IMHO,
I think it's general human tendency to think things of the past/their youth are much better than they actually were. It happens to everyone, It is due to positive emotions leave a stronger mental impact than negative emotions and we tend to associate the past with all the pleasant things that happened and forget a majority of the ordinary/negative things. However, we analyze the present objectively leading to critique and admire it equally. This sometimes leads to biased thinking. However people below the ages of 14-15/ and or are very excited do not yet develop/temporarily lose hypothetical deductive reasoning and hence blow up the image of present players and consider them to be obviously better than the past. Both are bad for good debate, but both are also human nature. Sorry for the vague explanation.
I think Coaching is most important at the teenage/late teenage levels to build a foundation for the game of a player but is also important throughout the career of the player as the coach will generally have playing experience and help the player out when he develops flaws.
Physio's help in fitness which directly affects the performance of a player, for instance a fitter bowler might be able to bowl an odd 3k-5k faster than a non-fit player, also fitter batsmen will able to take the cheeky two more often than the opposite. Their importance in fielding and averting injuries cannot be stressed enough.
I am referring purely to the 1970 and 1980s, the 'speed demon' eras, while the batsmen back then had to face extremely accurate AND fast bowling, they did not have to face spinners of the same class as we have had in the 90s-00s or the war eras. This is in no way to undermine the spin quartet, but 4 world class spinners bowling for one country is very different from having such great talent spread out.
and as for the last tid bit, I have been lurking on these forums for only the past 2 days, and your posts have been top class wherever I see them
, but the romanticizing bit is true for most of the elders in India and it was not particularly you I referred to. :P