Not a beautiful game these days

LAST week’s article about Stanley Matthews (The Title, January 29), a soccer hero for many in decades long gone, was a pleasant reminder of the ‘good old days’ of association football.

In more recent times I learned a lot about the great man in his enthralling memoir.

The featured an excerpt about Matthews being admonished by the English FA for claiming expenses for tea and a scone on the way to an international match in Scotland – an example of the difference between the way top players are treated then and now.

It is a disgrace that the star performers in present times get (not earn) more money than prime ministers. For many older fans, footballers like Matthews and his ilk were more admirable than the current crop.

Noel Coogan, Woodview, Navan, Co. Meath.