He also massively slags the town off in it. I'm with Clive - his work is absolute self indulgent garbage, by someone who seems to have never spent any time with anyone except middle class white people. Very much one of the "move to London and disappear up your own ar$eh0le" set. Working in London for over a decade, I've met plenty of Arsenal fans who both do and don't go and watch them. In both categories almost all are either hooray Henrys or total bores and all live outside the M25.
The very same cinema where George Michael worked as an usher and wrote Careless Whisper in the lobby. It should have a blue plaque on the wall if you ask me. Fever Pitch is a great read. For me it was the first thing i read that showed there was a different kind of football fan. I found nothing wrong with that. PS I know a splattering of Arsenal fans from the Aylesbury area. Quite a few of them still go.. none of them are Hooray Henry's and a few of them are very knowledgeable about football. How would anyone expect it to be any other way?
The views of the writer are not always the views of the character. In the book Rob is a bit of a **** and thinks he is superior to going to the pictures in Watford with his Mum and Dad. His superiority is shot right down when he meets his ex's posh friends and is socially embarrassed. I can't remember how else he slags Watford off (if he does), but to be frank, nice as it is, the Market Street area of town is hardly Florence. It's hard to look at Exchange Road without welcoming the idea of carpet bombing.
Id rather “The” Arse wasn’t the first game after the international break, but I think of all the big 6 teams Arsenal are by far the most vulnerable. I watched them a couple of weeks ago against Brighton and they really didn’t look that sharp, seemed to be scared of shooting. 3:1 to us Wenga to get the sack Arsenal to approach Silva Silva to show his commitment to us be telling arsenal where to go
I don't remember ever having read the book and I've certainly never seen the film so I won't comment on it. But I wonder why 'middle class' and 'white people' are apparently being used as terms of abuse. Would the former be as a form of inverse snobbery and the latter be borderline racist? And why lump all this huge subset of people into one homogenous whole? In my experience some of them are absolute w**kers and some are wonderful, brilliant, kind, capable people and there are all stages in between. In my over 3 decades (trump you) working in North London I met hundreds, quite possibly thousands of professed Arsenal supporters. Most of these were teenagers who probably felt obliged to pick between Arsenal, Spurs and, latterly, Chelsea, because 'that's what you do'. & most of them had never been to an Arsenal match (or indeed, any pro match). This happens in various guises across the country (substitute Man U, City, West Ham, etc etc depending what region you are in. The adult supporters could be described in terms similar to the ones I applied to white middle class people. Your comments on this occasion are ill thought-out, boringly and aggressively priggish and insulting.
I probably went to Highbury for the first time when Nick Hornby did. Poncey it was not. We strayed into the home support which seemed rammed with fellas with spiderweb face tattoos who pi.ssed where they stood in big foamy lakes that cascaded down the terrace. To be fair not all gooners of the time were that sophisticated.
George Michael Scmeichell. It deserves a plaque for being the cinema where "Terry Tinsel" was an usher, and practised his stunning moves that were show cased at Paradise lost each week. That is a true Watford legend.
I quite like Arsenal as we seem to do well against them. Mainly at there place. I can’t recall beating them at home, so hopefully this could be the one.
I hope I have given you the merest hint of the depths of my loathing for The Arse. Apart from the obvious scum down the road, they are the team that I dislike most. It was that boring team of whingers they had for years in the 80s that did it. The ones who were always spitting and complaining and grinding out a dirty 1-0 win. And their fans. Good god. Well I could write a few paragraphs of condemnation, but it is just repeating what anyone who has ever been unfortunate enough to find themselves in the company of a "gooner" will already know only too well. For some reason yer average gooner is infused with an arrogance and level of preening self-entitlement that is startling even in the world of London big team puffery. In answer to your question, I have no reason to tell untruths or exaggerate. I had no idea when I went round there that the old man was a deviant. It wasn't like he even tried to hide it or was discreet about it. There was Arsenal memorabilia right there openly on display. No shame about it at all. Flagrant and right in your face unashamed Gunnerism. Do you really blame me for making my excuses and leaving? Wouldn't you have done the same? Would you have hung around to drink tea politely on the sofa from out of one of his filthy Arsenal tea mugs? Not me señor. I'm not interested in that sort of thing. There are many fish in Baileys nightclub and besides a glimpse of one of her dad's framed photos of Perry Groves had long since sent me completely flaccid...
I disagree. I think it's hackneyed and inconsequential male-bantz. Absolutely mainstream, conformist and with nothing of interest or relevance to say. Piffle. Poppycock. A waste of time. Bubble gum for the brain. The metrosexual male's equivalent of Bridget Jones Diary. But that is the thing with art. Each has his own preferences.
My point was that Hornby's book reads like it's written by a cossetted, safe, dull bore with little life experience. I don't like it. As for the Arsenal fans, when did people get so precious about disliking another team's supporters?
Like I say, never read it. But several of his other books are very good. If it's not for you that's fine, but 'conformist' is meaningless as a criticism. He writes about small matters, families, self delusion, the difficulties of self change. It's not a broad canvas like Tolstoy, but he's good at it and very funny. If everything has to be revolutionary then nothing really is.
As usual I seem to be split between two camps on this argument. I liked Hornbys writing at the time, especially Fever Pitch, but in retrospect I do find the rest of it twee and middle classed to the point that its become too saccharine for my tastes. A bit too Hugh Grant. But there is nothing wrong with that , because otherwise it would be justified to accuse Irving Welsh for only viewing the world from a working class Scottish perspective. A writer just tells the story he has inside. I watched the film of the book Fever Pitch when I was living in Australia and it made me so home sick that I vowed to return home, so he must have a knack as a story teller. I live near the Holloway Road and I can vouch that Arsenal fans are not dominated by middle classes. Its a proper working class club for a largely working class area that is spattered with expensive housing areas like every part of London. I suspect their armchair fans are of the ilk described here, but so are Man Utd, Citys, Chelsea etc . The lack of atmosphere at their ground is just an example of the way football is going with big stadiums etc. I know Highbury was never a cauldron but it did have good feeling about it. Either way, I look forward to Deeney and Richarlison putting the final dot onto Mertesackers P45 on Saturday.
