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Greentinted
19-09-2016, 07:35 PM
,,,no, not a discussion thread about that slightly odd and inexplicably creepy TV variety show that ran from the 50s to the 80s, but one concerning how this game of ours had evolved.

I watched the DVD of The Damned United last night and on the disc extras are several small documentaries - one in particular about football in the 1970s and found myself smiling and nodding away in concert with the footage on display.

I speak as a shameless nostalgist but even so, I find it lamentable that the likes of Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Celtic, Steaua Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade and similar will probably never reach the heights they once did ever again.
I hate the sanitised version of modern day football, a game sterilised by TV money and FIFA corruption, being forced to sit in one place during a game (even though I probably would opt to sit at my age...but it's the choice thing) as our clubs slowly disconnect from the communities in the quest for autoclaved silverware gilded in coinage. I preferred the pitches like tattie fields in winter time, strips without the Americanised imposition of names and squad numbers: 1-11 really wasnae hard. I preferred sliding tackles in the mud, especially from behind. I liked players who were at clubs for more than 5 mins and were't overpaid, over-rated and self-obsessed prima-donnas. I preferred 2 featured games on MotD or Scotsport, 1 Scottish, 1 English. I preferred having an 'English Team' as a kinda afterthought, not English football rammed down my throat as some sort of promised land.

There's now a generation of adults who support a foreign team (and I include the EPL in that) yet have no affiliation to their local Scottish team (for us Edinburgh punters - I speak for myself, Hibs and Hearts being eschewed for Barcelona, Man Utd and even Leicester effing City) and discuss football in that quasi-technical, jargonised nonsense inspired by FIFA and Championship Manager. Bollocks tae that.
Yes I'm a bit of a dinosaur I suppose, but there are some modern-innovations that I do like and embrace...however, in general give me an old-style game of Scottish Football any day of the week.

It was better then wasn't it? Please say yes!

HibbyDave
19-09-2016, 07:43 PM
Yep. Fond memories of standing at one end of the ground at brockville and fighting my way over the stupid wee bridge to get to the other end.
Generally I enjoyed the raw experience of going to a match, choosing where to stand and when to move if need be.
Players who never fell over clutching their face or knee just because someone had run past them.

Thecat23
19-09-2016, 07:45 PM
,,,no, not a discussion thread about that slightly odd and inexplicably creepy TV variety show that ran from the 50s to the 80s, but one concerning how this game of ours had evolved.

I watched the DVD of The Damned United last night and on the disc extras are several small documentaries - one in particular about football in the 1970s and found myself smiling and nodding away in concert with the footage on display.

I speak as a shameless nostalgist but even so, I find it lamentable that the likes of Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Celtic, Steaua Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade and similar will probably never reach the heights they once did ever again.
I hate the sanitised version of modern day football, a game sterilised by TV money and FIFA corruption, being forced to sit in one place during a game (even though I probably would opt to sit at my age...but it's the choice thing) as our clubs slowly disconnect from the communities in the quest for autoclaved silverware gilded in coinage. I preferred the pitches like tattie fields in winter time, strips without the Americanised imposition of names and squad numbers: 1-11 really wasnae hard. I preferred sliding tackles in the mud, especially from behind. I liked players who were at clubs for more than 5 mins and were't overpaid, over-rated and self-obsessed prima-donnas. I preferred 2 featured games on MotD or Scotsport, 1 Scottish, 1 English. I preferred having an 'English Team' as a kinda afterthought, not English football rammed down my throat as some sort of promised land.

There's now a generation of adults who support a foreign team (and I include the EPL in that) yet have no affiliation to their local Scottish team (for us Edinburgh punters - I speak for myself, Hibs and Hearts being eschewed for Barcelona, Man Utd and even Leicester effing City) and discuss football in that quasi-technical, jargonised nonsense inspired by FIFA and Championship Manager. Bollocks tae that.
Yes I'm a bit of a dinosaur I suppose, but there are some modern-innovations that I do like and embrace...however, in general give me an old-style game of Scottish Football any day of the week.

