**Official** English Football Season 2023/24

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I don’t think you’d get ‘are you watching, X?’ chants at every club. I might have an outdated notion of fandom but I thought that was pathetic. I could be wrong though, maybe all fandoms are more or less equally **** these days.

Without wanting to be too speculative, there would be some who could see solace in defeat in preventing a rival from winning the division. That's a bit different to actively wanting to lose the match in advance, which is absolutely pathetic. I mean, Tottenham have attracted some pretty ****ty "yid" related chants in the past, but I don't hold it against the entire fanbase of the opposing club, and I'd argue that is objectively 'worse'.

Even Colchester United fans chanting about Justin Edinburgh "being in a box" against Leyton Orient was a ****ing disgrace. Generally speaking I don't assess clubs wholly by fan behaviour (I even had a decent afternoon in a pub packed with Millwall fans once, but mainly due to being worried of the consequences if I was seen not to be having a good time)

 

[Molehill]

As I previously said, there are idiots at every club and tragedy chanting is truly the worst. But really, Spurs fans should have been ignoring the Arsenal situation here. After a decent start to the season, and with Chelsea, Newcastle and Man Utd all below their expectations, there was a huge opportunity to grab Champions League Football. They've lost out to Villa, a team no one would have even considered for a spot before the season started.

I doubt they'll get this opportunity next season when Chelsea look proper Top 4 potential.

 

[Uppercut]

Without wanting to be too speculative, there would be some who could see solace in defeat in preventing a rival from winning the division. That's a bit different to actively wanting to lose the match in advance, which is absolutely pathetic. I mean, Tottenham have attracted some pretty ****ty "yid" related chants in the past, but I don't hold it against the entire fanbase of the opposing club, and I'd argue that is objectively 'worse'.

Even Colchester United fans chanting about Justin Edinburgh "being in a box" against Leyton Orient was a ****ing disgrace. Generally speaking I don't assess clubs wholly by fan behaviour (I even had a decent afternoon in a pub packed with Millwall fans once, but mainly due to being worried of the consequences if I was seen not to be having a good time)

Yeah I agree with all of this.

It’s also true that different clubs have different fan cultures. Liverpool’s is sentimental, Newcastle’s is obsessive, Millwall’s is violent. It’s not a comment on any individual fans, it’s just how it is. I would say the Spurs fan culture is one where they don’t get behind the team to the same extent as other clubs. And I think that’s what Ange has noticed that’s annoyed him so much.

 

[sledger]

Yeah, I had several Spurs fans friends message me yesterday morning saying how they were hoping to lose, and the same messaged again in the evening gloating about Son missing that chance at the end.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Emery taking Villa to the CL the season after Gerrard was en route to relegate us is wild.

 

[sledger]

Emery taking Villa to the CL the season after Gerrard was en route to relegate us is wild.

There's a great video doing the rounds on Twitter of Alex Ferguson being interviewed after the opening weekend of the season after Villa got beat 5-1, where he basically says "nah Villa are gun, they'll do well this year".

 

[Howe_zat]

Villa being in the CL is an excellent result, because we play dnd in the pub on Thursday nights and we never thought we'd have to cope with the Europa league encroaching on dnd territory

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

There's a great video doing the rounds on Twitter of Alex Ferguson being interviewed after the opening weekend of the season after Villa got beat 5-1, where he basically says "nah Villa are gun, they'll do well this year".

I might need to brave Twitter and take a look, but nice call there.

We actually did play well for ~75 mins of that 5-1 defeat.

 

[sledger]

I might need to brave Twitter and take a look, but nice call there.

We actually did play well for ~75 mins of that 5-1 defeat.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1790503352343699738

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I guess overall I follow a lot of random football. Reading match reports about the Isthmian League Senior North all the way up to the Premier League. I follow the results of the teams my mates follow - from Swindon to Oxford to Middlesbrough. I don't know as much about football as I used to due, in large part, to the tyranny of distance and timezones. However, I find this thread to be pretty damn unwelcoming to a Tottenham fan as every time they're mentioned it is always the same old same old same old ****. I enjoy a good bit of sports banter, I really do. It's why I loved that cpr took up the Lancashire mantle in my Quixotic rivalry in the cricket domain, but I guess I find the tone of this thread really difficult to fit into and that disappoints me.

