Shearer and Newcastle

[User482]

It's the 'grim provincial' clubs that have always been the backbone of British football. You are just being a snob, User482.

Nothing to do with snobbishness. When you're used to playing (and even, on occassion, beating) the top clubs, watching us get beaten at Oldham Athletic (which I have done) was quite a comedown. I would have thought that this is fairly simple to understand.

 

[dellzeqq]

Anyway, back to the topic. The most important thing that happened to the Toon this week ..... but the departure of the odious (and useless), Dennis Wise and the announcement that his spurious post was not going to be replaced.

Absolutely. One of these days someone will tell me what Ashley was thinking of in appointing this man.

 

[Chris James]

As a Hammers fan, I've suffered more than my fair share of relegation trauma over the years! It can be pretty soul destroying - away to grim provincial clubs on a wet February Tuesday night, 10,000 watching and the oppostion trying to kick you up in the air rather than play football. On the plus side, you win a lot more games than in the premier league.

As an Everton fan I have never had to drop a division

In fact since the formation of the football league Everton have only been out of the top flight for a total of four seasons, fewer than any other team.

I doubt that Newcastle fans are jealous of Leeds success. Although Moses was probably still alive when Newcastle last won anything, their list of honours is better than Leeds (4 league titles vs 3, 6 FA cups vs 1)

Anyway, Newcastle fans of any standing are used to being relegated. My in laws are season ticket holders so it will be interested to see if the much vaunted loyalty extends to actually renewing their tickets!

 

[Crackle]

As an Everton fan I have never had to drop a division

You damn well cut it close a few times before Moyes arrived. Last game of the season one year if I recall.

 

[User482]

As an Everton fan I have never had to drop a division

In fact since the formation of the football league Everton have only been out of the top flight for a total of four seasons, fewer than any other team.

I doubt that Newcastle fans are jealous of Leeds success. Although Moses was probably still alive when Newcastle last won anything, their list of honours is better than Leeds (4 league titles vs 3, 6 FA cups vs 1)

Anyway, Newcastle fans of any standing are used to being relegated. My in laws are season ticket holders so it will be interested to see if the much vaunted loyalty extends to actually renewing their tickets!

Everton are a curious one - they only sporadically challenge for titles & cups, yet as you say, are hardly ever relegation candidates. I think Moyes has done a fantastic job in recent years.

Flying Monkey must be positively looking forward to relegation. Then he can go and watch his team play the clubs he's been getting all misty-eyed about.

 

[Watt-O]

Alan "Elbows" Shearer has hired the Ian "The Rocket Scientist" Dowie, thus guaranteeing demotion.

 

[Keith Oates]

A good player doesn't mean he'll be a good manager but let's give him a chnace and se what he can achieve. For sure his heart will be Black and White which should help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[User482]

Alan "Elbows" Shearer has hired the Ian "The Rocket Scientist" Dowie, thus guaranteeing demotion.

There's a great story about Dowie when he was "playing" for West Ham. In a pre-season friendly, the fans were getting on his back because he hadn't scored for about 3 years. Harry Redknapp (then manager) invited one of said fans to see if he could do any better. Said fan came on to the pitch and scored...

 

[Chris James]

You damn well cut it close a few times before Moyes arrived. Last game of the season one year if I recall.

Erm, two years actually!

94 vs Wimbledon, where the Wimbledon team were greeted to Merseyside by having their bus burned out the day before the match. Despite Anders Limpar's best efforts at catching the ball in his own penalty area and gifting a penalty we still managed to scramble a win. Conspiracy theories about Hans Segers being given a bung were never proved. Well known 'hard man' Vinny Jones said he had never been so scared in his life!

I was out of the country at the time and was given teh news when we landed in Prague. I couldn't believe it as our form was so bad I thought we would definitely go down.

A couple of years later I remember Sam Hamman being introduced on the PA system at Goodison and thanking the fans for not setting fire to their bus this time!

The other time was vs Coventry in 1998. Apparently I was on telly waving a placard. I actually lost my voice before the game had even kicked off due to alcohol fuelled 'support'. The game ended a draw but Bolton were relegated after being beaten by Chelsea if I recall. I rememeber half the ground were singing 'Vialli, Vialli' after we contrived to allow Coventry an equaliser.

There was an absolutely massive pitch invasion at the end, with just about all the Street End and Park End ending up on the pitch.

