In a game that's often decided by a single goal (cos the posts are too close), how is it this team is so good? And how is it Man U is no more; cannot they survive without Beckham? Was he that good? Nah, it's all about the goalie. Strikers are overpaid. I'm teasing a little but seriously, shouldn't the game have more of an offense/defense balance?
I may very well have my facts mixed up. Whomever wants to edumakate me, pretend I'm four. Oh, yeah. One more thing. Is Arsenal a London football club? There's no city Arsenal, right?
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- * Sparklehorse, Daniel Johnston @ Dublin Whelan's, 28/07
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and no i dont think man u can survive without beckham because they dont get half as much press coverage and attention as they did when *sexy becks* was there.
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Arsenal used to be called Woolwich Arsenal but dropped the Woolwich years ago.
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Man United just had a terrible start, they'll come back towards the end of the season. And that pains me. I'm a Leeds fan, and talking about how our season/past/future is going them hurts. A lot.
And I rate Mourinho. He's a quote machine and is really good at winding everyone up. But I think he's a bit of a breath of fresh air. I'd rather listen to his comedy moaning about 'Tottenham's team bus' than Ferguson/Wenger's 'everyone hates us' bullshit.
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Long live the Coca Cola League. Thats where the real fans are. How many of these so-called happy clappy supporters would you see at Crewe on a wet Tuesday night in February? The Premiership and all it stands for is a million miles away from the real concept of football.
Dom G.
(A Nottingham Forest season ticket holder and proud of it!)
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I am a Leeds fan... try telling me it's justa game *sobs into coffee cup*.... all those dreams... gone up in smoke. If I see that Ridsdale I'll lamp him one.. bastard!
But back to the point u made.... Yeah, every game is an event! We look forward to a game for the whole week (or if we're really lucky we get two in a week! woo-hoo!) and plan our day around THE match... it's great... the buzz...the rows...the atmosphere..then the despair of not scoring a bloody goal again (or is that just leeds??)...and then it all starts again!! And i haven't even got on to the subject of the Cup games yet...... glorious!! *sighs and remembers the good old days*
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its still quite depressing that we may well finish the season as the worst side in south yorkshire, playing donny rovers in the league is more than a little humiliating.
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I have to agree with Dom as well. Lower league football is where it's at. My home town club are a little Unibond effort called Gresley Rovers, and having made Tuesday night pilgrimages to Bromsgrove and Congleton (amongst others) in past seasons, it's a whole level of passion that I'm glad I'm a part of.
And the American thing. They only like 'champions', I think is the point. If there's no medal or 'world championship' (!!) involved, then it's not for them. If there's a local game on near me and I'm free, I will go (which is why I've watched Gravesend twice this year). I couldn't see and American sacrificing the air conditioned hum of his/her mansion for a Tuesday on the terraces in Taunton. Or whatever.
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Is Gary Birtles still involved with Gresley Rovers?
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Crosby and Clough (and Chettle and Walker, I think?) are still over the river at B*rton though. You could have a right Forest spotting session over there if you so desired...
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at least you yanks don't seem to suffer from all the unsavoury violence that plagues the game over here. i had to be an impromptu bouncer at my pub over summer because leeds (not on a hate campaign here, just a coincidence!) fans went postal after a 'friendly' with hibs, i mean, wheres the bitter rivalry sprung from there! don't watch too much up here, the quality of wednesday, even now, can't compare to the joys of hearts v caley thistle.
oh and sturrock does seem a good choice, as did wilson, jewell, shreeves, yorath, turner....
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As a season ticket holder 1990-circa present I better add me two penneth...
I was there in 1991 (aged 9) when we beat Man United thanks to John Sheridan's goal.
I was there when we played Kaiserslautern in the UEFA Cup and Hirsty got sent off for sparking their defender after getting fouled
I was there when we beat those Sheffield United Piggies at Wembley in the FA Cup semi final and then went on to lose to Aresenal. I was also there for the same fixture (and loss) in the League cup final
I read the bit in Alex Ferguson's biography where he said £3.3 million for Shearer (what Blackburn bought him for) was too much but that he quite happilly offerred £5 million Kanchelskis AND Hughes for Hirsty around the same time (which we turned down).
