I’ve starting watching football in 1998. Enjoyed thousand of football matches on screen, hundreds from the stadium, but as years went by, my passion decreased and not because I’ve changed some priorities, because the level of the game dramatically went to the floor. I’ve tried, after some large breaks, to watch a full match: PSG – Real Madrid in the Champions League. Such a poor performance and such a low level of the game you can see when watching a Academica Clinceni – Farul Ovidiu in Liga 1, Romania. Same “commitment”, same “aggression”, same “talent”, same “football”. We are leaving at the end of the Cristiano Ronaldo – Messi era and at the beginning of a potential Mbappe – Halaand era – which I doubt will be any big deal – but nothing resembles to what happened 10-15 years ago. Let alone 20+ years behind, when we could see something different.

The money from football is not sustainable anymore

Well, you might think that this is an old saying, but no. The truth is unfortunate, but very real and palpable. The root cause is the artificial inflation, that brought the transfer fees and the salaries up to the sky without really having any reliable reason. Football players were never paid poorly, comparing to other jobs especially, but in this decade, century, they are unbelievable. Given the circumstances, their sustainability is very questionable, as most of the incomes in football come from the pockets of football fans: those who watch the game on TV and those who watch it from the stadium. I won’t enter here too much into details as it is obvious that even sponsors, TV rights and so on are impacted by the number of people who are watching a specific team, event.

Mbappe and Halaand seem good, but they are more athletes

One other offender of the low quality at which the game have come is the self sufficient thought of players that earn undeserved tones of money. Otherwise how can you explain that most of the important matches go to penalties. We don’t see any energy in the game – at least I don’t! – No involvement, no… nothing. Sure, there are good moments, but if you are asking me today to say some brilliant players, I cannot mention more than the two already spotted above. And Mbappe alongside Halaand are more like great athletes, not necessary footballers. Lewandowski the same. The type of magic Henry, Zidane, even Iniesta, Xavi in the recent years, or… Ronaldinho – not to mention! – brought to the game seems forever gone and I guess it died once Messi completely failed at PSG. Once, reading a book, Riquelme was named the last standing pure great playmaker and Modric the first “magical” box-to-box playmaker…

Modric who? Real Madrid… who?

Well, it might have been. Still, apart from a Ballon d’Or won completely unfair, Modric didn’t shine more then once at three-four games. He has something, but mostly he keeps it for himself. OK, now he’s wore off, agree, but he provided a continous impression that he is more discussed than football effective. I mean I am going back to the PSG – Real Madrid from the Champions’ League in which the guests, with Modric included in the start up, played as they were CS Mioveni. I swear there was no difference, except maybe Mioveni would have conceded two or three. Football “experts” will say that what I am describing here is caused by the evolution of football. Non-sense, if you understand the game and its full environment, you’ll see clearly the involution, the tendency for a game that bothers no one, that is plain, steady and produces little. Considering this… why should we still love football? Why should we still pay subscriptions and tickets to watch it?

Foto source: pixabay.com