Actually, other than winning the league and FA cups, the Coventry game is one of my all time favourites. Goodison can be a total bear pit on occasion.

 

[Chris James]

Everton are a curious one - they only sporadically challenge for titles & cups, yet as you say, are hardly ever relegation candidates. I think Moyes has done a fantastic job in recent years.

Historically Everton have been fairly consistently successful, with occasional purple patches. I think I am right in saying we have won either the league, FA cup or both in every decade since the 1890s, except the 1950s.

It looks likely that the 2000s will go down as a barren decade (although we are in this years FA Cup semi, so you never know).

I am 37 and have seen Everton win 2 league titles, 2 FA cups and the European Cup Winners Cup. Few supporters of other teams would have been as fortunate as me. (I missed out on another league title by 12 months!)

Football's finances have changed beyond all recognition though. No-one outside Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have won the league for 20 years - and in the case of Liverpool it was 19 years ago! - the funding of the Champions League seems designed to ensure this continues to be the case.

 

[User482]

Historically Everton have been fairly consistently successful, with occasional purple patches. I think I am right in saying we have won either the league, FA cup or both in every decade since the 1890s, except the 1950s.

It looks likely that the 2000s will go down as a barren decade (although we are in this years FA Cup semi, so you never know).

I am 37 and have seen Everton win 2 league titles, 2 FA cups and the European Cup Winners Cup. Few supporters of other teams would have been as fortunate as me. (I missed out on another league title by 12 months!)

Football's finances have changed beyond all recognition though. No-one outside Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have won the league for 20 years - and in the case of Liverpool it was 19 years ago! - the funding of the Champions League seems designed to ensure this continues to be the case.

Yes, it's sad that a club like Everton (large fanbase, historically successful) are unable to challenge for the league with finances as they are today.

You have forgotten that Blackburn won the title, although of course they were very generously bankrolled.

In my lifetime (I'm 30), West Ham have won one FA Cup, once a finalist, once a league cup finalist, relegated 4 times and promoted 4 times. It's rarely dull!

It's a sign of the change in power balance in the game that the last team to win the cup outside of the top division was West Ham in 1980. Though we did come mighty close in 2006...

 

[PaulB]

I don't live in London. If you can't see that playing (for example) Doncaster holds less appeal for a Hammers fan than playing Man U, Liverpool et al, then we're poles apart.

Manchester and Liverpool are both in the "provinces" from a That London perspective. Like I say, maybe they should form a That London league so you can all show off your European cups. Oh aye, silly me, just remembered, Liverpool have 5 European cups and That London has a combined total of nil between them. Brian Clough on his own won more than the entire might of teams from the crapital and even Whiskey-nose Alcky Ferguson has won two. Nice to see your lot keeping your end up. Then again, the 'ammers did win the world cup didn't they?

 

[Chris James]

You have forgotten that Blackburn won the title, although of course they were very generously bankrolled.

Oh yeah, and Leeds in 92. I think I got a bit carried away with my argument there.

 

[rich p]

Manchester and Liverpool are both in the "provinces" from a That London perspective. Like I say, maybe they should form a That London league so you can all show off your European cups. Oh aye, silly me, just remembered, Liverpool have 5 European cups and That London has a combined total of nil between them. Brian Clough on his own won more than the entire might of teams from the crapital and even Whiskey-nose Alcky Ferguson has won two. Nice to see your lot keeping your end up. Then again, the 'ammers did win the world cup didn't they?

What a lot of vitriolic tosh. Naturally most fans would want their team to be in the top flight playing the top teams. User482 wasn't being London-centric, he was merely saying that 'stam' fans would rather travel to Manchester, Liverpool and Wigan in the premier than Carlisle or Brighton in Div2. The reverse would be true if Brighton were in the Premier but that''s only going to happen in land of the fairies.

 

[User482]

What a lot of vitriolic tosh. Naturally most fans would want their team to be in the top flight playing the top teams. User482 wasn't being London-centric, he was merely saying that 'stam' fans would rather travel to Manchester, Liverpool and Wigan in the premier than Carlisle or Brighton in Div2. The reverse would be true if Brighton were in the Premier but that''s only going to happen in land of the fairies.

Quite. That was the only point I was making. Still, PaulB got a chance to display his egregious inverse snobbery...