Football

Just had the pleasure of listening to some fresh out of university ex-public schoolboy bank employee voicing his opinions on the appointment of Moyes to Man Utd whilst getting a coffee in Caffe Nero.

I could barely keep a straight face.

I did think it was Pisti for a moment, when he said Baines was the best left back in Europe and worth £20 million. That he then compared him to Stewart Downing made it even more amusing.

bidding war
£110mn

Not again - you'll only go and spend it all on drink drugs shite players

Wenger's not an idiot, he realises he has to buy established players this summer to ensure fans don't desert the club in droves.

Why would supporters desert their club in droves? Surely supporters will follow their club through thick and thin. Chelsea supporters stayed with the club through relegation and financial turmoil and even the appointment of Benitez. West Ham and Newcastle supporters endured relegation, in West Ham's case, many times. They even accepted the sale of their best players to keep the club afloat and the appointment of Avram Grant.

Then again, I suppose Arsenal supporters are more likely to be glory hunters and if the Lions win on Saturday, more likely to switch to rugby or, if the charmless Scot wins on Sunday, tennis.

Clive, you and I both know that not all supporters are as committed as you. Many clubs attract diehard fans when they are successful who claim they would bleed blood the colour of their team's shirt, only for them to drift away when their team's period at the top inevitably comes to an end.

This thread could act as proof of this, given the number of ageing Liverpool supporters who have never been to Liverpool who regularly contribute.

they did spit a few dummies about benitez though clive

Roboto - we don't discuss football. It's a big elephant in the room.

I have said I won't follow football this year if Suarez goes to Arsenal. The man is a wanker.

My mate (he's 45) cancelled his season ticket when Jose got sacked, hasn't been to a game since, doesn't watch football and he had a season ticket for 20+ years on the trot.

Not sure where I stand on this, I said I wouldn't watch Chelsea under Benitez, yet I went twice. I guess it's better to make your voice heard than vote with your feet.

People disliked Benitez because of what he did to their club. They took hope from the fact that he was interim. They hoped he would go sooner and partied when he left. Their anger was because of their loyalty to the club and did not change that loyalty. As has been said, owners, managers and players come and go, supporters remain.

That said, the chap who used to sit next to me at Stamford Bridge and who did so for many years stopped going and never returned (despite still having a soon ticket) when I told him, during Avram Grant's tenure, that Abramovich was Jewish. Then again, that is not the type of person we want. He has probably gone to West Ham.

Many Chelsea supporters I know, and I am probably among them, look back to the halcyon days when we were in Division Two.

"Come along, come along, come along and sing this song
We're the boys in blue from Division Two and we won't be here for long"

Is still sung at just about every game particularly away. When we first won the league a number of people said that they would like it if that meant that we moved back down and had to come up again. Those days of hard core support and rubbish football (which also coincided with us all being 30 or so years younger than we are now) was what hooked so many of us on football. It certainly wasn't Sky.

omen ?

Liverpool don't sign the player to turn around their next season.

Many Chelsea supporters I know, and I am probably among them, look back to the halcyon days when we were in Division Two.

Been there, done that and I can tell you without a 'probably' or a moments hesitation that playing down there was shit, the grounds were shit, opposition was shit (and it still took us three years to escape) and the football was shit (apart from an up and coming Swansea side) so it ain't all rose tinted bollocks. Rafa and Roberto are the shining lights of CFC and delivered you the jewels you dreamed of when you were wallowing in the 'halcyon days'.

Oh dear.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-23208749

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/south-american-football-referee-beheaded-fans-killing-player-084120459.html

this is nuts

Something similar happened in a youth game I played in once....

#weartheshirt

Shamelessly scoused from Superprecise over in the Wimbledon thread:

Something similar happened in a youth game I played in once....

Except, don't tell me, that the ref,who was female, yentzed you rather than stabbed you.

He probably took his ball home because his team was losing...

and didn't swap shirts as he said he would....

#weartheshirt

Plastics & Guardian Thread >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Biggest welcher since Neville Southall.

#letskickbedwettingoutoffootball

Biggest felcher since Neville Southall.

Fixed.