It’s a consequence of the SPL being a poor relation, really. The EPL is so dominant that English fans feel no need to indicate that it’s their league being discussed, while Scottish fans feel that if they don’t specify that they mean the Scottish Premier League there might be confusion. So, north of the border, it’s “SPL” and “EPL”; south of the border it’s “the Premiership” and “the :rolleyes: Scottish league”.
We don’t all roll our eyes when we say it though ;).
There’s some justification in thinking that the Scottish leagues are inferior to the English ones, but I still feel uncomfortable when the BBC announcer reads out the scores from the fifth division of the English league before they even start on the Scottish ones.
It would be confusing if the announcer kept jumping between countries. Besides, aren’t the pools printed that way?
Re “EPL”, I stand to be corrected, but wasn’t it “FA Carling Premiership” too? In which case it’s never been widely referred to as the Premier League, so EPL makes no sense to English fans (although I believe the official name is “FA Premier League”).
Well the fourth league anyway, everton 
I tend to notice these things as I wait for my teams’ result to arrive on the radio- all the way down in the 3rd division. My username tells you which team I support.
V
<---- Leeds Fan
Don’t get me started!! I am surprised they still let us on pitch, since I could have sworn we had only 7 players left.
I feel bad for Venables, he was a great player and wasn’t given nearly enough time as a manager to turn things around. I think we hit our lowest point early February, and things have gotten a bit better since then (can we say 3-2 Arsenal?:D)
I’m also proud of how far we got in the FA Cup, considering the feelings of the players.
I believe that’s right on the radio but the Beeb’s Final Score programme on Saturday evening TV runs right through to the Nationwide Conference before they start on the Scottish results these days. So you’ll get the result of Leigh vs Farnborough (attendance 305) before you hear how Celtic or Rangers got on. I suppose Scottish fans know to begin listening late?
I presume you’re a Swansea fan? It’s been a mixed season for Welsh football in general but you must have been biting your nails going into last weekend eh? At least there no need for you to wait for the Conference results next season.
At least you’ve finally sorted out the manager situation, but I have my doubts about whether Peter Reid is the right guy. I really like him personally and have fond memories of him from his playing days at Everton, but he is tactically naive as a manager and missed his chance to get the best out of Sunderland after bringing them back to the Premier League.
In his favour is the fact that the players seem to like and respect him. The Leeds players were as much to blame for this season’s problems as the well-documented financial strife IMHO. If they can play the way they did in the FA Cup and that Arsenal game they should easily be able to finish in the top half of the table even when internationals do get sold. I think it’s a good sign that Reid gave Alan Smith the maximum possible fine after he got sent off against Southampton. There is one spoilt brat if ever there was one. He surely needs a strong manager to stop him wasting his great talent.
I suspect you’re going to need plenty of black coffee and ice packs next season, but at least it won’t be boring.
The BBC website has a discussion forum about whether Reid is the right guy and you can check it out here.
Yes, you’re quite correct, everton and it has been a long hard season.
To modify one of Blackadders’ many witty quotes and recently published in the Times “Swansea were in one of the stickiest situations since Sticky the Stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun”. It turned out OK in the end (at least for another season).
Why, oh why wasn’t I born in a city with a good football team
V
I remember watchiing Football Focus the day they opened with the top of the English and Welsh first division, (when it was the first division) and there sat Swansea proudly in first place. Although I doubt whether this is going to be much consolation to you, Vetch; sorry.
My own team, Aberdeen, have also declined since the heady early 80s (but not quite as dramatically). It’s scary that the 20th anniversary of beating Real Madrid in the Cup Winners’ Cup Final is coming up, an evening I remember better than some games in the last World cup. We were being voted best team in Europe, and stuff like that. It really never occurred to us it wouldn’t last.
Another memory I have is of seeing “Everton are Champions” on the Ceefax football page; it was in double sized text which they hardly ever used then.
How things change… Whose round is it?
Any Americans wishing to get into football should remember that READING FC ARE INARGUABLY THE BEST TIME OF ALL TIME anyone disputing this FACT is a CHARALTAN.
Well since you’ve reminded me of happier times I’ll get them in. What are you having, an 80 Shilling and a chaser?
I don’t know how well this will translate for the OP, and it doesn’t really apply so much to distant supporters, but there’s a special excitement attached to international games such as the one G. Odoreida has mentioned. An adventurous trip to a game in a foreign city and the holiday atmosphere it creates is really not to be missed.
MC Master of Cermonies – you’ve been eating too many biscuits mate. We’ll see how you feel at about 19:20 this evening.
Go Go Go 1. FCK!
Ok…so I’m really not a big soccer (Fußball) fan…but it’s growing on me. I guess it has to when it’s about the only thing you see on the Sports section of the news. By default, since I live in Kaiserslautern, The Rote Teufel of the 1. FC Kaiserslautern are my guys. Like it was explained earlier: You cheer local. If you don’t, you get your cars vandalized. Ok, maybe not so harsh (except on game day), but still.
Oh, and another truth: Everyone hates Bayern München.
