I Could Not Help But Snigger Looking At The Footy Results

[Cletus Van Damme]

He spoke to the beeb after the game yesterday and I though he was reasonable (unlike Mourinho after real madrid and barca last year )

I agree, I watched the highlights and I was surprised that he was speaking again and was actually quite gracious in defeat. As I say I haven't watched footy for around 2 years now and thought he was still not talking to the bbc. I used to love it when Sky used to interview him and they had been beaten by one goal or something by one of their biggest rivals (Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool), he just could never accept defeat, always blamed the ref and Man U had been the better team etc. I guess he had to tell the truth getting slaughtered 6 - 1 though. My wife has family from Stretford and I know that that result will have been like a death in the family lol.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

I never cared much for Man U, but gloating when they have just been thrashed by a "team" put together by an oil billionaire seems an odd position to take.

Not really, I thought Man U were/or used to be the richest club in the world. Maybe they have had a decent manager (even if he is a knob) but they have only been so dominant due to the vast funds that they have. Maybe in the 90's they had some home grown talent but that ended ages ago. I was always more impressed with Arsenal when they were awesome and went through a season unbeaten. Yes they spent a bit of cash but not as much as United did, mainly down to picking decent young players before they became famous and very expensive. But I agree with you, the way that money dominates football has been one of the main reasons that I stopped watching it, was far to predictable. But I doubt that I will loose any sleep if City start to dominate due to money, United have done it for long enough.

 

[User482]

It's fair to say that man u do more to develop young talent than city, who are attempting to buy a title a la chelsea.

 

[Maz]

Any Leicester City Fans here? I have just heard this on the news.-----http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15438896.stm

*sheepishly raises hand in the air* (cos Blades are my No.1 team)

I was shocked at the sacking. Apparently Martin O'Neil is in the running to take over.

 

[User482]

*sheepishly raises hand in the air* (cos Blades are my No.1 team)

I was shocked at the sacking. Apparently Martin O'Neil is in the running to take over.

Seems to be the way these days. Clubs never learn from arsenal or man u.

 

[al78]

[QUOTE 1587713"]
For me it's the dishonesty of the whole thing. People choosing to support something already successful that's really just a business in a better position than any other team to remain at the top.

Trying to achieve personal success by choosing to support the most successful football team is a bit sad.
[/quote]

So is making sweeping cynical speculations about peoples motives for supporting a particular team.

Bit like saying cyclists are either poor or strange.

 

[yello]

I'm not interested in soccerball, but for some reason I love it when United get a good kicking.

I think there's a great deal of that.

Man U are the epitome of football for many, and perhaps more so the non-fan, so Man U being beaten becomes a victory for the dislike of football. I can understand a virulent dislike for football btw, Football is everywhere. If your not interested then it does get annoying to have it creeping into your daily life whether you want it or no. Can make you feel like a non-person for having no interest.

FWIW, I can understand people not liking it more than I can understand the sham fan.

Like CH, I prefer Arsenal to Man U in terms of style of play and bringing players on. That's a testimony to Wenger who, coincidently, is not the most press friendly of managers also! Not quite sure what's happened at Arsenal this season. Seems odd that Wenger was caught out in the transfers market. I feel there's more to it than oversight. I do hope they re-established themselves. I don't want the premier won by cheque books alone.

 

[dellzeqq]

A helpline has been set up for man united fans, it is 0161 61 61 61.

Wonderful!

I think you're allowed to support whatever club you want. I go to a barber's staffed by people from Ghana, Jamaica and Cote D'Ivoire. They support, without any good reason, Liverpool, Arsenal, Fulham and Chelsea. Their knowledge of football is extraordinary - I could go up there this morning and ask for the names of Sampdoria's managers from 1985 onward, and someone would work it out. Their understanding of the game is far, far greater than mine. Still and all, they never get to see matches - they're working, and the tickets are too expensive. They even missed the last Ghana 'home' game at Loftus Road because it sold out in ten seconds flat. Why shouldn't they light on a successful team and invest a bit of hope in to it?

