Even further off than mine. Now I'm going after Naomi instead. Chelsea?!! If you have Newcastle, you don't need another team! You may need lots of beer, though.
Choose Cardiff City guys. We are a club that has been rebranded, our current owner Vincent Tan changed our team colours from Blue to Red, changed our badge also. Our fans cannot stand the rebranding of our club but we are in the Premier League for the first ever time. We are the only non English club to win the FA Cup and brought the cup to Wales. I help to moderate a forum about Cardiff City www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk If there is anything, the latest news, transfers, player info, results and fixtures then that is the site to scratch up on all you need to know.
It's as if you are saying the owner trampling on your club's tradition to promote them in a foreign market is a positive. What a disgrace!
Would you rather be in the Championship with, with an owner not putting debt on club or in the Premiere league with Tan? Not trying to wind you up just curious what Cardiff City fans feel.
I have been supporting Newcastle for 41 years now. I think a lot of folks have made some valid points here. There are many reasons many of us are drawn to a club. I follow NE Revs in MLS and NY Red Bulls but could never compare them to my beloved Toon Army. I have seen my team through rubbish and glory but a lot more rubbish THAN glory.. A few things to consider when selecting a club to support: 1) Style of the play by formation, management, depth of bench. 2) Fan base and history of the club 3) Availability of the club for viewing (Are they on PPV, Tele, or online only) ? 4) Is it likely a club you would save $ to go travel to and see some day? 5) Can you stay loyal to them if popular players leave or perish the thought, the team gets relegated? In many European towns and cities, I think most people follow a club based on the proximity to where they live.
Howay the lads! I'm impressed. (stop by the NUFC sub forum more often) I'm not understanding Revs AND Red Bulls, however. Don't you need to pick one, when they're in the same league?
This times a billion. They will always be Luke Skywalker against Vader (Liverpool), The Emperor (Arsenal), and the Death Star (Man effing U).
Lol very true. Eff them Russkies! I'm not worried about it. The team can sell off a Torres or John Mikel to pay some bills until a new owner is found. Plus there is the Mata sale cash sitting in the bank. I imagine it would not be hard to find a new owner at all in that type of situation.
@Gooner2014ak Even in this forum many of the people aren't British, and all the racial choices were British or Irish.
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A Norwegian`s somewhat random story of how he chose his team and advice The obvious is to support your local team. It might be a boring choice, but the advantage is that it`s easy going to games, and most people are fond of the place they grow up. Done. Finished. No more thinking to do. However, growing up in Norway we had much the same challenges when it comes to football as americans do today. The local football is either "shite" (I`ve come to love shitty football as I`ve grown older though) and/or it`s difficult to get to see matches if you don`t go to games. For this reason, almost all norwegians support an english team in addition to a norwegian team. In fact more norwegians support english teams than they do norwegian teams. So for me, at the age of 7 in 84/85 I came to the point in life where it was time to choose. Someone told me early that you are not allowed to change teams. "You can switch everything in life, including wifes, but you can neve change the football team." The method was simplistic, and I guess outdated today, but anyways: I bought a poster book of the English first division (available at my local grocery store, you could forget about finding a norwegian poster book) and stickers. So this was my first poster book ever. I remember getting the book as a bit of a sacred experience. I was in awe. The neighbour kid (he had his own book obviously) and I thoroughly studied this book. The criteria was mostly how the team names sounded, the name of the stadium and the crest. I didn`t really have a clue as to who any players were or what team was good except that the best team was Liverpool, so they were not a candidate. "Everyone" followed Liverpool, I wanted to pick the team myself. For me, 3 candidates emerged quickly: West Bromwich Albion - Coolest name, decent stadium name, average crest. I liked the colours and the pin striped jerseys. I had even watched them on TV. Arsenal - Cool stadium name, a cannon(!) in the crest and cool sounding stadium name, although questionable team colors. Tottenham Hotspur - Excellent name, the best stadium name (White Hart Lane), not the best crest though. Nice team colours. Had I not bought stickers, I would have ended up a West Brom fan. (It could have been worse, Luton Town were in the top flight at the time, they are now Conference league) But I bought stickers: As it turns out, W.B.A had a player with a "horseshoe moustache". Had it been 10 years later, that would probably have sealed the deal. However, I was 7, from rural parts of Norway, and this was 1984 and he was as uncool as you could be. Sorry Brommies, you`re out. Arsenal was then the front runner, and I would probably been a gooner (so my destiny could have been far worse) If I hadn`t been so lucky as to get stickers of the coolest looking guy on Tottenham. Chris Waddle. Yes, I admit it. I am a fan because of a picture. I can`t upload pictures, because I`m new on this forum. But search for Chris Waddle 1984 on google if you don`t know him. You might think it`s a somewhat disturbing picture, but for me he was the coolest guy in the world. Chris Waddle = Legend. I became a die-hard fan instantly, although for the most part that meant watching another top-flight game on saturday It was only one TV-station in norway at the time, and they picked games randomly, so it could be months between every time