the football thread

[13d]

... footy / soccer / like foosball, with real people ...

steven gerrard - new glasgow rangers manager (i think)

unexpected things are happening in british football & i'm looking forward to next season already =_=

steven gerrard is potentially going to be unveiled as the new manger of rangers fc

rangers were kicked to the bottom league of scottish football after being taken over by some bad men & hung by lynch mobs..
they have since climbed up the leagues & are presently in 2nd position in the top league.. but need rebuilt in order to regain #1 & next season looks to be a potential rebirth..

i've followed rangers since i was a kid.. i remember when i was 5 or so, my dad & brother were watching a game on tv & i asked who we wanted to win & was told, the blue team

i played for rangers at the age of 10 & occasionally attended games, mostly when we played in the champion's league during my teenage years..

it's an exciting time for rangers fans following a pretty gloomy past couple of years.. hopefully gerrard will attract some decent players..
it's gonna be a new era for rangers.. looking forward to the transfer window already =_=

oh yeah, i guess we should have some world cup predictions

[steve]

hi 13d, it's funny but i have never talked about football on the forum... i'm not sure why... well i do know and it has more to do with people playing at it you know the "modern fan" - i hated all that when football because popular and you had albarn supporting chelsea and all that crap. football was and is my passion, more so than music.. football was the reason i went to school. i loved the 70's and 80's - i might talk about some of that. thats good that you played for rangers as a kid... i played for my school team, primary and secondary and sunday league for a few years...

But yeah rangers... i remember we got chased from our end of the ground - this was before segregation - and the ground was full of rangers fans.

and yeah i know all about recent time with Craig Whyte and all that. I think the appointment of Gerrard could be a good one. No matter who they appoint he needs money. Major investment in the team is the only way rangers can start to compete with celtic again.

[13d]

hey steve

no doubt there are plenty of tools who call themselves "fans" at clubs worldwide.. i see plenty on both sides of the old firm.. it's been quite harsh on rangers in recent years because the media up here always try to put a negative story out & coincidentally this tends to happen just before big games.. many fans feel their is an agenda...

i'm quite excited by this & hopefully gerrard can enjoy some good success here.. i'm hearing that money will be available for him & i doubt he'd take the job without financial backing to compete.. he must have some pretty good links & could be great for rangers to get some loan players.. & i think there will be plenty of rangers shirts sold with "gerrard" on the back

in recent years rangers were bled by newcastle's mike ashley, who had signed a deal with the goons who were in charge at that time.. this saw rangers get only £1 or something ridiculous per shirt sold... as a result many fans refused to buy merch & avoid sportsdirect as it would only fill the pockets of the leach.. furthermore, the deal was tied up with a 7 year notice period to break the contract .. fortunately, it's now been addressed.. & fans are looking forward to buying strips again...

celtic have been cashing in every year by taking the european spot, pretty much unchallenged in the league.. that needs to stop

with the arrival gerrard, there's an echoing of when souness took over in the 80's & revolutionized scottish football.. (could defo do with some upgrading)

who's your team steve? maybe we'll play you in pre-season

[Legless Owl]

I didn't know Gerrard was going to be Glasgow rangers manager. That's kinda funny I learn about it on a music message board

When I was younger, I was really interested in football. No one cared about football in my family except my grandfather who would watch a game now and then and I remembered that at first I started watching with him just because it allowed me to get closer to him. But then I really enjoyed it and I even asked my parents to play in a team. But at the end of the 80s/early 90s, let's say there was no female team in town. So I settled for playing with boys from my school when they let me. Then World Cup 98 happened (I'm French...) and for a year or two, all my female friends suddenly claimed they loved football (although when you asked them what offside meant, they had no idea ) and whenever I said I loved football, people laughed at me and said "Yes, right? Which player are you in love with, huh?", that got on my nerves!!

I didn't support any local team but I really liked Liverpool which obviously didn't make things easy to attend games I actually attended only one LFC game (a friendly game against Le Havre in 2002, when Houillier signed Le Tallec and Sinama Pongolle. I had convinced my mum to spend holidays in Normandy just to attend the game, haha. And she'd managed to get us free tickets in Le Havre VIP area: let's say they weren't too happy when they saw me arrive in my LFC top, scarf and all )

I went twice to Liverpool (mostly because I am a huge Beatles fan), spent a couple of days there in 2000 and 2002 but there was no home game during my time there. I visited Anfield though.

For a couple of years (2001 to 2004 or 2005, can't remember), I had what they called an "e-season" ticket, which allowed me to listen to the games, Watch highlights, exclusive footage... on internet etc, when the games weren't on TV (French tv, that's it). I have also fond memories of the lfc.tv, there were some nice folks there (well, but also a lot of twats ), after all these years, i'm still in touch with two guys I "met" there. Oh, 2001 was such an amazing season!

