I’ve just moved here from New Zealand, and I’m about to move into a flat in Ealing Broadway (W5.) From what I can tell my closest Premiership team is Fulham or maybe Chelsea, but they’re both miles away and don’t really interest me. I want a little Championship, League 1 or League 2 team to call my own, preferably the one that plays its home games closest to my new house, and whose clubrooms I can walk down to for a pint of warm beer.
PS this city rocks!
Good for you - who wants to be in the Premiership anyway?
:: had a bad season ::
I think Brentford is almost certainly your closest, a mile or two south. Currently third in League One, so probably in playoff action over the next couple of weeks, which you’ll be able to watch on Sky (forget getting tickets for those matches unless you want to queue on the day they go on sale). So you’ll have either Champioinship or League One football next year - if it’s the Championship, you get the honour of playing at Portman Road 
Update - after Colchester’s draw today, it’s definitely play-offs
Moving from NZ to UK, aren’t you required to take hooligan lessons before you can begin rooting for a team?
Welcome to Ealing, Trillionaire! You’ve chosen well (if a bit on the expensive side). I’m further west myself.
Brentford’s ground is a mere 65-bus ride away (the next stop after it goes under the flyover). An E2 or an E8 also takes you close. Pop in to the Magpie & Crown on Brentford High Street for a drink while you’re there.
QPR is also very easy to get to by bus: a 207 (one of those bendy jobs that apparently are absolutely free to travel on, until the inspectors get on . . .) or an express 607.
If you’re not careful, I might become a scalliwag
(Gawd bless Bill Hicks)
Well, what would you expect?
What’s the process like, moving to England? What did/do you have to do? How was the work permit process like? Do people treat you differently because of your accent? I’ll take your answer in email if you’d rather not hijack the thread.
thanks everyone, looks like the question’s been answered and Brentford it is then.
Fetus, as a Commonwealth citizen under the age of 31 I’m entitled to spend two years in Britain, during which I can work for a total of 52 weeks (although God knows how they expect us to survive the second year.)
If I had a British parent or grandparent I would have four years to live and work here, with a chance to apply for residency at the end of that. For me to stay beyond the conditions of my visa as they are at the moment though, I will have to either get an employer to sponsor me (which basically involves them stumping up some cash and stating that I am doing a job that a local can’t do), or apply for a Highly Skilled Migrant Visa, where you have prove to the authorities that you have certain desirable skills / qualifications via a points system (eg 15 points for having a Bachelor’s, 25 for having a Master’s etc.)
This city is full of Aussies and Kiwis so no-one really treats you differently because of the accent. At work I get some good natured ribbing about it and certain parts of my vocabulary (like calling football soccer for instance.)
On that note (and to hijack the hijack) what’s with you guys pronouncing “mall” like the first syllable of mallet, instead of to rhyme with ball, call, fall, tall etc?
Hmmmm. The English pronouncing a word one way, and the Americans and Australians pronouncing it another. I wonder what the average Brit would answer to this question? Probably something along the lines of “because that’s the proper way to do it, no matter what you colonials get up to”.
I have to say I’ve never heard anyone say ‘mall’ in the context of ‘shopping mall’ in anything other than the American style, but I think Pall Mall is pronounced the way you describe. No idea why, but then with name pronunciation who knows what’s going on in the country that pronounces Leicester and Lester the same way 
As slaphead pointed out, we do say ‘Pall Mall’ as in ‘pallet’, ‘mallet’ and ‘malleable’.
However we say ‘shopping mall’ in the US style ‘maul’.
But why stop there! :eek:
The tree bough was tough to break and rough to the touch. It made a makeshift plough, though the dirt kicked up made me cough. You’ll have seen three different pronounciations of ‘…ough’ - I wanted to be ‘thorough’.
I can’t think of any times i’ve used the “mal” pronounciation except for Pall Mall. Usually a shopping mall over here is called a shopping centre.