Mr Angry In answer to Victor Meldrew, first sorry I haven't replied before - work gets in the way at times!
As for Stanley Matthews - I read somewhere that Alan Ball was told as an apprentice at Blackpool that he HAD to pass to the great mans feet, as he wouldn't run for the ball; when Alan Ball passed it ahead of Matthews, the old man just stood on the spot, pointed at his feet screaming "HERE!!!" to which Alan Ball's reply was "F**K Off you Old C**t"; so much for "playing" top flight football at 50!
In my original post I didn't say there were vast numbers of players playing TOP FLIGHT football into their late 30's; you added that bit. But for the record, as an example, how old was Sheringham when he quit? How old is Gary Speed? And anyway, players at the top level earn so much these days that they have no need to carry on playing beyond 35 (the official age for a player to be able to claim his pension) if they don't want to.
You also seemed to ignore my point about players playing on with injuries because of cortisone injections; nowadays, the MAXIMUM number of cortisone injections a player can have IN HIS CAREER is 3 - even as late as the 1980's it was not uncommon for players to get 2 or 3 a season. I repeat, many of those players from those days are crippled as a result of this. Today, players are rested far more and generally won't play with anything beyond a relatively minor niggle. For those players who do so (and John Terry comes to mind) I would bet that he doesn't continue beyond 35.
You also failed to address the point about fringe players having more incentive to do well in these sorts of games than established players.
As for how football has changed, well the obvious way is that clubs have much bigger squads than they did, and a Manager needs to man-manage his players the best way he can; rotation is one way, as is giving fringe players the chance in cup games. How would Coppell have known that A Fed could step up to the plate if needed if he hadn't excelled in the Cup games over the last couple of seasons? He might have been able to guess that he might, by reserve games (I bet he learnt loads watching him against Woking earlier this season!) or in training, but seeing him in competitive matches against teams like Man Utd and Spurs showed he could do the job.
The other way that football has changed is the vast amounts of TV money that a club can get by being in the Premiership; you and others who are frothing at the mouth about Coppell's decision seem to dismiss this with a jolly wave of the hand, but the reality is that the money made from getting into - and staying in - the Prem is massively more than winning the FA Cup, let alone getting to the 4th round. I'm sure there are Millwall and Southampton fans who will say that there greatest footballing moment was watching their team at The Millenium Stadium on Cup Final day, even if they were both humiliated on the day, and thats fine and dandy. But will those grand day's out help their clubs to long term survival?? I'm sure Coppell is GUTTED at a few fans feeling upset at being knocked out of the FA Cup in the 3rd Round, as they can't brag about the cup run, or have no reason to have more than a passing interest in the cup draws, but he has a far bigger responsibility than that.
Finally, just because someone has a different opinion to yourself, or who happans to agree with someone who you constantly disagree with, that is no reason to start calling people names. So grow up.
You make a very poor case for the many players that are supposedly still playing in their late 30s and came up with just the two-not many really in an era when medical advice is so good.
Regarding the great Matthews-read his autobiography and see how hard he trained to keep as fit as he did.Also he was so good that toughtackling defenders hardly ever touched him.
Again you use modern hype when saying that clubs have much larger squads-no they don't.
In years gone by even little Reading had 11 further fully professional players as reserves plus a few more-it could be argued that clubs now have players better equipped to step up to the first team but there were always plenty of players ready to be brought in.
The matter of cortisone injections comes within the whole area of medicare and doesn't warrant further discussion although I do fear the damage caused by the modern magic spray could well produce a new wave of Tommy Smiths.
As for the incentive of the lesser players I addressed that point much earlier.Much as I would like to believe that players were chaffing at the bit to stake a claim for a first team place by all accounts that was not apparent on Saturday and regrettably your romantic view of modern players (and mine before growing older and more cynical) that they are just waiting to grab an opportunity is a rarity rather than the norm.
Ah money.
You quite rightly say that there is now much more around in football and in particular for being in the Premier League.
If it was so important then why the f*** didn't the club spend some of it to make a decent fist of staying there last season?
As for "growing up" hopefully that will never happen and I will continue to care about my and your football team-in the matter of the FA Cup I think our club has brought the competition into disrepute and I don't like it.
) but I can't see where I said anything either about TOP FLIGHT-would you care to point out in a very grown up way and I would then acknowledge any error also in a very grown up way.