It was better then wasn't it? Please say yes!

I was born in 78 so my memory of football is mostly from early 80's on. I found it better then to be honest but many things have changed for the better of course.

Good post though found myself agreeing with everything you have said.

PatHead
19-09-2016, 07:49 PM
Lots I domiss about football back in the day but standing at Greenock last season made me a fan of covered stadia.

Don't seem to be the characters there were due to the lack of "workrate" they had.

darwenhibby
19-09-2016, 07:55 PM
Things I miss from 70's and 80's and things I enjoy of today's game
One thing that get on my t!t5 is folk more interested in there dream team and assits against the team they allegedly support

Lancs Harp
19-09-2016, 08:01 PM
Cant understand these people that support teams from foreign countries.


:greengrin

PatHead
19-09-2016, 08:08 PM
Cant understand these people that support teams from foreign countries.


:greengrin



All glory hunters. :greengrin

Pretty Boy
19-09-2016, 08:13 PM
I think the saturation of football on TV has killed a bit of the magic.

I'm just old enough to remember a live Scottish game on TV being a rarity and watching Sportscene, with it's 2 or 3 games from MOTD included, on a Saturday night was a routine. Foreign games where harder to come by as Sky etc was less prominent than it is today so seeing exotic players every couple of years at a Euros or World Cup was exciting, I remember thinking that as late as the 98 World Cup.

Nowadays it's possible to watch live football every day of the week, we know as much about the Argentine or Portuguese national team as we do the Scottish and the top teams have created a cartel in which you need a valuable heritage brand or extreme new money to join.

There's no doubt a lot has improved in football, particularly in regards to treatment of and facilities for supporters (generally speaking) but I worry that,much like chain stores and global brands are accused of killing the high street, we are entering a period whereby the big boys are smothering football at the lower levels.

scooby
19-09-2016, 08:17 PM
,,,no, not a discussion thread about that slightly odd and inexplicably creepy TV variety show that ran from the 50s to the 80s, but one concerning how this game of ours had evolved.

I watched the DVD of The Damned United last night and on the disc extras are several small documentaries - one in particular about football in the 1970s and found myself smiling and nodding away in concert with the footage on display.

I speak as a shameless nostalgist but even so, I find it lamentable that the likes of Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Celtic, Steaua Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade and similar will probably never reach the heights they once did ever again.
I hate the sanitised version of modern day football, a game sterilised by TV money and FIFA corruption, being forced to sit in one place during a game (even though I probably would opt to sit at my age...but it's the choice thing) as our clubs slowly disconnect from the communities in the quest for autoclaved silverware gilded in coinage. I preferred the pitches like tattie fields in winter time, strips without the Americanised imposition of names and squad numbers: 1-11 really wasnae hard. I preferred sliding tackles in the mud, especially from behind. I liked players who were at clubs for more than 5 mins and were't overpaid, over-rated and self-obsessed prima-donnas. I preferred 2 featured games on MotD or Scotsport, 1 Scottish, 1 English. I preferred having an 'English Team' as a kinda afterthought, not English football rammed down my throat as some sort of promised land.

There's now a generation of adults who support a foreign team (and I include the EPL in that) yet have no affiliation to their local Scottish team (for us Edinburgh punters - I speak for myself, Hibs and Hearts being eschewed for Barcelona, Man Utd and even Leicester effing City) and discuss football in that quasi-technical, jargonised nonsense inspired by FIFA and Championship Manager. Bollocks tae that.
Yes I'm a bit of a dinosaur I suppose, but there are some modern-innovations that I do like and embrace...however, in general give me an old-style game of Scottish Football any day of the week.

It was better then wasn't it? Please say yes!

Difficult to disagree with anything you said. TV money and billionaire investors have created an elite group of clubs who are pretty much untouchable.

northstandhibby
19-09-2016, 08:34 PM
I think the saturation of football on TV has killed a bit of the magic.

