Football

But that was a better performance than Gerrard's ex England team mate, Frank Lampard. 'Fat' Frank took Everton from the heights of 16th place when he was appointed to .... 16th place. And that journey sounded like more of a rollercoaster for the Everton fans than Villa's was!

Whilst undeniably true, that stat doesn’t tell anything like the whole story. Lampard took over a team on a serious downward trajectory. One win in 14 games, 5 points out of a possible 42. We’d just lost to Norwich, comfortably the worst side in the league. If we’d stuck with Benitez we’d definitely have been relegated. That’s not to say Lampard has been tactically perfect, he hasn’t, but he’s united the fans like no manager I’ve known, which in itself is quite the feat.

he’s united the fans like no manager I’ve known, which in itself is quite the feat

Fuck me. Good luck next November when you’re 16th with 8 points out of 30.
Trolling aside, I liked his first season with us but the way he ignores defence is criminal, he also rubs me up the wrong way. Comes across as a total Smug tory twat.

Fuck me. Good luck next November when you’re 16th with 8 points out of 30.
Trolling aside, I liked his first season with us but the way hi ignores defence is criminal, he also rubs me up the wrong way. Comes across as a total Smug tory twat.

I'll be honest, I'm still a fair bit sceptical of him and I also still hate him a bit cos he scored the winner in the 2009 FA cup final. He was handed a bit of a thankless task with us, but he made some pretty basic tactical errors, playing a high line away at spurs was amongst the worst but he did change tactics in enough time to save us from the drop.

However he does seem to get what the fans are about, what the club is about and he got all the fans on board for the last month or two of the season. Crowds out to welcome the team coach, flares, smoke bombs, chanting the whole match, not seen anything like it. I do slightly struggle to warm to him, some of his post match interviews where he blamed the players grated a lot and there was virtually no 'I got that call wrong' admissions. Which there could have been, cos he got plenty wrong. Be interesting to see how it all pans out next season, apparently he's after Anthony Barry from the chelsea coaching staff.

Like jaw hos 1st season was fun but after that he reminded me a bit of tactics Tim sherwood a bit out of hid depth and with the idea of run about a bit and it will be OK. I hope he can learn from his experiences at chelsea but if he can't and let's hos ego rule its gonna be a bumpy ride.

Genuinely interested, what did he actually do that you feel united the fans? From the outside it looks that it was the predicament that did that, which he was at least partly responsible for. He seems clueless and charmless, which isn't a winning combination. Plus the very fact Everton were down there with the amount spent in the past few years is genuinely criminal, although appreciate not much of that at his door...

Well I think his biggest draw was that he wasn’t Rafa Benitez. And after that he wasn’t Vitor Pereira (the Joorabchain stooge no one wanted). Then he said a few things which pleased the fans - some of which I can’t really find legitimate sources for. As you say it was partly the predicament but it was also that this was a predicament started unquestionably by Benitez. Finally, he kept us up and in the most dramatic of circumstances. Felt like we’d won a cup final. That’s the madness of football, Leicester and West Ham went deep into Europe but failed to make a final. The irons missed out on Europa league on the last day. They probably feel more disappointed than we do, despite doing massively better than us. It’s just the daft psychology of the football fan and I’m fully on board with it.

He seems clueless and charmless, which isn't a winning combination

More fan psychology. It’s much easier to support someone when they’re in your corner and wearing your colours. Luis Suarez looked like a diving, cheating, biting racist to the rest of the league. But Liverpool fans backed him to the hilt. The team came out wearing t-shirts with him on.

This sounds very familiar to Arsenal fans with Emery and Arteta. Our cup final came against Wolves.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/24/government-did-encourage-premier-league-to-approve-saudi-newcastle-takeover

Fuck me is there anything that fucking sociopath won't lie about?

That’s as grim a read as anything. This government is an embarrassment on society and plenty of people seem to be okay with that.

So it’s official, we’ve got new owners at Chelsea.

and breathe.

come on feyenoord

The Etonians, Harrovians, Wykehamists, Westminster and St Paul's alumni I know seem to be Arsenal to a man. Also, posh celebs from Jeremy Clarkson to Jeremy Corbyn.

Clarkson, sadly, has a season ticket at Chelsea.

Also not sure it is fair to criticise Corbyn for supporting the club which is located in his constituency and which is a very short walk from his home.

Must have confused Clarkson with Piers Morgan.

Not criticising Corbyn, per se. Just saying he is privately educated and supports Arsenal.

Corbyn didn't move to London until he was in his 20s and seeking political office as a man of the people - choosing to performatively support the local football club would be the natural political decision.

Given that he was always a paid up member of the League Against Cruel Sports, I'd like to hear him justify what Arsenal have been doing to their fans in recent years.

Given that he was always a paid up member of the League Against Cruel Sports, I'd like to hear him justify what Arsenal have been doing to their fans in recent years.

lol

Must have confused Clarkson with Piers Morgan.

Having Clarkson as a fellow supporter is bad but when you put it that way, not having Morgan is better.

I think using the people you know who are both ex public shools and x is indicative of the people you know rather than indicative of public school or x. Unless you know an adequately powered sample size.

There’s very few people that rile me up like Piers Morgan does. Knowing now that he supports Arsenal all I can say is that explains a lot.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/aug/14/premierleague

White, middle aged and middle class. As far back as 2008 only 9% of ST holders were considered “working class”

As this thread has consistently shown, you can be a fan of x without having a season ticket. Season ticket ownership/going to a game is no longer proof of being a fan.

But on the point of diversity, football crowds aren't really are they? I don't know because I don't go (see above).

Ah shit Roma won, I was hoping Feyenoord would figuratively - and preferably also literally - poke Mourinho in the eye.

What about Piers Corbyn?

https://twitter.com/paddypower/status/1529829863644975105?s=20&t=v7u9DhS2qh08SmHgwCvMTw

I hope Chelsea will be building a statue of Danny Drinkwater outside Stamford Bridge.