How bad is Div 2 football compared to ten years ago...

[Southend Elvis]

After watching yesterdays offering, I couldn't believe how bad the standard of football is at the moment. I'm not knocking our victory, but we hardly needed to turn up to get the win. I did overhear that Vale had numerous people out and that they were playing their kit man in defense, so that could explain why there was no challenge on both headers if true .

How do you think our current side would fair against our 4th Division of old?

Can anyone see how the games going to get any better, if the top sides keep taking all the money, leaving lower league teams so skint?

 

[undercovershrimper]

It was an awful league when we were last in it, and its an awful league now and will only get worse!

 

[Tommy2holes]

I think as the premiership grows in quality largely due to the influx of foreighners then so does the lower leagues as those that would have played top flight etc 20 years ago now play in the lower leagues .

As a result i think that techinically the lower leagues have improved.

The problem i think is this. The leagues used to have there own styles , but now almost all try and play football that they are not capable of.

Sure there are always struggling sides in any league and none more so than league 2 which is similar to the premier in that there are 6+ teams that are perenial strugglers. The rest are at a fairly level playing field with the exception of one or two pace setters.

So i think individually there is more talent , but there is a lot of dross mixed in which does not contribute.

Anyone who thinks that football was better pre-1992 has a blinkered memory.

 

[silentshrimper]

Probably about the same, you get 5-6 teams who play good football and 4 of them are rewarded.

It should get better, as so many well trained players who are held by the money grabbers at the top of the tree, drop down the leagues. You can see glimpses of individual quality all the time down here just by watching some of the quality strikes that go in in this league. Poorer Team work,intelligence and lack of defenders who are ball players is probably what drops the standard.

It probably won't though.

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Currently exiled in Malta, is difficult to offer an opinion.
Having said that. Surely the influx of foreign talent into The Prem could only improve the quality of teams in The Football League? A UK player that would normally have made it to the top division but loses out to overseas players, surely plays in the next division down..and so on??
Why would money and players from abroad dilute the quality in The Championship down?

 

[Kevin Hogg]

I am certain that players with the talent of Warren May, Micky Engwell etc would not get near a League 2 bench these days!!?

 

[Bluegoose]

With the odd high point most of the late 60's and 70 was nasty to watch we were very poor, also very low crowds as well 2k or so was a good turnout.

 

[Bluegoose]

With the odd high point most of the late 60's and 70 was nasty to watch we were very poor, also very low crowds as well 2k or so was a good turnout.

 

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

Most League 2 players these days would of been playing in the old division 2 or division 3 20 years ago, and likewise most division 4 players of 20 years ago would be in plying their trade in non league.

Game is much quicker, players are much fitter, and have much better technical ability, and it gets marginally better every season, as foreigners come into the game at the top level, and the young British talent filters though as it has to be off a very good level.

 

[southchurch]

[TABLE="class: standard_tabelle"]
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[TD="class: hell"][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Justin Edinburgh

Spencer Prior

Chris Powell

Andy Edwards

Didn't get too many hopefull hoofs up field with these 4.

 

[southchurch]

I think as the premiership grows in quality largely due to the influx of foreighners then so does the lower leagues as those that would have played top flight etc 20 years ago now play in the lower leagues .

I have always thought this should happen. For some reason it does not and the lower league players are no better than before and I think worse in most cases.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

[TABLE="class: standard_tabelle"]
[TR]
[TD="class: hell_blau, align: center"][/TD]
[TD="class: hell"][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Justin Edinburgh

Spencer Prior

Chris Powell

Andy Edwards

Didn't get too many hopefull hoofs up field with these 4.

What's the point you are trying to make here?

Chris Powell never played for us in the fourth division. He signed when we were in the third division.

Andy Edwards was a proper hoof merchant. Spinner wasn't particularly comfortable on the ball and favoured a safety first approach. Justin Edinburgh wasn't adverse to the long diagonal up to Roy McDonough. McDonough certainly wasn't playing for his silky skills on the deck.

No mention of our cultured full-backs from that 4th division promotion season Andy Dixon and Paul Roberts either.

 

[southendkid]

I think as the premiership grows in quality largely due to the influx of foreighners then so does the lower leagues as those that would have played top flight etc 20 years ago now play in the lower leagues .

I have always thought this should happen. For some reason it does not and the lower league players are no better than before and I think worse in most cases.

I disagree, I think the league is probably better than ever, however due to Sky Sports we are constantly subjected to high quality free flowing football, which just highlights how poor league 2 is in comparison, as the quality of the premier league increases, the comparative quality of league 2 decreases, even if the league is actually getting better.
Nostalgia also plays its part in making us look more fondly on the past than the present

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

10 years ago our line-up was (admittedly for a FA Cup match)

Flahavan
Broad Cort Whelan Newman Searle
Hutchings Maher Thurgod
Bramble Belgrave

Subs: Gay, L Johnson, Forbes, Pony Richards, Mark Rawle


Excuse me a moment whilst I go all misty-eyed about that team.

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Hmmm..Flavs and Kevin Maher...only!

 

[Crabby Shrimper]

Hmmm..Flavs and Kevin Maher...only!

If you're going from that line up, I'd take Cort too

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Hmmm..Flavs and Kevin Maher...only!

I'd have Cort back in a flash, but he hoofed as well.

 

[Beefy]

The standard of the division is far higher than it was ten years. I'm not sure how that can be argued with, really. As has been said already, players who would have been playing in the top flight previously have been forced down to the second tier and that cascades down further to this level.

The year we went up with Scunny, Swansea and Yeovil was a strong year with four very good teams, but I think that was a blip.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

The standard of the division is far higher than it was ten years. I'm not sure how that can be argued with, really. As has been said already, players who would have been playing in the top flight previously have been forced down to the second tier and that cascades down further to this level.

The year we went up with Scunny, Swansea and Yeovil was a strong year with four very good teams, but I think that was a blip.

agree with this and what the other poster said in a similar offering - standard of football is far better nowadays - getting sick of this bloody hoof ball crap thing on here - point off the top into January - I'm as happy as a pig in shi* !!!

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

With the odd high point most of the late 60's and 70 was nasty to watch we were very poor, also very low crowds as well 2k or so was a good turnout.

The 2k crowds were in the mid 1980's. I'm pretty sure average crowd for most teams in the late 60's or 70's were much higher than now.