I need an assist here from our esteemed Brit posters. I was reading your English Premier thread and I have decided that I want in on the action. I'm not big on soccer, but I find myself drawn to the passion of the fans. So here's the deal: I need a team to root for. With that said, here are the conditions: - It cannot be Man U - It can't be a team that's so bad they're in constant danger of being sent down or whatever it is you call it. That's it. Recommendations? Biases? Shameless plugs? Any of that would be very welcome.
Well yeah I think I got it covered for international competition (take that Spain!). However, it brings up another point. The presence of U.S. players on the EPL team is not a must, but could be considered a bonus.
I think that these are the best clubs to support. Everton - (5th place) Blue and White. The People's Club. On a limited budget, Manager David Moyes has built a scappy side, bringing in bargain priced players from around the world. Tim Howard (goalkeeper)- USA Mikael Arteta - Spain Steven Pienaar - South Africa Aston Villa - (6th place) Claret and Blue The up and coming club, with lots of young English players. Martin O'Neill has Villa playing exciting, high-speed football. The owner is an American, Randy Lerner, who also owns the Cleveland Browns. Ashley Young, James Milner, Gabriel Agbonlahor - England Brad Friedel (goalkeeper) - USA Liverpool (2nd place) Red and White Manchester United's greatest rivals. They are a massive club, with a celebrated history, and extremely passionate support. Right now, Rafa Benitez has the strongest line-up in England; but financial pressure could force the sale of key players. The owners are Tom Hicks (Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars), and George Gillett. Gillett's sale of the Montreal Canadiens could help Liverpool. Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Glen Johnson - England Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina - Spain Javier Mascherano - Argentina. You can follow all the clubs online. It's really a great sport. Let us know what you think.
Well Everton sounds promising. They are rivals with Liverpool I'm assuming? Anyway, I like the colors, I like the payroll, I like their current standings, and I like that Howard is the goalkeeper. Especially after his badassery against Spain. Liverpool sounds cool, but they might be a bit too big for me to jump into. I guess if I were to pick one of the big teams, they would be it. I kind of like the idea of a team that is kind of second fiddle in their own city/region but not totally hopeless. I think this comes from being a Texas Aggie. What's the deal with Man City? *edit* I just saw where Hicks is the owner. This is HUGE negative for Liverpool. I am an Astros fan and he owns the Rangers (and has done terrible things to them) and he's also a UT grad.
Aston Villa sounds ok too. I like the idea of young, up and coming, homegrown talent that I can follow as they mature. However, I don't know what the hell claret is and the name isn't all that great. This is gonna be tough!
Chelsea. They're owned by some Russian mug, get shitloads of money and great players so have a decent shot at actually winning something. However, their players aren't as whiny as Real Madrid's so it's not a big deal. Plus, it'll piss tons of people off if you support them.
Given your criteria Everton is probably best. Rivals to Liverpool and Man yoo. Good team and fan spirit and a good (Scottish, obviously) manager. edit: Chup will say Spurs, ignore him
Do NOT go for Chelsea or Man City! A pair of no-mark clubs that have only achieve success (in Chelsea's case, at least) thanks to their foreign, billionaire sugar daddy's! Liverpool will be a great choice. They have a demi-god playing for them (as pictured in my av) and are frankly, the greatest club ever to have taken to a football pitch in England. And beyond. Also, given the pathetic efforts by Arsenal and Chelsea, Liverpool are the only club left to stop the evil empire from Old Trafford from continuing to dominate English football. And Liverpool has the best football anthem around too.
OK, so Chelsea and Man U are out. I'm still not convinced about Man City. So they have a rich Arab owner now? Didn't seem to help them all that much looking at the standings. They do have the best colors though. I'm warming up to the Everton option. Aston Villa still has appeal but from what I can gather, their chief rival is relegated as often as not. If that is the case, then I don't think I can go for them. What's the deal with Blackburn? Also, Dan what is wrong with the Spurs? They seem to fit my criteria pretty well. Second fiddle to Arsenal most of the time, good classic colors, not massive spenders, cool name . . . what's the catch?
Spurs are a good club. Outside of the big four, they are the strongest club financially. Spurs have a decent group of players, and could challenge for fifth place. They have under-performed in recent years. Last year, after a slow start, Spurs brought in Harry Redknapp as manager; and started winning.
Don't have one. I love football but don't feel I need to choose a team. The closest for me is Bolton, quite a few of my friends support them and its the only team I've been to watch play.
How apt. You get to sneer and comment from the side but you've got no real investment in what goes on.
Confederations Cup Final Today (Sunday) Brazil - USA 1:25 PM Central Time, on ESPN2, and online at http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/index 7:25 PM BST, on BBC3, and BBC online.
Well, USA fell to Brazil today. Dempsey scored 2 goals in the first half to give us the lead, but Brazil turned up the heat in the second and blew us away. Really, it should have been 4-2 but the refs missed a call on a ball that completely crossed the goal line before being rejected by Howard. Good effort though. At this point, I think I'm about 85% settled on Everton as my EPL team. Howard has really won me over these last two games. Anybody know what their anthem is? *edit* Dempsey only scored one goal, making it 3 straight games with a goal.
Ah. Well now . . . that could change my criteria. See, I'm leaning towards Everton. However, based on what I've read, there is no guarantee that teams like Everton or Aston Villa will be any good from year to year. They have a small payroll which means they have trouble bringing in established difference makers and they are vulnerable to being raided by the Big Four. There is no parity at all in the EPL. No salary cap, no draft, and rich Arabs/commies who buy marketable teams and spend them into prominence. None of that is really an issue for me personally. I don't mind if I pick a team like Everton and next year they struggle to make the top ten. But if you want to travel to see a game, then you might wanna think about it. Also, if we use this as an excuse for a vacation . . . do we really wanna visit Liverpool or Manchester, or Blackburn, or Portsmouth, or Newcastle, or Birmingham, or pretty much anywhere but London? Something to think about. A concern like that would put Tottenham Hotspur right back in the race (even though they underachieve worse than A&M football).
It's a possibility. There's a lot to like. Cool name, classic kit, a stadium called White Heart, a decent payroll that gives hope for the occasional top 4 finish. The underachievement is kind of baffling though. What is the excuse for finishing behind teams like Everton and Aston Villa? Is it a shitty manager? Players who don't give shit? What could the Spurs do with a man like Moyes at the helm? Makes you wonder. So here is where I'm at in my decision making progress: I've eliminated all of the rich teams and the hopeless teams. I'm left with these teams in order of current preference: Everton, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, and Blackburn. I'm wondering if the best thing to do would be to follow all of these teams next season and see who catches my interest the most. The only downside to that is that I'd like to be emotionally invested from the first match on.
White Hart Lane actually - named after the road it sits on. Although a wage cap and lack of Champions League football puts off the best players. Crap management was exactly the problem. We finished 5th in two successive seasons under Martin Jol, the first time only missing out on the CL by one game. Then the genius Daniel Levy, our Chairman, decided to sack Jol and brought in Juande Ramos, who sold half of the squad and guided us through our worst ever league start. We then sacked him and brought in Harry Redknapp, who turned things around. In fact, had we played the same form and we have displayed under Redknapp for the entire season we would have finished fourth or fifth. If you want emotional investment then Spurs is definately for you. When we do achieve something its all the more satisfying as there have been so many false dawns then when success comes to the club, such as a cup win or a good finish, its all the more satisfying.
