Jump to content

Who to support in the Premier League


jaker52

Recommended Posts

I have been a neutral fan of BPL for awhile now and I decided if its ok to have a favorite BPL and a Bundesliga club so it's time to pick a team. Any advice? All my current teams are in my signature. I would like a bigger-ish club so I can follow them from the states. Please tell me who to support and why.

jaker52sig.png

signatureofteams.jpg

MUNCHEN LOWEN (WAFA) GULF SHORES OSPREYS (IBL)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 70
  • Created
  • Last Reply

What are you looking to get out of it? If you’re after a “bigger-ish” club, you’ve got a few choices, as I see it:

Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea are your hardcore “gloryhunting” clubs. They’re the only ones in the league who can spend a lot of money each and every summer with few repercussions, and should always be competing for a title. Silverware should be won once every other year at the least. I’d find this boring, but hey, to each his own.

Arsenal are kinda at their own tier, as a club that’s neither in that top group, but is also better than everyone else. They’ve qualified for the Champions League every year for forever, and they’ll have League and FA Cup success on a pretty regular basis; don’t expect more than the odd Premier League crown though. A lot has to go right for them to finish top. Fans can be a little whiny for no real good reason. They’ll preach about how their club isn’t funded by oil money or whatever, and then complain when they finish third or fourth.

Liverpool and Spurs are next, at the level where they have to have a really good season to finish top four, and an insane one to win the title (which Liverpool almost had). They’re both redeveloping their grounds in the near future, so perhaps they can get on better footing. Liverpool will make a push back toward the Champions League this year, while Spurs are probably going to keep derping in fifth or sixth. These are solid clubs if you like winning, perhaps Liverpool a bit more, but silverware isn’t going to always come easily. Probably a fine place to be.

Past that, Everton and Newcastle seem to have solid support bases in the States; Everton due to the Tim Howard/Landon Donovan connection and Newcastle because… I don’t know, they’re the poster child for a club who should be better than they are.

I guess you could hop on the Southampton bandwagon, but I don’t know how quickly that’ll come crashing down. Also, Koeman’s a douche.

All the “hipsters” used to start following Spurs, but after the 2014 WC, a lot of new fans jumped on the Everton bandwagon.

At the end of the day, just watch more of the league, and you’ll perhaps fall in love with someone. Don’t force fandom — it won’t work — but throw on NBCSN each weekend and see where you’re drawn. Maybe it’s Old Trafford, or maybe it’s the Britannia. Who knows.

For whatever reason, Villa drew me in. It’s the best and worst thing that ever happened to.

EDIT: It’s worth noting you can pretty well follow any club from the States these days, a lot easier than you can do it in other leagues. NBCSN has six of the 10 matches on each weekend, so we see a lot of everyone, and everything else is streamed. I can’t speak to the ease of following a side that gets relegated — we have a few Norwich followers here that could help explain that side of it — but it’s pretty easy to follow whomever these days.

6fQjS3M.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the end of the day, just watch more of the league, and you’ll perhaps fall in love with someone. Don’t force fandom — it won’t work — but throw on NBCSN each weekend and see where you’re drawn. Maybe it’s Old Trafford, or maybe it’s the Britannia. Who knows.

Truth spoken. Watch a good mix of teams and matches, and I'm sure you'll end up feeling a pull towards one of them, jaker52.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Inasmuch as I watch EPL, I watch it the same way I watch the NBA -- more as a season-long narrative than rooting for any one particular team. Only one of about four teams has a chance any season, and I think it's more fun to track the movement among the top (and bottom!) then to live and die with one team.

That said, I've decided that if I had a team, it's the Spurs. But not because of Bill Simmons, but instead because that's where former homegrown Seattle Sounder DeAndre Yedlin ended up. If moves elsewhere, I'll move my allegiance with him.

1 hour ago, ShutUpLutz! said:

and the drunken doodoobags jumping off the tops of SUV's/vans/RV's onto tables because, oh yeah, they are drunken drug abusing doodoobags

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the end of the day, just watch more of the league, and you’ll perhaps fall in love with someone. Don’t force fandom — it won’t work — but throw on NBCSN each weekend and see where you’re drawn. Maybe it’s Old Trafford, or maybe it’s the Britannia. Who knows.

Truth spoken. Watch a good mix of teams and matches, and I'm sure you'll end up feeling a pull towards one of them, jaker52.

That's how I became a Gooner. For a while, I considered myself a Chelsea fan since I liked Drogba and Lampard. But after a while, I started to lose interest in the team, I guess because my fandom was kinda forced. So I ended up just casually watching different EPL teams and matches, and Arsenal eventually stood out to me from the rest.

Really, that's how I suggest for anyone to pick a team, in whatever sport.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with the above that a team should find you. When I started to follow soccer I knew of United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Not knowing how good City had become the "noisy neighbors" moniker appealed to me. This sparked my interest and I would always watch City quickly they became the only club I was willing to wake up at 6 am on a Saturday to watch.

