Football / Soccer Discussion

This is a thread for all things relating to football/soccer. What club do you support? I'm a Rangers fan albeit our club hasn't performed the best recently. The manager Michael Beale is scheduling a rebuild for the team in the Summer transfer window. I'd hope to sign Jose Cifuentes, Cho Gue-sung, and Charlie Patino. Celtic have had a much better season with their Japanese players but haven't done well post-league-title whereas we have. Just have to see how things will go.

I watch other leagues from time to time. Palermo are the Italian club I support, but it's been a while since I last watched a match. Luton Town is a cool club, came up from the 5th division in non-league (non-professional) to winning a playoff spot against Coventry City in the 2nd tier English Championship to play in the Premier League. A lot better story than Wrexhams imo. Blackpool are alright, watch them sometimes since Rangers had a friendly with them last Summer. Dundee United and Dundee are my local so they're decent. The only Premier League teams I "like" are Liverpool, Leicester, and Nottingham but wouldn't say I support any of them. Could list more but there's a lot.

 

Also RIP Soccer Saturday.

 

Shame about Southampton's relegation, it should have been Bournemouth or Leeds. Joe Aribo was brilliant when he was with Rangers last season, scoring in the Europa League final against Eintracht Frankfurt. But now he's not even on Southampton's bench. There's a bit of rivalry between Rangers and Aberdeen. We got beat by them 2-0 a few weeks ago.

Leicester isn't a bad club but the season has been too unpredictable. One week it's hammering 5-1 then the next they're getting demolished. Just the way it is. I watch the J-League from time to time, mainly FC Tokyo and Yokohama F. Marinos. Likewise with the MLS with NYCFC and LAFC. Would like to see San Francisco get an expansion club to the MLS but unlikely given how many teams there are in California already (now with San Diego).

Ange Postecoglou completely rebuilt Celtic from the ground up and I hold nothing but respect for him. Would be sad to see Kyogo and Hatate go. Don't really feel much hate towards Celtic themselves which people find surprising given I am a Rangers fan. But I grew up watching both clubs and have friends that support both. I can recognize both perspectives and achievements of the two. Hard to really revolve your whole life and identity around a club to the point where you wouldn't even wear the colour green. But some people are like that sadly.

 

How Arsenal managed to bottle it against three lower-table clubs is a mystery only God will know. Al-Oilchester City win the title for, what is it now 7th year in a row? Modern football is a joke. The Gallagher twins are probably buzzing. Arsenal was a thread away and could have made history. Best of luck for next year though, got high hopes. Also, Spurs will be in the Championship soon enough with Kane and Son out, make my word. They're more soulless than any other club in the prem.

 

Davis is a good player, think he's staying. A lot of our players are on an exodus because of the rebuild. Hoping we sign Cho Gue-sung and Charlie Patino. I have a feeling Southampton will return soon enough, same with Leicester. Not the kinds of clubs to languish in lower divisions. If Rangers flop next season then I foresee a downward spiral for the next decade. Doesn't help that we are literally the worst Champions League club in history.

 

Also Luton Town have won promotion!





The picture is their away end, through someone's home. Would be interesting to see Manchester City and Tottenham away days here. The capacity is also only 10,000, has wooden seats and the away end goes underneath the pitch so you're looking at the players' feet. Got to love classic football grounds. Reminds me of Dens Park (Dundee FC) in my hometown a little bit.

 

Unsure why Polish football has been on such a downturn recently, if anything it should be thriving. Watched a couple of Slask Wroclaw games before and the quality was quite good. It'll get better surely, can't compare oil money leagues to actual football. The only English clubs I can stomach to support are Liverpool and West Ham. I have clubs I like but none I would support.

 

The finances of leagues are tipped in favour of the investors, mainly the Saudi-Emirati owners. They're raiding every major European league, signed Ronaldo for Al-Nassr, and put in an ungodly bid for Messi at Al-Hilal who signed for Inter Miami instead. Next is Son Heung-min apparently. Real football still lives on and there are still working-class clubs that win through hard work over money e.g. Luton. My Polish neighbour was a Lech fan and he loved the club more than anything. As long as you have the fans it will be okay. Football isn't a franchise-based sport like the NFL. Fans won't allow a Super League situation to happen, but in the event it does is the death of football and by proxy of all sport.

 

An old thread but thought I would make this point about football.

I only got into football relatively recently, started watching Rangers UCL games then looked at other leagues. The only leagues I watch are SPFL, EFL, MLS, and J.League - with the exception of occasionally Bundesliga, Serie A, and K.League for specific clubs (Union Berlin/Kaiserslautern, Palermo/AC Milan, and Jeonbuk/Suwon Bluewings). Outside of those leagues and specific clubs, I could not care less about anything else. I hated football growing up, as in hated it. To me, it was a pointless chav sport where grown men watched more fit men kick a ball around a field and cheer for 90 minutes to fill the void of their life. And yeah, to an extent a lot of football is just that. Ridiculous transfer fees worth entire nations' GDPs just to sign a player who's thick as shit but can kick a ball well is madness. Revolving your life around that even more so. Every time there was a football match at the park, there would be full-fledged fistfights over the slightest fouls. But there's a difference between amateur/lower-level football and professional football to the point where they might as well be separate sports.

Cheering for a local team, having a stake in the club, traveling day and night to away days, creating tifos and banners. That's what it's all about. Football transcends being a sport and becomes an art form. Budget gaps are a lot less narrow so it's fair. Professional football has no soul, all money, and no passion. Professional sport is sportsball garbage, where grown men watch from their couch with a beer watching other more fit men score goals like cuckolds. Clubs no longer hold any values or meanings. So many Plastic City fans who watch only for certain players or because they won the league who have never been to the Etihad before. And even if they did, they all sit in silence because they're tourist wankers who know nothing about football. Football isn't the NFL and it never will be.

A lot of people are against watching sport which I completely understand. Yeah, it is a waste of time. But if you find a club you genuinely love and find a community within that then who cares? You give football its value. That's what makes it magic - football is nothing without the fans. Whatever your choice, just remember there are more layers to football than just men kicking a ball around the grass. There are different formations, playstyles, values, traditions, histories etc that all go with it. Often the most simplest of things are what make us happy because they become something more with the experiences they provide us with.