Standards slipping?

[Milkins]

Introspection... Bugger innit.

For what it's worth, I don't give a tramps kex what people have said.

Except PnC of course...

He was a horse's @rse...

Group hug.

[Pompey Penguin]

I stopped posting on this board many weeks ago, although I still keep an eye on it to see if any trusted posters have commented. I wasn’t going to say anything, but seeing how NSS started this post, I will contribute my thoughts.

I gave up due to the amount of repetitive hate on the board. Hate the players, hate the manager, hate the owners, hate the ground, hate everything. Very soon this just becomes boring.

Of course, every opinion is valid, but only if the person is willing and able to defend that opinion. That means some combination of research, analysis, insight and ideas. Saying player X is rubbish without any thought as to why that is so (fitness, technique, confidence, playing is the wrong position, etc.) is just pointless. Similarly, we all benefit from hindsight, but complaining that the manager got something wrong (substitutions, formation, etc.) is a lot more interesting if there is some explanation of why that didn’t work, if that was predictable or not, and what were the realistic alternatives.

For example, some years ago we had a long discussion as to why David Nugent was consistently excellent in the Championship, but couldn’t make the step up to the PL, and how this applied to the recruitment of players from lower leagues in general. I can’t imagine something similar happening today; witness the standard of posts concerning our strikers this season.

I think it also telling that the back-from-the-game posts have ceased. These were usually long posts about all aspects of the game (mostly away from home), both on and off the pitch and provided a level of coverage that was usually better than that found in The News and other outlets. To an extent they have been overtaken by YouTube posters, but I think there is still a place for in-depth written analysis, especially where the writer is willing to put in that much effort.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an example from a football site, but if anyone is interested in how sports analysis is done well (and entertainingly) I suggest watching a couple of the game analyses from Squidge Rugby on YouTube as this is the standard to which we should aspire (https://www.youtube.com/c/SquidgeRugby ).

All the best to everyone. Enjoy your football; that after all is the point of it all.

[Berkshire Blue]

I have also stopped posting, for the same reasons as PP. I have always enjoyed the variety of views on this board, especially the back from the game posts (often kindly provided by PP and SB), and even did a few, rather poorly, myself from time to time. Seeing the mention of PnC in an earlier post reminded me that he often used to really lay in to posters, players and managers, but nearly always in an amusing way, normally after a few glasses of "an acceptable claret" iirc. I just felt that the level of aggro in some posts was getting too high, and at my stage of life I don't need aggro!

[StMonkton]

The board misses you both. Don’t make these your last posts please.

[Blue Walter]

I hope I am not included, as a relatively new poster, in the category deemed as hateful or in any other unpleasant way. I suppose most of my posts of late can be seen as 'negative' but, unfortunately, that is how I see a lot of the things that surrounds our club at the moment. I am optimistic of the long term prospects of the club but less so leading up to getting there. I have to confess that a lot of my posts can be rather long and, no doubt, can be seen as boring by some (if not all). I am afraid I have always been blighted by not being able to be concise in making a point, so my apologies for that.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

I'll give my 2 cents worth. There is nothing much wrong with having the opinion that Cowley is incompetent / The owners are cheapskates / Team selection is woeful / Substitutions are poor and player X is a waste of money etc etc etc. However, it gets tiresome when the same comments are made time and time again after every game on every other thread so the same arguments go on and on. The last 4 matches alone have had the same arguments / comments even though we won 3 and rescued a draw in the other from 2 goals down. It's kinda like.....I don't care for Trump. It wouldn't be too hard for me to find something stupid he says or did every other day and post it. Pretty soon it gets boring and no ones listening anymore. People stop reading my carp and move on to other things.

[No Shot Sherlock]

I'll give my 2 cents worth. There is nothing much wrong with having the opinion that Cowley is incompetent / The owners are cheapskates / Team selection is woeful / Substitutions are poor and player X is a waste of money etc etc etc. However, it gets tiresome when the same comments are made time and time again after every game on every other thread so the same arguments go on and on. The last 4 matches alone have had the same arguments / comments even though we won 3 and rescued a draw in the other from 2 goals down. It's kinda like.....I don't care for Trump. It wouldn't be too hard for me to find something stupid he says or did every other day and post it. Pretty soon it gets boring and no ones listening anymore. People stop reading my carp and move on to other things.

Did you say something?

[The Cincinnati Kid]

I'll give my 2 cents worth. There is nothing much wrong with having the opinion that Cowley is incompetent / The owners are cheapskates / Team selection is woeful / Substitutions are poor and player X is a waste of money etc etc etc. However, it gets tiresome when the same comments are made time and time again after every game on every other thread so the same arguments go on and on. The last 4 matches alone have had the same arguments / comments even though we won 3 and rescued a draw in the other from 2 goals down. It's kinda like.....I don't care for Trump. It wouldn't be too hard for me to find something stupid he says or did every other day and post it. Pretty soon it gets boring and no ones listening anymore. People stop reading my carp and move on to other things.

Did you say something?

Hello?....anybody there?

[Betelgeuse]

Good points all round. I admit to shooting from the hip at times, especially after games. I always look back and think that maybe I shouldn't have said that, but it's an emotional game isn't it..football. I pretty much know what people's opinion on the manager and ownership is on here so I'm going to refrain from commenting on it too much. But I don't like being classified as a "windup merchant" or disruptive influence just because my opinion doesn't match certain members, and as for being put on ignore...that's arrogance in my book. I don't particularly agree with a few people on here but I never ignore them and I respect their view, even though I might vehemently disagree.

[GreenBlue]

Good points all round. I admit to shooting from the hip at times, especially after games. I always look back and think that maybe I shouldn't have said that, but it's an emotional game isn't it..football. I pretty much know what people's opinion on the manager and ownership is on here so I'm going to refrain from commenting on it too much. But I don't like being classified as a "windup merchant" or disruptive influence just because my opinion doesn't match certain members, and as for being put on ignore...that's arrogance in my book. I don't particularly agree with a few people on here but I never ignore them and I respect their view, even though I might vehemently disagree.

+1

[PeteM]

Agree with what PP and BB posted earlier in this thread about the BFTG posts. Over the last decade or so I've normally been involved in various roles in semi-pro football on a Saturday, so being able to attend Pompey games was a rare pleasure (sometimes!) - and until I was able to watch a player for myself, I'd really enjoy being able to get a considered opinion on the players, manager and tactics. Over time I often found that in particular Selsey Bill's view of a player in particular was similar to mine.

Even though I didn't post then and was just a lurker, it helped me to feel closer to the club and what was going on from afar - so thank you to everyone who contributed to them. I know Pompey Penguin, Selsey Bill and Berkshire Blue all did but if I've missed anyone else out, thank you to you too

And fingers crossed for three points against Oxford

[FatBlueAde]

Ok, so here's my two-penneth worth, this is a great meeting place for this massively disparate group joined by a love of Pompey. Ever since the good ole 606 days there have been disagreements and wind ups (think Guided Missile etc)............but the barb has always been softened with the good humour in which they are delivered and received.

We're a community of Pompey fans, I wish I was at the match every week but the four hour journey means that's not possible........ however I like to think the lifetime of support, watching and listening and sometimes just reading gives me a valid opinion. And that support may be over 45 years, but even if it's a few years or doesn't matter as long we look out for each other an don't jump down each others throats.

Ultimately it's down to Play up Pompey!

[New Forester]

The older I get the more I just ignore stuff that once used to upset me. There are some pretty stupid and unpleasant things said here from time to time but they are completely outweighed by the many intelligent and thoughtful insights of most posters.