How did you come to pick an EPL team?

bandito0

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I went to London in March and watched West Ham put three goals in against Southampton in the first half to help stave off relegation. It was one of the best sporting events I’d ever been to.

I loved everything about the experience, and having a chance to tell some the guys siting next to me about March Madness (I was rocking my Nova hat) while they filled me in about the history of their club was really cool. I’ve seen that West Ham supporters get a bad rap but they were very welcoming and enjoyable to be around. They sold me. I’d watched a lot of EPL prior to that day, but never picked a team to support until then.

COYI.
 

dirtynine

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I spent 6 months studying abroad in Brighton in 1999. I was aware of soccer, kind of, before I arrived. (94 & 98 World Cups, the birth of MLS, dim awareness of global stars). By the time I left England I was a full-on addict. During that 6 months I got a pretty great primer on the drama around all things soccer - from the struggles and triumphs of the English national team to move forward in Euro 2000 qualifying, to their somewhat crazy manager situation (Glen Hoddle) to the EPL and Manchester United's treble-winning campaign (including the legendary Champions League final).

I probably should have picked a then-current Premier League team to follow. Even many Brighton residents had given up on Brighton and Hove Albion, which were playing in the 4th division sharing a stadium far way out of town, the tenants of mighty Gillingham. (Brighton residents seemed to me to overwhelmingly support pre-glory Chelsea.) In 1999, the Albion were only a couple years' removed from almost dying, potentially falling out of the Football League and being liquidated. A terrible owner strip-mined the team, sold their classic neighborhood stadium (which was demolished and turned into a shopping plaza parking lot) and almost buried them. That year they barely stayed in the league (final day drama!), Fatboy Slim subsequently bought the team and they, well, managed to not die. By the time I was living there, they had tenuously stabilized and were staring up at a long climb back to relevance. As a new fan fascinated by the pyramid system, I was intrigued by the idea that they could climb back up through leagues and get to the big time. It often seemed ridiculous. Now they're in the EPL with one of the best new stadiums in the country.

I never saw a Brighton match live while I was there; still haven't. But their story got me for life. I've followed everything the club has done since 1999. It's been an inspiring ride.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
53,837
As someone said upthread, your club picks you.

I always loved soccer, but it was hard to follow. As it became easier I started watching PL games, and this coincided with my son starting to play soccer. When he was like 6 years old he had a little soccer card from playing rec league and on the back it said "Favorite Player" and one year it was Robbie Keane and the next Dimitar Berbatov.

I know I didn't want to pick the best team, but I don't even remember how I "picked" Tottenham. And now, 15 years on, I follow them with the passion and feeling I do for the Sox, Celtics, Bruins, and Pats. Their losses hurt. They're not an extra team I root for, they're simply my team, just like the other 4.

And fuck Arsenal.
 
I started watching the English First Division - before it became the Premier League - on SportsChannel America in the early 1990s and kept my options open for a while; when I came to college in Boston, I wound up watching matches at an Irish pub in Cambridge (The Plough and Stars) where I would often bump into Seamus Malin. For some reason I instinctively took against Man Utd and Alex Ferguson, which led me to support Blackburn against them in their 1994/95 title season, and I played the early management game "One-Nil" (a real hoot at the time) as Blackburn as a sophomore at university. But then I went abroad to study for a year (1995/96) in St. Andrews, and suddenly I was surrounded by actual soccer fans who were strong fans of specific teams, and that led me to get off the fence: I had recently read Fever Pitch, and when I went down to London over New Year's and attended four Premiership matches in four days, the first of them was at Highbury. So even though Bruce Rioch's Arsenal lost 3-1 at home to Wimbledon on 30 December 1995, Ian Wright's opener negated by a brace from Robbie Earle and a third from Dean Holdsworth, Arsenal still chose me; they were not a fashionable club then, and although they did have a track record of some success - they were certainly better than the Atlanta teams I supported, the 1990s Braves excepted - they felt comfortable to me. I wonder what would have happened had my first match been Wimbledon 2-3 Everton on New Year's Day, or Spurs 4-1 Man Utd (the infamous William Prunier game) on New Year's Night, or even QPR 1-2 Chelsea on 2 January...but by the end of the season, I was firmly an Arsenal fan. And that was confirmed on the final day of the season: Man Utd and Newcastle were battling for the title, but my eyes were firmly on Arsenal's race to finish ahead of Spurs and Everton for the final UEFA Cup spot. They were 1-0 down to Bolton with 10 minutes left, and I was in danger of getting thrown in the pond outside my dorm by friends with whom I'd made a bet, but then the score update on the TV screen in our common room skipped straight past 1-1 to 2-1, Platt and Bergkamp having scored two minutes apart from each other, and I let out a triumphant yell which really did seal the deal. I had become a proper Gooner.

