The Official ROD Football (Soccer) Thread
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West Ham United.
My dad is from East Ham (walkable distance to the ground in the East end of London) and my Nan still lives there. I pop in before home games to see her (she is 91). I was brought up supporting West Ham and have been going most of my life. I have a season ticket now, but I must admit due to the anti-football we are playing I might give it up. Maybe I'll never make it to the Olympic Stadium. The board need to take a leaf out of Man U's book and sack the manager.
My dad is from East Ham (walkable distance to the ground in the East end of London) and my Nan still lives there. I pop in before home games to see her (she is 91). I was brought up supporting West Ham and have been going most of my life. I have a season ticket now, but I must admit due to the anti-football we are playing I might give it up. Maybe I'll never make it to the Olympic Stadium. The board need to take a leaf out of Man U's book and sack the manager.
LumberTubs
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I'm from Birmingham so Birmingham City obviously. Currently teetering above the trap door into the third division with an owner serving a prison sentence for money laundering (appeal pending - let's hope that fails) and a completely insane manager. Its never dull being a Blues fan
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I went to Brum away for the 2nd leg of the League Cup a few years back (2010 I think). I was kettled by the old bill before the game and walked round the streets for over an hour (gasping for a piss!) before getting into the ground 25 minutes after the kick off. West Mids plod are a nightmare. To top it off we lost 3-1 and crashed out the cup!!
LumberTubs
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Yes I remember that game well funnily enough. I was at that one and the final against the Arse. Its all gone tits up for us since then
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West ham play terrible football, sorry. My idea of hell is watching them vs Chelsea- that game vs atletico last night was one of the worst I've ever seen.
Dundee United?! No. They beat my team in the Scottish Cup Final in 2010... I hate them. I support Ross County, and no, I don't expect you to have heard of us although we are in the Scottish Premier League. We are currently 11th out of 12 and heading for the playoffs...
Dundee United?! No. They beat my team in the Scottish Cup Final in 2010... I hate them. I support Ross County, and no, I don't expect you to have heard of us although we are in the Scottish Premier League. We are currently 11th out of 12 and heading for the playoffs...
LumberTubs
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I once tried to explain to an American the concept of a multi-tiered league set up with promotion/relegation AND additional cup competitions AND international games. It was one of the most futile things I've ever tried to do (other than being a Birmingham City fan obviously).
Before I get jumped on, that wasn't meant to be a slight upon Americans as a whole, just this particular guy.
Before I get jumped on, that wasn't meant to be a slight upon Americans as a whole, just this particular guy.
brokeu91
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OK, I have some questions that maybe you could answer:
I do have a decent understanding of the multi-tiered league set-up. I don't understand the cup/international games. For instance, from my understanding there's a champions league, right? What is more important to fans of a Premier League team, winning the Premier league or the champions league? Also wouldn't it suck for the fans of a team if it gets demoted from Premier league to the lower level?
Also, I don't understand how players are bought and sold. In all US sports, players are drafted and then eventually become free agents. The draft is set up so that the worst teams have the best shot at the players entering the draft. But there is no draft in English Football, right? How are they found? Is there a developmental league? Also I hear about certain players being "bought" or "sold" to another team, which feels very alien to me. What does that mean.
LumberTubs
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@brokeu91
The cup games are games played between clubs. Generally speaking, all the clubs' names are thrown in a hat and drawn out one by one (home team v away team and so on) until an entire round has been decided. Once those games have been played, the process is repeated for the next round of the cup. There is no seeding so the two best teams in England could face each other in the early stages of a cup competition. Teams don't qualify as such for a cup competition within a country in the same way NFL teams will qualify for the post-season. They will be placed in the draw for the first round of a cup simply by existing (although the bigger clubs tend to enter cup competitions later than smaller, poorer teams in lower tiers. The soccer league system resembles a huge pyramid with the professional leagues at the top (the Premier League being the top of those)
However, teams do qualify to take part in the Champions League which is a cup competition where club sides across Europe compete agianst each other. In England, the teams that finish in the top four of the Premier League qualify for the following season's Champions League. The Champions League is a more prestigious competition to win (in mine and I think most people's view) although fans of the top teams would expect their team to challenge for both the Champions League and the Premier League (or the equivalent in whichever country they're from).
It does suck to see your team relegated from the Premier League down into the second tier. I've witnessed my team do just that on three separate occasions in the past few years (we're what's known as a yo yo club). In fact, the last time we were relegated was at the end of the season 2010/2011. During that season we also won one of the major cup competitions at Wembley Stadium (bitter sweet).
