# So; half way through the footie season, how's it going for your club/country **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 11, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989 "2003-01-11T18:45:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/21 "2003-01-14T13:55:44Z")
The Farnborough game’s at Highbury; according to my mates, the tickets were going on sale today (max. 4 per person) and they expected them to sell out very quickly. Arsenal are going to play a reserve side – Wenger has said he’ll rest the first 25 squad players – but it should still be good hopefully. Well, at £30 a ticket it had better be. Highbury is actually easier for me than Farnborough, seeing as it’s only a few miles away. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/22 "2003-01-14T13:57:29Z")
Bah, Ken Bates. He was our chairman for a while too, until he worked out you can charge more for a cappucino in London than Oldham. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/23 "2003-01-14T14:01:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Combine that with the fact that I’ve always been a big Barnet supporter too (went to 18 home matches one season!) and I know my way around football club problems. go on the Bees! What do you reckon to Barnet Councils decision to withdraw from teh South Underhill extention? They are now claiming they never agreed to it, or even discussed it. It looks like a groundshare with Leyton Orient for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/24 "2003-01-14T15:17:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*Still a sore spot, eh? 😉 \*\* Probably the worst result for an Aberdeen team since Arbroath beat Aberdeen Bon Accord 36-0 in the first Scottish Cup. The thing I remember most about it was when Ebbe called the game in Dublin “a disappointment.” Those Danes, they’re the masters of understatement. I am comforted though, by the fact that in Steve Paterson we now have a manager who’s had some very interesting results against Celtic 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/25 "2003-01-14T17:06:43Z")
**Twisty** , as a former resident of the area I can assure you that I _never_ expected it to be built in the first place. Or indeed anything else. The local paper was always full of nothing else. The whole thing is shambles, just like everything else associated with the club. That’s why I love 'em 🙂 What was nice about Barnet was that there wasn’t actually that many hard core Bees fans there - it was mainly a collection of Arse, Tott, Chels, West Ham etc - whoever wasn’t playing at home that day. As such we had a fabulous collection of second-hand songs and a great atmosphere as the half-time premiership results were read out! Overall one of the friendliest atmospheres I’ve been in, actually, as footballing differences were laid down in common love of the Bees. I took my (at that time 8 year old) cousin there for his first ever footie match - to see the Barnet vs Norwich Coca-Cola (as it was then) cup second leg (second round). Barnet were 2-1 down from the first leg and went 1-0 behind in the match, so we were two goals down to a team two divisions higher. Then Barnet scored 3. My cousin was totally hooked! pan ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/26 "2003-01-14T18:38:57Z")
Since y’all are in the same place, may I ask a question? I hear the soccer scores on the BBC World Service, and it seems to me that a lot of the teams have the same name. What the heck is up with that? There’s Manchester United, Leeds United, and Newcastle (I think) United. Isn’t that a little confusing? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/27 "2003-01-14T18:46:53Z")
The suffixes differentiate clubs using the same city name, since there are no restrictions on how many clubs can reside in a city (London has around thirteen professional football clubs, six in the top division alone). Working out the result between Manchester City and Manchester United, or between Bristol Rovers and Bristol City, would be a lot harder without them. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/28 "2003-01-14T19:19:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crusoe \* > \*\*The suffixes differentiate clubs using the same city name, since there are no restrictions on how many clubs can reside in a city (London has around thirteen professional football clubs, six in the top division alone). Working out the result between Manchester City and Manchester United, or between Bristol Rovers and Bristol City, would be a lot harder without them. \*\* Okay, but my confusion is based on the numerous teams using the same suffix, as opposed to numerous teams based in one city. Perhaps I am looking at this from the wrong angle. In the US, one tends to address the team by their name, not by their city. No one would ever give a team the same name as another, ie, there is only one Yankees, Tigers, Rangers, etc. (That grammar looks horrible, but I’m not sure how to improve it.) Am I wrong in my assumption that in the UK, the city affiliation is what is most memorable/important? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/29 "2003-01-14T19:22:16Z")
Well, the suffixes often have a historical meaning that the clubs are reluctant to let go, especially when you consider that many clubs are over 100 years old. I think the common occurrence of certain suffixes is a product of history and as such rather difficult to throw off; I know countries like Australia have football teams with a far wider range of names and suffixes. ---
**Author:** ![Ivar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ivar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/30 "2003-01-14T19:51:05Z")
Just a WAG, but I think the United name comes from long-ago mergers of smaller clubs from the same city. Gooner here. It’s been a decent season for Arsenal, gorgeous fluid play at the beginning of the season, a tough run in October, but last weeks drubbing of Birmingham City seemed to be a return to that early season form. They’ve stayed at the top by luck and virtue of several other teams also having consistency problems (that means you Liverpool!) If they play the way they did at the beginning of the season, they can definitely take the Champions’ League. And there’s no way they will lose to Farnborough Town. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/31 "2003-01-14T20:02:33Z")