For that matter, why shouldn't pudgy young men from East Grinstead try and be a part of something wonderful, and make the train journey to Manchester every two weeks in the company of other pudgy young men from East Grinstead? Whatever one thinks of Manchester United's referee-baiting they have put on some sublime shows over the years, and I can well imagine the joy of recollecting the 7-1 trouncing of Roma. Now a little pain and no small amount of trepidation has entered their hearts (I think City are here to stay) and that will prepare them in some small way for the wider world (even if it in no way makes them more attractive to women.....)

 

[Inertia]

I think you may be being a tad disingenuous there inertia. Banter, absolutely, but whilst it may not be deeply held belief for many I do think football rivalries and hatreds most definitely exist.

My only caveat is that I don't, if I'm honest, really get aspects of English humour. Particularly the cynical stuff that seems to take pleasure in failure and misfortune. I do find that both confusing and unsettling.

Im not being disingenuous, Im a Liverpool fan and I don't hate Man U, I want them to lose yes, badly even, but I don't hate them, why would I hate them? I do like poking fun if they lose (which isn't often) just as they do to me. The rivalries and the history between clubs is all part of football, takes those out it becomes very boring. Ive lost a lot of interest in football just because of how the players behave, never mind the fans.

I don't agree that rivalries and hatred are synonymous though. Sadly though there are some idiots who DO hate the other club and fans etc but Id say they are the minority and no reason to spoil everyones fun. I'm not sure this humour is restricted to England though.

 

[yello]

Sadly though there are some idiots who DO hate the other club and fans etc but Id say they are the minority and no reason to spoil everyones fun.

Yes, that was my point and I'm glad you acknowledge it. Well, not glad, I'd rather such attitudes didn't exist obviously but glad we're in agreement about it.

I was a regular at Leicester City for a number of years many years ago. I'd meet up with a bunch of people pre match for a drink etc. I loved the humour, the piss taking, the gentle rivalries. It was, as you say, part of it all. And yes, rivalry and hatred are not the same.

As a Leicester supporter, you were supposed to 'hate' Nottingham Forest. I played the game obviously but actually used to really like to watch Forest (under Brian Clough then) play. One of the most complete and attractive teams of the era. But I'd never actually say that, that was serious and not part of the laugh you were having. So I'm kind of aware of the pretend hating, if you want to call it that - the craic to use Irish expression.

But there were nutters that did hate, and genuinely so, as you say. I couldn't understand that and still don't. But I wasn't born and raised with it nor was I part of that environment.

Obviously, both rivalry and hatred exist across the world. I wasn't suggesting it was only a British trait. The British do though, ime, have a cynical and negative humour (I don't mean 'negative' pejoratively btw, and I wish I could find another word). I only meant to suggest that perhaps that humour sprung from the same place as the delight in a team's defeat - where the person is neither a supporter of a rival team, nor even a fan of the sport.

On an emotional level, the results of Man U don't effect me. It's interesting in terms of the footballing dynamic (if I can phrase it like that) but they don't make me smile or cry. I can understand Man C (and maybe Leeds) taking pleasure - and obviously fans of teams around them in the table - but not really wider than that. And certainly not people who don't even follow football. That, I simply can't understand. I obviously appreciate that it happens but I can't work out where it comes from.

 

[Inertia]

Yes, that was my point and I'm glad you acknowledge it. Well, not glad, I'd rather such attitudes didn't exist obviously but glad we're in agreement about it.

Well I didn't mean to suggest they didn't either. I don't understand it myself, Ive met people who are very bitter footballwise beyond any sense IMO. One lad I knew was VERY emotionally upset and angry at Liverpool fans for an event before he was even born, said he hated them and when I quizzed him on it he just said "oh I dont mean you obviously".... yes I thought just every OTHER Liverpool fan. I gave up.

Most people I talk to like to have a laugh and poke fun at each others teams but thats all it is fun. I guess I was just trying to tell people to not take the jibes too seriously, and I wasn't pointing at you

I was a regular at Leicester City for a number of years many years ago. I'd meet up with a bunch of people pre match for a drink etc. I loved the humour, the piss taking, the gentle rivalries. It was, as you say, part of it all. And yes, rivalry and hatred are not the same.