I'm just old enough to remember a live Scottish game on TV being a rarity and watching Sportscene, with it's 2 or 3 games from MOTD included, on a Saturday night was a routine. Foreign games where harder to come by as Sky etc was less prominent than it is today so seeing exotic players every couple of years at a Euros or World Cup was exciting, I remember thinking that as late as the 98 World Cup.

Nowadays it's possible to watch live football every day of the week, we know as much about the Argentine or Portuguese national team as we do the Scottish and the top teams have created a cartel in which you need a valuable heritage brand or extreme new money to join.

There's no doubt a lot has improved in football, particularly in regards to treatment of and facilities for supporters (generally speaking) but I worry that,much like chain stores and global brands are accused of killing the high street, we are entering a period whereby the big boys are smothering football at the lower levels.

You make plenty of good points.

The tv marketing men are always looking for the next big idea to sell their product to because that is what football has become for the bigger clubs - a tv product.

It certainly seems as if a European league is coming in the years ahead. How will that effect leagues like the SPFL? Already we are hearing rumblings of an atlantic league/cross border football or other types of ideas coming from the SFA.

There will always be change afoot when the tv money men are in control of product.

Me I'd be happy to see the bigger clubs disappear up their own kilt chasing the money without leaving colt teams no thank you, while Hibernian stay put supporting the scottish league game.

I hope all the small clubs like Alloa, East Stirling, East Fife etcetera survive for many many a year to come.

GGTTH

Mikey_1875
19-09-2016, 08:43 PM
Im not even too old but things like the pink and checking the up to date results on teletext were always fun but totally redundant now a days!

FitbaFolkKen
19-09-2016, 08:49 PM
Im not even too old but things like the pink and checking the up to date results on teletext were always fun but totally redundant now a days!

I used to like delivering it as you saw it first you felt a bit itk.

That and waiting for the teletext to refresh

Viva_Palmeiras
19-09-2016, 09:25 PM
Hanging off a flood light that's a real fan. And scaling the back fence when there's no furthe room on the terrace the.n getting lifted, Johnny Collins getting hit by a hail of coins taking a corner at Tynie, standing in your usual spot in the East shuffling as taller blokes settled in their spot only for almost on kick off two 6'4" blokes with green baseball caps stand right in front of you (Row T circa 67 in the East of that was you cheers ;) strangely enough them were the dayz

BSEJVT
19-09-2016, 09:49 PM
I think the thing I miss most are the days when if a player was beaten that was it he was done.

Football is now played by guys who are all fit as a fiddle and great athletes mostly as well

That has to a large extent negated the excitement of watching someone beat a man all ends up and go on to create something as modern day defenders can mostly get back to at least make it difficult.

Much as it pains me to say it, yesteryear used to be a bit more like the Ayr boy did to Stevenson for their second goal on Saturday.

Maybe that's why large parts of the support (like me) are obsessed with getting fast wide players :-), stretching the opposition means clearer chances with more time to score them, it also gives late arriving midfielders a chance.

I couldn't tell you the last time Hibs had a midfielder who consistently broke past the forwards or even supported the forwards (like Pat McGinley) and we wonder why we don't score enough goals form midfield?

Sometimes less is more too.

The excitement of waiting for the results to be read out on a Saturday and then the anxious wait for the pink news to arrive so you could read all about it.

Folk queuing in and outside the shops in all weathers waiting for them to be delivered (6.15 at the newsagents at the corner of Windsor Place and the High Street in Portobello) I still remember the time and that was over 35 years ago!

The olden days when commentators like McPherson, Montford & Francey did just that without trying to turn themselves into pretty boy personalities like some of the posers you get on Sky Sports now.

danhibees1875
19-09-2016, 10:41 PM
Football doesn't interest me much outside of hibs. I try to watch it and be interested for the sake of conversation and it's something to watch if I've nothing else on but generally speaking football, and particularly the elite, bores me. I hate the money on football - it's actually despicable that people get paid a million pound a month to play football and it's maybe some moral objection to this that stops me getting excited about it - the champions league just has no appeal to me. Internationals I can get on board with a bit more (mostly when it involves Scotland or Portugal (my "tournamnet" team)) but no where near as interested as I am in hibs.

