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The 2017-2018 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
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He he he... yeah social commentary on how this thread has turned into an arsenal thread...
He he he... yeah social commentary on how this thread has turned into an arsenal thread...
You know, I recall with an embarrassed clarity my ......almost comfortable complacency the (inexpressibly delightful) year when The Invincibles confidently and reassuringly swept all before them. I remember my feelings of quiet satisfaction, that year.
Yes, I was delighted, and an enormous fan of Mr Wenger, but I was so comfortable and so complacently reassured of Arsenal's excellence, that I actually watched them far less than I should have done.
Perhaps we are back to Nick Hornby's thesis, which is that otherwise suppressed emotions (especially for men) can be expressed though supporting a football team and becoming emotionally invested in doing so: That this is an opportunity for admitting pain - the agony when they contrive to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yet again! - (and expressing occasional rage).
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Raise your glass to yesteryear...?
@Fizzoid and I could go on about the demise our beloved Sheffield Wednesday but we'd be banned for taking up too much bandwidth. True story.
@Fizzoid and I could go on about the demise our beloved Sheffield Wednesday but we'd be banned for taking up too much bandwidth. True story.
De Gea -> Lukaku -> Rashford -> GOAL.
Story of the match essentially.
Story of the match essentially.
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Tell me about it!
Dominate the first half, but no goals. Then surrender meakly in the second half!
And don't even get me on the idiots on the pitch. There is a time and a place guys. This is not the way to do it.
Liverpool strangely flat today, and undone by long balls to Lukaku (who was effective with them, to be fair). I'm too angry to assess this match with even a shred of objectivity. I hate Mourinho.
Shameful.
But, you put a crap product on the pitch there is only so much fans can take. They're not right in their actions though.
How do you think I feel? It is my team and I have put up with him! God is testing me.
There are better ways to protest.
I agree with @Apple fanboy; a poor performance from the team does not justify this display of thuggery.
Columbus 3-2 Montreal
Columbus save my weekend by winning their (final?) home opener with a last-kick-of-the-match penalty. #SaveTheCrew
Seriously ugly scenes at West Ham...no matter how bad the club is being run, it is never an excuse for behaving like a moron.
When will fans learn that virtually the ONLY way to send an effective message to the owners is to stay away from the match in droves, and stop buying merchandise? Just once, I would love to see fans protest an owner/board by giving them an empty stadium for nationally televised matches. Quips Sharpied on to A4 paper or bed sheets won't do it, and behaving like a thug certainly won't either.
Columbus save my weekend by winning their (final?) home opener with a last-kick-of-the-match penalty. #SaveTheCrew
Seriously ugly scenes at West Ham...no matter how bad the club is being run, it is never an excuse for behaving like a moron.
When will fans learn that virtually the ONLY way to send an effective message to the owners is to stay away from the match in droves, and stop buying merchandise? Just once, I would love to see fans protest an owner/board by giving them an empty stadium for nationally televised matches. Quips Sharpied on to A4 paper or bed sheets won't do it, and behaving like a thug certainly won't either.
What happened at London Stadium is shameful and already has gotten inquiries from BOTH the Premier League and Football Association officials.
I'd agree staying away is one way to go. However when all the seats are season tickets, it doesn't hurt the owners pocket all that much.
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As well it should. And I'm a West Ham fan. Unfortunately some of the others are morons.
To a degree every team has fans like that.
West Ham fans have a bit of reputation though don't they?
I can't think of any professional team fans like that in the US though. Stop me if I'm wrong.
We have idiots like that at the kids recreational team level and travel team levels. True story.
I'm afraid our fans do have a reputation and for all the wrong reasons. But we're not all like that!
US sport has never (at least in the modern era) had the hooligan problems that football (in particular) has in Europe. That is not to say there are never drunken fights or bad behavior at US sporting events. But organized thuggery in the form of firms or ultras is almost nonexistent.
Back in 2008 there was a scuffle between fans when West Ham played a friendly against Columbus Crew in Crew Stadium. The reports in the papers made it sound worse than it was, and the police response was unnecessarily heavy-handed (a helicopter become involved at one point, and at least one Columbus fan ended up being tazered by police in the parking lot after the match). It all stemmed from a single, shirtless, tattooed West Ham "fan" walking into the Nordecke and dumping a beer on several Crew supporters. A few more West Ham fans joined in the resulting discussion, fisticuffs ensued, at least one person (presumably the "fan" who started it) was arrested, and a few scattered fights broke out after the match in the parking lot.
It was one of the very few times I recall an altercation happening during a Crew match that was serious enough to warrant media attention. I never did find out if the West Ham "fans" involved were all Americans, or whether some were actually from the UK.
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Not in the short term, but the ONLY thing owners care about is money (and, perhaps to a lesser extent, public image). If the fans could keep the stadium half empty for months, or even just a few weeks, it would affect the bottom line and create some very negative optics for the club suits. As it is, fan "marches" and match-day banners are easily ignored.
I've never understood why supporters' groups, which in some cases are reasonably well organized, have never attempted a fan "strike".
Newcastle supporters would be an ideal group for this. Once you really start costing that walking pile of excrement Mike Ashley some money, he might become less aloof.
Back in 2008 there was a scuffle between fans when West Ham played a friendly against Columbus Crew in Crew Stadium. The reports in the papers made it sound worse than it was, and the police response was unnecessarily heavy-handed (a helicopter become involved at one point, and at least one Columbus fan ended up being tazered by police in the parking lot after the match). It all stemmed from a single, shirtless, tattooed West Ham "fan" walking into the Nordecke and dumping a beer on several Crew supporters. A few more West Ham fans joined in the resulting discussion, fisticuffs ensued, at least one person (presumably the "fan" who started it) was arrested, and a few scattered fights broke out after the match in the parking lot.
It was one of the very few times I recall an altercation happening during a Crew match that was serious enough to warrant media attention. I never did find out if the West Ham "fans" involved were all Americans, or whether some were actually from the UK.
[doublepost=1520730606][/doublepost]
Not in the short term, but the ONLY thing owners care about is money (and, perhaps to a lesser extent, public image). If the fans could keep the stadium half empty for months, or even just a few weeks, it would affect the bottom line and create some very negative optics for the club suits. As it is, fan "marches" and match-day banners are easily ignored.
I've never understood why supporters' groups, which in some cases are reasonably well organized, have never attempted a fan "strike".
Newcastle supporters would be an ideal group for this. Once you really start costing that walking pile of excrement Mike Ashley some money, he might become less aloof.
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We don't have the "organized" firms or ultra groups for our professional teams. The reason is simple: it costs a small fortune to have season tickets, even in the so-called "lower cost" upper level seating. Especially at the more modern stadiums/arenas, where fans have to pay both a personal seat license and season ticket price.
wow!
Arsenal should play Watford every weekend!
My very thoughts.
That's part of it, but there are also some deep historical/cultural reasons. Watching football in Europe can also be very expensive. Modern sports teams in the US are far more corporate and detached from class/political identity than a lot of European clubs are. European cities with two teams often reflect a politically left/right, religious, or working class/middle class divide. This tension fuels animosities that can linger long after the original sources of division have lessened or disappeared. You don't really see that in the US or if you do (as with the kneeling protests in the NFL), they play out in the sport more broadly and not between teams.
Well as they are only 2 points behind us, I hope they don't get anyone good in!
Glad to see Man City didn't slip up against Stoke. Having to look to others results as we don't seem to be able to help ourselves.
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