In 2003, my (future) husband moved in with me, and he hated football with a passion (I was 20 at the time, and had been living in a small appartment for two years and my walls were covered in LFC --and Beatles -- posters, I had LFC tops, pens, keyrings, mouse mat, mugs... and I had a France Football magazine suscription )

Things would be different now. I wouldn't give up any passion just because my other half hated it, but I was young back then and I made a lot of concessions. I watched less and less football and ended up not watching any football game anymore after a couple of years (apart from games like CL/WC etc finals)

He passed away in 2012 but for some reason, I never really felt like "going back" to football. I'm always so busy I hardly find time to sleep (I usually sleep about 2 hours a day) so following a team again (even if it were just on TV/internet) wouldn't be an option anyway.

[Fogg]

I've just tried to take a photo of myself in my Rangers cap to impress 13D, but it's not come out for some reason. No great loss. I always used to watch the Glasgow derbys with my Grandad and cheer Rangers on, he was a Carnoustie man, and a lifelong supporter.

I've never been a big football fan, I don't have a team. I used to enjoy World Cup and European tournaments as they came round, but I've become so conditioned to abject disappointment I don't seem to get excited anymore. We've a World Cup on the horizon and I've not even thought about it this year, I'd struggle to name more than three players in England's squad. Come to think of it I'd struggle to name any.

[steve]

legless, that was a good post. it made me smile and i could totally relate to what you were saying. i enjoyed reading that and fogg as well talking about your grandad.

[mishmosh]

Anyone got any swapsies?

[13d]

nice stories legless and fogg
definitely impressed about the cap

liverpool have a massive following around the world, right? and girls football has really taken off

@mishmosh.. haha..
not going by this picture, but i feel when i look at older footage, the players usually appear to be in their 40's.. maybe it's the moustaches etc.. when footballers were "real men"

it is really quite amazing how passionate so many people get about football.. considering it's a ridiculous, albeit fun game (as most games are when considered logically)

on matchday, you've adults.. lawyers, doctors, businessmen singing childish songs, hugging eachother at goals and sulking if they lose...

as you guys mentioned, it's something that flows through generations.. my grandfather was also passionate about football.. he travelled the world in his job and is fondly remembered by older generations for his commentating.. he commentated for the bbc

my dad was really into football and always encouraged my brother and i to play.. when i played, i could always gauge my performance by having a quick glance at my dad on the sidelines, his expressions said everything...

i spent a lot of time as a kid playing football on the streets and in my garden alone, or with my brother and occasionally put my sister in goals my mum used to get pretty pissed about me and brother tearing up the grass.. i think a bald spot was becoming too big and i'm sure there were some threats of putting a knife through the ball if it continued, it may have finally been carried out

my dad was pretty crushed when me and my brother quit playing.. he genuinely believes we could had made it professionally.. my brother also played for rangers as a teen and some of his teammates went pro, including for rangers.. he has a programme from a tournament he took part in for rangers and it names the teams.. there are some interesting names in there, i think maybe giggs and scholes from memory.. perhaps beckham too

potentially interesting fact: my brother's rangers teammate played for rangers first team in the 90's, adidas had made him custom boots with his name on them, for some reason these boots were sent to beckham - who scored that halfway line goal wearing the boots

theres a certain drive that pro footballers have, a winning mentality.. to be honest, i enjoyed more playing with friends and scoring goals, which i did a lot.. but it didn't ruin my weekend if we lost.. sometimes i scored like 5 or 6, i think the most i scored was 8 in one game... the feeling of scoring is a real buzz and still is a nice feeling even playing at the park..

i was uncomfotable during trials, sitting in changing rooms with people i didn't know.. i guess i was anxious or lacking in confidence..

it's strange, i don't really watch random games or know too many of the big players these days.. and scotland haven't qualified for a tournament for about 20 years

i shall have to consider who to follow in the world cup..
i generally root for the underdogs

[steve]

Anyone got any swapsies?

I never did like Gary Lineker

[steve]

theres a certain drive that pro footballers have, a winning mentality.. to be honest, i enjoyed more playing with friends and scoring goals, which i did a lot.. but it didn't ruin my weekend if we lost.. sometimes i scored like 5 or 6, i think the most i scored was 8 in one game... the feeling of scoring is a real buzz and still is a nice feeling even playing at the park..

i was uncomfotable during trials, sitting in changing rooms with people i didn't know.. i guess i was anxious or lacking in confidence..

I was the same, i didn't have that focus i mucked about too much. and like you i just enjoyed playing with friends. we used to have a 11 against 11 and sometimes more than that most weekends. other time during the week i would be out until it was dark with a few friends playing in all weathers. no internet, computers or sky tv in those days. good times though. but yeah i never had the dedication to take it further and was not good outside my comfort zone.

who was your grandfather?