Yeah, 80 bob, cheers. In case I gave the wrong impression I wasn’t at the Real Madrid game, but watching it as an awestruck 12 year old in the family living room. In fact the only time I’ve actually witnessed us win something was when we beat Celtic 9-8 on penalties in the 1990 cup final. Every outfield player took a kick until Anton Rogan missed his. I was pissed off with the new penalties rule as I thought we’d have tanned Celtic in the replay; we’d scored 8 goals against top half of the table teams in the previous 2 rounds, whereas Celtic had beaten the mighty Clydebank 2-0 in their semi. At that time the quality of the English first was pretty poor and some journalists thought that with the 5 Dutch players we had we were playing the best passing football in Britain; unfortunately we weren’t strong enough to win the league. So Arsene’s lament is nothing new.
Ah, somebody whose team is worse off than mine. But only just. Another long hard season here, following Sheffield Wednesday, even from thousands of miles away.
Bah, you Everton fans want to talk about the good old days are making me laugh. What’re you, 6th in the league this season? Wednesday will have local derbies with Chesterfield. You don’t want to get me started on the good old days. (I’m just kidding, btw, I do sympathise with you, but it does seem like reasonably fair, if not actually good yet, times are there again at Goodison).
Bah, I can’t even laugh at the deluded Reading fan.
Oh well, at least I was lucky enough to spend time in Madrid and pick Atletico as a team to support. At least one of my clubs is still in the top division somewhere. And, back to the OP, if you’re looking for a Spanish team to support, can’t go wrong with Atletico Madrid. Best fans in Spain. Great ground to visit too.
Another rule of football discussions: Unless you’re one of the lucky few who support a team which is winning something, every conversation will eventually turn to “the good old days”.
Question regarding the Champions League: Jman, i’ve heard from many sources that what you say above is true–that Bayern Munchen (or “Bayern Munich”–for some reason, we anglicize only the city name. I don’t know why) is the most-hated team in Germany, just as Man U holds that status in England.
In Germany, is there any sense of national pride invested in whatever German teams are playing in the Champions League? I’ve noticed in England that many people stress the need to support whatever English teams are playing, no matter what club affiliation they normally would have. In other words, if Man U is the only English side left, then you have the national duty, so to speak, to support them.
I’ve found this difficult to agree with, but I’m speaking as an American. For me as an Arsenal supporter, it takes extraordinary circumstances before i’d support Man U in any match. When they played Bayern Munich in the Champions League final of 99, i wondered if any Germans, outside Bayern’s usual fans, supported Bayern in that match. Or did you all cheer when Solskjaer got the winning goal?
Or did you feel, as i’m sure many people did, that the best possible outcome would have been if both sides had lost?
I have met a great deal of people that could never, ever support Man Utd, myself included (I am British, ignore the location for the time being).
I just find the fickleness of football fans to be most amusing. I could never support Man Utd and when he plays for them Beckham is the spawn of Satan. However, as soon as he puts on an England shirt I love him.
Anyway, I am a Coventry fan, so I don’t think I am even qualified to discuss football anymore.
I spent time in Madrid too, and also sought a Spanish team to support. I could never support Atlético because of their antics in the 1974 European Cup semi-final (we Celtic fans have long memories, even of things we don’t personally remember), and as a left-republican I couldn’t stomach supporting Franco’s favourites Real, so I went for Madrid’s third team, Rayo Vallecano. They in fact have the best fans in Spain - at the time I was living there they were in the second division (to which they will soon be returning, sadly) and even so the atmosphere at their games was superior to almost any I’ve encountered elsewhere. The nazi element so common in Europe is missing from their support too, which is nice.
For similar reasons my German club of choice would be St Pauli. There is a longstanding bond between Celtic and St Pauli fans - hundreds of the latter travelled to our UEFA Cup game against Stuttgart last February, and hundreds of us returned the favour by going to see them against Mainz the next night. Again, a stunning atmosphere for a second division football match (and I’m sure the atmosphere at St Pauli games will still be wonderful when they’re in the third division next year 
… )
I do know which team you mean, if only by reputation. That was a team of really hard bastards. They lost a heartbreaking final though, if that’s any consolation to you (1-1 in the first final which they should’ve won, lost the replay 4-0).
You should’ve been to a game when Atletico spent two years in the second division recently (for the first time since promotion in the 30s). I don’t know any other team which could get full houses of 55000 in the second division or have 45000 season ticket holders. That’s what I’m basing my claim on. Atletico have fantastic atmosphere too, always reckoned to be the best in Spain.
I’ve been to a Rayo game though, and I do agree that they have great fans, though they might not have as many. Another loyal bunch, and proud to support their local team rather than one of the big boys in the city, which would’ve been the easier choice. They’re not having a very good season though, are they? Do you think they’ll survive?
Oh, btw, good luck in the UEFA cup final. And if you’re interested, Sheffield Wednesday have released both the Celtic crocks after their contracts expired. Maybe your club will want to sign them back? 
I went to one Atlético game. It was a UEFA Cup tie against Roma, I think Atlético won 1-0. Fans seemed alright. Real were playing Dinamo Kiev in the Champions League the next night and the Atlético fans started singing “Dinamo, Dinamo” at one point, that was amusing. Thought the ground was a bit of a kip to be honest (not that a Rayista should talk :)). Sadly, my boys look a cert for relegation at this point.
And you know, I actually rated Phil O’Donnell, if he could go more than 30 minutes without injuring himself he’d be a decent player. Donnelly OTOH …