“We all watch an awful lot of football and not all of it is especially riveting. When it’s good, it is exceptional entertainment, but there’s a certain predictability and pattern to everything these days. Most teams do not have any chance of major success and defeats for the elite clubs are like the periodical appearance of a major comet. The game is so heavily marketed and packaged these days that we are frequently told everything is great even when we’ve watched two hours of dross. The most entertaining football I have seen in the past week was The Big Match Revisited, an episode of action from October 1971 when the game seemed so much more innocent than it is today. It’s not just a case of the actual football itself, but also the way the action was analysed and the post-match interviews and reaction from the players and fans. A league defeat in 1971 was never seen as the end of the world by everyone concerned, at least not until the last few weeks of the season. By contrast, elimination from the FA Cup was a calamity because it was sudden death. Today, each and every defeat is greeted by hand-wringing, tears and major inquests. Jobs seem to hang on every result. …”
Game of the People
W – The Big Match Revisited
YouTube: The Big Match Revisted – 33 videos

Leeds vs Liverpool | October 1977