Help me choose a Premiership side to support

The Game Room
1

I love Premiership football, but I don’t have a team that I support exclusively. Being in the US, I only get a four or five games a week on cable (not that I have time to watch all of them).

I don’t want to support the New York Yankees of English football, so Man U., Chelsea, and Liverpool are out. Normally, I’d be drawn to a small underdog side like Hull City, but the odds that they’ll be in the top flight for years aren’t good (see: Reading). I want to pick a side that I’ll be able to support for years and that will pop right back up if they happen to be relegated.

Here are some of my possibilities so far.

West Ham
Pros: Cool shirt (call me superficial, but the shirt is important); a smaller club that’s been in the Premiership forever; they had my favorite player, Tevez, and made an incredible comeback in 2007.
Cons: Awfully close to the relegation zone lately; lost Tevez; can’t keep top talent; SBOBET looks silly on a shirt.

Arsenal
Pros: Cool name and logo; will never be relegated; first team to have an all-foreign starting line-up.
Cons: “Arse” is in the name of the club and the manager; they are close to being the Yankees of the Premiership; I’ve never read Fever Pitch, but it could be too trendy a pick.

Tottenham
Pros: Named after a historical person/Shakespeare character; classic looking shirt; Latin motto
Cons: Worst year in the club’s history; they seem to be the butt of a lot of jokes.

Newcastle
Pros: Northern club, unique shirt.
Cons: Club in turmoil; “Toon Army” just sounds lame, makes me imagine Sylvester and Tweety Bird are supporters.

Also note: I have an irrational dislike of red home jerseys. Arsenal gets a pass since they had those nice-looking maroon jerseys in 2005. Extra points for posters that don’t recommend their own favorite club.

2

Well Man U are obviously the Yankees. Totally dominated the EPL bar 3 teams, Blackburn and Chelsea both spending fortunes to win a few, and Arsenal a couple times.

Support Newcastle if you enjoy drama, tearing your hair out, and watching good players have the life sucked out of them. They’re the worst run club in the EPL by far.

West Ham aren’t bad, but they’re in a relegation scrap and they have a court case going on re: the Tevez affair, so they might lose tons of money and be forced into a firesale, almost certainly going down. Zola is lovely though.

So that leaves Arsenal and Tottenham. They’re rivals, so of course you only get to pick one!

Arsenal are struggling at the moment. They have an idealistic manager who is trying to win the EPL with a young team that he developed, instead of buying players for 30m pounds like SAF.

Tottenham are allegedly underachievers, they have lots of support (being a London club), and are always trying to break into the top 4. Needless to say they keep failing.

In the olden days, Arsenal were the boring defensive club (hence the songs 1-0 to the Arsenal and boring boring Arsenal, now sung more as a joke). Obviously that’s changed, some Tottenham fans would say Arsenal now play like Tottenham played. Tottenham still play pretty much the same way.

Tottenham will almost certainly recover and not get relegated or anything, but there’s real doubt if they can indeed break into the top 4, especially with 'arry. So supporting them could be frustrating, if you like trophies and all.

Arsenal would probably also be frustrating, since Wengers idealism is unlikely to work.

There’s plenty of jokes about both, so…

Another option would be Aston Villa, they’re trying to break into the top 4 (by spending a fortune, which gets ignored unlike Chelsea because Chelsea were always unpopular and Villa aren’t). They’re a fairly fun team, who concentrate on British players. Speed and strength, basically.

The problem with the rest of the clubs is they seem to settle for mid-table finishes, so there isn’t really much to root for.

3

I know I won’t get any points but…

Arsenal all the way!! I like the fact that when anyone calls me an ‘arse’ i proudly say ‘yes i am’ and continue to sing 1-0 to the Arsenal!! :smiley: The last couple of years have been pretty tough on the Gunners but we’re still a strong team and with Wenger on board I think there’s no way we’re going to get sucked back into mid-table mediocrity.

We’re not the top dogs anymore but it’s always more fun rooting for the underdog, because top dogs except to win and when they don’t they become, well… childish. Root for a team like West Ham or Newcastle and you’ll be in perpetual disappointment because they never, ever win anything. If you go with Tottenham, I’ll probably have to kill you.:smiley:

But if you root for Arsenal, you know anything’s possible. We probably won’t win a massive amount of silverware but we’re always in contention and when we do win it’s always fantastic. And we are 1 of only 2 clubs in the history of English football that have gone unbeaten in the top flight (49 matches!!). That was in 2004. The last time that happened was in the early 1900s.

So go with the Gunners and call yourself a Goon.

But I’m biased.

4

I’d follow Discordia’s advice and go for Aston Villa. Good team, good players, very good coach and they seem to be looking for the long term.

And there’s no way you can’t group Arsenal with the other top dogs.

Says the Man U supporter.

5

I think discordia gives a fair discription of these teams. You should also know that West Ham are (or used to be owned) by an Icelandic multimillionair, and we all know what hapend in Iceland. I think he is trying to sell, but so is the owner of Newcastle.

Arsenal is as good choice because they actually have good chances of beating the top dogs (this season they already beat Chelsea and Man u) and once in a while you will be able to say your team plays the best football in the world.

I also agree that Newcastle and Tottenham are perenial underachievers. They consider themselves to be ig clubs but fail to make an impression on the pitch. This inevitably leads to many manager changes ad other heartache.

