Well I hope Bolton stay up and Fulham go down.
I dunno why it is but I’ve never liked Fulham, for my money they just don’t belong in the premier division.
Bolton on the other hand do. I’ve allus liked Bolton ever since big Nat gave Ray Wood the heave-ho 
I have no great love of Fulham myself, in fact they are one of Bolton’s bogey teams. I have always liked an underdog though, and they (along with Bolton) were in pretty dire circumstances. If they do go down though, I would be interested in McBride, I think he could do well at Bolton, but I don’t think he would fancy it.
I was going to say I wanted Fulham to go down as well, but then I realised I don’t really respect any of the four teams in the running for the two spots. Bolton are probably the best of a bad bunch, there, along with maybe Birmingham.
Whether City now ditch Sven or not, it’s a complete PR cock-up either way and I can’t see why Sven would want to stay. I can understand players wanting to leave as well. Ah well, it’s all quite amusing to a Red Devils fan, anyway. Let’s hope Wigan don’t get as lucky as they did last weekend.
In other news, my real team, Bristol City, have had a very creditable return to the second division, although given our play-offs record one that is doomed to end in disappointment. However, there is always hope. The real test will be to avoid the drop back down next year. Unless we somehow get to the Prem, in which case the real test will be avoiding taking some records off Derby.
There are rumors that if Fulham go down, McBride will come home to Columbus where he started his career as their marquee player. Give his family a chance to live back home, he’d make a very good salary by MLS standards, and he’s pretty much worshipped by USA fans for being a tough guy.
Also, aren’t Bolton pretty much safe at this point? For Bolton to go down, both Fulham and Reading would need to win, Bolton would need to lose (okay, that part will likely happen), and Reading would need to overcome an 11 goal differential (Fulham would need to overcome 5 goals).
Birmingham cannot catch Bolton on points but can still climb back over Fulham and Reading to safety, possible even with a draw if Reading and Fulham both lose.
Pretty much, but theres an outside chance
Bolton need to lose heavily - we are going to Stamford Bridge to play a Chelsea team which still have a chance at the title
Reading need to win heavily - they are going to Derby 'nuff said
Fulham need to beat Pompey - Portsmouth have nothing to play for in the league and are planning for an FA Cup final.
Call me a worry wart but I don’t like that confluence of situations.
[QUOTE=Dead Cat]
Ah well, it’s all quite amusing to a Red Devils fan, anyway. Let’s hope Wigan don’t get as lucky as they did last weekend.
In other news, my real team, Bristol City
Are you saying that you support the rags?
If you are, why does it not surprise me that a person from outside Manchester follows that shower of shite.
On the other hand, if I read you wrong I apologise most humbly for the slur on your character.
And let’s hope Wigan DO get lucky
Party in Alexandria if the Blue Scum go down.
I’ve managed to educate a few people here about the intricacies of the beautiful game. I didn’t poke out my colleague’s eyes with a chop stick for asking me at lunch why if Chelsea and Man Utd were both in the final, there were still games going on this weekend. But what I cannot get through to Americans is the importance of hating a rival team. How if, on the last day of the season, Villa had to lose for the scum to be relegated, I would be rooting for Villa to get stuffed. How if in the same situation, Villa needed to win to get a Uefa Cup spot, I would be seriously torn in my loyalties. European Cup spot - sure, I would hope for a Villa win. But Uefa? I’m not so sure. That only gives for a short time. The scum being relegated is a gift that gives all year.
villa : I’m afraid you floggeth the dead horse old bean.
The colonists will never in a million years understand the sheer depth of loathing you have for Brum and I have for manure.
It’s an English thing, it’s in our blood to hate the opposition.
When good old Denis sent the rags down it was possibly one of the happiest moments of my life
This is where I am odd. Because I moved to Bolton as an adult, and had no footie team as a lad, I have none of the local rivalries bred into me. I’ve been here for 7 years now, and I still don’t hate Blackburn, Wigan et al. The one team I am truly starting to dislike is Man Ure. I get so many plastic Man Utd fans giving me grief at the poker tables, when they live in Weston Super Mare or somewhere and it winds me up no end. I have to set the buggers to “ignore”.
Yeah - they look at me oddly. But I do throw great parties, so they don’t really care if it is for some team they have never heard of getting relegated ("Relegated, what’s that? Shouldn’t they get first pick in the draft next year?), or the long promised one when Thatcher goes tits up.
I can understand why you hate Manchester United (after all, they’ve ruined your life) but to call them a shower of shite simply flies against all the available evidence.
Since this is a fact-based message board I feel I should remind you of MU’s sixteen league titles, eleven FA Cups, two League Cups, two European Cups, and one European Cup Winners Cup. Presumably you also missed Carlos Tevez’s sublime strike against West Ham on Saturday, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s record breaking season must have totally passed you by.
I have no affinity whatsoever with Manchester United as a club but I know top class football when I see it and this season they have provided it in abundance. Sure, you did the double over them but look at the table now. It doesn’t lie.
So hate them blindly and without logic if you must but don’t expect everybody else to agree with you.
(Blackpool, safe by two points to fight again in the second tier next season.)
They are still a shower of shite though.
Well, I will add one thing: Thankfully, with few exceptions (see Boston Red Sox v. New York Yankees for example), Americans have not adopted the concept of hating opponent teams. Rooting for your team is wonderful. Hating the opposition is a start down a long slippery slope to precisely the sort of hooliganism for which, sadly, England is known all too well.
we’ve slid a long way down the hooligan rankings these days…
What ** villa** said, in spades
Shurrup you girl.
As football hooliganism has been reduced, other forms of youth violence seem to have risen. Maybe the problem was never football, but was and remains societal.
And God knows there is no history of violence among young people in the United States, in particular not in the decaying urban areas that parallel the hot spots of “football” hooliganism in the past in the UK.
I’m afraid so, yes - I’m not a c*** about it though (at least I hope not), I’m well aware I’m not a real fan, they’re just my favourite premiership team. I have in fact been to Old Trafford - once, working as a waiter in an exceutive box!
I can’t really call myself a Bristol City supporter either as I haven’t been to a game in years. I prefer playing the game to watching it, in general.
The Man U thing started when I was 9. I wasn’t very aware of football at the time, and one day a friend asked me what team I supported. “Bristol City, I suppose”, I said. “No, no, in the Premiership!” “Oh - I don’t know really.” “You don’t know?!”
Shame fell upon me, so that weekend I scoured the sport section of the newspaper. ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ jumped out at me - sounds like a cool name, I thought. On Monday I was prepared: “So, what team do support?” “Tottenham Hotspur” “What, SPURS?!” Howls of derision. I was shamed again. “No, I was only joking. Manchester United.” “Oh, OK.” Apparently this was acceptable. And so a lifetime allegiance was born.
And just like that another young soul was lost forever…