you actually got to see your team play. I can`t say that it`s easy: I haven`t experienced what it feels like winning the league though, and some days I think I never will. (1 fa-cup and 2 league cups are the only trophies the last 30 years) The last season we finished ahead of Arsenal was 19 years ago. We`ve come close to relegation a couple of times, for a while Wimbledon finished consistently higher than us. On the bright side: We`ve never been relegated, and sometimes I think we never will be. We have allways been financially sound, but most importantly: Spurs have allways tried playing beatuiful football. Together with Aston Villa and Everton we are the team that allways plays in the premiership, but we haven`t been close to a title once. Over to the advice: If you for some strange reason are still reading and in need of a team to follow, you are probably older than 7 and probably don`t want to buy a poster-book of the premiership. So what to look for? Basically I think you should just "feel" who you root for when watching games. Suddenly you have a favourite. Bear in mind, this tactic is a bit risky as you could end up following a team that slides into oblivion (like Luton). For some that`s perfectly fine. One of my best mates is a QPR fan, and tier 3 football in the away stands is experiences he loves. He also listens to QPR matches on the radio. And if that`s ok. Follow your heart. But if your most important criteria is success you have 5 teams to follow in England. I guess you all know who they are. The benefit is that you`ll get used to winning. The downside is that is boring. If no Sheikh comes to the rescue, it doesn`t look like that will change any time soon. Personally I think it`s boring, but on the other hand, these are the teams that gets the most exposure and winning is probably a nice feeling. dunno. Then you have the "wannabe" big teams that really aren`t. Objectively I`m afraid me beloved Spurs is in that category. Other teams would be Newcaste, Everton & Aston Villa. Be careful with Newcastle and Aston Villa though. Newcastle have a unstable, sort of, owner, and from time to time they get relegated. Aston Villa have an american owner that lost interest. The last few seasons they`ve been scrapping just above the relegation line. Everton seems immune to relegation though, but they`ve allways been on a strict budget in the Premiership era. But with these teams at least you would expect to be in the premiership, which again means you get to see your team play most weekends. Then you can choose the team that`s an underdog but still tries to play nice football. The poor man`s version of Spurs I guess. Swansea and Southampton are the obvious candidates. Remember though, these teams will probably experience relegation in a not too distant future. And once you go down, if you don`t bounce straight up again. Who knows how long you will be gone. Then you have the category of teams that is just unpopular and that is what makes them cool. Currently Stoke is that kind of team, allthough for those of you that want to be hated, beware: Under the current manager they`ve actually started to play football. They might lose their appeal soon if that trend continues. If you want to be hated, You have better options in the division below. Leeds and Millwall are unpopular all over England. Leeds is even historically a big club. Millwall is just hated. If Violence is your thing, then they are good candidates. If you`re a hipster you should probably chose West Ham. They are sort of like Spurs: They want to play football (just not currently under Allardyce), but they are even worse at it. However their fans is fairly loyal and the Bubbles song is cool I guess. They even hate us badly for some reason. So you could also choose them if you want to hate us, but don`t want to support Woolwich. Another candidate in this category could be Fulham. The stadium is charming. But you could get relegated any season, most likely this even. And once you go back, you are probably gone as you are a small club historically and you owner is the same as Jacksonville Jaguars. Ok. this turns into a rambling novel soon. OH. And there are other leagues on TV these days. Germany has some cool ones. Dortmund have incredible fans. Hamburg is a sleeping giant that never wakes up, but has the potential to do it some day. Cologne is on their way back up. France is building up behind the Sheiks at PSG. In Spain you`ve got Athletico Madrid.
I currently support Real Madrid but could eventually switch to the Atlanta MLS team or the Montreal MLS team. I recommend either or all.
Players change the clubs doesn't. I agree that when you are picking a team out of scratch (as most of us yanks are) it helps if they have players you like. But that can't be the only reason because inevitably those players are going to leave and then what? Your loyalty changes? Pick a team for all the reasons. The players, the history of the club, the city it's in.
I'm not a fan of any PL club but I'm a fan of the PL. If you are too pick a club it should be the big four. Sure they will call you a glory hunter but who gives a damn your rooting for a foreign team in a foreign league. Don't try to be "authentic" and try to pick a middle of the road PL team like Newcastle or Sunderland just to be chic. Picking a PL team with no connection, interest, or ties to the home region is so stupid. I meet a stoke and QPR fan near a bar where I go I looked at these guys like they were fools hipsters wannabes.
The "big four" Champions League participants for years were Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United. Now Manchester City has a longer active streak of top four finishes than Liverpool, Chelsea (who qualified for a Champions League only as the defending champion), and Manchester United, so Manchester City should be part of the "big four." Who leaves the "big four" or does it become a "big five"?
Yet you Man city is still not traditionally the big four but with their recent rise they are a big tag big name team. I would add them to the mix on who to support.