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that's played in the Premier League today is totally different to anything mere mortals can try to achieve. They do things with the ball that look to be a physical impossibility to any normal fan.

I was a member of the junior Hornets supporters club, and that meant I got to meet the players a few times. They were ordinary blokes, and although they were my heroes, they were just like my dad, and the bloke who lived next door. I felt so much a part of the club. I could walk around the ground to say well done to the players when they left the field. They always acknowledged the fans, especially the kids. That is my third suggestion. How can kids today feel part of any club in the Premier League? With exorbitant prices meaning that it is difficult to even get to the games, to having to sit in a seat for the whole game, security measures meaning you can't get near the players, and the knowledge that the players earn as much in a week as it would take your dad to earn in six years, how is it possible to feel like you belong?

In the late 1960s the country was still basking in the glory of the world cup win in 1966. English football was the best in the world and the football at Watford was almost certainly the best in England! I thought so anyway.

The whole experience of going to games back then was wonderful. Standing in the pouring rain, although my memory tells me it was always sunny, can't have been much fun, but I know that I loved it. The noise, the sights, the smells, the banter in the crowd, and the excitement of the game all added up to an experience that I treasured then and treasure to this day.

Soon after I started attending games, football took a massive down turn. Crowd violence took over and led to many of the changes I have discussed here. I don't think the on set of crowd violence was directly related to the fact that I was going to games!

I'm not knocking modern day football and I still enjoy the game, but I just don't think it is the same as it was then. Sky Sports mean that you can see every goal from around the world, every day, if you want to. Back then, it was one or two games on Match of the Day, and one or two games on The Big Match. If you were lucky, there might be an international game on Sportsnight on a Wednesday evening. It all seemed so much more magical because you just couldn't wait for Saturday to come.

I get my football fix now by going to watch my local team Salisbury City who play in the Blue Square Premier League. I can get in for a reasonable price, my young son gets in free, and I can stand up on the terraces. I can even get wet if I want to and stand in the open air. The football is good, but it is far more like real football than the Premier League stuff. In fact, it tends to take me back thirty-nine years. The same can be said for supporting teams in league two and league one. For those reasons, I believe that the football league has more to offer the real fan than the premier league does.

Sadly, my team, Watford, are in the championship. I can't stand up to watch, and it isn't cheap to get in. The players get paid more money than I care to think about. The only positive note is that I am sure I can play as well the players I watch!

Learn more about this author, Graham Fisher.
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