Football 2017/18

[Nearly Sane]

Ronald Koeman has the total support of the club's board

Anybody want to bet against him being next?

Err, no.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41683786

[jeremyp]

No surprises here, I guess.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41702779

Bring back Big Sam!

[jeremyp]

I've never known a World Cup without Italy in it. This is a bit of a fall from grace for the 2006 winners.

[Nearly Sane]

Sad that Buffon didn't play one last World Cup

[Rhiannon]

http://newsthump.com/2017/11/17/wife-suggests-arsenal-supporting-husband-give-spurs-a-try/

[wigginhall]

http://newsthump.com/2017/11/17/wife-suggests-arsenal-supporting-husband-give-spurs-a-try/

Very good.  My dad was a canny old bugger, and used to watch City, Utd and Oldham.  Well, one of them was usually having a good run.   Proper ecumenical he was.   Mind you, way back some City and Utd players used to be best friends, maybe they are now though. 

[ProfessorDavey]

Very good.  My dad was a canny old bugger, and used to watch City, Utd and Oldham.  Well, one of them was usually having a good run.   Proper ecumenical he was.   Mind you, way back some City and Utd players used to be best friends, maybe they are now though.

Don't get that at all.

Fair enough you can follow a top team and another that isn't in the same league metaphorically (even if occasionally in the same league in reality) but I simply don't get how you can 'follow' (i.e. support) both City and United - they are mutually incompatible, as are Liverpool and Everton, Rangers and Celtic, Arsenal and Spurs ... and Watford and Luton.

And regarding players - they are, of course professional and therefore paid for their allegiance - the allegiance of supporters runs much, much deeper!!

[Rhiannon]

I had a friend years ago who supported both Celtic and Rangers.

[ProfessorDavey]

I had a friend years ago who supported both Celtic and Rangers.

That's just wrong.

I've known plenty of people in Scotland who support their local team plus one of Celtic or Rangers, but never anyone who claimed to support both!!

[Rhiannon]

That's just wrong.

I've known plenty of people in Scotland who support their local team plus one of Celtic or Rangers, but never anyone who claimed to support both!!

We were teens at the time - penfriends - and I didn’t appreciate anything about the sectarianism. I had no idea how odd it is.

[ProfessorDavey]

We were teens at the time - penfriends - and I didn’t appreciate anything about the sectarianism. I had no idea how odd it is.

Regardless of the increased tension of sectarianism in the Celtic/Rangers context the whole point about these rivalries is that you have to plump for one or the other, you cannot support both.

To quote Billy Bragg from Northern Industrial Town:

'And there's only two teams in this town
And you must follow one or the other
Let us win, let them lose, not the other way round'

And it isn't just that you want you team to win - just as important (perhaps more so) is that the other team loses.

[Rhiannon]

Regardless of the increased tension of sectarianism in the Celtic/Rangers context the whole point about these rivalries is that you have to plump for one or the other, you cannot support both.

To quote Billy Bragg from Northern Industrial Town:

'And there's only two teams in this town
And you must follow one or the other
Let us win, let them lose, not the other way round'

And it isn't just that you want you team to win - just as important (perhaps more so) is that the other team loses.

As a WHU fan Millwall is probably our Most Hated, although we aren't supposed to like other London teams either. I really don't care though. And I'll happily cheer on Spurs.

And I've dated a Millwall supporter.

The sectarianism adds a whole new layer though.

[ProfessorDavey]

As a WHU fan Millwall is probably our Most Hated, although we aren't supposed to like other London teams either. I really don't care though. And I'll happily cheer on Spurs.

And I've dated a Millwall supporter.

The sectarianism adds a whole new layer though.

I think every team has one 'most hated' other team. So for WHU Millwall may be the most hated, but that creates a problem because they are divisions below. And how ever much you might try to create a new 'most hated team' it just doesn't really work because it has to reciprocal. So WHU might turn their attentions to Spurs as they rarely play Millwall, but Spurs will shrug their shoulder and murmur 'whatever' as they continue to turn their attention to Arsenal, as they alway have done.

But this is a bit of a London problem due to too many teams as it were, with some effectively 'orphaned' teams, traditionally hating teams that really aren't worth bothering with - e.g. Chelsea and their traditional rivalry with Fulham and WHU with Millwall.

[Rhiannon]

From what I can gather the WHU/Milwall firms organise plenty of, erm, rivalry whether they are playing each other or not. But that’s the lunatic fringe. From what I can tell most WHU fans have transferred their hatred to Chelsea. Well, doesn’t everyone?

[ProfessorDavey]

But that’s the lunatic fringe. From what I can tell most WHU fans have transferred their hatred to Chelsea. Well, doesn’t everyone?

WHU vs Chelsea seems to work well as both are orphaned from their traditional rivals.

Nothing worse and one sided rivalry. As a Watford fan our traditional rivals are, of course, Luton. However it has been a long while since they have come close to Watford's position - indeed spending a number of years outside the football league while Watford have ping-pointed between Premier and Championship. So I suspect that currently Luton hate Watford with a passion (due to their success) while Watford consider Luton to be an irrelevant (due to their failure) - hatred being replaced by pity!

