Is Premier League Boring?

[Rita_Poon]

I definitely feel like every team tries to play similarly now. It absolutely is boring.
I think PSR has gutted the league of quality, too. Teams like Wolves, Palace and West Ham were forced to sell some of their best talents suddenly or risk deductions like we had.

notts forest have been different. wolves palace and west ham were lucky then to have assets to sell. that psr has been backed off after we've been hit twice is a bit suspect. what's happening with all these court cases from leicester and burnley and whoever else? leicester that avoided the psr issue because they were relegated and so were out of PL jurisdiction. how did we get so badly burned with sigurrdson and then no further action.

the ownerships, the new ground, the psr, bills 'good times', the managers, moyes return, safe by april, a squad less than half full... boring? Not Everton.

 

[windymiller]

Its only boring cos we aint in the conversation.

I'm sure that's part of it but I don't think so, overall. I used to watch lots of non-Everton PL games on the telly or down the pub and I don't anymore. If the league was still entertaining, I think I still would be. It's all a bit stale.

 

[Ruairi77]

No

It's just that we're comfortably safe with no chance of Europe

It's not though.
Even the last four seasons when we've been battling the likes of Burnley, it's been dire.
What asian gambling company are sponsoring 3 teams in the PL this year?
Maybe it's nostalgia. Could be oversaturation. Or it could be me just growing old.
As a kid I used to collect the panini stickers.
I used to love jerseys, not just ours, other clubs too.
I was interested in their sponsors.
My best mate was a forest fan and had this cool poster of the forest team in smart unbro Labatts kits all posing with the williams labatts F1 car.
He had been to the last game at the old trent end and brought a piece of turnstile back to Ireland.
I had just been to Goodison where Mo Johnson and Peter Beardsley scored to win the derby late on.
Characters like Clough, Keane, Dunc, Gazza, LeTissier, even the likes fo Giggsy and Fowler.
Watching JJ Okocha showboating on MOTD.
The ligtningseeds song over goal of the week on saturday morning.
The FA cup still being a thing.
Maybe it is nostalgia but I loved the PL in the 90s and feel bad for kids and teens who have this served up to them

 

[Goat]

I'm sure that's part of it but I don't think so, overall. I used to watch lots of non-Everton PL games on the telly or down the pub and I don't anymore. If the league was still entertaining, I think I still would be. It's all a bit stale.

I suppose, im still watching games, but its mostly background noise at this point.

 

[kiss the crest]

I think teams like Arsenal Man city are boring to watch, I think the media don't help and the agenda towards the Sky 6 certainly doesn't help

 

[Rita_Poon]

There's a reason he's talking about doing that though. The point is that people used to watch Match of the Day to see the goals because that was the first opportunity to do so. These days you can see all the goals on your phone before you've even got home from the match, then watch whatever highlights you want and/or another live match on TV when you get in. What he's talking about is trying to make MOTD relevant in some way by offering something that the other things don't. Whether it's a good idea or will work is a different point, but it's not just a bizarre thought he's had, it's based on a change in the way media is consumed. That change covers much of what is a repeated theme on here too - 'I used to watch loads of matches 20 years ago but now I don't' isn't evidence of anything. You've changed, the world has changed, what is available to you and when has changed.

I reckon the 'motd top ten' shows have been deemed a success (they're all drivel) and so expanding on that format is above all else nice and cheap.

selling select football highlights from yesteryear (there might be a broadcast rights tie in) means a walk down memory lane and delivering less of the latest sporting endeavour whilst padding out the screen time for the latest personalities*.

the motd theme will do some heavy lifting when it's all that's left.

 

[windymiller]

There's a reason he's talking about doing that though. The point is that people used to watch Match of the Day to see the goals because that was the first opportunity to do so. These days you can see all the goals on your phone before you've even got home from the match, then watch whatever highlights you want and/or another live match on TV when you get in. What he's talking about is trying to make MOTD relevant in some way by offering something that the other things don't. Whether it's a good idea or will work is a different point, but it's not just a bizarre thought he's had, it's based on a change in the way media is consumed. That change covers much of what is a repeated theme on here too - 'I used to watch loads of matches 20 years ago but now I don't' isn't evidence of anything. You've changed, the world has changed, what is available to you and when has changed.

I get that, that's why I compared it to the YouTube gamers. Honestly, I think football has probably peaked, in the UK at least, in terms of commercialisation. Younger fans have been priced out of the game and, as you say, have an enormous amount of alternatives in terms of media offerings, so are less invested generally. It's what Real Madrid's chairman was talking about when the super league reared it's head. That will have a cooling effect on revenues in the medium term (short term they'll be ok because the pre-digital media crowd will keep going to the match and buying the TV subscriptions). In other parts of the world where going to the game was never possible maybe there's still room for growth but I travel a fair bit and it seems like we're at, or close to, saturation wherever I go. Football will eat itself in the next twenty to thirty years. In all honesty, I'm surprised the BBC are still interested in the highlights rights. It's expensive, viewing figures are less than impressive and, as you pointed out, everybody knows the results and has seen the goals by the time the show airs. I'm not sure turning it into a League of Their Own style bantz show will save it.

