I wish I had said that the number of goals scored or conceded depended mostly on skill but their distribution between matches is close to random. May have got less pushback.
Again, you may be using the word "random" badly. If anything, this season there currently appears to be quite strong distributions of the nature of the results (who gets the 4+ goal spankings, who beats Spurs 1-0 tc) across the PL table rankings of the opponents.
Every time I've tested goal distributions they have been random* but I agree ours this season have looked anything but. But we've scored 4 or more against teams all over the table and lost by 1 against teams all over the table. We are missing big losses and small wins from the usual distribution. * there is a pattern where the best teams tend to score more and concede less against the worst ones but other than that the goals seem to come at random moments in games.
And where exactly did I say all match going fans who go to home games are tourists and happy clappers? My point is, the travelling support is made up of mainly hard core fans, those who will say it how it is (see the Levy chants), unlike home games where you see a wide spread of hard core genuine fans, tourists, happy clappers, day trippers, Levy lovers and people there for the hospitality. You really should read what people write before jumping in with both feet.
Even if you can afford a season ticket and can spare the time to make it to away games, it's still difficult to get them. I know someone that can and he's basically relying on people he knows to give him the opportunity. It's nearly a closed shop.
I did read what you wrote and never claimed you said all fans...just disagree with your wild generalisations. Where's your evidence that there are a "wide spread of happy clappers, day trippers, Levy lovers, tourists and people there for the hospitality" at home matches? Never come across anyone who is a "levy lover" at a game ... every time i have been there when there has been a protest about the scrapping of concessions prices for the elderly it has been massively supported by everyone one around me...I either sit / stand in the south stand or north stand. The chants are always in support of the players and the team and Ange. I have never heard chanting or cheering for Levy. I have no idea what you or anyone else means by "happy clapper"...it's a meaningless and insulting term for fans vocally supporting and getting behind their team imo. It was the home supporters who turned on Sanchez, Ndombele and Royal and who booed Nuno and chanted against Levy back in 2021...none of that strikes me as happy clappy. We have lots of fans (like most clubs) who can only make one or two games every few years, labelling them as day trippers or tourists is ridiculous. Plenty of people mock our Asian fans and also refer to them as day trippers and tourists yet every time I go these fans are as passionate as everyother fan and join in with the chanting. Clubs up and down the country need new and younger fans to replace those who can no longer go to games. These new fans are not day trippers or tourists. I have no idea how often you go to spurs but I do know that you make wild and inaccurate generalisations about our fan base. My views are based on what I see, hear and experience at games. Yours are not recognisable from the games I go to. As for "jumping in with both feet" get a grip and accept some of us have very different views to you.
Every now and again I catch up on a thread and see a post that reminds me why the 'ignore' button is so handy!!
By definition the fans going to away matches are incredibly dedicated and so therefore are least likely to look at any evidence objectively.
Or: they see more matches in person than other fans and therefore have firsthand access to more evidence than anyone else.
Unless they happen to be a student going to a sub-zero Pride Park Then they're not even watching the match as they try to stave of hypothermia, praying for the final whistle to blow early as the train back to Sheffield at least has heaters, and only learning the score to a match they were at when watching MOTD that evening
Both statements are true, it isn't an either or. But analysing evidence in an unobjective way isn't going to lead to the right answer. Anyway, it's obviously true that coaches and chairmen have rare skills, which is why clubs pay them a small fortune. So why would I value the opinions of people who have never had such a job? You must have noticed that I tend to support the actions of the people in charge at the club. That's because I recognise that they are massively more qualified than me so I try to understand what they are trying to do and how and why.
