The Premier League. Where do your allegiances lie?

[twistedAM]

Dislike: Man City*,
* For the ways their fans have been since the takeover

How have we been? There's quite a lot of different feelings floating around and after five draws we're still the "same old City"
Anyway...

There was a time when a club's success might even have something to do with its supporters (cos they pay to attend, bigger clubs have more revenue and a higher likelihood of success. Hell, there was even some kind of sense of community and the team "belonging" to an area.) I look at Chelsea & Man City now and I wonder how their fans can have any sense of pride in their achievements.

City just needed a little input after all the money they squandered over the past 25+ years starting with Reeves and Daly

But as you know the Big Four have been buffered up for years by UEFA with the spoils they get from the Champions League. That means they were able to buy higher-priced players year after year.

At least City were always a well-supported club even when we did a complete nosedive.

 

[kabbes]

Until about 2000, Chelsea and Man City mirrored each other quite eerily, actually. Throughout my childhood, they always seemed to go down and up together.

 

[yield]

Support: Watford
Like: QPR, Brentford, Arsenal
Respect: Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool
Indifferent: All the others not mentioned
Dislike: Tottenham, Millwall
Hate: Luton, Everton

All leagues obviously

 

[kabbes]

I lived just off Vicarage Road for two years -- I've got a MASSIVE soft spot for Watford!

 

[yield]

I lived just off Vicarage Road for two years -- I've got a MASSIVE soft spot for Watford!

To my shame it's been years since I last went to a game.

 

[tommers]

City just needed a little input after all the money they squandered over the past 25+ years starting with Reeves and Daly

But as you know the Big Four have been buffered up for years by UEFA with the spoils they get from the Champions League. That means they were able to buy higher-priced players year after year.

At least City were always a well-supported club even when we did a complete nosedive.

yeah, I understand that stuff about the top 4 (another reason why it's all so dull), and I'm looking forward to the fall out if Man City get into it... I used to live next to Maine Road in the days of Kinkladze and Rosler.

it's just that any success you may have won't be down to the club, the supporters, "the blue half of manchester" or whatever. It'll be down to some obscenely rich Middle Eastern gentleman.

Now, you're right that that is pretty much the only way to get success these days as the monopoly is so tight but it doesn't make it any better.

 

[poului]

76uy56rf5n4

I pretty much come from the same place as kabbes. My folks' house was pretty much equidistant from Highbury and Stanford Bridge but the then glory-hunting, obnoxious rhetoric of all the Arsenal fans at my primary school pushed me towards supporting Chelsea. As much as I enjoyed their cup win in 98 (?), my level of support for them has been pretty much inversely proportional to how successful they've been. Couldn't have cared less during their league wins, a little more behind them now mainly due to a deepseated hatred of all things Man United.

So sue me.

 

[tommers]

I pretty much come from the same place as kabbes. My folks' house was pretty much equidistant from Highbury and Stanford Bridge but the then glory-hunting, obnoxious rhetoric of all the Arsenal fans at my primary school pushed me towards supporting Chelsea. As much as I enjoyed their cup win in 98 (?), my level of support for them has been pretty much inversely proportional to how successful they've been. Couldn't have cared less during their league wins, a little more behind them now mainly due to a deepseated hatred of all things Man United.

So sue me.

Now come on. We're not Sheffield United.

 

[HobgoblinMan]

Support: Tooting and Mitcham FC
Respect: Didcot Town
Hate: Collier's Wood FC
Really Hate: Boreham Wood

 

[tommers]

Support: Tooting and Mitcham FC
Respect: Didcot Town
Hate: Collier's Wood FC
Really Hate: Boreham Wood

I'll come down tooting with you.

 

[HobgoblinMan]

I'll come down tooting with you.

I think I have a spare pair of knuckle dusters for you when we face the Collier's Wood firm. If we can find an American chap to tag along we could pretend we're in "Green Street".

 

[London_Calling]

I'll come down tooting with you.

Oddly enough and assuming you mean Imperial Fields, I'm there for the only time this season next Monday - supporting the away team

Funny old world.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Not really. Just because a team has a rich owner doesn't mean that it necessarily merits that description. It depends on the way the club is run, whether the new owner starts interfering in the selection of the team or the choice of new players to buy. whether the new owner interferes with or nurtures its traditions and community roots, whether the financial structure of the club or the method by which it was bought puts its existence in jeopardy .... I could go on.

Good: Randy Lerner at Villa, the various owners of Arsenal (though this may change depending on whether someone is able to get outright control), the owners of Spurs (who have run the club very astutely over the last few years).

Jury out: the owners of Citeh and Portsmouth.

Bad: the Glaziers at ManUre, the American comedy duo at LOLverpool, Abramovic at Chelsea.

There's another divide I think - between the owners who run the club as a business and those who pump money in. Obviously the clubs were better off before but Man U and Liverpool are still run as businesses (although you can debate how well) where Chelsea and Man City are money pits now and are totally dependent on their owners.

 

[StanSmith]

Loves: Wolverhampton Wanderers

My "hates" would be Sandwell Town, Brum City, Bolton, Cardiff, Man U