[wigginhall]

I was just thinking that I have watched all the London clubs, depending on where I was living.   But this is not 'support' I suppose.   I watched Chelsea at lot as I lived in Fulham, they were quite mediocre, but the tickets were £7.   That's about the price of a hot dog now.   The Shed end at Chelsea was the most foul mouthed place I have ever been, anyway, I can't afford it now.   We sometimes pop round the corner and watch Fulham, a very nice ground next to the river, team not so good now.

[ProfessorDavey]

I was just thinking that I have watched all the London clubs, depending on where I was living.   But this is not 'support' I suppose.   I watched Chelsea at lot as I lived in Fulham, they were quite mediocre, but the tickets were £7.   That's about the price of a hot dog now.   The Shed end at Chelsea was the most foul mouthed place I have ever been, anyway, I can't afford it now.   We sometimes pop round the corner and watch Fulham, a very nice ground next to the river, team not so good now.

Yes Fulham is a great ground. I remember some years ago being in one of the pubs by the river before heading to Craven cottage to watch them play Burnley (in the old 3rd division I think). It was the same day a six nation rugby fixture and the pub was full of rugby fans preparing to watch the match. They simply couldn't understand why we wanted to go and watch Fulham play football rather than England play rugby!!

When I was spending quite a bit of time in west London I also used to go to Brentford quite a lot - great ground, directly on the flight path to Heathrow so they'd put advertising on the roofs of the stands. Also has a pub on each corner.

[jeremyp]

http://newsthump.com/2017/11/17/wife-suggests-arsenal-supporting-husband-give-spurs-a-try/

the inevitable humiliation, anger, and misery that will entail for Arsenal fans across the country.

Ha ha ha ha.

Football wouldn't be half as funny without Spurs buggering things up on a regular basis.

[jeremyp]

Nothing worse and one sided rivalry.

Most rivalries are one sided. In international football, it's more obvious I think. Scottish supporters think they have a huge rivalry with England, but most England supporters - even now - probably regard Scotland as a minor irritation, certainly not on a parr with such giants as Iceland.

For English supporters, the big rivalry is, of course, with Germany. But, I understand the Germans don't have the same perception. Somebody told me that they are more concerned with the Netherlands.

All this is just so I can quote one of my favourite lines from The Unbelievable Truth.

"England Germany is always a big game, although, for Germany, there are usually bigger games to follow" ~~ Henning Wehn.

[Rhiannon]

Ha ha ha ha.

Football wouldn't be half as funny without Spurs buggering things up on a regular basis.

They do it brilliantly, don’t they? 

I was talking to a friend last night and told him the WHU score and couldn’t get why he was roaring (quite scarily if I’m honest) with laughter.

Then I remembered he’s a Sheffield Utd fan.

Apparently the fans there still sing a sing about a riot after a game against Wednesday in which some supporters died. It happened in 18 something.

[Nearly Sane]

And Pulis sacked


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42041923

[jeremyp]

They do it brilliantly, don’t they? 

I was talking to a friend last night and told him the WHU score and couldn’t get why he was roaring (quite scarily if I’m honest) with laughter.

Then I remembered he’s a Sheffield Utd fan.

Apparently the fans there still sing a sing about a riot after a game against Wednesday in which some supporters died. It happened in 18 something.

I used to work with a Sheffield United fan when they got relegated from the Premier League. Your friend is probably also still bitter about Tevez-gate, when West Ham allegedly played Carlos Tevez illegally, winning the final match of the season in 2007 thus saving themselves from relegation at the expense of Sheffield United.

Anyway, I'm sure you are too sensible to be one of these guys

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-42054350

[Rhiannon]

I used to work with a Sheffield United fan when they got relegated from the Premier League. Your friend is probably also still bitter about Tevez-gate, when West Ham allegedly played Carlos Tevez illegally, winning the final match of the season in 2007 thus saving themselves from relegation at the expense of Sheffield United.

Anyway, I'm sure you are too sensible to be one of these guys

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-42054350

Tevez is exactly why my friend is bitter.

The weird thing about that story is that it's Essex police that are involved, which meant he waited until he got home before ringing the rozzers. At least if he'd rung from the ground they might have been able to arrest various people for fraudulently claiming to be footballers.

[wigginhall]

I had to laugh when I saw that big Sam is heading to Everton, and Pardew to West Brom.   This is like a giant carousel or musical chairs, with the same managers getting up from one chair, and then sitting down in another.   I suppose they collect a nice little earner.   

[Rhiannon]

I had to laugh when I saw that big Sam is heading to Everton, and Pardew to West Brom.   This is like a giant carousel or musical chairs, with the same managers getting up from one chair, and then sitting down in another.   I suppose they collect a nice little earner.

The total lack of imagination is astonishing.

Gutted WHU didn’t hang on for Pulis though.