What we've learned thus far.
It's 2024 and the world has gone mad. We don't truly enjoy football anymore because of VAR. If you support a lower league team, your destiny is to join other miserable Premier League supporters in throwing your hot dog into the air, believing your team has just snatched the glories of victory from the other team.
Those days of “glory glory” Premier League are gone, with subdued crowds unless you're Crystal Palace (who make an organized point of attempting to create an atmosphere) and watered-down, unpleasant-tasting lager to deter those rascal, COVID-ridden teenagers from adopting the mantra of becoming the next Danny Dyer.
"Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough" syndrome.
Through the murk of the national game, we still have some very gifted football players lighting up the prefabricated stadiums of the United Kingdom.
Mo Salah is still tearing defenses apart, Erling Haaland is living up to the goal machine mantra, and Bukayo Saka is cutting in from the wing and delivering on all sorts of statistics.
It can be a joy.
...but we are approaching pantomime season, and as we well know, it cannot all be rainbows and emeralds without a villainous act attempting to overthrow any joyous activities.
Cue PGMOL, an association tasked with the mission of bringing football back to its heady heights of high-octane driven entertainment with minimal impact from its officials and regulating bodies. Fans want to be thrilled by the likes of the above-mentioned names and, in equal measure, watch as your club breeds the next national team hero with the beautiful and bountiful chant "He's one of our own." However, this fairy tale has not emerged, with people from within this organization continually showing signs of absolute complacency on unimaginable scales.
The latest installment being the "chalking off" of a very normal Arsenal goal against title rivals Liverpool. In what stage of a football match does a game get stopped for someone winning a header, lobbing the goalkeeper, and then firing into an empty net with relatively zero contact.
It's farcical and a deepening shame on the sport that week in, week out PGMOL is taking center stage and almost single-handedly gifting the trophy to whoever they deem fit. Yes, one official was seen absentmindedly scrolling through his Fantasy Premier League team during the course of the game. We've even had the news that a Mr. Gary Neville has been banned from commentating on Liverpool games in the future due to overzealous moments of passion involving the Reds from Merseyside.
I think the small chat off camera would have involved a notion of "Get a grip".
However, it hasn't all been doom and gloom, with officials keeping their weary hands off the chasing packs and relegation-stricken participants. We've seen Nuno Espirito Santos excel once again in England, with Nottingham Forest playing elegant, effective football, and the likes of Brighton and Chelsea giving us moments of excitement.
The Premier League race for the title is on... if your face fits the worldwide marketing ploy, it would seem.
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