We really need to rest our flair players for this one. Whilst Arsenal used to be a good team playing attractive football, these days they rely on thuggery and aggressiveness. We don’t need to take the risk. I don’t just want a victory against this lot. The result should be guaranteed. I want to dominate, perform constantly for 90 minutes and really take advantage of our better quality. Prediction: 3-0 to us unfortunately, and a feeling of what could have been, due to our relatively poor swing in goal difference.
I suppose when they realised that the team you support is largely an accident of birth. Of course there are the glory hunters but they don't go to games anyway.
My abiding memory of Arsenal was some nimrod in the private box in the GT stand when we played them under Quique. So lacking in self awareness was he that he saw fit to bellow “3 nil to the Arsenal” repeatedly at the top of his lungs even though the game was long gone. Several of us in the GT stand tutted I can tell you.
Where was the inverted snobbery and abuse? The criticism was that the author would appear to be writing ONLY from the perspective, and experience of, one social and racial group. Nothing particularly unusual in that though. Most authors write about stuff they know about and indeed are advised to do so. Irvine Welsh has been mentioned as the antithesis of Mr Hornby. Luckily I've been fortunate enough to have spent a bit of time with both the home counties middle-classes (rather tame) and in the somewhat rawer environment of downtown Edinburgh and Leith (Mr Welsh's home patch and I've drunk in the same bars) and in undoubtedly racist Kelso. I enjoyed the Edinburgh rawness (especially as a younger man) but have now settled back into the relative safety of Rickmansworth. I'd still rather pick up an edgy novel by Welsh than a simpering one by Hornby though but I find Gooners somewhat less offensive than the Chelski.
Where have you heard this? I saw he got subbed off last night, but there was no mention of injury I saw.
For Arsenal fans, football is everything. My cousins are all Arsenal season ticket holders and it really is life and death for them. I can't really have a go at that despite the utter tripe spouted by all (especially when they thought Gibbs was England's best left back). For family reasons, we must win this game as it would be hilarious for me. Without Koscielny and Mustafi, we've got a good chance of scoring. Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk
When he was subbed off, he walked off holding his hamstring. Unconfirmed, but it looked like he was injured. Knowing our fitness team, we won't hear a report for a week though.
I fingered 2 (two) girls in the empire (on separate occasions). Hornby and all arsenal fans are ****s to a man. I'm not going to the match this saturday and have given my ticket to someone who has never seen us lose (P4 W4 D0 L0). Make of all that info what you will.
What a ******* ridiculous post. Watford means everything to me. There are passionate Watford fans about you know. Just because 'The Arse ' are a tad bigger than us, doesn't mean their fans love their club more. I figure, you must be one of those Watford supporters who likes to dabble in and out. I know every club has them but personally I can't ******* stand plastic fans ****!! That post pissed me right off
Talk about over-reaction. How have you construed his post as 'Watford fans aren't passionate'? Issues.
Looks like they have as many defensive injuries as us. Although should Prodil and Kaboul not be back by the weekend? They will still have a very decent forward line and the key could be playing on the front foot and keeping the ball in their half. Obvious I know but something we were simply unable to do v City (who were superb on the day). Could it be an advantage as well that only Carrillo of our starting 11 was on international duty, where as most of their team was? In these games against the top 6 pressure is always on the bigger club. Longer it stays 0-0 the better chance of us nicking it. Be nice to get our first home win as well..
There are still unsold tickets for this game, I guess its because it's on TV. Arseanal at home guys come on. I see we haven't sold out at Chelsea either, whats going on.
really? That cant be right can it? Open to the lowest cat of members? blimey. I just checked, there's nothing available. Wotchoo talkin about?
Well I liked it. It resonated with me back when it was released and I was obsessed with football but growing up. “You can't remember whether life's **** because [Watford’s] s*@# or the other way round”. It represented the realisation of other life changing events that I was facing then. The settling down or continuing to live football rather than living life – I guess a choice between being Lloyd (and maybe Highgrade was it?) where “football was life and life was football and fair-weather supporter to any of you who think different”, to actually letting football play second fiddle to getting married, having kids, realising that there was more to life than just the game. And having my Mum cheering on Watford and the latest score being the first thing she’d sometimes mention when walking through the door. 5 years ago I almost bought a place in Liverpool Street but I wasn’t allowed in the end, mainly due to the state of the house and area location, other than backing on to the Vic – but how fever pitch is that?! And I mean, you could literally write that Colin Firth-Michael Thomas goal scene for me when Deeney scored THAT goal v Leicester! “...So please, be tolerant of those who describe a sporting moment as their best ever. We do not lack imagination, nor have we had sad and barren lives; it is just that real life is paler, duller, and contains less potential for unexpected delirium.” And much as it did then, so does it now where I’m facing similar decisions about life vs going to the football, where responsibilities and commitments to other special people in my life means that once again as back then I will eventually have to let it go again, for the most part, and be less of an active supporter and more a passive supporter. But that is what happens in life, and football is not life. “I used to believe, although I don't now, that growing and growing up are analogous, that both are inevitable and uncontrollable processes. Now it seems to me that growing up is governed by the will, that one can choose to become an adult, but only at given moments. These moments come along fairly infrequently -during crises in relationships, for example, or when one has been given the chance to start afresh somewhere- and one can ignore them or seize them.”
