If Tommy and Jerry can do it........

[Liverbirdie]

100 years ago they walked across no mans land, shared their chocolate, their brandy, their stories and their feelings.

There are enough posts on the other footy thread with snide, nasty and argumentative posts, as well as some good stuff, but sadly in the minority.

I'm sure this thread will last a week at best, but maybe we need to put the weapons down in one thread and just post some admirable and positive stuff. Even if in the other thread you post some invective, bitter, bile, but maybe we need somewhere to also put the same good stuff that you have liked or admired over the weekend or that last match.

Even the things you admire from other clubs or even rivals. You have "own fan" immunity in here. Don't be weak.

So here goes:-

Man U - One of the few club fans to have as many different songs as my own club's fans. They have played some fantastic football over the last 20 years, as well as in the less successful years before that. Their away fans are amongst the most vociferous and noisy in the league. Always give youth a chance and generally play with wingers and a certain verve.

Everton - Very loyal and passionate fans. One of the best atmospheres in the premiership when under the lights and a full,vibrant Goodison park is one of the best places to be as a neutral. Despite nearly 20 years without a trophy their gates have hardly dipped, and for their chicken feed investment in the team have been the best pound-for-£ team over the last decade.

Arsenal - Probably the classiest club around, all told. Traditional, and old Highbury had a certain old school blazer style to it. Their style over the years has changed, but for 15 years they have played some wonderful football, whether winning trophies, or not, they have stuck to an attractive style.

Chelsea - Old school club back in the day whose older fans have rode the roller coaster over 30 years from perennial yo-yo club to Champions of Europe. Probably the best London club away fans. Always well supported in the thick and the thin.

Man City - Never mind perennial yo-yo club, these fans even seen the 3rd tier and were still supported fantastically, even when a European giant were on their own doorstep. Still overcoming "typical city" labels, even from their own fans, they have forged their own style even when disaster/success is still equally just around the corner, and can go either way.

Spurs - cracking atmosphere even in a small ground, and again as a neutral, you would like to go to a game at Spurs, as every top game seems to be at 100 miles an hour, fantastic football and can go either way, even to the last few minutes.

Newcastle - fantastic fan loyalty to a club who has under-performed and been through the mill for 50 years. Despite criticism from all quarters, the geordies are still a proud nation and will back their team come what may.

Many others can be mentioned, but you have to start somewhere.

As said this will probably last a day or a week, but "IMMUNITY" is granted in this thread for all that's admirable in a game, season, week,rival,team,player,club........Its up to us.:thup:

 

[garyinderry]

Some sight and sound. If you squint hard enough you can spot our very own liverbirdie singing his wee lungs out.

My dad came over last year to see this for himself. He would like to go to a big European night but they are few and far between these days .

 

[Blue in Munich]

Tottenham; always create a good atmosphere when they visit The Bridge, but always know how to behave; they were the visitors in the first home fixtures after the deaths of Matthew Harding & Peter Osgood. These were the days when such occasions were marked by a minute's silence. Despite the rivalry, they observed the silence immaculately which goes a long way in my book. Eerily, the only noise that punctuated the Matthew Harding silence was a helicopter going into Battersea heliport.

Arsenal; might surprise a few given my club's current position, but I admire the way that they are trying to balance the books & live within their means in the current climate. In a game that has become a business and lost its moral compass somewhere along the way, it is refreshing to see.

Bayern Munich; seems quite appropriate in the context of the thread. Mrs BiM & I went there on a one-dayer, flying out at silly o'clock & staying up all day. From the passport officer who berated me about my shirt (a commemorative double winners shirt from 2010 that he mistook for a pre-emptive 2012 one) that ended in laughter and handshakes, to the Munich fans who came over whenever we were scratching our heads looking at ticket machines or a guide book and offered friendly advice with great humour; never once did we feel uncomfortable or were given a bum steer. Never have I found a better atmosphere between fans around a football match. Even on the way out we were being congratulated by them, and I have yet to meet another fan who was there who has a bad word to say about them. I said to Mrs BiM partway through the event that even if we lost I could still say I'd enjoyed a fantastic day, and there's not many cup finals you can say that about.

Rollercoaster Liverbirdie? You ain't kidding! 20 years ago we walked out of Wembley in the peeing rain having lost 4 - 0 to David Ellery thinking that our chance of the FA Cup, which at that time was the limit of our dreams and ambitions (well, that and avoiding relegation), had slipped from our grasp. That's been some turnaround.

Merry Christmas.

 

[Hobbit]

Maybe I've been lucky when going to an away match. I've always found a pub I could go into and have a good laugh with the opposition fans... the three most welcoming have been Liverpool, in a little pub absolutely heaving with fans in spitting distance of the ground. Tottenham, where I drank till silly O'clock in the morning and then got an invite to carry on at a ad hoc party one of them decided to have. And Wednesday(twice), where typical Yorkshire humour, and beer, flowed.

Apart from the odd numpty, which his own supporters have shut up, I've loved every minute when visiting. Basically, all fans are the same - fantastic people with a passion for their own club.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Southampton: Hugely impressed with the way they have invested in youth, the list of players in the last few years that have gone onto bigger things is stunning. Walcott, Oxlade Chamberlain, Bale, Chambers, Shaw, Lallana.....and there are more in the pipeline. They have just opened a new academy with a view to having a lot more homegrown players in the first team.

 

[Liverbirdie]

God, most of us must be bitter then.......

Andy Carroll - some goal that.

 

[Jensen]

I'm a Tottenham fan and have to say I'd admire Arsenal for the way they are run.
To me they really run the football club efficiently. They have short, medium and long term business plans, they really do plan ahead.
Apart from Ozil they don't spend stupid money on players but have a well connected scouting system in place, and identify good players.
Post George Graham they play some pretty good football.
Spurs on the other hand have always played good football but the club is run in a very poor manner. They don't seem to plan but just seem to plod along from one day to the next with no business direction.

 

[bluewolf]

Bolton Wanderers.......











Nope... I've got nothing. Bunch of 6 fingered no marks....

 

[Liverbirdie]

Bolton Wanderers.......

Nope... I've got nothing. Bunch of 6 fingered no marks....

There's always one......, what about Skelmersdale United?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Everton fan. When they start singing You'll Never Walk Alone over the road before the teams come out. A bit special.

 

[JCW]

Not bad summing up of the clubs

 

[c1973]

I used to like it at the old parkheid (Celtic Park) when they belted out you'll never walk alone while holding their scarves aloft and we twirled our scarves above our heads while singing back. The whole place was a sea of colour.

I know that's complimenting both teams and not just celtic......but come on, it's a start......we're meant to hate each other!!

As its a being nice thread all I'll say about their old stadium is, the 'jungle' was fantastic. I was in it once when we played a semi final (it was a neutral venue), great atmosphere in it, nearly as good as the old East Enclosure at Ibrox.

 

[Liverbirdie]

I used to like it at the old parkheid (Celtic Park) when they belted out you'll never walk alone while holding their scarves aloft and we twirled our scarves above our heads while singing back. The whole place was a sea of colour.

I know that's complimenting both teams and not just celtic......but come on, it's a start......we're meant to hate each other!!

As its a being nice thread all I'll say about their old stadium is, the 'jungle' was fantastic. I was in it once when we played a semi final (it was a neutral venue), great atmosphere in it, nearly as good as the old East Enclosure at Ibrox.

Lucky man, I'd loved to have seen an old firm derby in either of the old grounds.

I stood on the jungle for the first match after Hillsborough and it was special (no segregation for that match), but obviously a different type of atmosphere. With a raucous atmosphere it must have been great.