Where has the romance gone?

It was this comment: “Hitman – I don’t care about the No9. They can retire it for all I care now,” posted by Toonsy the other day that has brought about this article.

It was made while we were discussing the report that we were no longer chasing Daniel Sturridge. The actual comment itself is not on trial here, it is something else that has been bugging me for some time now. Toonsy’s comment really made me think that as supporters maybe we are living in an age where the romance has gone out of the game and we will no longer have heroes to call our own.

Football has become such big business that the little things that made it “our game” as fans are slowly being whittled away. Take the famous No9 shirt for Newcastle. Will we ever see another Alan Shearer playing out his career in Newcastle colours? I really believe that we have seen the last of this type of player. He was a true champion that held club loyalty closer to his heart than the search for silverware.

The likes of Cheik Tiote and Hatem Ben Arfa have all the earmarks of becoming Toon legends, but I fear that we will not celebrating them as fondly as we should be in 20 years time. The nature of the game tells us that they will move on before we really get to see them make a huge impact on our team.

In reality though, we are not alone! Every fan of the modern game has the same issue. We need look no further than Porto. Chelsea have taken their manager Villas-Boas and it looks as if it will be followed by a mass exodus of their players. Even the biggest teams in the world ship players in and out at speed. Fan favourite or not, once a player is surplus to requirements, he is moved out.

I really think the current state of professional football reflects modern society. We seem to becoming more detached as some of the things we once held dear become less important. Maybe, it is a case of how much emotion can you invest into something that you have absolutely no control over?

Through it all though, the Premier League has grown in leaps and bounds and is considered one of the most exciting leagues in the world. So where does that leave us? We seem to be growing more and more disenfranchised as fans as the game grows stronger around us.

Is it all just about entertainment - 90-odd minutes of thrills on the weekend? Or is there still room for heroes in the modern game?

Note from Toonsy: Once again, thanks to Aussie Magpie Fan for giving us this article to ponder :)