Is the Game Truly Gone?

By
Luke Taylor
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Football and nostalgia go hand in hand. Like we do with other forms of media and entertainment, we often think of sports hitting their peaks during our adolescence as we came of age. So when people say “the game’s gone” in reference to football, does it come from a place of truth or nostalgia?

“The game’s gone.”

We’ve come to hear this phrase quite often these days, whether on social media, TV, or amongst friends. The recent “Barclaysmen” trend that surfaced on X recently, showcasing old clips of ex-Premier League footballers overlayed with music from the time, is evidence of its prominence in football discourse.

It was a much welcomed trip down memory lane for most, seeing clips of moments in football that transport us back to the good old days, away from the current state of modern football and back to a time when football felt rawer, more passionate, and less polished. And while this nostalgic trip was loved by many, the question that arose is: Has the game actually gone?

Nostalgia is the key ingredient here. It’s very powerful and can often alter one’s perception of a certain time. You tend to look back fondly on good times with blurred vision, often making them seem better in your head than they actually were. But was football actually better then?

For me, yes. It was. And maybe I am getting caught up in the nostalgic whirlwind because the “Barclaysman” era was when I came of age. It’s the time I basically fell in love with the game, and I grew up seeing these players do their thing week in, and week out. I went to school and spoke to my friends about it. I collected the trading cards. I tried to repeat their goals. I played with them on FIFA. But regardless of my feelings, there’s no denying that there is a definitely a strong argument for football being a lot better back then.

We see a lot of this sort of thing cycled around about today’s game, but it is over-analyzed and far too robotic. Every nook and cranny is tracked, downloaded, and learned from. There’s a lot more of an obsession over tactics, there are more and more perfectionists like Pep Guardiola, there are new stats and metrics coming out each season. This trend of sharing videos of past players in that way entirely relates to the need for more artistry, more emotion and more raw energy from the game.

There are multiple facets to “the game’s gone” claim. First, we can look into the systems that teams are now built into. They are well thought out and structured in a way to be the most efficient and the most effective.

Guardiola is perhaps the manager most tied to this movement, and he is often referenced by the “game is gone” crowd. When scrolling through the Barclaysmen video comments, you’ll see statements like “you won’t get anything like this thanks to Pep,” or “Guardiola ruined this.”

While I see their argument, I don’t wholeheartedly agree. Guardiola is a genius when it comes to tactics, and his approach is no different to other wonderful tacticians from other eras. He’s not solely to blame just because he’s very good at what he does.

“But he ruined Jack Grealish,” I hear you cry. Did he? Or did he just build him into a very effective part of a treble-winning squad? I love a manager with a strong philosophy and I find tactics, to an extent, intriguing because it’s a study of how a manager’s brain works and how they see the game. Fascinating, for the most part. But don’t get me wrong, there is a line between interesting philosophies and suffocating systems.

There are many more factors to the game “going” than just Guardiola and tactics, though. While he is the most obvious perfectionist and obsesses over every little detail it seems, it’s the wider discourse around those tactics and statistics that harms the game more in my opinion — not the managers who are paid to win football games.

Certain people will struggle to talk about a player using a piece of skill or taking on a player without bringing up xG, xA, progressions, or some other outrageous statistic that doesn’t mean much to many. Football needs more freedom, yes, but sole blame can’t lie to certain managers. It’s the systemic changing of football, with more analysis and technology and more focus on little details combined with the ever-growing magnifying glass players are under and the often abusive discourse around the games.

Away from tactics, there are a lot of things that could be related to the game being gone. FIFA’s and UEFA’s constant need to tweak and change things like the World Cup format, the ongoing battle with VAR, and the rulings around handball and offsides.

Transfers are a big one, too. Fabrizio Romano has changed the face of the transfer market, removing any sort of mystery that once made transfers so special. Gone are the days of surprise big moves that no one expected, or deadline days where fans would sit from the moment they woke up to when the window shut, regardless of if they had work or school the next day. The mystery has gone from football and the edge that once made the game beautiful is on its way out, too.

It’s all a bit exhausting. I am fully in the camp that football’s soul is diminishing, and fast. Celebrations are muted thanks to VAR. Transfers have no more surprises. Mavericks are few and far between. Statistics are too prominent. Diego Maradona is my favorite ever player and the ’80s and ’90s are my favorite eras of the game. The “Barclaysmen” trend showed us that football is missing that rawness more than ever but, as the romantic I am, I still think football has some beauty left. You just need to find it.

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