Honestly though as an FCB supporter I think you should just let soft spots develop for certain clubs but not make yourself a fan of another European club. Let's say you become an Arsenal fan and Bayern meets them in the Champions League. I live and die with City and couldn't give a :censored: less what any other euro clubs do.

Denver Nuggets Kansas City Chiefs Tampa Bay Rays 

Colorado Buffaloes Purdue Boilermakers Florida Gators

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I met someone who loves Liverpool so I guess I do too now. I haven't watched any of their games yet, so I don't know what it's like never to walk alone yet.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm quite fond of Chelsea and Spurs because those are the two EPL teams I've actually seen play live.

spacer.png

On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I became a fan of Manchester United when hey had that incredible comeback against Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final back in 1999 (I think that was the year). They were down 1-0, then scored twice in stoppage time (and this was when stoppage time was pretty new) to win 2-1. I was rooting for an exciting finish, and United supplied one, so I got hooked.

Never really had a favorite MLS team. Tried to get behind Columbus (I wasn't going to root for a Floridian team), but the Crew never really got my attention. Obviously, I'll have a favorite team starting in 2017....

Saw Manchester City play Club America a few years ago. I got to at least cheer against a team....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Liverpool is fun if you like being kicked in the nutz.

Honestly, being a Reds fan is akin to being a Leafs fan. Past glories, yadayada, & yet nothing much to show for lately.

In a way, it's bizarrely fun that way, for both.

cropped-cropped-toronto-skyline21.jpg?w=

@2001mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I first started watching EPL, someone at the pub on a Sunday morning gave me this bit of wisdom: "It's not as important who you love, as it is who you hate." But yeah, watch a season or two and you'll find your way. I landed on Crystal Palace, because they're the awesomest.

On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said:

For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA.

PotD: 10/19/07, 08/25/08, 07/22/10, 08/13/10, 04/15/11, 05/19/11, 01/02/12, and 01/05/12.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the end of the day, just watch more of the league, and you’ll perhaps fall in love with someone. Don’t force fandom — it won’t work — but throw on NBCSN each weekend and see where you’re drawn. Maybe it’s Old Trafford, or maybe it’s the Britannia. Who knows.

Truth spoken. Watch a good mix of teams and matches, and I'm sure you'll end up feeling a pull towards one of them, jaker52.

This would be my advice as well. It's easy now to just watch a bunch of games and figure out who you start cheering for the most now that you can stream every match on NBC Sports.

Or you can pick Spurs because you like their kits best and have it stick like it did for me.

Wordmark_zpsaxgeaoqy.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who you root for will come along as you watch the games over the season.

For me, I've been on the Swansea City bandwagon since they reached the top level. I love the fact that they're the only Welsh team in the English Premier League. They're the outsiders, if you will. They even made it to the Europa League 2 years ago and reached the knockout stage there.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Liverpool is fun if you like being kicked in the nutz.

Well, I'm still a Cubs fan, so I'm either inured to nut-punching or I've fulfilled my limit on nut-punching.

Crystal Palace is a cool name. Imagine my disappointment when I found out the palace itself has been gone for years.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll go along with what everyone else is saying. Just watch and you will find a team. There is nothing wrong with supporting multiple European club teams. Heck I have 3 NFL teams I root for. I settled on Crystal Palace. I love their crest and a red and blue color scheme with a hint of yellow is almost always beautiful to me.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want a team that will supply you with promise at the start of the season and heartache at the end then come to the dark side and join the Tottenham Hotspur rollercoaster. We embrace the term bad luck especially at the final hurdle of a season. (Except for one where we actually qualified for the Champions League.)

glory10.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only European side I've come to really root for was Bayern. I went to Germany for work, didn't know much about German soccer at the time and found Bayern stuff in the giant adidas store I went to. Kinda thinking they were the nearby local side, and of course having heard of them before, I bought some gear and started rooting for them. When I got home I realized why I had actually heard of them, they were like the Yankees, Cowboys, and Canadians combined, they never lose.

I watched them a bit, enjoyed it a lot but then I started to lose interest because it honestly wasn't fun. I never got why people were Ohio State or Alabama fans unless you were from there, because what's interesting about winning ALL THE TIME? i realized I was in that situation. You don't really live for your team when they win all the time, you only die for them. So I root for them, just not that actively.

I've tried to find an EPL side but it just seems forced. I have no connection to these teams. I got so much more enjoyment watching Indy Eleven only win twice at home last year in the 2nd division of the U.S. than I ever got seeing Bayern win the Champions League.

Maybe someday I'll go there and find a team I can identify with but trying to find one here seems really hard.

I guess this isn't super relevant other to say, let it happen naturally and try not to root for one of the teams that win all the time. The struggle makes the success that much sweeter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.