Football - which team do you support, and why??

I support Bristol Rovers - currently languishing in the basement of league football.

My Dad used to take me along to watch them sometimes (although he was always more of a non-league supporter), and over the years I've spent a few thousand following them the length and bredth of the country. Plymouth to Carlisle, and many grounds in between.

I finally stopped going to matches about 8 years ago, when I got fed up of watching a bunch of overpaid journeymen, who were obviously only there for the pay cheque. At least by spending my hard earned cash on golf, I've only got myself to blame for a crap performance!

I support 2 teams. I seem like a glory hunter right? Well I do have an explanation (sort of)

Arsenal because my old man follows them and its kinda been drummed in from an early age. Also, I remember watching Bergkamp at WC 98 and thinking he was class

Swansea because its where I'm from so its seems natural. Was at Wembley for the playoff final last season, unreal atmosphere!

I'm originally from a Rugby city (Glos) so have supported them most of my life. In terms of football; I'm a Blue Nose; been going to some of the home games for the past 6 seasons or so. Greatest experience was Carling Cup Final at Wembley last year, now languishing in the middle of the Championship, but enjoy the atmosphere at the games.

Ipswich town, born there, played there, and brought up on a diet of football under the legend and gentleman that is/was Sir Bobby Robson. Never forget my younger years on the terraces watching Beattie,Mariner,Wark and also Cooper going a whole season seamingly saving every penalty awarded against us. Being a small town team and winning the FA and UEFA cups. Having the legends Arnold Murhen and Frans Theissen boss the midfield. Happy memories!,

Southampton, I moved down from Scotland and lived there for 20 years, firm believer in supporting your local team rather than 'glory hunting' with the big teams.

Leeds Utd as I was born and lived there most of my life, until 6-years ago, Love watching some premiership sides, but still a Leeds fan. I do however wish that the crook that is Ken Bates would die, and stop raping the club. Still a little shocked about Gary Speed

I have a somewhat split alliegance down to having family from north london and the solent area.

One week my dads dad would take me to highbury to watch Arsenal and the following week I'd goto to Southampton with my mums dad!

Due to that and the fact that went on every week from the age of 6 -14 when I finally got into golf I've never been able to say which one I categorically support! If I were going to a live game now I'd likely goto the emirates for ease of getting to on a train but the first results I look for are the Saints.

My 2 favourite players were and still are Le Tissier and Bergkamp. If Southampton gain promotion again which I sure hope they do and they play Arsenal its going to be a hard call but I'd likely opt for a Saints shirt, having now said that Granddad Mav will be turning in his grave!

Aside from that I have a soft spot for Dortmand as when I lived out in Germany I'd try to get to their games

You never forget your first game and for me that was at Arsenal. Cold December day playing Watford and it finished in a one all draw.

Still got season tickets although I've never sat in my seat at the Emirates, had great seats at Highbury, West stand lower tier opposite the away dugout. My missus says I only married her because she had two season tickets.

Seen some great games and some poor ones. Never forget the year we went to almost every game. That season I saw Di Canio push the ref over and our rude introduction to Champions league football after doing the double.

Good thing about living over here is I get to see more of Arsenal than I did when I was going to every home game. Commentary can be a bit rubbish though.

In my youth I was a bit of a fickle "supporter" and never really settled on one team. Although I live in the South now, I'm a Northerner by birth and I must've had a contrary streak even as a small child as being in the North West all my peers were Manchester fans. First game I ever saw live was Man U against Spurs in abour 1965 yet I've never followed either of them. Instead in those formative years I followed Leeds in the Don Revie era.

Through my later teens and twenties I lost interest in football pretty much completely and when I started to take an interest again I tended to follow favourite players rather than clubs - so dabbled with Everton when Lineker was there (also Gary Stevens who had been at the same school as me). Later, Alan Shearer was a favourite of mine and I followed him when he went to Blackburn - that led to a lot of accusations of glory hunting as it coincided with them winning the league. However I've now settled down in my allegiances and for a long time now, I've followed Arsenal - long enough now I think to say it's no longer just a "fad" - though I'm strictly an armchair fan and I've never been to The Emirate (or Highbury for that matter)

Really only because it's too late to change it to Barcelona, i'm a Villa fan

I'm not from Birmingham or even close, they were just the first pro side i went to watch. Had an uncle who lived in Birmingham when i was a kid and we went to a game. Tony Daley was flying down the wing and that got me hooked.
I used to get up there to watch 5-10 times (always midweek) a season but haven't been for a while now owing to life getting in the way!