I love looking back and hearing stories from the 50s to 70s when football was a fairly level playing field and hibs had fantastic games and results against Europe's elite. It's annoying that this will never be repeated - my version of knocking out Barcelona, thumping sporting Lisbon 7-1, or chucking 5 past Dino zoff to overturn a 4-1 away defeat will be maybe one day sneaking past some unknown Scandinavian team to get put out of Europe one game closer to the group stages of the second tier of European football than usual. Ah well.

Ozyhibby
19-09-2016, 10:52 PM
Crowds were much smaller then as well. Felt much more personal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

snooky
19-09-2016, 11:09 PM
Generally, the fitness has improved but the skill level hasn't.
The blood and snotters has gone out the game and the 'honesty'.
When a player was hurt back then, you knew he was hurt.
Not like the powerpuffers of today.

Hibby Bairn
20-09-2016, 06:43 AM
I miss the terracing at places like Tannadice, East End Park, Fir Park and enclosure at ER when you had half pitch each and you were yards from opposing fans. Great noise, songs and banter.

AndyM_1875
20-09-2016, 08:16 AM
It's easy to get nostalgic about football in the old days of the 70s,80s and even 90s.
It was far more raw that's for sure but lets be in no doubt standing on a crumbling terrace with fans doing things that raised no eyebrows then such as peeing through the fence at the top of the East Terrace, the occasional drink fuelled puke on the Terrace and the wafts of dope smoke that came down from the top of the east has no real place at the modern Easter Road. Until a couple of years ago I used to get nostalgic about terraces, then I went to Cowdenbeath on a pishing wet January day to watch Hibs win 3-2 and spent 3 days off my work with a stinking cold.

I take the point about kids thinking football is something on the TV. It's depressing seeing youngsters running around in the shirts of Bayern, Barca, Madrid and the various Murdoch TV English Premiership outfits missing out on the delights of being a fan of Hibs, Hearts, Dunfermline or Dundee United. To any young fan I'd say that if they ignore the local game and plump for being a TV fan of Barca, Chelsea or Manchester City then they will never know the emotion and sheer delight of what all of us on here felt at 4.55pm on 21-May-2016 or indeed what Hearts fans felt at the Cup Final in May 1998. Because that's not something that can be manufactured. It can't just be switched on, it's real, raw and there's a lifetime's commitment in there.

Barman Stanton
20-09-2016, 09:57 AM
I pretty much agree with all that. Money has certainly ruined Scottish football, remember we used to buy players from the English top league. Unthinkable now.

However, is it not just that everything is generally better when you are younger. I was born in 77 and have a real fondness for 80s football, 80s films, early 90s music etc. For kids just now, what they are currently seeing will be there best memories. Just so happens young Hibees have a nice Scottish Cup memory!!

KNBE
20-09-2016, 11:51 AM
Im not even too old but things like the pink and checking the up to date results on teletext were always fun but totally redundant now a days!
Out of interest, when did they actually stop publishing the Pink?

Sent from my GT-S6810P using Tapatalk

IanM
20-09-2016, 12:01 PM
Getting to he ground at 2pm to read Mass Hibsteria .
Having no knowledge who 'A Trialist' was
eating a macaroon bar
swaying with the crowd

take me back anytime

mjhibby
20-09-2016, 12:43 PM
I think the thing I miss most are the days when if a player was beaten that was it he was done.

Football is now played by guys who are all fit as a fiddle and great athletes mostly as well

That has to a large extent negated the excitement of watching someone beat a man all ends up and go on to create something as modern day defenders can mostly get back to at least make it difficult.

Much as it pains me to say it, yesteryear used to be a bit more like the Ayr boy did to Stevenson for their second goal on Saturday.

Maybe that's why large parts of the support (like me) are obsessed with getting fast wide players :-), stretching the opposition means clearer chances with more time to score them, it also gives late arriving midfielders a chance.

I couldn't tell you the last time Hibs had a midfielder who consistently broke past the forwards or even supported the forwards (like Pat McGinley) and we wonder why we don't score enough goals form midfield?

