As there doesn't seem to be too much going on with the Town lately (well nothing to moan/whinge/write about) I thought i'd generate a new topic of conversation. Other than the obvious, which clubs do we hate..and why? I'll start the ball rolling.. I hate West Ham - Why? Because all their supporters (that i've met) have delusions of grandeur. They think they are a huge club, with an immense amount of history, when in actual fact, they've never won the league title (prem or Old Div 1), the last time they were in Europe (genuinley, via an achievement) was 99/00 - and have won the cup winners once, almost 50 years ago. But, they have won the FA Cup 3 times. Every argument i have with them, i get the same old answer...WE won the world cup (in reference to Hurst scoring the hat trick) - Although we (Town) have supplied the two most successful English Managers in history. Their stadium is only just bigger than ours (and they are in a city with a population of nigh on 8 million, compared to Ipswich which has a population of 138,718 - thanks wikipedia)
Good post stretch.. and I find West Ham to be a bit of a pain, although they don't irk me quite as much. I'd say that top of the list would be Man Utd. probably because of Jealousy and the fact that they are so dominant but it frustrates me that they are on the telly so bloody often! Every round of the cup they seem to be on the box and only because they have so many 'fans' not based in Manchester so there is always going to be interest in watching their matches. Also the amount of preferential treatment at Old Trafford and around the country is bloody ridiculous and the media are all over them like a dog on heat. The fact that Utd deny any dodgey decisions and claim they are hard done by always pisses me off more than just a little Also hearing (from a Utd fan from Luton) that they atleast have English players unlike other clubs - to which I reminded them that they spent £15m on Carrick and £18m on Young and that they were royally ripped off buying average British players. But mainly my dislike for them is because they are so bloody annoyingly consistent even when they are crap they manage to win.
What an inane thread. In case you hadn't noticed, West Ham's catchment is an area of East London and also parts of Essex. Upton Park is in one of the grimmest parts of the city that you would not generally travel an hour and a half or more on the tube to visit when there are a dozen other top clubs to support. Ipswich, on the other hand, has a catchment of the whole of Suffolk at 0.75 million.
"the last time they were in Europe (genuinley, via an achievement) was 99/00 - and have won the cup winners once, almost 50 years ago." Sounds familiar
And your point is?? West Ham's catchments are the boroughs of Barking, Newham, Redbridge, Havering, Waltham Forest, and Epping Forest District, which have a combined total of 1.5 million.
Epping Forest?! This just gets better! "Epping Forest is an area of ancient woodland in south-east England, straddling the border between north-east Greater London and Essex. It is a former royal forest, and is owned and managed by the City of London Corporation. It covers 2,476 hectares and contains areas of woodland, grassland, heath, rivers, bogs and ponds." Thanks Wikipedia!
I think Wikipedia has let you down there my friend. Epping Forest is an area in North East London, not too far from Enfield & Chigwell and coincidentally is near to the London area of Epping I'm not going to consult Wiki as I used to live near Enfield (sort of) and had to get many a central line tube heading towards Epping when I worked at the Olympics so that kind of knowledge is ingrained (much as I want to remove any memory of living in London)
Dear oh dear...Is this going to turn into a geography lesson?? I wasn't referring to the actual Forest , but the district (hence why i said Epping Forest DISTRICT), which includes, but not limited to, Epping, Loughton, Buckhurst Hill, Waltham Abbey etc. My point was, that there is a rather more larger demographic population in and around the West Ham area, than in Ipswich. Even though there are 13 London clubs, the population (and catchment areas) far outweighs that of Ipswich. When you compare this to our attendances in the prem to that of west Ham, there's not a lot in it.
I cant see why size of catchment area and stadium capacity matters. By that logic Barnet, Brentford, Leyton Orient etc should all be in 200,000 capacity stadiums. OChelsea/ Man City and any club that have that whole attitude of 'lets lose 1 billion a year because we can' crap. I dont have a problem with the spending money aspect in itself but more the way it so severely takes the reality away. Just when you think the world of football has learnt a major financial lesson (after the collapse of the digital deal etc) and transfer fees then become more realistic then another take over is announced and prices go mad again. The immediate 4 billion new fans these clubs get. I get the fact that most youngster will follow a big club. I was one that grew up in the 80's as a Liverpool fan with Ipswich not taking any of my interest until my teen years. I see the appeal of following an established big team like Man Utd but I dont see how clubs like Man City have automatically got such a big following. Even before last summers league win their were hundreds of youngsters in their kits in Ipswich, 7 or 8 years previously it was Chelsea shirts. It appears to have been based on nothing other than the clubs bank balance. International teams with foreign managers (can I have this?). You cant go and add Giggs to the England squad because we lack a decent wide man so why can you appoint a foreign manager because your talent pool is limited? Rangers feeling that they shouldnt be penalised so heavily for their financial failings and their possibly illegal accounting over the past decade or so. Newcastle who say they are the most loyal fans in the country but dont see the irony of walking out after 20 minutes if they are 3-0 down.