That said, the side i have always watched more than any other are Woking. My dad has a season ticket and between the ages of 10 and 18 i went to every single game (collected the programmes and everything!). I probably go now 6 or 8 times a year. I can't say i'm as happy/upset if they win/lose as much as i am about Villa though

I used to be a huge football fan and followed my team (who shall remain nameless) around the country. After 6-7 years of living in the south, I'd had enough of wasting Saturdays travelling and eventually stopped actively supporting the team although there were other reasons for having less interest in them. This is when I took up golf properly in February 2009. I wish I’d given up watching them and started golf earlier.

Last season, some mates and I bought season tickets at Fulham as we missed the feeling of going to the footy on a Saturday (at £285, it was very good value). However, this soon became a chore and the last match I went to was in November and any chance of me re-signing for this season was extinguished when Al Fayed put up the Michael Jackson statue and told fans who didn’t like it to go to hell. I couldn’t associate with a club that has a crackpot as an owner.

I now keep an interest in my local teams (Brighton and Crawley) and occasionally go to matches with mates.

I actually feel over-exposed to football and I detest the idea that my subscription money indirectly goes towards paying players like Tevez and Ballotelli. If it wasn’t for the fact that Sky had very good golf coverage (and F1 from next year), I would cancel my Sky Sports subscription.

Why shall this team remian namesless Merc? Give me some clues

Have to say that I positively detest football (probably the only sport I really hate) so don't support anyone.

I support the mighty Hammers - started off as my elder cousins supported them. Having a pretty good season so far which will hopefully lead to promotion. Gutted about our tonking at Reading at the weekend especially as I have a wager with a Saint from work so it would have been an ideal opportunity to close the gap. Ho hum - nothing is simple being a Hammers fan. Come on you irons

MustPuttBetter wrote:Why shall this team remian namesless Merc? Give me some clues

First and final clue - they're sh!te (so much so that I don't want to remember that I used to follow them so won't mention their name!)

Mav

I played golf with Le Tiss last year at his club. He is very friendly with one of my mates and we had a birthday day out for my pal, I was in the same fourball as Tiss. Top bloke, we had a really good laugh all the way round. I'm due to get him to my place for a return match but not been able to get it arranged yet.

Mercurio wrote:

MustPuttBetter wrote:Why shall this team remian namesless Merc? Give me some clues

First and final clue - they're sh!te (so much so that I don't want to remember that I used to follow them so won't mention their name!)

Sounds like Pompey to me

Was going to suggest West Ham

LadyPutt wrote:Have to say that I positively detest football (probably the only sport I really hate) so don't support anyone.

What is it that you don't like about footie, LP?

MustPuttBetter wrote:Was going to suggest West Ham

West Ham Shite - Never

Del_Boy wrote:

MustPuttBetter wrote:Was going to suggest West Ham

West Ham Shite - Never

Ha ha

I will add that I have a soft spot for Middlesbrough FC (I've even had season tickets there for a couple of years). I used to work in the town around the time they'd just built the stadium and the positivity around the place was infectious.

There's a great music scene in the Boro, too. It's a much-maligned place (wrongly IMO) but I have a lot of fond memories of my time there.

Del_Boy wrote:

LadyPutt wrote:Have to say that I positively detest football (probably the only sport I really hate) so don't support anyone.

What is it that you don't like about footie, LP?

Eye-wateringly overpaid prima donnas who run around the field kicking the ball to each other (why does no-one dribble with the skill of a George Best any more?) and then falling down screaming when they so much as break an eyelash. Give me rugby (a proper men's game - well, it was until the recent Word Cup debacle) any time.

LadyPutt wrote:[why does no-one dribble with the skill of a George Best any more?

Messi
Ronaldo
Bale
Silva

There are plenty that do LP
Can't argue with the prima donna and falling over screaming parts though!

LadyPutt wrote:

Del_Boy wrote:

LadyPutt wrote:Have to say that I positively detest football (probably the only sport I really hate) so don't support anyone.

