Football season 2011-12

.....I note my beloved Mackem's have bought "a few" players so far in this transfer window....for "a few" I mean 9 players (!) 

.....Hats off to Niall Quinn for at least giving european qualification a go by backing Brucey, but haway lads no post xmas collapse next season eh'?

As an aside (and I know I got criticised for contributing to the 'wine' thread when I don't like the stuff) as somebody who  watchs and enjoys football without being a fan of any team I just wanted to say how little I have missed the posturing, cheating, over-hyped and increasingly sporadically entertaining fandango of football.

I wonder if the Premiership/Euro fotball has peaked, and somehow part of that seemed to happen (well for me at least) after the World Cup. Not just the dismal England performance but the whole event failed to fly for me, and the final was a disgrace. I find the whole ridiculously inflated financial 'economy' of football increasingly offensive too.

Will the balloon burst, gently seep air or am I on the wrong track?

Enjoy the season guys.

Wishful thinking Bruce

I've gotta say I greatly enjoyed seeing the Posh performances from the 'lower leagues' last season, especially as the season wore on - really gung ho stuff, they might let 2 in but they'd score 4!

Trouble is they might go back to being unbelievably crap playing other abysmal teams on a freezing wet Tuesday nightbefore you know it. The Premiership though is a bit like Dallas. Full of glitz and  shits but I'm quite looking forward to how it turns out.

And I hope AVB lives up to expectation - May have to splash some midfield cash now though...

as somebody who  watches and enjoys football without being a fan of any team......I guess it's possible but football without it's inherent tribalism would (to me) be pretty much meaningless ...how do you enjoy it Bruce??

Will the balloon burst, gently seep air or am I on the wrong track?... I s'ppose all 3 really depending on which league your particular team belong's to.....In the championship the "balloon" is rapidly expelling air whereas despite everything season tickets sales in the Premiership are as high as ever.

And strangely enough world wide the English Premier League on TV out sells every other sport in the world (!)

...as I do most sport, for the excitement, the skill, the athleticism and drama. I don't think you have to be on one side to appreciate a match. I hugely enjoyed Arsenal vs Barcelona, without caring who won, I hated Real vs Barca because it stank.

I can see that being passionately committed is part of the roller-coaster ride for serious football fans, I can also see that maybe that can blinker them to the way the sport is viewed by the more casual watcher (witness your bemusement that somebody can enjoy the game without taking sides). Look how players are feted by one club, then hated when they transfer to a key rival. Stepping outide the 'fan bubble' reveals the infantilism of such behaviour.

When I watch England Rugby Union I get a buzz from a certain patriotic investment in the team, but when I watch a great game between, say, Ireland and Wales I still love it. I wonder if the committed football fan misses out on that emotion if it is not 'their' team playing? I don't belive tribalism is 'inherent' in football, just one part of it.

I guess another side issue to answer your question is that I mostly enjoy football on the radio-as I did as a kid under the covers with an earpiece and Liverpool playing games in mythical far-off places like Rome or Kiev. Radio commentary for me is often excellent at portraying the game, or indeed is more honest when the match is pants.

I probably ought to go away from this thread now and leave it to 'proper' fans.

Bruce

I think the DailyMash has it covered.

I will refrain from making comments on a sport I do not like, except for one. Salary cap? What is the point of a league where there are 22 teams (I think), but only half a dozen are playing to win, because they spend far more money on their team than the others (or even the others put together). How about a league that is well managed in order to make it as equally competitive for all the teams, or at least allows those at the bottom to get some sort of balance in their aspirations, and to build up over a few years of investment.  Perhaps I am wrong about this.

Some good points made there Bruce but .......I still feel that without truly caring about either side a fundamental "buzz" is missing in most sport not just football ..doesn't a Met's fan get far more "emotional" watching his team beat the Dodgers than watching 2 other baseball teams slugging it out on tv in his (or her) favourite bar? 

I loved watching that superb Canadian GP a few weeks back but what REALLY made it great for so many british racing fans was that Jensen Button won it! ....the same race with say Massa winning would have still been V exciting but I (and I suspect most other Brits) wouldn't have been jumping up and down and punching the air for Massa as I was when Button sped past Vettel - that's where the tribal aspect comes in.  And yes substitute Button with any other driver from any other country and that particular country would react the same as we Brits did. 

As for your quote re "Stepping outide the 'fan bubble' reveals the infantilism of such behaviour" ....I think you misunderstand we infantile types!!  I'm fully aware of how the modern footballer thinks and understand that his inherent preference is for money above all else rather than anything as daft as loyalty.

But our passion for the game means we DO care about a previously feted player leaving our club - we ARE emotionally involved - we instinctively crave having our own heroes at our clubs so of course we hate it when they leave!

Why is that infantile? as fanatical as I may be about Sunderland I'm still acutely aware of how eventually I'm always going to be let down ....we do have insight you know! I know it's only "22 men kicking a ball about"  ( which won't stop me and 40.000+ others giving Darren Bent the mutha of all "welcomes" when he returns to the SOL  next season!!)

......I'm in the bubble and loving it!

COME ON CHELSEA!!!

They have come.

> Who was the poster who thought that Ipswich would be unwise to get rid of Roy Keane 

Good to see your admitting you got it 100% wrong.

What a come back against a super Tykes side. 

Best programme on TV since the Barnsley Ipswich play-off final (the greatest match ever - even better than the 78 cup final and EUFA triumph)

Mind you - I'd veto the champions and Europa leagues - load of rubbish as most of the teams in aren't even champions. I'd sooner watch Forest Green than Carlos Kickabout and his mates (oh wait that is FGR). 

Roy remains the worst manager in the history of ITFC - he was never right and was taking the club down further and further; it is going to take time to undo the damage he did. However, we now have Paul Jewell and things are looking up - we've had our blip for the season (I hope) and we are playing with more character. Paul J has done a remarkable job given what he inherited from Roy. 

OK we'd be top if we'd had Paul Mariner, but you can't have everything in life and Paul Jewel is absolutely fine by me. 

Question is will it be Sir Paul, like Sir Alf and Sir Bobby: it was never gonna be Sir Roy. 

We even brought cash into the club by selling Blackburn supporters our Keane out chant.