generally it doesnt, but I was only referring to this in my argument with West Ham fans, who were saying what a huge club they are, and are far bigger than us. I disagreed, as there is not a lot in it between our two clubs. (if you look at history, trophies, stadium, fanbase etc)
I think it's very neighbourly that Norwich haven't got a mention as yet or has everyone taken this as read? I doubt such a thread on our board would be so non-parochial.
I didnt mention you as I dont hate you. Your our biggest rivals and I hope we beat you whenever we play you. I also want us to finish higher up the table than you but as things currently stand that isnt going to happen anytime soon and I will grudgingly admit that I both quite admire your team currently and I hope you stay in the premier league. My ideal scenario would be us in the champions league and you in the europa. Us getting all the glory but both clubs putting East Anglia under the spot light for good reasons and not the backward inbred carrot crunching tractor driving stereotypes that are often cast in our direct. Rivalry for me is about banter and oneupmanship. Bragging rights and basking in glory. Reliving the north stand doing the conger during our 5-0 win over you in the late 90's, which was one of my best and funniest sporting memories! I honestly dont understand where the absolute hatred that some fans feel for their rivals, purely because they are rivals come from.
Glory Hunters... You know the sort, no attachment to "their club", never go to the matches, in fact wouldn't even consider going... Was talking to one at work a few weeks ago, a ManUre one, he actually looked surprised when I asked him when he was next going to Old Trafford, and told me that he only watched them on Sky, but then said that he'd got 16 ManUre football shirts at home... Absolute light years away from my idea of a real supporter!
Welly, as you brought it up but in reality a question for everyone. Why is long distance support of a big team such a bad thing? For example. You live in London and have litle spare cash or you have other commitments which means you cant get to games. You watch your team on TV whenever possible, following their news on line and proudly walk around in your replica shirt. If your chosen team is Man Utd, your automatically hated. if you follow Stockport its perfect acceptable and people normally admire you. Why do we all have such vastly opposite feelings about almost identical supporters?
TB I couldn't agree more with your first post and completely agree that I don't hate Norwich (except Derby days) and actually quite like to see them do well as it can only be a good thing for the region.. Unfortunately as things are they are the top dog, which hurts but I can live with that knowing that both clubs are well respected and still hold some (small?) imprint in their community. As for the second post, you bring me back to my dislike of Man Utd. mainly due to the 'glory hunter' element and I think what I was alluding too was that it is so easy to support the likes of Utd. you turn the telly on and it hits you in the face, the challenge is not to know the ins and outs of the Utd team and not to try and keep up with it as info about the club and it's matches are so widespread that even you or I could discuss a Utd match in more detail than even our own teams games To support a club like Ipswich, Norwich, Stockport, Macclesfield takes something. They are not 'easy' clubs to support and that's why you have to have a reason in your blood to support, the big clubs you can follow simply because you see their badge and branding on the BBC and sky sports on a weekly basis and only ever associate with success.. That is why followers of the big clubs have no sympathy from me
I have a vague dislike of West Ham (even though they are historically my family team-from the area ,cousins and late grandfather support(ed) them)It stems from the last time we were in the playoffs having finished about 12 points above WHUFC and felt we were turned over by Pardews team.
King, its easy to be a fan of Man Utd currently I agree and if your interest is purely down to the medal haul you are the worst kind of fan. We currently have quite a large scandinavian following due to our exploits under SBR. These fans have hung around and so what started as a glory hunting exercise has now turned into some of the most dedicated fans around. A weekend trip from Sweden to pay stupid money to watch us play terribly is either fantastic or stupidity at the extreme. We suffer from these issues now in our own way. 22000 crowds have dropped to 16000. Its not on the same well publicised level as the Man Utd argument but thats a 1/4 of our support that has vanished when times have got tough. There will be wider ranging issues for staying away with the well documented financail strain but I do think its easy to jump on the big club bashing bandwagon when their are many similar cases nearer to home