 

[Pittsburgh Footy]

It's not though.
Even the last four seasons when we've been battling the likes of Burnley, it's been dire.
What asian gambling company are sponsoring 3 teams in the PL this year?
Maybe it's nostalgia. Could be oversaturation. Or it could be me just growing old.
As a kid I used to collect the panini stickers.
I used to love jerseys, not just ours, other clubs too.
I was interested in their sponsors.
My best mate was a forest fan and had this cool poster of the forest team in smart unbro Labatts kits all posing with the williams labatts F1 car.
He had been to the last game at the old trent end and brought a piece of turnstile back to Ireland.
I had just been to Goodison where Mo Johnson and Peter Beardsley scored to win the derby late on.
Characters like Clough, Keane, Dunc, Gazza, LeTissier, even the likes fo Giggsy and Fowler.
Watching JJ Okocha showboating on MOTD.
The ligtningseeds song over goal of the week on saturday morning.
The FA cup still being a thing.
Maybe it is nostalgia but I loved the PL in the 90s and feel bad for kids and teens who have this served up to them

Yeah I guess for me I can watch Everton any game I want live, I play fantasy footy with my mates, we go out to bars to watch games, it's a better TV product than most american sports, etc, etc. For us it's a lot of fun but I could see it being different in the UK or if you grew up with it

 

[DualityNSNO]

No, people are just living in some pipe dream that it's still the 80s. The amount of praise for the Serie A alone is proof of this - the most boring league in the world, yet praise here because "that team from the 80/90s" or w/e. Football's changed, we've all gotten older, nothing's what it used to be, and that's fine.

The only garbage things are how blatantly corrupt the PgMoL are with VAR and the betting ads every 3 seconds.

Or maybe you're all remembering the exciting football in the 80s and 90s cuz we were playing for trophies and wins and actually winning them and that throws a huge blanket over the judgement of people?

 

[Rita_Poon]

I'm sure that's part of it but I don't think so, overall. I used to watch lots of non-Everton PL games on the telly or down the pub and I don't anymore. If the league was still entertaining, I think I still would be. It's all a bit stale.

doesn't help needing a mortgage to go down to the pub (that's since been sold) to be able to afford a few pints. living standards have crumbled and a bigger % of people are permanently pished off. A bit of escapism at the match or in the pub isn't quite cutting through like it once did.

 

[DanEFC92]

Don't see many blammos anymore.

 

[Lanolin]

I get that, that's why I compared it to the YouTube gamers. Honestly, I think football has probably peaked, in the UK at least, in terms of commercialisation. Younger fans have been priced out of the game and, as you say, have an enormous amount of alternatives in terms of media offerings, so are less invested generally. It's what Real Madrid's chairman was talking about when the super league reared it's head. That will have a cooling effect on revenues in the medium term (short term they'll be ok because the pre-digital media crowd will keep going to the match and buying the TV subscriptions). In other parts of the world where going to the game was never possible maybe there's still room for growth but I travel a fair bit and it seems like we're at, or close to, saturation wherever I go. Football will eat itself in the next twenty to thirty years. In all honesty, I'm surprised the BBC are still interested in the highlights rights. It's expensive, viewing figures are less than impressive and, as you pointed out, everybody knows the results and has seen the goals by the time the show airs. I'm not sure turning it into a League of Their Own style bantz show will save it.

I think from the BBC' point of view it's purely keeping the brand to avoid the massive Daily Mail led fallout if they got rid of it. There's been a massive backlash about Blue Peter going off air and that's a show that was seen as outdated by kids 30 years ago.

 

[Ed_Winchester]

For me, the covid seasons and the super league stuff was the beginning of the end.

We all know Champions League money has distorted every domestic top division with pretty much the same top 4/5 teams each season with seasons like Leicester or Leverkusen being very much the exception now.

It’s all about the Premier League product now. The league functioned for 1.5 seasons without fans in the stadiums. Pipe the noise in and the global tv audience didn’t care less.
Any decent emerging talent outside of the top clubs is immediately linked with them by Sky.

If we go down the pathway of club subscription tv, the gap between the haves and have nots will just increase further.

I’ve paid the best part of £2,000 for 3 season tickets for next season.
Everton aside, I hardly watch any other tv football now.
I get Sky telling me about Expected Goals, or big chances. We have a generation of mega athletes playing the game at the top level, with less risk and reward.
Arsenal were content with slowing the game down at every opportunity from the moment they scored on Saturday until we equalised. Then look at the fume when Ndiaye got cramp

The FA Cup is a shadow of what it once was for me.
Was trying to explain to my kids how 3rd round day was great - just about every tie being played on the first Saturday in January, upsets everywhere. Now you’re stuck playing ties Thursday through Tuesday just to appease some one overseas.

 

[ToffeeTim]

There are more boring games than previously. Too many teams more concerned about keeping possession than progressing up the field and creating chances.

 

[Rita_Poon]

I think from the BBC' point of view it's purely keeping the brand to avoid the massive Daily Mail led fallout if they got rid of it. There's been a massive backlash about Blue Peter going off air and that's a show that was seen as outdated by kids 30 years ago.

Only any good for the richard bacon fiasco. And maybe janet ellis being managed off the show for getting up the duff.