Sometimes less is more too.

The excitement of waiting for the results to be read out on a Saturday and then the anxious wait for the pink news to arrive so you could read all about it.

Folk queuing in and outside the shops in all weathers waiting for them to be delivered (6.15 at the newsagents at the corner of Windsor Place and the High Street in Portobello) I still remember the time and that was over 35 years ago!

The olden days when commentators like McPherson, Montford & Francey did just that without trying to turn themselves into pretty boy personalities like some of the posers you get on Sky Sports now.

Loved watching crunchie McAllister dart past players,michael O'Neil superb passing at pace,gordon hunters crunching tackles then helping up the forward he had just halved. Keepers like Leighton and rough making amazing saves almost every game. David Murphy's ball control and 50 yard passes but above all hard and fair games where players got on with it and not players diving and looking for free kicks. Most of the modern game is sterile and lacks passion,except when playing the like of Hertz or sevco of course. Happy days being a hibby then though is getting there now.

worcesterhibby
20-09-2016, 12:51 PM
One bad thing about 1970's football....No Hibs.net !

ancient hibee
20-09-2016, 05:42 PM
Out of interest, when did they actually stop publishing the Pink?

Sent from my GT-S6810P using Tapatalk

About 40 years after they stopped publishing the Green-so that would be the 1990s I think(time passes quickly when you're getting old).

I miss trying to change ends at half time,it was probably on par with muddy days at the Somme minus the machine guns.

Keith_M
20-09-2016, 05:56 PM
I'm not all that keen on modern stadia, usually with four sides all seated and allocated seats, but most stadia 30 years ago were too much in the other extreme, with antiquated facilities and largely uncovered terracing. Think along the lines of Somerset Park or Capplelow.

TBH, Easter Road was actually a very poor stadium, especially before they halved and then covered the main terracing.


I think I would prefer something between the two extremes, e.g. good facilities and plenty of seating but also with a reasonably large, covered standing area.

IWasThere2016
20-09-2016, 06:12 PM
Fitba was at it's best in the 70s - as the emphasis was more about skill than the athleticism. We now also have petty fouls/simulation/shirt pulling etc..

No doubt in my mind, the new grounds have sterilised the atmosphere also.

I would love to wind back the clock as the Scottish game was so much stronger.

emerald green
20-09-2016, 06:23 PM
I always remember the blokes that used to come round the pubs we used to drink in on a Saturday night selling the Pink or the Green.

Tinribs
20-09-2016, 07:16 PM
I always remember the blokes that used to come round the pubs we used to drink in on a Saturday night selling the Pink or the Green.

I was one of them, when I was about 14 I think. Used to get picked up by a van at Waverley station and then we would be dropped off at various streets to hit the pubs. Made a fortune from drunk punters in tips :)

theonlywayisup
20-09-2016, 07:34 PM
One bad thing about 1970's football....No Hibs.net !

One good thing - the big team gubbed the wee team seven nil.

theonlywayisup
20-09-2016, 07:40 PM
Getting to he ground at 2pm to read Mass Hibsteria .
Having no knowledge who 'A Trialist' was
eating a macaroon bar
swaying with the crowd

take me back anytime

In an era now when the BBC take ages to put up the report on the Hibs game,do you recall the bad old days when you could leave ER at 4:50 and by the time we walked to the Meadows we were able to buy the Pink and read a match report of the game. That's what you call real time reporting.

Okay, we maybe stopped at a couple of pubs on the way but the Pink was there by 6:30.

emerald green
21-09-2016, 06:39 PM
I was one of them, when I was about 14 I think. Used to get picked up by a van at Waverley station and then we would be dropped off at various streets to hit the pubs. Made a fortune from drunk punters in tips :)

Maybe one of them was me! :greengrin

sleeping giant
21-09-2016, 06:52 PM
Hibs club with my Dad. Playing football on the dance floor with a tied up scarf. Donnie, Neil and the Devines.

