian Salmon and Mike Girling to discuss Richard Felton’s TAW article on his decision to give up LFC and modern football .
The group also discuss Rob’s response piece.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Great podcast again lads, really good points and highly amusing at times.
I’m with Gareth on this: for me it comes down to cost.
I gave up my kop season ticket in 04/05 because of the cost. I sell it on every summer now but still go to about 4/5 games a season. I take my lad and now my daughter has taken an interest the cost is unreal- last season I took both to the Basel games and sat in the kop ( you can’t get 1 adult 2 child tickets) and it cost me £150 for the tickets. On top was my fuel, parking and food and it turned into a £200 night out. Whilst I accept that we won’t win every game it felt like £200 to watch absolute shit on a stick.
I wondered, whilst listening, if anyone had thought about foreign fans experiences? Thinking of Germany specifically, they would be good set of fans to compare with.
Do some of their older fans hark back to the “good old days”? They still have cheap tickets and mostly, if not all, have safe standing. Those two things alone would hopefully address some of the issues raised here- more younger/local fans going and being able to stand with your mates and hopefully creating a better atmosphere.
What a podcast! some brilliant points about modern football
Brilliant debate lads love the passion rob keep up the great work #TAWPLAYER
Fascinating but a bit one sided and a lot of unnecessarily disparaging remarks about the contributor who wrote the original article – perhaps you should have got him on if you wanted to have a more balanced discussion. Also sad that a mercenary who had to be forced to stay at the club is revered more than Dalglish and Gerrard.
I Just couldn’t go into a weekend and not want to look at the table or take part in a discussion about the upcoming match, win, lose or draw its in the blood isn’t it?
Some good points made on this podcast.
I have to disagree with the comments about the Main Stand though, I have had a Season Ticket there since 1981 and yes the atmosphere is poor. but I sit in the Kemlyn for all Cup games and the atmosphere there is no better or worse than the Main Stand.
I read the two articles and both were very thought provoking. At first I didn’t know how to react and it took a while for me to get a handle on it….but listening to TAW podcast made me realise where this discussion is getting lost. Firstly I’m sorry Richard lost his LFC love but happy he found Marine and all it has given him. AND Rob’s passionate diatribe re modern football is equally valid. But he was in a way WRONG. Richard Felton never said he stopped being a Liverpool fan….he stopped going and filled his life with a new ‘collective experience . That is what football is…..but it is going to take something special to make it last and not get lost…….just think about Leeds Utd. That is down in no small measure to you guys.
And it is not about nostalgia or imagining earlier times were better. The 60s was magic for music and football and I was there every fortnight as a teenager from Div 2 to Champions and FA Cups.(except when playing in the Zingari League…..and nothing beats that) Many things were better and many not. It will always be this way. Crap grounds. Great pies. And you could afford to go every other week ………but no computers or communications other than The Echo. BUT WE LOVED IT COS THE FOOTY WAS ACE AND THE PLAYERS AND MANAGER REALLY CARED. We enjoyed the collective experience of all caring together. So to in the 80s and many times since(although too few). But you can’t go to the match forever. But giving up on supporting the club…..never….and that is NOT what Richard said Rob.
At 68 I’ve thought about not being so caring about the results….(last Season several times)…because unless everyone cares it will just dissipate and (God forbid) we could become just another mid table club. Secondly it is SOOOOO patronising to say it’s an age thing. I sat on a bus from Torrevieja to La Mata (here in Spain tonight) with an 87 year old guy I’d never met before who had given up on Modern football. He was a Man U fan(former season ticket holder) and admirer of Charlton, Best etc. But it wasn’t his age or his view of Modern Football. (which we quickly agreed was a shambles). It was the fact that he didn’t believe any more….that enough people in football (genuinely) care about the ‘collective experience’. The David De Gere interview sums it up….talk about 2 faced and feeding the fans the PR. Maybe he’ll play unbelievably we’ll but he’ll have to wont he.?
The match experience NOW you guys summed up well and you demonstrated how the collective experience has diminished. Ground dynamics have always varied at Anfield but if the footy is great and the players have passion it is irrelevant.
Hillsborough didn’t destroy our passion for football and the club but it did for some and nearly for me. And yes it changed football(the world etc)….but not our ability to feel and demand ‘passion’ and good football.We owe that to the 96.
You are right that the football on the pitch will always be what matters but in my 43 years watching and supporting………the 1987/88 team was the best and Richard in his article highlighted this. But it doesn’t matter which team we individually remember. The good stuff is ALL THAT MATTERS.We want it…NO we demand it.
Agreed.? Nothing comes back…and pricing has changed the ‘collective experience’ . I haven’t been able to get into Anfield now for 3 years with my son and grandson..(yes I’d use my pension to fly back if I could get the tickets and get a cheap flight)…so instead this Christmas when I’m back in the UK were gonna sit together at home and watch it on the TV live…..to enjoy the ‘collective experience’…as we used to do in the ground…..and hope they can produce the passion that makes living and following footy so great. Whether it’s Marine, or LFC.
So we all watch where and when we can according to what we can afford/physically manage. My grandson is desperate to see ‘live’ football……so he is now considering following the Under 21’s in Widnes, Warrington or Chester…….and I’ll maybe get the chance to go with him. Anfield is simply beyond me but I’ll always follow and support them. Modern Football is just not the same ‘collective experience’. Now we share TAW and talk about it….life goes on and always changes……enjoying every age of Liverpool is what TAW has become for me and I suspect many.
You are correct that the club is in danger of losing sight of the need to protect the 12th man. Maybe when TV money is enough to mean match day finances are not as important as the ‘membership’ the younger fans will get in and develop a new atmosphere…..hopefully ‘connected’ with the old.
As you say……I’ve watched it all……..and fans are transient(we all die) as are the players/managers/coaches. The culture and heart of the club is not and needs protection.
Let’s hope TAW thrives and someone listens.
Currently listening to this episode and even mid way through i have paused it because i feel impelled to wright this message. I cannot begin to explain how much Rob has described my passion for football. I am currently living in Australia on a working visa but subscribe and listen to you guys religiously and do exactly the same for the reds. I eat, sleep and breathe the reds to an unhealthy level but that is my life. I’m on forums day in day out looking for the latest news and consistently wondering if something major has happened whilst i’ve been asleep! I had to remove myself from the pub the other night after Herrera scored the penalty because it was like my world had caved in. I subsequently missed the goal of the season and people will call me a shit fan for leaving the pub before the game had finished but the whole game had taken so much out of me and it was also nearly 4 in the morning and i was in work a few hours later. However that is why i could never turn my back on the reds, because it’s just too big a part of my life!
My girlfriend who i have been with for over 8 years said to me the other day that my obsession with football is sad and a little pathetic. I almost ripped her head off after she finished her sentence because this has been me since i was 15! That’s when i started going the games without my dad and i remember the Chelsea semi final in 07 and getting to the Park pub at 3 in the afternoon and it was PACKED! You couldn’t move and there was still 5 hours until kick off! That evening then turned out to be the greatest night i’ve experienced inside Anfield and i still remember crowd surfing at the age of 17 after Dirk had slotted home past Cech! Subsequently i went to Athens without a ticket and we lost the final on my 18th birthday but i still had a good holiday and got to follow the reds to Greece!
I just wanted to finish off with saying how much i feel you guys represent me as a football fan even if i’m only 26. I’ve always thought it would be great having a chat with you all about the reds and maybe one day that will happen and we can have a bevvie at the same time but for now just keep up the amazing work and please god NEVER turn your back on the reds!
Oh and what the fuck is impelled haha! Compelled was clearly my thought but my fingers said something retarded.