It's all so much easier down the clubrooms on a Saturday where, once again, I'm the only Tottenham fan in a sea of Arsenal and West Ham fans (which is in itself frankly appalling given I can't get away from 'em on the other side of the world), but its easier to read the tone.

 

[duffer]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1790503352343699738

Just a genius

 

[BoyBrumby]

Man knows his onions.

Re the Spurts' fans taunting the Arse; fair game, IMHO. I, for one, would happily have passed up an extremely unlikely shout at 4th for ensuring (in all likelihood) that yer Lilyshites didn't win the league.

More generally most football fans are pretty decent blokes when one speaks to them as individuals, but herd mentality is a thing. I've been in grounds where some absolutely appalling chants have rang around, often as not from the fans of the team I was nominally rooting for.

Once heard the Irons' faithful doing the "Hisssssssssssss" noise to the Spuds at the old Boleyn ground. As you're likely aware, but on the off chance you aren't, this mimics the gas being released by the Nazis in concentration camps as T*ttenham are traditionally seen as the "Jewish" team.

Which is pretty indefensible on any level.

 

[duffer]

Our fans have done the hissing too. Naturally, Chelsea fans wouldn’t allow themselves to be left out in stakes this high for them.

 

[Uppercut]

Could've tried to win at the Etihad

I feel like this is under-reported. I think they’ve been a slightly better team than City over the season, and one of the reasons they’re probably not getting over the line is that they played that game as if they were so outmatched that a point was a good result, even though it meant losing ground in the title race.

 

[Jarquis]

Emery taking Villa to the CL the season after Gerrard was en route to relegate us is wild.

Weren’t you a disallowed goal against Sheffield Utd in 2020 from going down?

 

[Jarquis]

I feel like this is under-reported. I think they’ve been a slightly better team than City over the season, and one of the reasons they’re probably not getting over the line is that they played that game as if they were so outmatched that a point was a good result, even though it meant losing ground in the title race.

It meant it was still in our own hands relative to City though. The Villa game is the one.
I mean, City have gone 22 unbeaten with 18 wins. It’s not like we just **** the bed.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Spot on. Fecking Villa have done the double over us, haven't they?

Plus we adopted a rather more front foot MO at New Maine Road last season and we all know how that finished.

Drawing away at Citeh is never gonna be a bad result, IMHO.

 

[Uppercut]

The fact that Liverpool were still in it was why I thought it was a mistake at the time. Taking a point is ~always a mistake in a 3-way title race. It didn't work out exactly that way, but City going on a run meant they ended up needing all the points they could get.

I know it's not the biggest "what if" moment of the season, and there's a lot more to say about what Arteta has done well than any mistakes he's made. But it came from the team underestimating itself, so it's one I would find particularly disappointing.

 

[Skipper Pup]

The fact that Liverpool were still in it was why I thought it was a mistake at the time. Taking a point is ~always a mistake in a 3-way title race. It didn't work out exactly that way, but City going on a run meant they ended up needing all the points they could get.

I know it's not the biggest "what if" moment of the season, and there's a lot more to say about what Arteta has done well than any mistakes he's made. But it came from the team underestimating itself, so it's one I would find particularly disappointing.

I thought it was a mistake because they were genuinely the best side in the league at that point and on a decent winning streak. I think they've been considerably better than City for most of the season (GD up until recently reflected that).

Showing up with all the momentum they had and playing for a draw said a lot about their mentality. They missed the chance to put City out of the race.

Definitely a game Arteta will look back on and learn from but it's all part of his development as a manager too.

 

[Jarquis]

The fact that Liverpool were still in it was why I thought it was a mistake at the time. Taking a point is ~always a mistake in a 3-way title race. It didn't work out exactly that way, but City going on a run meant they ended up needing all the points they could get.

I know it's not the biggest "what if" moment of the season, and there's a lot more to say about what Arteta has done well than any mistakes he's made. But it came from the team underestimating itself, so it's one I would find particularly disappointing.

But this is only the case because we lost to Villa? If we were top going in to the last game of the season would everyone be talking about how it was a poor point for City and how failing to score at home or create any meaningful chances against us cost them the title?

Because the only difference between those scenarios are results that occurred in other games. So shouldn’t really impact how people view that game in isolation.