Knight1979

Okay I know this isn't about re-locating or anything.

This is a thread meant for all you Brits to educate us Yanks on the beautiful game. Here are some questions I have and some discussion points. Go for it.

1) Here in the US, Fox Soccer Channel only shows Premiership games
(I cannot afford Setanta). In England do Championship, League 1 and League 2 games get televised? Do any of the teams in the lower divsions have TV contracts?

2) Will Leeds and Forest get promoted this year? How will they fare in the Championship if they do?

3) Who is favored in the FA cup this year?

4) Will Tom Hicks run Liverpool in the ground just as he has done the Texas Rangers?

5) Was/Is football hooliganism sensationalized by the media? Which club has/had the worst reputation? (We Yanks are fascinated by this since hooliganism is a phenomenon that does not exist here)

6) Will the great Man City go undefeated and get the treble this year? (Under the condition that their greatness convices UEFA to allow them to compete in the UEFA Champions league this year and they clean house).

Manc

This will get moved to the trailer park, but no worries.
I sent you a pm by the way.



1) Here in the US, Fox Soccer Channel only shows Premiership games
(I cannot afford Setanta). In England do Championship, League 1 and League 2 games get televised? Do any of the teams in the lower divsions have TV contracts?

Only in the FA Cup usually.



2) Will Leeds and Forest get promoted this year? How will they fare in the Championship if they do?

Leeds would be up already if it weren't for the deduction. Leeds would do better than Forest in the Championship I feel.

3) Who is favored in the FA cup this year?

well apart from the big 4
I fancy one from; Everton, Spurs, Blackburn.

4) Will Tom Hicks run Liverpool in the ground just as he has done the Texas Rangers?

Looks that way. no money and no new ground......


5) Was/Is football hooliganism sensationalized by the media? Which club has/had the worst reputation? (We Yanks are fascinated by this since hooliganism is a phenomenon that does not exist here)

Yes, especially over here. It's not really been a problem since the early 80's.

6) Will the great Man City go undefeated and get the treble this year? (Under the condition that their greatness convices UEFA to allow them to compete in the UEFA Champions league this year and they clean house).

you're on drugs.

Bob

My arse....just look what happened when the Sox won the world series, or at any other major sporting event....

Bob

Yup, that'll be me, though I'm happy to keep it here rather than the locker room

Manc

Agreed, any college town that wins a national championship becomes a veritable warzone.

Duncan Roberts

Well that's not really true, but it's mainly premiership games if you are talking English. Every pro league in England is televised, if you have the channels. Even the non league teams get on TV depending on what else is going on.

Knight1979

Sure people go crazy.........but its not pre-meditated organized, gang violence.....I'm not saying that's the way it is now, I would have no way of knowing but it seemed pretty intense during the 70's and 80's over there.

I recently read, "Among the Thugs" by Bill Bruford. It was pretty shocking but I try to keep an open mind and realize his material could have very well been sensationalized to sell a few extra copies....

Manc

read it myself. (Bill Buford not Bruford)

crap book

I'm surprised he didn't get his head kicked in while in Turin.

There are a plethora of books written by Hooligans whom were far more involved than some limp wristed american wannabe hoolie.
Try "you've just met the ICF"
or "My name is Bill Gardener"

one of the best films about it was a police undercover film about a fictional team called Shadwell town. The film was simply called "ID" I think.

Knight1979

That's what made it great, the fact that we wasn't a hooligan.....I could care less reading about about some hooligan talking about how hard he is and how his firm is the hardest....useless....same old crap. Buford admits he doesn't have the constitution to do they stuff hooligans do but he gets accepted by the group, they trust him and this "limp wristed wannabe" actually gets wrapped up in it and discovers the same excitement hooligans get out of it. The guys he finds repulsive in the beginning end up being his friends. The climax in Sardinia is epic.

Manc

He wasn't accepted in Turin.
coming out of the ground in that rectangular formation was asked by the Mancunians what he was doing there and told to "fuck off" in no uncertain terms.

Knight1979

yea by some teenage prick who he had never seen before.....I believe he called him "fish and chips"

Manc

well of course he'd never seen him before.
it was Bufords second game.

Knight1979

Did you see the BBC Hooligans documentary? Its on youtube. They cover a Millwall Forest game in 01. Not a whole lot happens but it gets pretty tense. There is also the "Real Football Factories" which completely glamorizes hooliganism......Danny Dyer is a twat. He talks to Cass Pennant in that one as well as some rough looking Burnley thugs.....

Manc

For awhile Stockport's biggest rivals were burnley
I can tell you 100% that they're all rough.

we played them in a playoff final in 1995.
45000 they took
we had 6000 there.

and they still wanted to batter us, it was ridiculous. I had a 10 year old with me and the wanted to stop and have a barny on the M1.

I went to TurfMoor in 1996 and we got gubbed 5-2, if we had won I doubt I'd have made it back to the train station.


I went to Millwall it was fine, we even won...... but Millwall don't care about stockport so there was no bother..

Even at Upton Park we managed a draw, the West Ham fans applauded us back to our coaches. It was a cup tie and they were 2 divisions above us.
They was never really any animosity going to London for games.

But going to Burnley, I never wore my colours and kept myself well to myself.

Knight1979

And Stoke City?

the closest thing I have ever come to anything like that was getting my head glassed in Mexico City at a Cruz Azul game......