You shoudl alo think of supporting one of the bitter rivals of the big teams. Everton and Man city are decant teams that aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Man city might even become the next big club with the Saoudi Oil billions behind them.

6

Well, you can’t really. Man United are in a class of their own. They’re absurdly rich. Go through United’s first team sometime, count up the transfer fees paid for them all, then compare with Liverpool or Arsenal. Chelsea of course have also spent tons, but it’s a temporary situation created due to a sugardaddy.

Not a criticism of them, they’re stinking rich because they’re extremely popular worldwide. They did lots of hard work to get that rich. But I think it’s silly to ignore the effect of that money.

Oh and obviously the OP should be supporting Arsenal. Arsenal and Barcelona are the only clubs worth supporting. Duh.

7

I call bollocks :stuck_out_tongue:

It’s called “breaking into the top four”, for a reason :wink:

And you can’t start supporting Man City now, since that would just be jumping onto the gravy train with all that money they’ve come into.

Everton is also a good choice, solid UEFA cup material, or Aston Villa, like previously mentioned.

8

Why can’t he start supporting Man City? It’s not like he is jumping ship. He wanted a team for the future, and the Blue Shite are definitely that team. Bags of cash, half-decent support, above average ground, and based in the capital of the universe, what more can he ask for…apart from being a born and bred RED? :smiley:

9

Plus Aston Villa have maroon jerseys too (every season, not just one year). I’m a Newcastle man, but based on what you’ve said I recommend you support Aston Villa.

10

Ivan
For those exact reasons, he cannot start supporting Man City. He’d be just like all those who started supporting Chelsea when Roman bought them. It’s much more gratifying to support a team that might be on its way to glory, than it is to support one that just got the biggest bucks.

There’s no difference in beginning to support City now, than beginning to support one of the Big 4.

Yeah, I know how that makes me look :slight_smile:

And Chowder, I know you’ve been a City fan for ages. This does not apply to you or any other fans who’ve stuck with them throughout the bad times - you guys deserve a break (and a 2nd place :wink: ).

11

I see your reasoning WTR, but that’s like saying anyone born a Blue( Yup, our upbringing can be as responsible for our football team, as it is our religion. In some cases, it is the same thing!) in this era is not a ‘proper’ Blue, and is somehow bestowed with a silver spoon in their mouth. Believe me, they’ll still be supporting one of the most unpredictable teams in the premiership for a long time, and that alone makes for an exciting ride.

12

Just asked the chaps in the office.

The Liverpool fan (me) suggested Aston Villa
The Man Utd fan suggested West Ham
The Aston Villa fan suggested… Aston Villa

And Jane said “football is boring, why do you even care, it’s just a load of silly men in shorts”.

Wise words indeed.

13

I agree that if you’re ruling out Liverpool on grounds of being too big, then Arsenal have to go on the same grounds. Sure, they’re having a rubbish season, but they’re very much one of the big four.

Anyway. I, a Liverpool supporter, am going to prove to you mathematically that you should support Hull:

Hat + mittens = awesome.

Failing that, I suppose I could get behind Villa; I like Martin O’Neill, he’s pleasantly bonkers, and really quite good at his job. They’ve got an exciting young bunch of players, too. And I second those saying brand-new City fans are the lowest of the low (this does not apply to the genuine article). You might as well go down and cheer your local gas station.

14

You cannot support Wet Spam. Scum, whose vile fans make them almost as hated around here as Norwich.

I think Man City is the way to go, precisely because of the OP’s statement that he doesn’t want to support the Yankees. The only way to go is to opt for the Mets.

However, to be a real fan, he must be prepared to follow a club even through relegation - remember that West Ham were down in the Championship as recently as four years ago.

15

Not really, as those born a Blue don’t really have a say in the matter :wink:

There’s a major difference between being able to point at a family of long-time Blues and being a dude in eg Tokyo who decides to support Man U, since they have Ronaldo (or his buddy said they’re da Bomb).

But I do see the point you’re making, I just don’t agree with it.

16

Viva la difference! :smiley:
( and before any pedants jump in, there wouldn’t even be a dot on the i if it were left to me. :))

17

No love for those giants of the north, Wigan? Managed to stay in the PL for a few seasons now, so we’re relatively safe.

18

I think he should be made to work his way up the divisions…how about starting him off with those pie-eater’s, th’Oldham? :smiley:

19

Or even Rochdale.

Make no mistake about it, that club is going places. After languishing in the bottom division since Og knows when they are at last on the up.

They lost in the Div 3 play-off final last season narrowly beated 3-2 by Stockport, this season they’ll be promoted without having to play-off.

Back to the prem:

As a lifelong Man City fan I could recommend them but I won’t even tho’ we are going places (next season and seasons after)

You could try Everton, they are due for a bit of silverware.

20

You’re going about it the wrong way.

True fans don’t select the club they follow. The choice is utterly irrational. It’s based on where you were born, who your dad took you to see when you were knee-high to a duck, or (in my case) because my Mum told me to.

On that basis, the team you should support from the initial list are West Ham. And not all West Ham supporters are scum and filth - although they do have a bad reputation as a mob.

If you really want random, list the teams you don’t rule out on a sheet of paper, pin the sheet on a wall and throw a dart at it. The name it lands in is the one to cheer.