I fondly remember those yellow pontoon card :greengrin

Bishop Hibee
21-09-2016, 07:03 PM
Two sons of a pal of mine who has a ST for Easter Road prefer to go to watch Man City a few times a year and maybe go to a European game they play in. Sad times.

On the plus side it was great to see 15K at our game on Saturday and lots of youngsters there. Maybe the tide is turning.

Forza Fred
22-09-2016, 04:41 AM
While tv laterally had a lot to do with what I consider a decline in The standard of Scottish fitba, I think it began with the formation of the Reduced in size Premier League.....where a few defeats meant the team was in relegation trouble and the managers heid was on the block.

Safety first became the watchword, and managers opted for athletes who could run all game and filling in a few positions equally effectively.

Sacrificing skill for athletic ability.

And so the spiral began....

overdrive
22-09-2016, 06:41 AM
As a kid, my Dad taking me to a pub before and after the match - either the Lea Rig, Tor or Loch Inn - and his mates would bring their sons. We would play pool and certain weeks you would have to get to the pool table early after the match because it was "go go dancer week" and kids had to be in the corner where you couldn't see them (you could see from the pool table) :-)

calumhibee1
22-09-2016, 07:20 AM
Football now is streets ahead of what it used to be, at least on the pitch. Technically and physically the players are miles better than they were in yesteryear. Think it's a case of things getting better with time for most folk. Watching old clips of football and you can see just how awkward even the top end players used to look compared to now.

lord bunberry
24-09-2016, 09:40 AM
Does anyone remember the old hibs shop on Easter Road? It was just round from the hibs club and it used to be a video rental shop. I remember it being tiny and if there was a queue to get tickets it was quite difficult to get out again. They used to have a tracksuit and a strip behind the counter on the wall and that was about all you could buy. The staff were behind a plastic screen (presumably in case anyone tried to nick the tracksuit) and served you through a wee hole at the bottom. People complaining about the shop now don't know how lucky they are. :greengrin

Peevemor
24-09-2016, 09:48 AM
Does anyone remember the old hibs shop on Easter Road? It was just round from the hibs club and it used to be a video rental shop. I remember it being tiny and if there was a queue to get tickets it was quite difficult to get out again. They used to have a tracksuit and a strip behind the counter on the wall and that was about all you could buy. The staff were behind a plastic screen (presumably in case anyone tried to nick the tracksuit) and served you through a wee hole at the bottom. People complaining about the shop now don't know how lucky they are. :greengrin
That place was more a ticket office than a shop.

The best Hibs shop was under the old centre stand. You had the choice between 2 or 3 styles of scarves, 2 or 3 wee pin badges and loads of Harry Gilzean stuff (he also had his own shop off Cockburn Street).

You would get served by the kit man, a groundsman or whoever else happened to be around (I once bought a scarf from Cecil Graham).

lord bunberry
24-09-2016, 10:04 AM
That place was more a ticket office than a shop.

The best Hibs shop was under the old centre stand. You had the choice between 2 or 3 styles of scarves, 2 or 3 wee pin badges and loads of Harry Gilzean stuff (he also had his own shop off Cockburn Street).

You would get served by the kit man, a groundsman or whoever else happened to be around (I once bought a scarf from Cecil Graham).
The shop under the old centre stand was great as well. I remember going in for tickets and no one being there for ages. As you said it was just whoever was passing served you.

Bostonhibby
24-09-2016, 10:29 AM
That place was more a ticket office than a shop.

The best Hibs shop was under the old centre stand. You had the choice between 2 or 3 styles of scarves, 2 or 3 wee pin badges and loads of Harry Gilzean stuff (he also had his own shop off Cockburn Street).

You would get served by the kit man, a groundsman or whoever else happened to be around (I once bought a scarf from Cecil Graham).

Remember the old shop in ER well, once took an Arsenal supporting mate up for a game and he couldn't believe it - even took a photo of the wee shop - best of all it was shut so we couldn't buy the track suit if we wanted to.

Loved Gilzeans place as well, still got a few of his books and drawings somewhere about the house.