What is it that you don't like about footie, LP?

Eye-wateringly overpaid prima donnas who run around the field kicking the ball to each other (why does no-one dribble with the skill of a George Best any more?) and then falling down screaming when they so much as break an eyelash. Give me rugby (a proper men's game - well, it was until the recent Word Cup debacle) any time.

Being overpaid, my view is good luck to them if that's the deal they struck. If I could get paid more or was offered more I wouldn't turn it down. Yes, dribbling is a dying art, although there are some in the Best mould (Messi). There are a few who fall down woosing but I think that's life in general now. Any bad luck on anyone let's blame someone else.

Sheffield Wednesday is my team; born and bred on that side of the city and I've supported them for over half a century. I've seen the good times (not many though but I have been to Wembly three times) and suffered the bad times. I enjoyed reading and writing Articles on the old BBC 606 Sheff Weds Board; they were a good crowd that dispersed into the ether.

Good signs this season and hopefully we'll find our way back to glory for the loyalty and commitment from the supporters certainly deserve it.

I noticed in another thread Doc mentioning that he'd played in the Yorkshire league in his younger days. So did I Doc......... for Stocksbridge Works FC in the late seventies.

Yads, Know it I think, isn't that near the place that makes clay pipes? And I was a contributor on the Leeds board at the old 606, and had some great banter with one of your crowd who was always getting involved. It was pretty good, can't remember his handle though, but a good lad.

How do reckon things will pan out under your foreign bandit owner by the way?

Doc wrote:Yads, Know it I think, isn't that near the place that makes clay pipes? And I was a contributor on the Leeds board at the old 606, and had some great banter with one of your crowd who was always getting involved. It was pretty good, can't remember his handle though, but a good lad.

How do reckon things will pan out under your foreign bandit owner by the way?

Yes Doc 'Hepworths' T

he guy I remember from the Leeds board was 'Leedsouth' quality poster. Our Messiah Mandaric is up in front of the beak early next year along with 'Arry' for tax evasion. Hope he doesn't go down otherwise he might have to sell and we'll be back to square one

Yadsendew wrote:

Doc wrote:Yads, Know it I think, isn't that near the place that makes clay pipes? And I was a contributor on the Leeds board at the old 606, and had some great banter with one of your crowd who was always getting involved. It was pretty good, can't remember his handle though, but a good lad.

How do reckon things will pan out under your foreign bandit owner by the way?

Yes Doc 'Hepworths' T

he guy I remember from the Leeds board was 'Leedsouth' quality poster. Our Messiah Mandaric is up in front of the beak early next year along with 'Arry' for tax evasion. Hope he doesn't go down otherwise he might have to sell and we'll be back to square one

We have a problem with foreign owners as they usually leave the club in ruins. Yes Old Trafford seems to be ok, but being nearly a billion in debt could mean implosion at any stage. The Russian could end up being milked in the courts, which could force problems at Chelski, The chicken folk at Blackburn have £20m debt, and need further investment, so expect problems there. Villa have trouble, Birmingham bloke up for money laundering, Pompey in the mire again, Notts County and we could go on and on about it. These people only get involved so that they can use the club to wash their illegal money, because we know football in its present form isn't a business. Who would buy a company that spends more than it earns? err someone who can see that ill-gotten gains can be washed through easily. Why did Bates at our place get a company that is full of faceless, nameless people to buy the club for £1. Then strip the assets, sell the best players, pay peanut wages in comparison and all the cash goes offshore to banana republic shell companies .... Fit and proper my arse

Sunderland fan as born there, or just outside and used to go to matches with my uncle. Grew up just outside of Middlesbrough and they would be the club I dislike the most.

diggers wrote:Grew up just outside of Middlesbrough and they would be the club I dislike the most.

It's unlike you to have a view I find disagreeable, diggers.

If you went to a comp in Redcar full of Boro fans when you were a Sunderland fan then you would understand why I dont have any love for the club.

diggers wrote:If you went to a comp in Redcar full of Boro fans when you were a Sunderland fan then you would understand why I dont have any love for the club.

Funnily enough, the main person responsible for getting me interested in Boro was from Redcar.

MustPuttBetter wrote:

LadyPutt wrote:[why does no-one dribble with the skill of a George Best any more?

