I'm puzzled - Juliet was a Capulet, Romeo was a Montague. So.... you did't get to finger Romeo? ....?
You have got issues with issues, I take it? How about tissues then? (further down the page). Or do you have issues with tissues, too?
I get all that and agree. But I didn't think that was what the post you objected to was saying at all. I think you read that into it. That post merely pointed out that, in the opinion of the poster, Hornby's perspective is pretty limited. Nothing unusual in that though. Same for most people really.
I don't want to appear like Brutus the brute here, but I have to confess that I have never studied Shakespeare or seen any of his plays or anything. I was patting myself on the back smugly for knowing Montague!
Arsenal.. Arsenal.. Arsene. Say no more. I think they even had a player called Piles a while back. No sorry it was Pires. Close enough.
Some truth and boll.cks in that one. Your opening para. is total boll.cks. The most important single factor in which team you support is which team your father supported. Same with politics. Which was the first match your dad took you too Clive? My dad was a Pompey fan. Took me to WFC v Pompey for my second game. Never tried to influence me and, to this day, I don't really know who he was rooting for. What a man! Been deceased for 28 years. Attended the 1939 Cup Final when the Pompey stuffed the Wolves favourites 4-1 though. Imagine that! Kept the cup throughout the war years too. Anyway Clive, how did you become an 'Orn? Did you dad take you to a match? Was he 'a man of the left'? My dad was (in defiance of the rest of his family) which has no doubt informed my politics too. So, where's your influence then? With the big teams there are plenty of traditional fans and plenty of glory hunters. The latter can legitimately be ridiculed and have the p.ss taken out of them. Percentages vary. I've met a few perfectly decent Scummers. But they have more than their fair share of meatheads. Taking the p.ss out of the opposition, stereotyping them and 'aving a go' is part and parcel of football. Long may it continue.
I disagree with you on that, the vast majority of people that I know only support the same team as their father if they continue living in the same town. It is much more likely to support the team of your town or the most successful team of the moment. I would think that most people from areas that don´t have seccessful teams don,t support the local team eg, Cornwall or Devon, Norfolk or Suffolk, Herts; beds and Bucks.. I am curious to know if you find people in the north that walk around in Chelsea shirts.
I was brought up in Cornwall and I have lived in Norfolk. There are significant numbers of Norwich City supporters in Norfolk. That's not to say that there aren't fans of other clubs too, but I would hazard a guess that the Canaries are the best supported team in the county. Similarly with Ipswich in Suffolk. Cornwall is trickier, as it has never had a league club and is primarily rugby territory really. But Plymouth Argyle would be at least the second club of many football fans there (it is mine, and I also look out for the results of the other Devon clubs). I began supporting the 'Orns in 1980 when GT was starting to work miracles: we have a family connection to Watford. I didn't know anyone else in Cornwall (other than my father) who supported WFC as I was growing up although I have discovered since joining this forum that VoiceofReason lives there now.
I cannot fathom why anyone who wasn't born in watford would support us, apart from the "my dad was a fan" rule. I would absolutely hate to bump into some **** from, say, wigan or gillingham or some other ghastly place like that and found out they supported my club. **** off, we don't want you. The best thing about supporting a tin pot club is that when you go to the match, you know you will be surrounded by like-minded ****heads, and can immerse yourself in that familiar hertfordshire drawl.
WHAT???? Norwich City is a huge focus of local identity, even among people who have absolutely no interest in football. "City" in Norfolk doesn't mean that lot up north. I've hardly ever seen a glamour-club shirt being worn in Norwich, and I imagine that that's the same with our "local" rivals, Ipswich. And can Norwich and Ipswich, which are not conurbations, be said to have been unsuccessful? One finished third in the first season of the Prem, has won the League Cup twice and been FA Cup semi-finalists twice; the less successful of the pair has won the League and the UEFA Cup. By those standards, Watford are real flops (but I love them all the same).
Yes. I saw Norwich play Accrington Stanley and Newport County in Division 3 before they went out of the League, and I also saw them knock Bayern Munich out of the UEFA Cup. We moved to Herts in GT's first season, and over the years my main allegiance has gradually changed. I wrote to the Eastern Evening News very early on to tell them how much better-run Watford FC was on and off the pitch, but when they played each other at that time I supported whichever team needed the points most (which made early-season matches agony). However, Watford has undoubtedly been my first love for a long time. I don't go on the Norwich forums, and and am not too upset if I miss a Norwich home match when up there for family reasons. I used to go to all Norwich matches in London unless Watford were at home, but don't now. But the indignation in my last post demonstrates the truth of my statement that the Canaries are a huge focus of local identity.