I have a friend back in Atlanta who, for reasons unknown, happened to have become a Spurs fan right around the time I became an Arsenal fan. As the Wenger era began, I could hardly believe my luck - within two years I was supporting a team that won titles, that won cups, that won doubles, that dazzled in Europe. And he had picked a team that almost got relegated, that serially bottled it in big matches and against big teams, and so on. Of course, the shoe mostly is on the other foot now, and supporting Arsenal is rather like supporting the Falcons (except I have more hope with the Falcons at present). But at least I had some amazing fun while the first half of Wenger's reign lasted...and who knows, maybe great things will happen again.
 

Zomp

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Back in the mid 90's, my aunt dated and then married a guy from Marseille, France. Given that he had an accent, and I was 9 or 10 years old I thought he was the coolest guy ever. My aunt would babysit me and I'd go to their house, he'd always be watching soccer. Truthfully, I don't remember if watched United or not but I do know he wore an Eric Cantona kit around the house. He was a huge fan and when I'd play he'd yell "CANTONAAAA!!" every time I touched the ball. My aunt and uncle actually had a terrible divorce and I haven't seen him in 15 years or so but that always stuck with me. When we got our first computer and connected online, Manchester United was one of the first things I searched for. I actually never saw the Champions League final against Bayern in 99 until months after it happened.

In high school it was a little tougher to keep track of whats going on, but being from an immigrant town in Rhode Island with most of the people coming from Portugal, I had it better than most. I actually have a group of friends who I started to play Fifa with around 2001 so that helped me keep track of players. We still play FIFA once a week, the same 5 guys. In the early and mid 2000's I remember games being on ESPN2 but maybe one a week? Luckily since United were always good, they were on frequently. I graduated high school in 2003. Fox Soccer (or Fox Sports) shortly gained the rights to the Premier League after that and I had a TV at the gas station I used to work at. That changed everything. Not only were 70-80% of all United's games on TV, but the rest of the league too! I was hooked. I took in every game I could. If United weren't on TV that week, I'd torrent the game and download it overnight.

This, IMO, is still the best Premier League into ever. I actually still listen to the techno remix from time to time:


From the mid 2000's on I haven't missed a United match. I may have to record and watch later, but I've seen every one. Over that time, Wayne Rooney became my favorite athlete. People don't remember because things have changed so much, but when he was younger Rooney was thought to be on the same talent level as Ronaldo and Messi. He was different though. Instead of incredible dribbling, he'd get by you with determination and sometimes brute strength. I loved it. He played like I wanted to. At one point in his young career he had an equal number of goals and cards.

My fandom was the perfect mix of being young an impressionable to then growing up and being able to watch the swashbuckling style of those Sir Alex Ferguson teams.

Another thing that's helped, though less so now, is the preseason tours that United came on to America. It isn't like this anymore but part of the reason they used to like coming here was the anonymity that America provided them with. A few examples. One tour they came on, they asked for pictures of you in your United kits. They said fans would be chosen at random but those that were would have their faces and names put on the screen at Gillette stadium. I believe my girlfriend and I were the only two people to submit pictures because we were on the screens the whole game.



