Football and The Inexorable March of Time

[CJay]

This is something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. I used to be encyclopaedic in my football knowledge - probably between 1998-2012 being able to rhyme off when X happened, who did Y, who managed Z in 2001, etc. But recently I've realised that not only have I lost a lot of that knowledge, but I've also failed to gain anywhere near the same knowledge about the most recent decade of football (say 2012 - 2022). My feeling is that there is simply too much football too often to keep track of, even though I watch far more football now than I did when I was younger. I also wonder is it because I am now the age where I've seen players make their debut and then retire in my football-watching lifetime. I know I'm probably one of the younger members on here, so you've likely all experienced this already. So how have you coped with football in perpetuity? Or is it all simply down to me not playing Football Manager for 8 or 9 years?

And for fun post some stats that have made you feel old.

[Manc]

Fairly certain October comes after September.

[Yevrah]

It's age driven. Probably a combination of caring less because you've seen most things, time passing much quicker the older you get (due to every passing year being a smaller % of your life than the last) and your brain simply being no longer set up to absorb information like a sponge.

[niko_cee]

Getting older means having way more things to do in your life and way less time to play champ manager, which means adios detailed football knowledge.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I kind of like it. There was a time when I would know all the players in a World Cup, barring Costa Rican subs etc. Now I am going in probably not knowing even some players from the bigger nations, and it'll be great to discover them afresh.

[Pepe]

Messi's and Ronaldo's career basically passed me by. I maybe watched ~20 matches of each of them. As for the new players, zero clue.

[Lewis]

There is something to be said for the manc sean proto-dementia approach whereby he just remembers vague phases of Manchester United and specific days out rather than who played for them when and did what. The history of the club therefore goes Eric Cantona, 1999, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rooney and Ronaldo, 'Dawson seeing his arse' in Kiev 2007, Wembley 2011, Patrice Evra scoring off a corner that time, and then the last ten years as a terrible mush.

[Kikó]

Keev was brown underpants for all including Sean. I'm glad I'm not the only one who barely knows anything about football anymore. Most players are a complete mystery.

[Ian]

It's not uncommon for players to be called up for England now that I've either never even heard of (I'm sure there've been a few of those over the last year or two) or at the very least I have zero opinion of them as players or any recollection of having seen them play.

[Raoul Duke]

That kid who played for Arsenal the other day was born after the Emirates Stadium was built

Not knowing some of the England players is one that gets me. The other thing is seeing people who I saw come through as youngsters start managing teams always felt weird.

[igor_balis]

I never really knew anything outside of the albion but it's happened to me there basically cus I stopped going to games. Went to the Chris Brunt XI Vs James Morrison XI testimonial at the weekend featuring randos from ~2002-2015 and I knew all the cunts. Even sherjil MacDonald who played about 15 times for us 15 years ago, mostly as a sub, and never scored. And Goran Popov a left back we had on loan for a couple of years best part of a decade ago who played about the same amount of games as old matey sherjill. Couldn't tell you three players in the current squad.

[Ian]

What on Earth is a Sherjill MacDonald?

[igor_balis]

What on Earth is a Sherjill MacDonald?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherjill_Mac-Donald

There ya go bud