I remember Chris "God" Waddle getting the Football Writers Player of the Year award when we finished third behind Leeds and Man Utd (we lost twice to those Sheffield United piggies that season and if we'd have beat em both times the Championship would've been ours).
I was there when we got thrashed 7-1 at home to Forest (one for Dom!)
And I was there when we beat those fake team* Leeds bastards 6-2 at home!
I was there when Mark Bright was our last 20 goal a season striker
I was there when Terry 'Spurs obsessed nobjockey' Venables picked Ian Walker ahead of Kevin Pressman (back when he was *sort of* slim and the best goalie in the Premiership form-wise) for England against Italy and he played shit and we lost
And I was there when that Cunt Venables announced the Euro 96 squad and he didn't pick Des Walker (who single handedly kept us in the Premiership for 5 consequtive seasons). If he'd've been at centre-half England would've won the tournement
And I was there when Di Canio pushed the Ref over and got sent off overshadowing the fact that we beat the fuckin' Arsenal thanks to a wondergoal by Lee "campest queen in football" Briscoe (where is he now?)
Now we're so shit that all I have is memories (and my 2004/05 season ticket of course)
*Leeds is the biggest city in the whole wide world to only have one proffessional football team. It's polulationis of a similar size to that of Sheffield.
Their excuse for having just the one footie team is, is no doubt, that they're an egg-chasing, rugby obsessed town. But every little shitty town in Lancashire loves rugby yet they've got more football teams than any other county. If Leeds as a city had two teams they'd be in League 2 and the Football Conference respectively, instead of just the one. Dirty, fake West Yorkshire scum.
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(Saints fan)
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Gilles de Bilde was a worse signing than Sibon, he cost us £1 million a goal (£3 million transfer fee plus signing on fee plus wasges)
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And I shan't be silenced, Saints fans unite! Etc!
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I can make arrangements...
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And I'm not going to make excuses for the lackadaisical attitude of the majority of the people in Leeds. It may be a big city, but supporting two teams does not necessarily make you a better city. In fact, having a rivalry commonly means that each team attempts to outperform the other, which is why many of the cities can support both clubs. Leeds supports the best supported Rugby League club in the country, a top-flight Rugby Union side and a Championship football team regularly attracting 30,000. That's 60,000 people a weekend watching good quality sport in one city, more than both Sheffield 'football' clubs combined. It's not my fault the people of Sheffield are too fucking thick to be able to concentrate or learn the rules to more than one sport. Even the clever people of Lancashire can manage that.
'I was there' people really annoy me as well. Whilst it is good to reminisce sometimes (and I suppose that's all you've got. Even the industry in Sheffield is in decline. It'll be suberb of Rotherham before long) it's backward thinking like that that's got you in the shithole you're in at the moment.
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I knew you'd use Rugby as an excuse! Typical!
You can't say anything about my team or city that I haven't heard before. I KNOW Leeds are a better team, historically and even at present. I KNOW Leeds is a bigger and better city (the city centre's cool as fuck).
Still doesn't take anything away from the FACT that you're a massive city with only one football team...
And yes, there are a lot of thick people in Sheffield. Give the dog a bone for his pertinent observation! But there are also a lot of thick folk in Leeds. There are also a lot of intelligent people in both cities.
Sheffield has no interest in Rugby because we are a FOOTBALL city. This is proved by the fact we have the world's first football club Sheffield FC.
I know the rules to rugby league (used to have an Eagles season ticket back when Gary Hetherington was boss) and I'm familar with union having been to Clifton to watch Rotherham. The thing is, Rugby isn't as good or as exciting football, so in Sheffield, like most of the country, no-one cares (unless we're winning the World Cup that is- and then it's the patriotism people care about, not the sport).
And, despite being an Owl I do actually have a soft spot for the Blades (I hate Neil Warnock though- did you know an anogram of his name is Colin Wanker?!)
Oh, and please note how I didn't use the fact that your profile says you live in Kent against you in some childish form of argument. I fully understand that people can move away from their home-town and still feel passionate about it.
Peace bruvva, at least you're still Yorkshire fare...