Another time, I read a very small blurb on United's website that said a soccer store was having a Q and A with United players, and that I should contact the store for more details. When I did, the store told me that the deal was $100 and you get a new jersey, access to the Q and A at the store, and then a ticket to a private training session. So I go, and there are maybe 50 people there for the Q and A with Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, and Michael Carrick. Then after that they put us on busses to the training session, where every single player of the team came around and signed autographs for everyone. At the training, they interviewed us on what we thought of the tour, etc... and my interview was chosen to be on the front page of manutd.com

Lastly, when my wife and I went to Old Trafford a few year's back we struck up a conversation with long time stadium announcer Alan Keegan (who also does the voice for FIFA). I don't know how we got on the subject or why we hit it off so well but we've stayed in touch over the years. Last time United came on tour under LVG we met the team in Chicago with Alan. My wife and I were able to go to the hotel lounge with him and he introduced us to a lot of the staff from the club. It was a bit surreal. As we're walking out, Sir Alex walks in. I've met a lot of people and have never gotten star struck...until then. I froze. My wife is begging me to go over and say hi to him. I can't do it. As we're arguing about it he walks out. Lost opportunity.

So not only has the club provided me with a lot of entertainment and good feelings over the years, but they've also given me some very cool experiences.
 

Green (Tongued) Monster

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Not quite in line with the thread title, but this post is requesting advice from you experts for picking my team.

I am a complete novice to soccer, but have enjoyed playing fantasy EPL and watching some games on weekend mornings. It is time to pick a team and I have narrowed my choices down to three:

Arsenal. Yuck a big six team. I don't really want to do it, but I enjoy watching them play except they looked like shit yesterday. I really like Ozil and Lacazette. Cool nickname and a London team. I don't want to be a "front-runner" and don't really like the other big six teams, but I am drawn to them for some reason.

Crystal Palace. Great name, great mascot, great uni's, London team. Would not be a front-runner. Zaha is awesome.

Fulham. Some Americans, neat stadium, London team. Would be great watching a new team try to fight their way into the Premier League. Have some interesting players. However, I fear if they're relegated, I will lose interest since I won't be able to watch them. Although I doubt they will be shown on TV much as it is.

I also enjoyed watching Newcastle last year, but stories of their ownership scare me and they're not a London team. This is important because I plan on making it there some day to take in a match or two.

So what say you? Pros/cons? Suggestions?
 

dirtynine

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Watch a seasons' worth of matches, dip in and out of different clubs, and something will reach out and grab you. (If it's Palace, you were always a lost cause.)
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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Of the three I would go with a Palace myself. See the reasons in jk’s post, plus they usually have great kits. Fulham is kind of meh. My opinion.

FWIW, NBC’s Rebecca Lowe is a Palace fan.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Jul 22, 2006
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Watch a seasons' worth of matches, dip in and out of different clubs, and something will reach out and grab you. (If it's Palace, you were always a lost cause.)
Now why would you think that? ;)

Otherwise fine advice. Just watch a bunch of games, see what jumps at you. If it's Arsenal, don't feel bad- their bandwagon is fairly empty right now and no one except embittered assholes like me will think less of you.

Wolves and Fulham are teams just up that have the look of sticking around for a while with the bonus of playing aesthetically pleasing football.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Jul 22, 2006
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By the way- I always love these threads. I almost feel like we should pin them.

Looking back through the old one, I found this beauty:

Damn I had post number 10 in the thread for the "Guess which number post compares the team they root for to the Sox" pool.
Funny I had post 10 in the pool where someone compares their club to the Red Sox.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Jul 2, 2006
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Not quite in line with the thread title, but this post is requesting advice from you experts for picking my team.

I am a complete novice to soccer, but have enjoyed playing fantasy EPL and watching some games on weekend mornings. It is time to pick a team and I have narrowed my choices down to three:

Arsenal. Yuck a big six team. I don't really want to do it, but I enjoy watching them play except they looked like shit yesterday. I really like Ozil and Lacazette. Cool nickname and a London team. I don't want to be a "front-runner" and don't really like the other big six teams, but I am drawn to them for some reason.

Crystal Palace. Great name, great mascot, great uni's, London team. Would not be a front-runner. Zaha is awesome.

Fulham. Some Americans, neat stadium, London team. Would be great watching a new team try to fight their way into the Premier League. Have some interesting players. However, I fear if they're relegated, I will lose interest since I won't be able to watch them. Although I doubt they will be shown on TV much as it is.

I also enjoyed watching Newcastle last year, but stories of their ownership scare me and they're not a London team. This is important because I plan on making it there some day to take in a match or two.

So what say you? Pros/cons? Suggestions?
As Dummy Hoy noted, this is a great time to become an Arsenal supporter if you're having qualms about being a front-runner.

This team needs a pretty thorough rebuild and is going to take a bunch of pastings at the hands of other clubs over the next couple years. And who knows whether that rebuild will succeed given that the team doesn't have a Russian oligarch or Gulf dictatorship to buy a shiny new team. But we've got a bunch of interesting youth players, a new manager with some progressive tactical ideas, and a fanbase that is more optimistic about the future than they've been in a while. Its a chance to get in on the ground floor of the post-Wenger era and see whether something new can be built.
 

teddykgb

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Jul 16, 2005
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Pep Guardiola will grace English football once. It’d be a shame to have to root against art because you’re worried about being called a front runner. (All said in jest, watch and see who you are drawn to. A London team is nice for travel but the UK is small and getting to the other cities by plane or train is fairly trivial)

Wolves are a real strange team. They’ve got an agent funneling them players. Don’t know how long that will last
 

Kliq

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There shouldn't be any shame in rooting for a top team unless the rationale is "I want to win so I'm just going to pick the team that wins the most."
 

OCST

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The Wolves-Everton game on Saturday was a hugely entertaining game. The Wolves atmosphere was fantastic. Obviously it was going to be fun because the fans were celebrating their first season and first home game back up after being down for (six? seven?) years. The same was true of Huddersfield last year, though, but they play boring football. Wolves attacked and they looked good doing it.

I don't know their history or fans, and this is the first I've heard of shenanigans (not doubting it, just that I haven't heard it before). But I could see how an unafilliated could latch onto them. You could do worse.'

Plus I like the kits.
 

Titans Bastard

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I started playing football manager before actually watching soccer, and Spurs were my team.
I'm fond of Dover Athletic for this reason. I took them to the EPL in FM11 and I still pick up the game every now and then. I've made it as far as the Europa League, but it sure is difficult to break into the highest tiers of English football's caste system.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Jul 22, 2006
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The Wolves-Everton game on Saturday was a hugely entertaining game. The Wolves atmosphere was fantastic. Obviously it was going to be fun because the fans were celebrating their first season and first home game back up after being down for (six? seven?) years. The same was true of Huddersfield last year, though, but they play boring football. Wolves attacked and they looked good doing it.

I don't know their history or fans, and this is the first I've heard of shenanigans (not doubting it, just that I haven't heard it before). But I could see how an unafilliated could latch onto them. You could do worse.'

Plus I like the kits.
Great kits, decent history. I loved when Mick McCarthy coached them because I thought he looked a bit like a wolf.

Here's an article after the EFL "cleared" Wolves of wrongdoing. Essentially this issue is that agents aren't allowed to be in a position of influence/decision making with a club. Mendes is considered an 'advisor' to the giant Chinese conglomerate that owns the club, but there are some sketchy financial ties there, in addition to all of his clients suddenly getting great deals to go play for a middling Championship side.

My read has always been that its sketchy as hell, but impossible to prove, and just an example of someone finding their way around the unfair and absurd FFP situation in the Championship I detailed more in the Championship thread. I wish Wednesday had done it.
 

Green (Tongued) Monster

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Thanks for the help gents. I will continue to watch to be able to make a more informed decision. Hopefully Fulham and CP will be televised on NBC Sports in the coming weeks, but I am feeling better about going with Arsenal too.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Thanks for the help gents. I will continue to watch to be able to make a more informed decision. Hopefully Fulham and CP will be televised on NBC Sports in the coming weeks, but I am feeling better about going with Arsenal too.
One thing you might want to look into is streaming the games as well, if they're not on the proper networks.

Without even getting into crummy sketchy streams, The NBC Sports app has a bunch of the games not on-air available for streaming, and you can authenticate to it with your cable login depending on provider.

There are then more games streaming on the NBC Sports Gold app that they are making completists pay more money for in order to get every game, but I would skip that for now unless and until you get hooked onto a team lower in the league who gets stuck in that service more often.
 

candylandriots

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Watch a seasons' worth of matches, dip in and out of different clubs, and something will reach out and grab you. (If it's Palace, you were always a lost cause.)
Hey now...Let's go have a pot of coffee and talk this over :)

Of the three I would go with a Palace myself. See the reasons in jk’s post, plus they usually have great kits. Fulham is kind of meh. My opinion.

FWIW, NBC’s Rebecca Lowe is a Palace fan.
I've always liked you. And maybe it's because I also like Everton.

I got an instagram like from Rebecca Lowe a while back for a comment I made that was tangential to Crystal Palace. I'll be signing autographs later if anyone is interested.
 

Stanley Steamer

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Jan 11, 2012
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Not quite in line with the thread title, but this post is requesting advice from you experts for picking my team.

I am a complete novice to soccer, but have enjoyed playing fantasy EPL and watching some games on weekend mornings. It is time to pick a team and I have narrowed my choices down to three:

Arsenal. Yuck a big six team. I don't really want to do it, but I enjoy watching them play except they looked like shit yesterday. I really like Ozil and Lacazette. Cool nickname and a London team. I don't want to be a "front-runner" and don't really like the other big six teams, but I am drawn to them for some reason.

Crystal Palace. Great name, great mascot, great uni's, London team. Would not be a front-runner. Zaha is awesome.

Fulham. Some Americans, neat stadium, London team. Would be great watching a new team try to fight their way into the Premier League. Have some interesting players. However, I fear if they're relegated, I will lose interest since I won't be able to watch them. Although I doubt they will be shown on TV much as it is.

I also enjoyed watching Newcastle last year, but stories of their ownership scare me and they're not a London team. This is important because I plan on making it there some day to take in a match or two.

So what say you? Pros/cons? Suggestions?
I agree with the rest. Watch a bunch of games, see what you think, then root for Leeds United.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Apr 22, 2016
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The Wolves-Everton game on Saturday was a hugely entertaining game. The Wolves atmosphere was fantastic. Obviously it was going to be fun because the fans were celebrating their first season and first home game back up after being down for (six? seven?) years. The same was true of Huddersfield last year, though, but they play boring football. Wolves attacked and they looked good doing it.

I don't know their history or fans, and this is the first I've heard of shenanigans (not doubting it, just that I haven't heard it before). But I could see how an unafilliated could latch onto them. You could do worse.'

Plus I like the kits.
100% agree - if I had never watched the PL before and watched that Everton-Wolves game I'd definitely be strongly considering becoming a Wolves fan. They have great fans, a cool throwback of a stadium, the best logo and kits in the league, some fun players, a head coach that looks like a homeless guy you would see wandering the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and whose last name translates literally to "Holy Spirit", and they just came up from the Championship so there's no risk of being accused of jumping onto a bandwagon.

Edit: Oh they also have a great song/chant that reminds me a lot of Sweet Caroline at Sox games:

 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Jul 22, 2006
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100% agree - if I had never watched the PL before and watched that Everton-Wolves game I'd definitely be strongly considering becoming a Wolves fan. They have great fans, a cool throwback of a stadium, the best logo and kits in the league, some fun players, a head coach that looks like a homeless guy you would see wandering the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and whose last name translates literally to "Holy Spirit", and they just came up from the Championship so there's no risk of being accused of jumping onto a bandwagon.

Edit: Oh they also have a great song/chant that reminds me a lot of Sweet Caroline at Sox games:

It's a version of Hi Ho Silver Lining by Jeff Beck- several teams use it. Wednesday opens every game with it.


(yeah, that's 38K in a third division game)
 

Granite Sox

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I lived in Edinburgh in the early eighties .. the Premier League’s premium player at the time was Kenny Dalglish .. of Liverpool...
PBS used to show English First Division games in the late 70/s. Not the whole game, they were usually condensed to an hour on Saturday evenings. Anyhow, Liverpool was kicking ass at the time, with Kevin Keegan and Jimmy Case.
When I first started playing soccer in the late '70's, King Kenny was kicking ass. Also watched on PBS (along with Soccer Made In Germany). From there, through John Barnes to Stan Collymore (ha!) to Michael Owen and Stevie G, I've been a (relatively) long time US Liverpool fan. The fact that FSG purchased them hasn't hurt as well, creating a link to Boston and the Sox.

As an aside, I recently visited Italy for the first time, and although not a huge fan of Serie A, have "adopted" AS Roma based on the strong Boston ties there as well. We'll see how it goes!
 

trotsplits

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Liverpool because FSG. Intently since Suarez' last big season. Leeds United a bit because of my skillful guidance in Football Manager.
 

cromulence

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Several people have said Fulham already, and Clint probably is the reason for most of us. More specifically, though:

 

TheYaz67

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Well, I lived in Cambridge (not MA) for a year in the early 1980's, and in addition to rooting for the local squad (an awful 4th Division Cambridge United team) a bunch of my school mates at the time were Arsenal fans, as I guess they had somewhat of a resurgence in the late 1970s, so that's how I came to root for them - peer pressure....
 

Jimy Hendrix

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The FSG connection thing interests me because I found it a little bit of a turn-off rather than a natural on-ramp.

Intellectually, I know that sports is big faceless multi-national corporations on one level even as it's family & community and all the other things that it means on another level, and I am cool with kinda ignoring the first part and letting the second part make me feel things.

When I was figuring out a team, the idea of following LFC because they are owned by the same holding group as the Sox really felt like it was rubbing my nose in that first part of sports that I try to think about less.

No shade whatsoever on people who have used that as an on-ramp, it makes a lot of sense on a lot of levels. It just didn't fit with my own Sports Cognitive Dissonance.
 

Salem's Lot

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I started supporting Arsenal because some buddies convinced me to go to breakfast at the Lir on a Sunday. Nothing better than working off a hangover with Guinness and a breakfast burrito at 10:30 am on a Sunday. And the people were really cool, not douchey like I would expect them to be to a soccer noob. After a few times going I realized I was following them so I just kept doing it.
 

Muppet

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FSG bought Liverpool Nd a year later son began playing youth soccer. He loves the sport (while showing no interest in baseball, football or basketball) so I began to follow the PL as he began to finish low the league and its players.

We bonded over the Saturday meeting thing games. He stated he was a ManU fan, I think because of Pogba, while I rooted for Liverpool just because of FSG/Sox. Last year, as he started playing at a higher level and began to appreciate tactics and overall play he turned on ManU and “that awful mourinho” and rooting for Salah and Liverpool was an easy switch.

He watches games every day it seems and our dvd is still full of World Cup, uefa and ICC games. But we LOVE watching Liverpool play. Klopp is a great manager and Salah has become my favorite athlete to watch. The growth of the club mirrors the Sox post hWL buying the Sox. Klopp is Theo. Salah is Ortiz. Allison is Foulke.

Man City are the Yankees. Real are the Cardinals. Although Ramos is clearly ARod.

