UEFA's quest to suck joy, jeopardy and fun out of football is almost complete

Yesterday at 09:04 AM

My recent piece about how we all used to consume our football in pre-Sky et al years seems to have touched a chord with a lot of MyFootballWriter readers, not that, maybe, I should be too surprised.

After all, this is a site that is very much a retro way of reading about and commenting on our favourite sport and club.

Feature pieces, some of which go into tremendous detail and take no little research or work beforehand before they are even written (here's looking at you, and thank you, Will Grant) and submitted to the ever busy editor of this site, the mighty fine Gary Gowers.

And all for the price of passing on our thoughts to others.

Remember those fanzines of old?

Liverpool Are On The Tele again et al.

I remember, years and years ago now, writing for the old Capital Canary magazine. Always an enjoyable read and a pleasure to be part of back in the day.

And not one 'Six Talking Points' or 'Ten Players Who…" type articles either; fly by night pieces full of bullet points and bite size two liners for the modern reader who wants the whole thing read and forgotten within a couple of minutes.

But enough of what football used to be.

Where is it going?

We will all have our opinions as to the path the not quite so glorious game is taking and I'd welcome some of your thoughts at the end of the piece.

For me, I can't help but look at the 'revamped' (for television) Champions League, which lumbered its way back into the limelight this week.

One league. Thirty six teams. Ideally, of course, if all things were equal, every club would play 70 matches, one home and one away against each of the other teams competing.

You might just have an idea as to who the best club side in Europe was at the end of that potential marathon.

Mind you, UEFA might, even now, be thinking of how they can do that in, say, a calendar year.

Don't put it past them.

The one thing that came across very strongly in those opening fixtures was that there is absolutely no sense of jeopardy for the bigger clubs whatsoever.

You could see that in the Manchester City versus Inter game. Both teams had clearly shaken hands on a draw beforehand knowing that they'll get the requisite points needed in their remaining games to qualify for the next stage.

Which, for Pep & co involves, for starters, home fixtures against Sparta Prague and Feyenoord as well as some not at all tricky away trips to Feyenoord and Slovan Bratislava.

By the time they head out to play Juventus in their pre-arranged 0-0 at the Allianz Stadium on December 11th, they'll have already qualified, as will their hosts plus the opening round guests.

Still, lots of sofa dwelling consumers in Doha , Abu Dhabi and Muscat will be happy, watching their games as they drink their Heineken while waiting for their Just Eat takeaway to be delivered, all paid for, of course, on a Mastercard.

UEFA happy, sponsors happy, far flung fans happy.

It's the spectacle they're paying for rather than the football.

If you wanted a generous helping of jeopardy with your football then you needed to go back to the European Cup, as it was still referred to at the time, and a first round tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1978.

The current English league champions against the tournament holders, a titanic clash that would see one of the favourites and big names eliminated from the competition before the end of September.

Now THAT was jeopardy. And that is one of the great attractions of football, that sense you get, in the pit of your stomach, before and during a game.

Will we win? Will we lose? No-one can say for sure.

For Canary fans we could just as easily be relegated at the end of this season as make the top six.

Or finish 12th.

Something the fans of most of the other Championship clubs will be familiar with.

The uncertainty, the drama, the sheer theatre that makes football such a joy and a source of despair at the same time.

No-one at Manchester City will be feeling that this season.

They'll probably win the Premier League again. Worst case scenario? Second.

Real Madrid? Champions League winners. Worst case scenario? Beaten finalists.

I once said to someone that I felt that Norwich fans got as much pleasure out of winning a game, any game, as a typical fan of Manchester City, United, Liverpool & co got out of winning the FA Cup.

Because when winning becomes a consumable, all the joy is sucked out of it.

But when it still means something… well, we've all been there. It still means something.

For clubs like Real Madrid, winning the Champions League is now a box ticking exercise.

It's something that they have to do every season.

Luka Modric now has six Champions League winners medals.

But I don't think any of them gave him anywhere near the pleasure that playing in his first Champions League match and hearing the pre-match anthem being played gave ex-Canary Jacob Murphy.

His face lit up with sheer delight, it was real and he was part of it. He looked like a child bathed in the light of the tree on Christmas morning.

When football still means that much to someone, then there's still hope…

…but the light is glowing ever dimmer.