Premier League 2024/25

[FOX Franks]

There’s a certain irony in Enzo Fernandes scoring on a “no room for racism” weekend isn’t there

 

[give_us_a_wave]

Yep.

I just hate all the big teams and have done for a little while. Back in the day I used to not mind a fair few of them. I quite liked the Arsenal team of the late 90’s / early 00’s…I even dare say I didn’t mind the Man Utd team of the 90’s. I used to want them all to do well in Europe and cheered a lot when OGS scored the winning goal against Bayern Munich.

Now I hate the ****ing lot of them, don’t want any of them to win the league, and want them all to get battered in Europe.

Absolutely.
Although for me thats been the case for a looooooooooong time. When I was a kid & a newly minted football fan I watched european highlights on a wednesday without knowing the score & wanted all the teams to do well.
This was the mid 70s & my recently adopted football team were obviously going to be playing in europe very soon so it was good practice for me to get used to the teams & countries we'd be up against.

Obviously the next few years taught me my first lesson in what a shit stinking conveyor belt of disappointment life actually is & my childhood ended abruptly.

It was Forest first.

My own much admired team, lauded for their entertaining football barely 2 years earlier, had been humiliatingly relegated as this team from nowhere won the league.

I didn't even know they existed until the fixture list came out for 77/78. As far as I knew, the Nottingham team were called County. They were in my football books.

Nothing called "forest" appeared in any of them.

Plus they appeared to be managed by some sort of ****.

A strange cross between a junior school headmaster & a circus act of some kind. It took me almost a full season to realise that he wasn't speaking english as a second language.
Watching him interviewed once, I asked my dad why he talked like that. What accent is it?

The old man said " It's not an accent. He's pissed "

" What, all the time? "

" Pretty much "

Well at least that was cleared up.

Of course, if I'd paid attention to the 2nd division promotion race the previous season I'd have known a lot more.

But why on earth would I do that? What was the 2nd division ever going to have to do with me? Ridiculous notion.

So, to my child's mind the whole thing was some kind of outrageous fluke, soon to be corrected as we inevitably stormed back to our rightful place in the 1st division & got into europe.

Next it was Liverpool. A team I obviously respected as clearly the best of the era. I'd been really disappointed that they'd failed to win the treble as I really wanted to see that. It was exciting.

That all changed. For 2 reasons.

1) I moved from childhood to mid teens & my world view matured.
2) I actually went to Liverpool

I discovered that every single inhabitant of the place was a violent, neanderthal, piece of shit petty criminal who would slit their granny's throat & dump her down a flight of stairs for the price of a heroin wrap.
& the city itself was essentially an open sewer with bus lanes.

Following on, I began to travel to away games regularly. I was met in various parts of the country by people who wanted to punch me in the face, kick me in the head as I tried to get up, stab me, steal my money & pelt me with bricks, stones & bottles.

I then realised that fans of other clubs were utter scum & stopped wanting their teams to do well in europe.

Many years later it became clear that this is a universal truth & nothing to do with me personally. I was not over reacting.
In 2011 I watched the Champions League final in the bar at a music festival. There were several nationalities present.

All of the Spaniards were cheering for Man Utd
All of the English for Barcelona.

I smiled to myself & reflected that everything was just as shit everywhere else.

I found it strangely reassuring.

 

[give_us_a_wave]

There’s a certain irony in Enzo Fernandes scoring on a “no room for racism” weekend isn’t there

Nowhere near as much irony as having a no room for racism weekend at Chelsea.

Like having a Bar Mitzvah at Nuremberg.

 

[Hector]

Surely, seeing Brighton above Man City in the table must give everyone a brief twinge of pleasure though.

 

[FOX Franks]

Surely, seeing Brighton above Man City in the table must give everyone a brief twinge of pleasure though.

I preferred it when we were above them but yes!

 

[City Fan]

Surely, seeing Brighton above Man City in the table must give everyone a brief twinge of pleasure though.

Yeah, until I look further up and see those bin dipping Scousers at the top.

 

[jb5000]

Absolutely.
Although for me thats been the case for a looooooooooong time. When I was a kid & a newly minted football fan I watched european highlights on a wednesday without knowing the score & wanted all the teams to do well.
This was the mid 70s & my recently adopted football team were obviously going to be playing in europe very soon so it was good practice for me to get used to the teams & countries we'd be up against.

Obviously the next few years taught me my first lesson in what a shit stinking conveyor belt of disappointment life actually is & my childhood ended abruptly.

It was Forest first.

My own much admired team, lauded for their entertaining football barely 2 years earlier, had been humiliatingly relegated as this team from nowhere won the league.

I didn't even know they existed until the fixture list came out for 77/78. As far as I knew, the Nottingham team were called County. They were in my football books.

Nothing called "forest" appeared in any of them.

Plus they appeared to be managed by some sort of ****.

A strange cross between a junior school headmaster & a circus act of some kind. It took me almost a full season to realise that he wasn't speaking english as a second language.
Watching him interviewed once, I asked my dad why he talked like that. What accent is it?

The old man said " It's not an accent. He's pissed "

" What, all the time? "

" Pretty much "

Well at least that was cleared up.

Of course, if I'd paid attention to the 2nd division promotion race the previous season I'd have known a lot more.

But why on earth would I do that? What was the 2nd division ever going to have to do with me? Ridiculous notion.

So, to my child's mind the whole thing was some kind of outrageous fluke, soon to be corrected as we inevitably stormed back to our rightful place in the 1st division & got into europe.

Next it was Liverpool. A team I obviously respected as clearly the best of the era. I'd been really disappointed that they'd failed to win the treble as I really wanted to see that. It was exciting.

That all changed. For 2 reasons.

1) I moved from childhood to mid teens & my world view matured.
2) I actually went to Liverpool

I discovered that every single inhabitant of the place was a violent, neanderthal, piece of shit petty criminal who would slit their granny's throat & dump her down a flight of stairs for the price of a heroin wrap.
& the city itself was essentially an open sewer with bus lanes.

Following on, I began to travel to away games regularly. I was met in various parts of the country by people who wanted to punch me in the face, kick me in the head as I tried to get up, stab me, steal my money & pelt me with bricks, stones & bottles.

I then realised that fans of other clubs were utter scum & stopped wanting their teams to do well in europe.

Many years later it became clear that this is a universal truth & nothing to do with me personally. I was not over reacting.
In 2011 I watched the Champions League final in the bar at a music festival. There were several nationalities present.

All of the Spaniards were cheering for Man Utd
All of the English for Barcelona.

I smiled to myself & reflected that everything was just as shit everywhere else.

I found it strangely reassuring.

Loved all this, with the minor exception that I've always quite liked Liverpool (the city) - probably helps by comparison that it's so close to that horrible city stuffed full of mancunians though.

The Super League, which has reared its head as an idea every few years and not just that most recent horror show is what has done it though. Football became a marketing thing, and marketing men need 'big' clubs much more than they need level playing fields