*Official* English Football Season 2014-15

[Tom Halsey]

I don't care about the domestic competitions anymore tbh. What can we do in those to suggest we're on the up. Besides, it's not like I realistically expect us to win at Old Trafford.

Strange outlook. Winning them suggests you're on the up/less on the down than not winning them. And you have a far better chance of winning at OT and indeed winning the FA Cup than you ever did of winning the CL. I mean if your season is over when going out of the CL then frankly it was over before tonight.

 

[Cabinet96]

We won the FA Cup last year and none of the narratives really changed. People just decided the cups weren't relevant when they wanted to stick the boot in. This season was all about improving in the league and Champions League. While it's arguably too late to do that in the PL, doing it in the CL this year was very much on. Kind draw and a few of the top sides showing vulnerabilities.

I, and a lot of Arsenal fans, were probably way too optimistic though.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah sorry Arsenal fans that was really funny.

 

[GIMH]

We won the FA Cup last year and none of the narratives really changed. People just decided the cups weren't relevant when they wanted to stick the boot in. This season was all about improving in the league and Champions League. While it's arguably too late to do that in the PL, doing it in the CL this year was very much on. Kind draw and a few of the top sides showing vulnerabilities.

I, and a lot of Arsenal fans, were probably way too optimistic though.

Why do 'narratives' or what any non-Arsenal fans think matter? They've no relevance surely when it comes to your own enjoyment of success

 

[sledger]

I don't care about the domestic competitions anymore tbh. What can we do in those to suggest we're on the up. Besides, it's not like I realistically expect us to win at Old Trafford.

Well, given that there's not really a great deal more on the table for this season, I would say that winning would unquestionably be better than...not winning it.

Anyway, yesterday was annoying and dire, but not especially unpredictable. It was clear after about 15-20 mins that Arsenal were not getting into gear, and it seemed obvious that perhaps it was going to be "one of those nights". It was around this point that I decided to switch off and go and play Scrabble instead.

 

[Uppercut]

Why do 'narratives' or what any non-Arsenal fans think matter? They've no relevance surely when it comes to your own enjoyment of success

'Narratives' is generally used to mean a story you tell yourself about your life; in this context, a story you tell yourself about your team. So as an Arsenal fan you can tell yourself a story about overachieving relative to all the clubs below you, or a story about always falling just short of the two or three clubs above you. Whichever you do will have an enormous impact on your enjoyment of success. The media/other fans do sort of matter because it's hard to keep believing your own story when everyone else in the country is telling a different one.

Ideally they maybe shouldn't matter, but they definitely do. It's why fans get so angry when they read something that's telling a different story to the one they want to believe. It's quite a powerful framework, but in the media/blogosphere the meaning of 'narrative' has morphed into 'opinion which I disagree with'. The implication being that everyone else has stories that they tell themselves about sport, but I alone have a fully rational and truth-based understanding of what's going on. Which is stupid because if you weren't telling yourself a story about football then why would you even care about it? If you're not using narratives to structure what you see then it's just an amorphous blob of nothingness with no emotional power.

 

[sledger]

They almost certainly have a significant impact on when/whether managers get the chop, as well. Rightly or wrongly.

 

[Uppercut]

They almost certainly have a significant impact on when/whether managers get the chop, as well. Rightly or wrongly.

Yeah definitely. I think the most important effect might be on the players. To the fans it's a sideshow, but to the players it's the story of their life, the central narrative of their existence, and it defines their psychological state.

So you get someone like Mourinho, who very obviously tries to get his players to buy into the "everyone is against us" story. And at Real Madrid there's a conflicting story they tell themselves, about how it stands for lofty ideals like sportsmanship and entertainment and general class, so Mourinho ultimately couldn't get the players to buy into his story. But Madrid can get kids to buy into their entertainment/class story, and then they grow up wanting to play for RM, and with Bosman they have enormous leverage in negotiations. And they understand that maintaining this story matters, which is why they have such a cosy relationship with Marca.

So at Arsenal I think the players might have bought into these negative stories about the club. And now when they go behind to a total fluke like last night, they react in completely the wrong way.

 

[Cabinet96]

Won't somebody think of England's coefficient.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Another successful night in europe for our teams then. Lovren makes himself a hero for the other team on merseyside and Lukaku scores goals against poor sides again. Not a lot to smile about, maybe laugh but not smile.

 

[Cabinet96]

**** it's going to make the race for European places tight again though. You know, so the lucky clubs can experience this again next season.

 

[Nate]

So glad Europa is over, although still at the expense of losing on Sunday, yay.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Russell Crowe interested in buying yer Dirties, apparently.

Started following them under Revie when they almost literally assaulted anything that moved, according to the Beeb.

Can see how they appealed to the tyro Russ.

Would be really interesting to see what he did with a team in a system with no salary cap.

 

[cpr]

TBF, if there's one set of football fans who ever wished a salary cap was in place, it'll be Leeds fans. The ghost of Seth Johnson still haunts the boardroom

 

[GIMH]

Robbie Savage escapes driving ban because his lawyer says fans would abuse him on public transport · Project Babb

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Wow, unbelievable.

With the money he earns he should have been told to employ a driver for the length of his ban and suck it up.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Fair call tbf.

 

[Furball]

Robbie Savage escapes driving ban because his lawyer says fans would abuse him on public transport · Project Babb

Should just ban him from breathing.

 

[wpdavid]

Russell Crowe interested in buying yer Dirties, apparently.

Started following them under Revie when they almost literally assaulted anything that moved, according to the Beeb.

Can see how they appealed to the tyro Russ.

Sounds like the piece on the Beeb was written by someone who never saw them play, unless Crowe was watching them in the mid-1960's, when I gather they were indeed a nasty bunch.
But by the 1970's, they really were a fantastic side. Sure they could dish it out, and weren't above getting their retaliation in first, but so were most other sides of that era. Anyone watching the legendary 1970 FA Cup final and replay against Chelsea would have to say they were more sinned against than sinning in those encounters.

And they should have won far more trophies than they did. If memory serves, they were usually knackered by playing 50+ matches on all fronts, with a first team squad of about 14, on pitches that would raise eyebrows at the Horse of the Year show. That and Revie's strange decision to stick with the often disastrous Gary Sprake in goal. You'd think that when he raided Leicester City for Alan Clark, he really should have gone the whole hog and broken the bank to buy Shilton as well.

 

[SkyBlue]

Won't somebody think of England's coefficient.

Dont think any team in England gives a **** about the co-efficients unless the league gets to the point where it has to battle with Italy for that 4th CL spot.Highly unlikely imo.With that ludicrous TV deal money on offer soon,i dont think there would be much of an incentive for mid-table teams like Spurs and Everton for example to battle for a CL spot.Not saying they wouldnt tho,but CL money would become totally secondary once the domestic TV deal kicks in.

Having said that,i hate the Prem and i hope to see more of these embarrassing performances in Europe from them.City and Arsenal failing in CL like they did was a sight to behold tbh.