I grew up a Bayern Munich and Hamburg fan,so when Mark Hughes went to play for Man Utd I became a huge Man U fan,after a While as a teenager I kind of just loved watching the game and would keep up with any team that played good soccer,I really hated liverpool as a kid yet I remember Roy Evans side playing better soccer than Man Utd,so when Man Utd got embarassed 4-0 by Barcelona,I just stopped following them and the Premier League all together. When George Weah became such a huge hit with PSg, I remember reading an interview about this coach who had discovered George Weah at Monaco and who was coaching a club in Japan, his insights on football were so interesting,from talking about how soccer had so much changed like its hard to seperate the goalkeepers by their abilities that most international keepers stood out due to thier size,either too tall of quite short but all had personalities,he also touched on at that time football in France had becoming so boring that he had to look for a country that was willing to listen to new Ideas and thats why he was coaching in Japan.By luck I watched Viera's first game for Arsenal I think under Stewart Houston and all it took were his two back to back one touch passes and I knew it.
Did I let that slip. Good thing Rick that I usually know how to keep secrets My wife got banned from the pub after the ManU match.
Alright Rick, I'll take my lumps . But let the record show that I forced both my kid sister AND my wife to go to the pub for the ManUtd game so we'd have some presence at my Manchester-loving pub. Let the record also show that I wore both my "I Hate Tottenham" t-shirt and my Arsenal socks (the SOCKS for god's sake) to my Sunday league game that morning and endured a lot of crap from the opposition for it (not that I mind too much). Ended up at my friend's apartment, drenched in sweat after playing two men short against a full eleven and losing 4-1 (some ppl in my league just decide not to show up - i, like Arsenal, have class), and watched the match. What a crap day.
Heh, I've picked OB to be the team that I start with on Football Manager when it comes in. I started liking Arsenal when I was 10 and my club team was named Arsenal. But I really started following them because of Bergkamp and then the 98 double kind of sealed my fate. Strangely Fever Pitch didn't really influence me as I read it after I began following them. Commence ragging on me, MT.
That is somewhat like my story. I didn't decide to become an Arsenal fan. I had heard of the team as a boy, but with no access to EPL games on tv, I never picked a team to follow until the last decade. I was always a soccer fan but I mostly followed national teams and only picked up club news because it was available from the same sources (mags, internet, newsgroups, etc). I came across the team logo while helping my dad find pictures of cannons for some crazy attempt to make a shield for our last name (cannon). Then I came across fever pitch so Arsenal again popped into my head as an interesting team. I started playing early soccer management games on the computer (remember those all text, no mouse wonders?). For some reason, I always played as Arsenal even though I had never actually seen them play but had learned about them from reading. The fact that Arsenal wasn't ManU had a significant impact on my preferences both in the games and in real life. Anyway, one day I realized that I looked for Arsenal news before USMNT news. Remember I still hadn't seen them play a game although I had heard audio for a few games and seen some goal clips. A year or so later, I finally had regular access to EPL games and it was all over. Now, I'm going on the roadtrip to see them in person for the first time.
Sean don't let Rick give you sh1t about it you essentially went right from your game to watch it. Just be happy you weren't at the pub. Too many Manure fans and it was just depressing. Your wife and sister would have come without you anyways, you have now created an Arsenal monster, which is good, so you don't have to be one on your own.
Which pub did you go to? I was over at Shakespeare with every other ManU fan in SD. After that game I never wanted to fight somebody so much before in my life, I was just bitter.
I go to Shakespeare's almost every weekend for the Arsenal match, and David comes down from Oceanside often as well. He and his wife were there for the ManU game, as were my wife and sister. The ManU fans there are pretty rabid - it's a tough place to be for those head-to-head match ups. PM me next time you're planning to go - you can sit with our Arsenal contingent in the corner.
Of course, of course - I'm just playing around. Word on the street was that David didn't want to bring his wife back to the pub since we lost for the first time when he did.
My mate's wife is banned from coming to Highbury with us for being bad luck. We always screw up when she comes along. Happily, she hasn't been for ages.
my mother was 20 minutes from being banned, but arsenal came back v.Villa a couple of years ago. the match where seaman saved the penalty. she's seen us lose to coventry on boxing day 1999 and THAT liverpool game.
Through a set of cirumstances of which I was unaware, my mate's wife got a ticket for last night's match. And look what happened. This was the fifth match she's been to and it was the first time we even scored!
I have noticed the Danish connnection which you will have to explain to me: Jegerpenge is Danish for Iammoney. So, you are a rich beautiful girl is our conclusion. But why OB? My excuse is that I grew up in Odense.
As you can probably tell, I confess I was originally and still am a fan of AFC Ajax, and more recently of Arsenal. I met a Gooner hailing from Seven Sisters area in College in the early nineties and visited him and toured Highbury (amazed at how small and cozy it seemed copared to the Astrodome) that summer. I got to see Dixon, Merson, Bould, and co. draw against Blackburn a couple years later and started following Arsenal more closely when Bergkamp transferred, but I didn't really consider myself a fan until '99, when I found myself rooting against ManUre in the FA Cup SF replay(aargh! and apologies for the bad memories) on the beautiful old SEGA-powered website. I've been lucky enough to see Arsenal in person twice more, but perhaps I shouldn't go back, as we lost both matches.
When I first fell in love with football, Arsenal had Tony Adams and Ray Parlour, who were my two favorite players in the England team. That got me started. Then, I lived in Finsbury Park from Dec. 2003 to May 2004, and now I'm a Gooner for life!
About 4 or 5 yrs ago, I was watching the EPL and football (for that matter) for the 1st time at my friends house (an Englishman). I never liked football, but was a HUGE sports fan and thought, why not? My friend's club was Arsenal since he was a boy. I learned more about the game and the passionate supporters. I loved the club name, the crest, them being located in London (My favorite city!), red + white were my high school colors, and me and my great grandfather both having served in the artillery in the US Army. I also loved Highbury and the various characters that made up Arsenal. I loathed the NY Yankees and Man Utd seemed like them, with just about every footie fan in the USA backing them. So I wanted to be different. One major draw for me had to be the supporters on this board. I just clicked with you and you have been a great group of people. I feel like we have known each other for years.
I've wondered about the name too I just haven't been arsed enough to ask. And good luck with "de strivrede". And Jeger I love your avatar. KJ
One of my best Frineds got me supporting Arsenal about 5 years, He is From England and we used Play Soccer and Watch Arsenal Games on the Weekends. Back then I didnt really support a Team so I just Started cheering for Arsenal. Anyways He moved back to London last summer and He goes to every Game nowadays. Lucky Him. NEO DA ONE
Nah, I've learnt alot during my time on these boards. But before I didn't know Americans liked soccer, and I admit I was kinda jealous but I did what you said and grew up. BTW, it's my birthday on the 16th. Sweet 18th
sorry I'm jumping in late on this thread but I just read it right not and to answer your question, credit has to go to Bob Hobbs (Canadiangunnerbob) who was the first to spot Charlie George way at the end of the hall while we were waiting for the tour to start and proceeded to yell out a "Charleeeh". George was gracious enough to take take a couple of jokes thrown his way from the group as he was leaving the Hall.