Messi
Ronaldo
Bale
Silva

There are plenty that do LP
Can't argue with the prima donna and falling over screaming parts though!

Bale, my God Besty will be turning in his grave!! Not an ounce of the skill that George possessed....

He has pace, but that is where the comparison ends. What an insult!!!

I said he dribbles in the style of Best, not he is as good a player full stop

Dribbling is skill... doesn't dribble anything like Best, Bale pushes and runs, Best turned people inside out with body movement and feints.

yorke10 wrote:Dribbling is skill... doesn't dribble anything like Best, Bale pushes and runs, Best turned people inside out with body movement and feints.

Incorrect
I've plenty of Best's 'greatest hits' and i'd say his style was very much push and run, using his pace. The classic goal v Spurs where he runs all the way accross the box before shooting across goal being a perfect example. Very similar to Bale

In that you are 35 years old, i'm assuming your expertise in Best is coming from the same videos that i have seen? In other words, you've never seen a single game where he didn't play very well? Maybe that never happened........

You underestimate him. He was much more than push and run, watch the swerves of the hip the regularly throws in, Bale hasn't got that to deceive his markers.

Best was skillful no doubt but it wasn't a Messi style of dribble. It was drop your shoulder / hip turn, knock it and get after it.
Bale is very similar as far as i can see. Bale must have something to deceive his markers! If all he did was smash the ball and run after it, i could defend against that! You don't think there's more to him than that and yet he still manages to tear the league's best right backs apart? Hmm.....

Arsenal fan?

More likely Man Utd if 'yorke10' is a reference to a shirt number

Or Villa, on that basis!

MustPuttBetter wrote:Or Villa, on that basis!

Or Blackburn, Birmingham or Sunderland but I'll stick with Man Utd given the George Best comments.

(Typed Blankburn by mistake and was almost tempted to leave it given their current predicament)

Don't think he was ever number 10 at those clubs Jethro as wasn't a starter
I may be wrong about that though

I did see George Best play on a few occasions and he was simply the most exciting player I have ever seen playing live. Having said that Dennis Law, in my view, was the best clinical finisher as well. Both brilliant but entirely different styles. In the case of Best the rest of the Man U team used to give him the ball to give them a rest.

Having said all that I don’t think Best was the best team player for he was a little too greedy, not the most prolific passer either and he would not, in these days, appear very high in the number of assists stats. He was a superb dribbler of the ball with both feet and he used a variety of feigns and other trickery to bamboozle (whatever that means) his opponents.

To compare Best with Bale is a little unfair and premature; Gareth Bale is at the start of his journey and they are different types of players both in physique and technique. Messi on the other hand does in many ways remind me of Best; Messi, in my view is marginally better perhaps because he passes, (not much) but more than George did plus, I don’t think he goes out on the razzle like George did. I would love to see Messi play live.

Bale is great and has a real future if he stays injury free, but you can't compare him to Best. Best was brilliant but not a team player as Yads says, and he could dribble, but was 2nd to Eddie Gray. Eddie was never as quick as best, but beat more players in slow motion, it was awesome to watch. Once watched him beat 7 players before tapping in, and that was televised (Burnley I think) But let us not forget the whore that is Ryan Giggs, as it was majestic watching him in his prime

Chaps, just to clarify, I never said Bale was as good as Best. It's clear he's still young and is nowhere near. What I said was, in response to LPs question as to why no one these days dribbles like Best did, I mentioned Bale as one of a few who can excite in the same way. That's not me saying he's as good as Best?!

Bale is rubbish but I'm a Gooner so you can take that with a pinch of salt

Theo can do the dribble bit quite well though - he's frustrating to Arsenal fans as he seems to play better for England than for Arsenal!

He's a forward that's why Davie!

I've never seen a player less suited to playing right wing! No real skill, just pace. Can't cross, can't pass, can't track back.

Given van Persie's injury record and the lack of other forwards at Arsenal I'm gobsmacked Theo hasn't yet been given a run of games up front

Theo plays much better when be doesn't have to think. If acts on instinct he executes his stuff pretty well. If he has time to think about it he usually man sausages it up. Always threatens to be a great player but I think he just needs to let go and go in the moment.