I AGREE that the football game probably is faster today than in 1973. However, I think Gary Webb (You Say, September 26) and myself are on different wavelengths.
I am really thinking of the period of the late 1920s to mid-1950s when the game was often played at a frantic pace.
Yes, there really was such a time, Mr Webb. And I do believe Stanley Matthews was fitter at 50 then today's pampered, overpaid players are at 20.
I do not talk drivel. I saw the great man just once - that really was magic! Those old-time £8 per week professionals sprang from a population which mostly, of necessity, led Spartan lives of frugality.
People of yesteryear did not booze the night away clubbing in smoke-filled rooms. Football clubs provided only elementary therapy and certainly not "counselling".
No frills. Motivation came from managers whose awesome charisma eclipsed that of sergeant-majors, according to my old army friend!
D E MARGRETT,
Worcester.
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