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Soul
Watching football on television is soulless. Fake crowd noise is an abomination. Commentary and punditry destroy the essence of the game and create received opinions which become fact.
Football was best for me when I was younger. Chelsea were very rarely on television and if they were it was only for five or ten minutes on Match of the Day or the Big Match the next afternoon. Players were, apart from a handful, not celebrities. You never heard them speak. They expressed their personality through their play.
The standard of football was poor. Pitches were mud baths. Facilities at grounds were abysmal. And yet it was fun to go along, meet mates before the game, stand with them and enjoy being part of a crowd. Even crap games brought out brilliant humour. Yes there was a dark underside but it was easily avoidable.
Today, we are told what to think about football by Alan Smith and Jermain Jenas, there is no sense of belonging, no rhythm to the crowd. Footballers are all over the papers and we all know what shirts (and underpants) they wear.
The old days are gone and possibly for the better but without crowds no vestige of the past is left. We might as well be watching a couple of 14 year-olds playing FIFA 21.