Football Ruined My Life

Anyone who watches The Big Match Revisited every Saturday morning on ITV4 will notice that referees in the 1970s and 1980s used to wave play on so much more often - which meant that the game flowed and wasn’t constantly hauled back for yet another free kick.  You also pretty much had to amputate an opponent’s leg below the knee before you could be sent off.  A sending off in the 1960s and 1970s was a big deal and the player was usually embarrassed and upset.  Squads were of course much smaller so losing a key player for 28 days (which was how punishments were given then) was a serious blow to the team’s prospects for the next month.  Now of course getting a red card is regarded as part of the day job and if you can get yourself sent off a week before Christmas and receive an automatic three match suspension you get a nice family Christmas at home.  To an extent of course this isn’t really down to the individual referee.  Referees are under examination from an official observer sitting in the stand and they can be overruled by VAR.  They used to be the sole arbiters of what happens on the pitch.  Now they aren’t.  Jimmy Mulville, Colin Shindler and Jon Holmes discuss whether or not this trend is good for the game and particularly for the spectators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week the Colin, Jon and Omid are talking about those players beloved by the fans but usually underrated by fans of other clubs. In other words, club legends -  usually players who play for one club for the whole of their career who do not appear to be tempted by a transfer to a club more likely to win trophies… and who certainly wouldn’t leave the club just for the sake of increasing even by a significant amount their weekly wage packet.  Have such players entirely disappeared from our game? That loyalty was quite prevalent at one time in the game.  Every single listener to this podcast with a strong affiliation to one particular club could probably name a club legend who stuck around for years, never in contention for international honours, never sought by European clubs, rarely injured - a person who gave their all for the club even if they were less gifted than some team mates.  They were what gave their club their unique image.  They were players like Billy Bonds at West Ham, Harry Cripps at Millwall, Tony Dunne at Manchester United, Alan Oakes at City… the list goes on.  Who is on your list? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every year at this time we ensure that we have a postbag of your emails to spread joy and happiness among the growing Football Ruined My Life community.  We encourage you to write to us every week and you do so in comforting numbers.  Once again the tone is almost entirely positive with people wanting to contribute their own memories to the topic they’ve just listened to or correcting our very fallible memories.  We look forward to these occasional episodes because it enables us to connect with our audience.  And we’re very grateful that you take the time and trouble to write even if only because it reassures us that we’re talking about the topics which you think and talk about.  But also it’s a comfort to know that at least we’re not just talking to ourselves.  So a merry festive season and a happy new year to one and all and do keep those emails pouring in.  There’ll be another postbag in a couple of months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Following on from the last episode (the special on FIFA and their Peace Prize that was awarded to Donald Trump), this week Jon Holmes, Andy Hamilton and Colin Shindler ask themselves the question: “Is the game more or less exciting than it was when we first started watching football in the late 1950s/early 1960s?” It certainly seems to be more exciting to judge by the hysterical radio and television commentators and the ludicrous goal celebrations we have to suffer. Back in the day a goalscorer might have his hand shaken, his hair ruffled and on occasion his bottom fondled, albeit very briefly. Of course, what appears hysterical to fans of mature years might not appear so to someone fifty years younger. The game has grown, Premier League grounds are full, players are faster and more skilful. Surely that means that the game is more exciting. Listen and find out… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a shorter but very special edition of Football Ruined My Life. It was recorded three days after the sickening and humiliating farrago of nonsense which was the draw for the 2026 World Cup. It contained, of course, the sickening sight of a convicted felon being awarded a Peace Prize. The sheer inanity of the exercise made it entirely nonsensical. Within minutes of the draw starting, our producer Paul Kobrak, messaged Jon and Colin saying he was sickened by the spectacle that was unfolding on television. Jon was feeling exactly the same and we jointly wondered how the game we have all loved for almost the entire duration of our lives could possibly have sunk so low. The reason we all fell in love with with game of football was because it appealed to our better instincts of joy and romance. Football can give you those feelings.  But that football has gone and if we needed confirmation then FIFA’s lunacy was the proof.   As football fans we have the right to howl in protest. Let us know if you were also howling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices