Official Football Thread

I try to keep away from this Celtic v Rangers-thing. Far too much bigotry involved. That being said, I enjoy watching the matches between them and I'd absolutely love to watch one ringside - the atmosphere can be magnificent. But this Catholic/Irish v Protestant/Unionist-thing, with IRA and racist slurs and God knows what - does not make me want to take sides with either. However, the reason for me not liking Rangers has to do with it - after reading Sir Alex Ferguson's biography and finding out how he was treated by certain people at the club, because he - a Protestant - was married to a Catholic woman.

Watched a series of short documentaries about football rivalries last year, called "The football war", on Norwegian TV. The reporter traveled the world and attended several high-profile rivalries; Boca Juniors vs River Plate, Fenerbahce vs Besiktas, Honduras vs Mexico, and of course the Old Firm. Before the latter, he met with fans of both clubs (and drank with them, of course) - and it was clear that the bigotry was still alive and kicking!
 
Eddies Wingman said:
I try to keep away from this Celtic v Rangers-thing. Far too much bigotry involved. That being said, I enjoy watching the matches between them and I'd absolutely love to watch one ringside - the atmosphere can be magnificent. But this Catholic/Irish v Protestant/Unionist-thing, with IRA and racist slurs and God knows what - does not make me want to take sides with either.
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Many years ago, my cousin got married to a Catholic in Glasgow. After the wedding, I jumped on a coach laid out for some guests to take me back to Glasgow city centre and my hotel. This bus was full of Celtic fans who started to chant anti-English songs (I'm not sure they knew who I was). It started of quite funny (Cheer up Glen Hoddle, etc.) but they ended up with songs about been thankful for IRA bombings. That is where it is wrong.

For me, however, it's purely a football thing to not want to back Celtic. A bit like wanting Arsenal to get whipped by Barcelona (and B'ham today).
 
Albie said:
For me, however, it's purely a football thing to not want to back Celtic. A bit like wanting Arsenal to get whipped by Barcelona (and B'ham today).
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I didn't suspect otherwise, from what you write on here you don't seem like the type who takes part in that bigotry anyway. By the way, do you have an impression which of the Glasgow teams has more sympathy among English football fans? I have the impression that fans in the northwest (Manchester, Liverpool etc) are more friendly towards Celtic?
 
Turkish football sucks, just sucks. There aren't any Turkish teams remaining in the Europe stage. Bursaspor got embarrassed in the Champions League and Beşiktaş got crushed by Dinamo Kiev with 8 goals in two legs. We couldn't go to the World Cup 2010 and we're sucking in the Qualifying Stage of the EURO 2012. Damn I hate it.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
I didn't suspect otherwise, from what you write on here you don't seem like the type who takes part in that bigotry anyway. By the way, do you have an impression which of the Glasgow teams has more sympathy among English football fans? I have the impression that fans in the northwest (Manchester, Liverpool etc) are more friendly towards Celtic?
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A lot of it will have to do with where there are large Irish immigrant communities. I think a while ago cities in England with two teams, like the ones you mentioned, saw them split Catholic/Protestant  - on a much smaller scale than in Glasgow - but that's all long gone now. I would also say that most English fans wouldn't care either way about the Glasgow clubs, but that nonsense some Celtic fans go on about (like what Albie said, and other stuff like disrupting Remembrance Day memorials) doesn't really endear themselves to people down here.

Albie said:
A bit like wanting Arsenal to get whipped by Barcelona (and B'ham today).
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Well, that second bit happened today. It was a cracking match, and would have been extremely harsh on Birmingham if they hadn't won it - after they should have had a penalty and Arsenal a man sent-off after 2 minutes. Last year it was the referee bottling it by not sending Vidic off, this year a terrible linesman decision. And nice to see Arsenal not win it, when their fans turn up expecting to win it easily, and seeing it as just a stepping stone to winning a bigger trophy; so nice for the League Cup to be won by a club who values it.

EW, did you see the Man U match yesterday. I watched the highlights, and if it wasn't for Van Der Sar they could've been 2/3 down. It really will be a struggle to replace that guy.
 
I watched it, yes. It could easily have been 2-1 Wigan at half time, but Edwin van der Sar would have nothing of it. He really made the difference in the first half. After the break, however, it was just a question how big the win would be.

I noticed QPR won again, so they still look like going up. And if the Hammers play a bit more games like they did against Liverpool today, it might just be that you'll still play them next season, as you said you hoped for  :D
 
Eddies Wingman said:
I didn't suspect otherwise, from what you write on here you don't seem like the type who takes part in that bigotry anyway. By the way, do you have an impression which of the Glasgow teams has more sympathy among English football fans? I have the impression that fans in the northwest (Manchester, Liverpool etc) are more friendly towards Celtic?
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NA summed it up. For me, I only have an interest due to my Scottish relations (I have a cousin who is a season ticket holder at Ibrox) but a lot of English don't care too much unless they have a connection to Ireland or Scotland. Besides, I'd support St Mirren (my granddads team) over any team north of the border.

I only saw the second half of the B'ham/Arsenal game (I watched the Scotland/Ireland rugby match, then the football). I also had one eye on the cricket via the 'Net. What a pretty damn exciting couple of hours that was. First, India raced to 338 all out thus setting a mountain for England to reach - but they reached it alright, needing 2 runs of the last ball to win or just one to draw and they only got the single. Over to the rugby and Ireland stormed to a 21-9 lead against Scotland only to have the Scots peg them back to 21-18 and with 5 minutes to go, all that was needed was one score for the Scots to draw (or win had it been a tie) but alas, they failed to get there. Then the football. I missed the penalty shout at the beginning (so did Arsene Wenger, no doubt) - Arsenal were pretty damn lucky there.
 
Seems like a pretty thrilling afternoon of sports watching, that. Funny that Brum got the title, their first since 1963 - now let's see how this influences Arsenal's team spirit in the last three months of the season.

Me, I'm saving up fingernails to the encounter at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.
 
national acrobat said:
And nice to see Arsenal not win it, when their fans turn up expecting to win it easily
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I'm an Arsenal fan and I wasn't expecting an easy game at all. No Arsenal fan I spoke to before the match thought it would be easy either.

If I was given a choice, I would've rather won yesterday than beaten Barcelona next week as well.
 
MaidenVoyage said:
I'm an Arsenal fan and I wasn't expecting an easy game at all. No Arsenal fan I spoke to before the match thought it would be easy either.

If I was given a choice, I would've rather won yesterday than beaten Barcelona next week as well.
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Fair enough. The impression that I got was one of Arsenal wanting to win this trophy to get the monkey off their back of not winning anything for 6 years(!), to be a springboard for winning something more significant (for further details on this look at Wenger's comments on the League Cup over the last 10 years), rather than for the prestige of winning the League Cup itself.
 
Is there a more stupid person in the Premier League than Ashley Cole?

Seriously, the #1 rule when handling a weapon must be to know whether it is loaded or not? This man shouldn't be allowed to carry anything more lethal than a plastic spoon. Even a .22 air rifle can harm people quite seriously on such short ranges.
 
Rooney's never been the sharpest knife in the drawer  :D Also don't forget Carlos Tevez, who failed to understand why the crowd at Old Trafford were not happy with him when he returned ... as a Man City player.

Also West Brom's Jonas Olsson might be a candidate, at least for the top 10.
 
OK, I'm obviously disappointed by United's performance and mad at the ref for giving Chelsea a very, very easy penalty for them to win the match, but yesterday's match had one real highlight as well:

Right afte Rooney missed a big chance in the 2nd half, a camera found no other than Gary Neville in the away stand, cursiing and swearing  :D Wonder if he'll do the same at Anfield. That might very well start some trouble :D
 
I used to be a fan of FC Barcelona but now I don't like them. They're incredibly successful, they just pass the ball each other all over the game and don't let the other teams play some football. And now it's boring to watch Barcelona matches to me because of their goodness. I'm waiting to see they lost a game by 4-5 goals. It's some psychological stuff.
 
I don't watch Spanish football regularly, but I can imagine it gets boring when the top two teams have such little chance of being beaten. Having said that I watched the last 'El Classico' which was fantastic, and I always enjoy seeing Barcelona in the Champions League.
 
I can't connect much emotionally when watching Spanish football, but I can let myself be entertained by it. Watching Barcelona against other good teams is usually quite fun, and I really look forward to the 2nd leg of their encounter with Arsenal.


Kolo Toure suspended with immediate effect

Manchester City have suspended Kolo Toure due to a failed drug test: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11679_6793012,00.html

Can any of you English-speaking enlighten me on what is meant by a "specified substance"? I'm not familiar with the terminology when it comes to doping/drugs in the UK. Does it mean it could be anything from crack to EPO?
 
Both the BBC and Sky Sports had to explain what is meant by the "specified substance" so it is even ambiguous to English speakers. So, of to WADA I went and found this:

WADA said:
Generally speaking, “specified substances” are substances that are more susceptible to a credible, non-doping explanation. If the athlete can prove that he or she did not intend to enhance performance by using them to the satisfaction of the results management authority, the sanction under the World Anti-Doping Code can go from a warning to a 2-year ban.
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Source - expand on "Why was methylexaneamine reclassified from a “non-specified” stimulant to a “specified” stimulant?"

He probably smoked a bit of dope.
 
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