Well **** the bed. What a curious state of affairs. At least they are both yellow I suppose. I had no idea there were outsiders on this forum, apart from the people pretending to be foreigners supporting udinese and granada obv.
Having not seen us score at home since April 15th in the league, I would just like us to score a goal. The only game I've missed was Liverpool. I do fancy our chances of getting something as they've not looked that great this year
What about people born in Harrow, Hemel, Berko and other surrounding areas etc why would they not support their local league team ? My Dad didn't even like Football so he certainly didn't influence me. Also my oldest friend, who still has a season ticket, wasn't influenced by his father either as he had only a passing interest in the game.
Growing up in the football wasteland that was North Lincolnshire, I can assure you there are plenty of Chelsea and Arsenal fans there. As a kid I sort of followed Lincoln City, when they had a young manager called Graham Taylor, when I demobbed from the RAF I settled in South Oxhey and coincidently at the time Watford FC had Graham Taylor as their manager. That's my tenuous link.
watford is the nearest league club to those places isnt it? I get why people wouldnt bother with their local non-league club.
Have you ever heard of catchment areas? Only half our support comes from outside Watford.. some of it from outside Hertfordshire. If it was just Watford alone our crowds would be about half what they are.. maybe less cause we'd probably be in League 2, given the population of the town itself. We should be proud that the Hornets are the team of the area and not just the town. Personally i have no connection to Watford whatsoever.. other than the 501 bus route that our father took us on in the early 70's to go see one of our nearer football league clubs. He also took us to the other nearby clubs but we choose Watford cause my brother found a scarf someone had left tied to a crush barrier. If we had felt then that we wasnt welcome we would have probably ended up following Oxford or that team from Bedfordshire!
Has the Arsenal game been cancelled? I ask because there is little or no mention of it in this thread.
I get the catchment area thing, for places like hemel/amersam or whatever, watford is the nearest league club. I just can't get my head round your dad's thinking. Why did he bother testing a few out? Judging by where you must be from, all the clubs were much of a muchness in the 70s. Why didnt he feel a closeness to his nearest team? I reckon your situation must be pretty uncommon. I understand the glory hunters reasoning, but if you're going to support a **** club, you may as well support the one that's closest surely!
At university I supported Cambridge United (also yellow), and got them into the League. Moving to London in Arsenal's double season, I went to watch all the big clubs and finished up with Chelsea as the most entertaining team. Then Gillingham for five years as my local club before moving to Herts and becoming an 'Orn. I now have no blue allegiance - I've detested Chelsea since Bates and then Abramovich took over, and lost interest in Gillingham when I left Kent. Nobody can accuse me of not supporting my local team. I love two yellow teams, like one yellow team, have fallen out of love with two blue teams and have NEVER loved a red team or a stripey outfit.
Thankfully not, if I did, I certainly wouldn't be using those types of toilet rolls to soften the blow. I would go for something double if not triple ply so it feels like I am using a white fluffy cloud to wipe my bum.
Cause he wanted us to decide for ourselves.. and, i think, he wanted us to avoid going up into London for games. Aylesbury is pretty much in a triangle with Watford, Oxford and the unmentionables. A touch nearer the unmentionables but we are only talking a few miles. In that time period (73-75) Watford were actually below the league status of the other two there. It was the scarf what did it. These days it would have been MK & Wycombe included. Ive always been pleased we choose who we did.. it made you a bit 'special' There wasnt many Hornet followers in Aylesbury back then so we'd get called "Watford" and when you get called by your team name you know you are 'Special'! I also liked the fact we had an adopted town to visit.. a bit like having a step brother who you get along with. Looking at the 'journey' we've been on then there's no doubt we made the right choice.
I grew up in Eastcote, which is dangerously close to the edge of the catchment area of QPR. Fortunately I made the right choice...
Yes!!! I have always wondered the same, what is the bleedin point in putting a point on the roll in your hotel bathroom. Just leave alone. I now can't use that sheet because the maid has folded it all funny, so now when I go to fold it, it doesn't fold properly and is now useless. Someone should look into these various types of moss in more detail and decide which one is best.