Up the Royals! What? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/32 "2003-01-15T00:05:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyla \* > \*\*In the US, one tends to address the team by their name, not by their city. \*\* Yes, but that’s because US sports teams tend to move from one city to the other every decade or so. 😉 All kidding aside: I don’t think a European football team ever moved, other than within the city itself. As for your confusion: it gets worse. Let’s add nicknames! Arsenal FC are from London, and their nickname is “the Gunners”. Not a very strange nickname given the team’s name, but still enough to confuse an outsider. I bet there’s tons more, but this is just the first that came to mind. FWIW, Ajax has many nicknames too. _Godenzonen_ (“sons of Gods”) is my favourite. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/33 "2003-01-15T01:09:23Z")
> [@](#): > > FWIW, Ajax has many nicknames too. Godenzonen (“sons of Gods”) is my favourite. Since you brought them up, could you explain a little about the tales that Ajax fans are anti-Semites? I have heard unpleasant things about their supporters. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/34 "2003-01-15T07:03:49Z")
'Nother gooner…we’re doing just fine this year, thanks, what with the French National Side wearing red and white… ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/35 "2003-01-15T07:14:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > **All kidding aside: I don’t think a European football team ever moved, other than within the city itself.** Wimbledon either have moved, or are about to move from South London to Milton Keynes (which I believe is about halfway to Birmingham). ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Berk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Royal\_Berk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Berk)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/36 "2003-01-15T10:32:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ivar \* > **Just a WAG, but I think the United name comes from long-ago mergers of smaller clubs from the same city.** Certainly Newcastle United were formed by merging two clubs Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End - Newcastle United being a logical name in the circumstances. Obviously the name was considered ‘cool’ (or whatever word the Victorians would have used), since United projected a strong working-class image, so many more clubs adopted the ‘United’ tag, such as ‘Sheffield United’, etc. ‘Newton Heath’ renamed themseleves as ‘Manchester United’, ‘Leeds City’ as ‘Leeds United’ (some sort of re-branding after financial problems there, I think). Sadly these days, one United club, the one from Manchester has come to dominate European football by its marketing and TV power, so many in the media now refer to this club just as ‘United’ - hugely irritating fans from Leeds, Newcastle, Shefffield, etc. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/37 "2003-01-15T11:36:18Z")
Yes, **Kayla** , it can appear confusing to an outsider. All I can tell you is that football fans _know_ who is being referred to. Often nicknames are used instead, which helps. There maybe umpteen “Uniteds” but there is only one “Toon Army” (Newcastle Utd). And only one “Blades” (Sheffield Utd). Other than that, as **Royal** says, “United” tends to mean “Manchester Utd” unless you are specifically referring to a local derby match (the “Utd” in “Utd. vs. Wednesday” would refer to Sheffield Utd, for example. Probably.) “City” is a little more tricky. To my mind, I tend to think of Manchester City, but I’m not sure that is universal. pan ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/38 "2003-01-15T13:28:06Z")
Manchester Utd used to be Newton Heath Logo until a merger with another small club (name escapes me) to become Manchester Utd. Kyla > [@](#): > > Since you brought them up, could you explain a little about the tales that Ajax fans are anti-Semites? I have heard unpleasant things about their supporters. Ajax do attract more than a few nutters into their support, but it wouldn’t be applicable to the entire support, and nor would it be expected of an Ajax supporter. I can think of much worse supporters in Europe, Lazio for example. They hate everybody. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Go\_alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_alien)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/39 "2003-01-15T14:02:57Z")
Arsenal are my local team - so local that when they score, the cheers are easily heard. They’re doing OK, I suppose. :rolleyes: But I support Lincoln City, the Red Imps. Started the season well, challenging for a top ten place in the Third Division, but have now sunk to their usual mid to low table mediocrity. Where, no doubt, they’ll remain for the rest of the season, barring the usual flirt with relegation. ☹ Tickets for Arsenal-Farnborough were sold out by 10:30 this AM on the Ticketmaster web site. At least, they were if trying to buy more than one at a time. I got stuck in a meeting and hit the website too late. Now I have to think of a different (late) Christmas present for my friend and his two sons. Ho hum. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989/40 "2003-01-15T15:03:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Ajax do attract more than a few nutters into their support, but it wouldn’t be applicable to the entire support, and nor would it be expected of an Ajax supporter. Well, I didn’t really think _that_. I mean, **Coldie** is hardly an anti-Semite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-half-way-through-the-footie-season-hows-it-going-for-your-club-country/147989.md?page=3)