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I live in Kent now cos of the proximity to London (after all, as this is a music website, it does boil down to the choons, and unfortunately this is where it's at!). I've only been down here a year, but I've been out of Leeds for much longer. Which sucks. (and, although I was born in Derbyshire, I lived in Leeds for my early childhood. Passion for Leeds and Yorkshire burns bright...) If I were a Man United fan though, I would probably be a born and bred Kent man.
I can imagine we've both had these arguments many a time, and I don't bear any malice to Wednesday. To be honest, I'd rather watch you lot than the Blades. Can't stand them bastards.
I love a good ruck approaching lunch time though. Good luck for this season, I'd love to be playing you guys next year. It might spur us both on, and who knows, we might get a goal out of Michael Ricketts....
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I rate Rory Delap as well. My favourite ever strikers are people like Ashley Ward. I love crap footballers!
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My problem is that because I've never met anyone nice from Leeds I then misguidedly transfer that negativity on to the city's population as a whole.
Kinda like when a racist's only point of reference for different races is the negative images he sees on TV of black people allegedly doing crime: "police are looking for a black male, 6 feet tall aged 20-30" (wonder how many times that happens when the criminal's actually white and 11 years old and the victim makes it up to avoid looking like a wimp).
I also hate local TV news such as Calendar and Leeds because they have more Leeds stories than the rest of the region put together, on a typical broadcast. Again, this shouldn't prejudice me against the people of Leeds (it's not their fault the local telly's biased) but I'm so often weak minded and it so often does.
Sometimes I need to just grow up and stop generalising, but it's human nature to hold petty prejudices, so it's often easier said than done.
Don't knock the music scenes up north though. I'm reliably informed Leeds is booming (even when you take away the Music and Kaizers) and Sheffield currently has the best scene outside of London imho with bands like Arctic Monkeys, Judan Suki, Harrisons, Milburn, Trap 2, Long Blondes and After the Silence. You need to get up here and see just what's goin down. As does DiS for that matter....
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Have you still got that big lump Adam Proudlock playing for you?
He is quite possibly one of the three worst players (also step forward Lee Glover and Neil Shipperley) I ever had the privilege of seeing in a Forest shirt!
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Then Irving Scholar, the football genius known as David PRatt and now Nigel Doughty got hold of us and slowly but surely decided to turn us into...sorry Jared...the next Sheffield Wednesday.
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He's the resident boo-boy and most probably our highest paid player. I HATE him with a passion, there's even an insulting chapter about him in my (non-football related) novel.
He is sooooooo fat for a footballer and so shit. And he has a chav's spikey haircut! He's a 5 goal a season striker at best.
I cannot tell you how much I hate him!
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I think also Petrachi from Perugia played one or two seasons for Forest some years ago.
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If you want bitter rivalry, come up here. You get your fans stabbed to death in the street and the murderers defended by the ex vice chairman of your rival team, a QC, who was sacked after being filmed singing songs about being knee deep in fenian blood.
You also have players from your rival team setting a good example by writing 'fuck the pope' under their autographs.
Arseholes on both sides up here are in abundance, unfortunately. Can tell you the entire history of Ireland, but couldn't tell you anything about Scotland.
Was in Coventry a few years ago. My team were called a Sunday League team. We went on to the treble, Coventry went down for the first time ever and are still there.
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It damages their European campaigns and no-one gets excited anymore by one or two horse races for the league.
What do you think of them joining your lot ?
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I'm just waiting for Aberdeen vs. Plymouth on a Tuesday night. And they moan about travelling now!
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Worst Italian player in England? Materazzi, not so bad at playing but a vile bastard, a coward (with Bellamy...in Champions League; we have a lot to learn about fair play). And tonight he will play for our national team; I can't believe it. Here he's considered as a true killer.
What can you tell me about the other italian players in Premiership? Pistone? Ventola?
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Nikkala Ventola? Is that right? Is he the one at Crystal Palace? He's no Attilio Lombardo is he.
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Benito Carbone was a fantastic player when he felt like playing, and Zola is probably the best foreigner to have played in the Premiership
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It's true, Attilio Lombardo played for CP, and perhaps Michele Padovano, too. Padovano was a great player, he had a wonderful left foot...
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The best Italian player I ever saw was probably Gianfranco Zola in his Chelsea days. Even the great man marker that was Des Lyttle couldn't get near him that day!