As a Leicester supporter, you were supposed to 'hate' Nottingham Forest. I played the game obviously but actually used to really like to watch Forest (under Brian Clough then) play. One of the most complete and attractive teams of the era. But I'd never actually say that, that was serious and not part of the laugh you were having. So I'm kind of aware of the pretend hating, if you want to call it that - the craic to use Irish expression.

But there were nutters that did hate, and genuinely so, as you say. I couldn't understand that and still don't. But I wasn't born and raised with it nor was I part of that environment.

Obviously, both rivalry and hatred exist across the world. I wasn't suggesting it was only a British trait. The British do though, ime, have a cynical and negative humour (I don't mean 'negative' pejoratively btw, and I wish I could find another word). I only meant to suggest that perhaps that humour sprung from the same place as the delight in a team's defeat - where the person is neither a supporter of a rival team, nor even a fan of the sport.

On an emotional level, the results of Man U don't effect me. It's interesting in terms of the footballing dynamic (if I can phrase it like that) but they don't make me smile or cry. I can understand Man C (and maybe Leeds) taking pleasure - and obviously fans of teams around them in the table - but not really wider than that. And certainly not people who don't even follow football. That, I simply can't understand. I obviously appreciate that it happens but I can't work out where it comes from.

Well if people dont even support any team at all thats makes no sense to me either Well no more sense than cheering on one bunch of overpaid pre madonnas taking on someone else's expensive pre madonnas who have no sense of the world the rest of us live in.

Anyway after all that I think we generally agree, I just took exception to being lumped in with the nutters

 

[yello]

I just took exception to being lumped in with the nutters

My apologies. That wasn't what I intended to do.

 

[Glow worm]

For that matter, why shouldn't pudgy young men from East Grinstead try and be a part of something wonderful, and make the train journey to Manchester every two weeks in the company of other pudgy young men from East Grinstead?

Maybe though if the pudgy folks of East Grinstead (and of course Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, Dorset, Yarmouth, London etc etc.....) spent a bit more time supporting their local clubs rather than glory hunting, there may not be so many smaller clubs going to the wall. Surely the real passion for the game comes from supporting the club you grew up near, the place you are from, the club your old man took you to as a kid - not the one that's on the telly a lot, does rather well and is 300 miles away?

It just seems these people are just seeking ways of making up for their own inadequacies in life by latching on to something successful, no matter how remote. Maybe the fact that most of Utd's fans are from here there and everywhere explains the fact that a crowd of 75,000 can make a morgue sound atmospheric! (Do they ever sing anything at all there?!) Give me Carrow Road any day, through thick or thin, (and it is usually thin).

Even if Norwich were relegated to the Rigeons League, I'd love them just as much, no matter what. I suspect that our friends in E. Grinstead, should the same fate befall Man Utd, (what a delicious thought!), would soon pop up at Anfield or Stamford Bridge.

 

[dellzeqq]

GW - I can't disagree with a word you write. It would, of course, be wonderful if we all supported our local teams, but we're a rootless bunch these days, and, to be fair, most of us seek to identify with stuff that embodies our aspirations rather than who we are or where we come from.

And then there's this from the Telegraph


87 min Young with another cross from the right. Where's Hernandez? That's his zone! Instead, Hart gathers quite easily. According to Peter Odoyo in Nairobi, someone is reading this blog and then shouting it out to an assembled audience. "Keep the prose flowing," he writes. "We have a loudmouth here screaming your words to the audience. No megaphone."

Of course the biggest loser (if anybody on £250,000 a week can lose...) is Carlos 'not tonight, Roberto' Tevez. He has gone from Manchester City's best player to fourth choice striker, and Silva, Balotelli, Dzeko and Aguero look like they can do the job without him.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

As for Tevez, what a sad lack of judgement.

I don't think he is allowed to exercise any.

Trevez is someone's property, a cash machine for his owners and programmed to do their bidding.