International games are, obviously, games between countries. Countries will play a number of friendlies and competitive games throughout the season. The competitive games will be qualifiers for either the European Championships or the World Cup (both are scheduled so that there is a tournament every two years during the summer break between domestic football/soccer seasons. The England manager (for example) will choose a squad of English players that he feels are the best (at that point in time) and the domestic soccer schedule has built in breaks to allow these internation games to take place. The international tournaments begin with a group stage and the top two teams from each group then go into a knockout stage similar to the NFL play offs. A tournament is played over the course of one month or so.
Players are bought and sold between clubs with cold hard cash (sometimes with other players included as part of a deal). Each club is responsible for its own player development and will sign up kids aged as young as 7 to learn under their youth coaching systems. A club's youth teams will play in a league against other clubs' youth teams. There is also no draft or parity like in the NFL. The clubs with the most money will (most of the time) rise to the top.
The cup games are games played between clubs. Generally speaking, all the clubs' names are thrown in a hat and drawn out one by one (home team v away team and so on) until an entire round has been decided. Once those games have been played, the process is repeated for the next round of the cup. There is no seeding so the two best teams in England could face each other in the early stages of a cup competition. Teams don't qualify as such for a cup competition within a country in the same way NFL teams will qualify for the post-season. They will be placed in the draw for the first round of a cup simply by existing (although the bigger clubs tend to enter cup competitions later than smaller, poorer teams in lower tiers. The soccer league system resembles a huge pyramid with the professional leagues at the top (the Premier League being the top of those)
However, teams do qualify to take part in the Champions League which is a cup competition where club sides across Europe compete agianst each other. In England, the teams that finish in the top four of the Premier League qualify for the following season's Champions League. The Champions League is a more prestigious competition to win (in mine and I think most people's view) although fans of the top teams would expect their team to challenge for both the Champions League and the Premier League (or the equivalent in whichever country they're from).
It does suck to see your team relegated from the Premier League down into the second tier. I've witnessed my team do just that on three separate occasions in the past few years (we're what's known as a yo yo club). In fact, the last time we were relegated was at the end of the season 2010/2011. During that season we also won one of the major cup competitions at Wembley Stadium (bitter sweet).
International games are, obviously, games between countries. Countries will play a number of friendlies and competitive games throughout the season. The competitive games will be qualifiers for either the European Championships or the World Cup (both are scheduled so that there is a tournament every two years during the summer break between domestic football/soccer seasons. The England manager (for example) will choose a squad of English players that he feels are the best (at that point in time) and the domestic soccer schedule has built in breaks to allow these internation games to take place. The international tournaments begin with a group stage and the top two teams from each group then go into a knockout stage similar to the NFL play offs. A tournament is played over the course of one month or so.
Players are bought and sold between clubs with cold hard cash (sometimes with other players included as part of a deal). Each club is responsible for its own player development and will sign up kids aged as young as 7 to learn under their youth coaching systems. A club's youth teams will play in a league against other clubs' youth teams. There is also no draft or parity like in the NFL. The clubs with the most money will (most of the time) rise to the top.
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"Also wouldn't it suck for the fans of a team if it gets demoted from Premier league to the lower level?"
Yes I can vouch for that as well. Still it does an an element of excitement to the season as you will still have something to play for ie avoiding relegation. Good for the neutral as well to see it all unfold. Obviously in American Football if your team is out of the play off picture then you are just playing for pride I guess (or trying to get a better draft pick!) which I suppose can happen to teams in our football who are in the middle of the table come the last part of the season but without the draft pick obviously.
Yes I can vouch for that as well. Still it does an an element of excitement to the season as you will still have something to play for ie avoiding relegation. Good for the neutral as well to see it all unfold. Obviously in American Football if your team is out of the play off picture then you are just playing for pride I guess (or trying to get a better draft pick!) which I suppose can happen to teams in our football who are in the middle of the table come the last part of the season but without the draft pick obviously.
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Ha Ha sorry about that. My old man worked in Glasgow for a while in the 80's and I went up to visit and saw West Ham at Tannadice in a pre season friendly (we lost 4-0!). I have had a soft spot for them ever since. They played a number of friendlies around that time as part of the deal to take Ray Stewart to West Ham (remember him?) Of course I have heard of Ross County, I know all the teams up there (that is what gambling does to you!).
As for West Ham, yes the football isn't good at all but that is Allardyce for you. People are getting the raving hump as we have always, tried at least, to play attractive football. I think things will have to change as the owners can't afford the team moving into the bigger olympic stadium with disulliosioned fans. They need everyone on side to get near filling it.
LumberTubs
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Gold and Sullivan did a lot for us cus we were in a right state before they came along (and now that they've gone as well) but towards the end they had this infuriating habit of making deliberately low bids for players so they could try to claim they had ambition but, at the same time, knowing full well that they wouldn't have to fork the money out
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Lumber I have heard that before and that has been levelled at them at West Ham as well plus it seems Sullivan can't help but make some signings himself. Some unknown South American who never ends up playing (See Wellington Paulista as an example).
LumberTubs
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