Regardless, it’s my way of going back to 2004.
I sorta did this in reverse, without talented children.

I’ve supported Liverpool forever and they had some amazing winning seasons. When FSG came in we had some awful owners who were basically sucking the team dry of resources to line their pockets. We were about to become bankrupt.

FSG pretty much saved us from disaster and have gotten us back to a position to compete.

Shortly after I sort of adopted the Sox because of FSG but truth be told I knew nothing of baseball and didn’t care who did what.

Then the wife and I went to Boston.

We’ve been around a few places in the USA but I’ve never felt so at home and comfortable. Not because people were overtly nice, but we just seemed to fit better.

So now I’m pretty much all in with all Boston teams. I’ve been to Fenway and later this year I’ll see the Celtics. Can’t wait!
 

MiracleOfO2704

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I loved when Mick McCarthy coached them because I thought he looked a bit like a wolf.
And all anyone remembers of Mick’s time at Wolves is...



I’ve told my story here before. My first hit of the drug that is association football was a mid season Bundesliga match between TSV 1860 München and Bayer Leverkusen at Olympic Stadium Munich. My first hit of the EPL was Thierry Henry ripping apart the league during the Invincibles era. But the one that finally got me hooked was Steven Gerrard, followed quickly by the club’s purchase of Fernando Torres. I thought for sure they’d win a league or two together. Then Hicks and Gillett nearly bankrupted the club with debt purchases, FSG swept in, and things have slowly improved to the point that I think they should win a league, instead of hoping things break right for them to steal one a la Leicester.

As far as 1860 go, less said the better.
 

bsj

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I historically hate front runners unless im born into the fandom (a la my Patriots fandom)....I always pick lower ranked teams and hope for a ride. My aforementioned QPR story fits. Ive also gone even deeper and have begun casually following Forest Green. Would love to see that program make a climb although I am curious how the vegan thing will factor in if at all
 

Investor 11

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San Diego
After FSG bought Liverpool I started to actually pay attention to the EPL and what was going on, so I've naturally gravitated toward them a bit.

However, the team I've truly bonded to is Derby County. A friend of mine was following them as he was friends with Tom Ricketts, who was part owner at the time. I'd follow how they were doing and it gave us something to talk about when we'd run in to each other at the neighborhood dive bar. The crushing loss of the Championship Playoff in 2014 to QPR ( I still get angry when I hear the name Bobby Zamora) made me realize that I had really grown attached to the team.

In 2015, the Mrs.(Michelle) and I were heading over to England for vacation. I had never been to a soccer match of any kind. I asked my friend if he could put me in touch with someone who could help me buy a pair of tickets for the Derby match while we were there. He gave me Ricketts Cubs email and I fired off a quick message. 3 days later I got an email from the Derby County team secretary. She said that they were happy to assist with us seeing the game and that purchasing tickets would not be necessary. She went on to detail that we would be watching the match from the Director's Box. I think I read the email 3 times to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

That first gameday was an experience I'll never forget. I threw on a Derby County tie with my suit and we boarded the train from London. The atmosphere in the stadium was great, even from our subdued seating neighbors. Paul Ince was sitting 2 rows in front of us. I knew I would enjoy the day no matter what, but I was really hoping Michelle would too because my plan was to make catching a match a vacation tradition going forward. The first crowd jeering of "Wanker!Wanker!" hooked her right in. Before the match even ended she was talking about how she wanted to come back and stand in the supporters section. With Derby leading 2-0 heading in to extra time the couple next to us made a break for the exits. When the match ended, it was in the disappointment I have come to get used to. Derby conceded twice and and settled for a draw.

I can't wait for the day they are promoted.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
SoSH Member
Jul 22, 2006
8,232
Falmouth
They eat meat. There just isn’t meat served at the stadium.

I think there was some story about half the team and staff slamming down meat pies from concessions after an away match.

Hasn’t affected them so far I think.