The Rolling Football Thread: season 2024/25

[DuncinToffee]

Football fans join in to share the joy, the heartache and VAR frustration ⚽

“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.”

A very disappointed Sheffield United fan reporting in for the season!

My relationship with NUFC dates back to the early 90’s when I was 10ish and Kevin Keegan took over as manager. Neither of my parents are particularly in to football so I only really knew the odd snippet I picked up on the back of the evening chronicle. By the time we got to the mid 90’s I was a bit more able to consume info about the club and I’d say 94-95 season was when I would listen to matches on the radio. I was heartbroken when Andy Cole was sold to Manchester reds (probably where my deep deep dislike of that particular club stems from).

I got the opportunity to go to my first ever match in 1997 with a friend and their family who had a spare ticket. It was an FA cup clash against Nottingham Forest. We lost 2-1 but we scored first and my beloved Les Ferdinand was the scorer. I was absolutely hooked but still didn’t really have the opportunity to get to games as the stadium hadn’t yet been renovated and I just didn’t have the cash being a teen with not much money and a family not that interested in football. The next game I got to was Peter Beardsley’s testimonial.

When I went to uni that was my time to start getting to games in a big way. I’d queue up outside the ground to get tickets on the day they went on general release and managed to get to most home games in the 2002-2003 season, I’d be sat up next to the away fans and absolutely loved it. Bobby Robson was manager, we were playing in Europe, we were near the top of the table and it was the best time ever. During the season I met my now DH and he had a season ticket he shared with his mate. Our entire relationship was pretty much built on us chatting shit about NUFC (and me taunting him that I had a ticket for the derby game when his mate had their ticket for that game so he wasn’t going).

Fast forward 20 years. The love affair With the club has been very tough at times but we’re now both season ticket holders and there really is no other club I’d give my time and money to!

Spurs supporter here!

I’ve not been a football fan for that long - I properly got into it via international football in the last few years, and then only got into club football last season, but I love it!

My Spurs origin story goes like this… my Dad is a lifelong fan, but is long-suffering (as are most Spurs supporters, I think 😂) so I got into it through him.

We are already close, but it’s brought us together a bit more, which has been so lovely. We’ve been lucky enough to manage to go to a Spurs match and a couple of England matches this year too - although, sadly but unsurprisingly, Spurs lost. And getting tickets for the match was a mission in itself!

Also, I love Harry Kane, so that persuaded me to support Spurs - even if my Spurs loyalty was sorely tested when he left last season just after I started properly following them 😂 luckily, the current squad look very promising and I really like their manager, so I’m excited for the next few years supporting them! Although these may turn out to be famous last words…

Everton UTFT

Met a boy who came from a blue family, he went back to Liverpool to watch the 1995 FA Cup final with his mates and I decided to watch the match on at home in support.

Kept the love for the boy and club and passed it on to DS.

Are you doing another sticker album this season @Tarkan ?

Ah I have a soft spot for Everton! I love Jordan Pickford and am following Dele’s progress (also a big fan of his). Pickford has come to Everton’s rescue so many times - he’s a real gem. I was so annoyed at Everton being docked points last season and really impressed at the resilience they showed in fighting back after that. Credit to your manager for that too.

I'm considering it. I still need to buy the remaining few stickers I couldn't get for last year's one. I ended up not bothering with a Euros one so another league one would be good. I've actually learned about many more players than normal through my sticker book. 🤣

Also our WH Smith is advertising a sticker swap soon for kids and DH has told me I don't count in that and it might be creepy for me to go along. I have so many doubles though. 🤣

interesting stories! [wave] at @CinnamonCuirass I'm from the other side of town, but I'm disappointed for your lot - Sheffield is a city that really should have a PL team.

I think i've told my origin story around here before but in short: come from the Owlish side of Sheffield and my grandad used to go to matches. Then he worked on the turnstiles for home games. My bro and i would sometimes be there (boarding school so we visited on exeat weekends and half-terms) and he'd often ask brother if he wanted to go because they "were allowed" (ie it was tolerated) to take a kid in. Brother doesn't like football and i eventually managed to persuade the parental units to tell grandma that it didn't make me less of a girl to go to footy, so I'd read a book while the tickets were taken, and then watch the match. Afterwards there would be scraps and chips while waiting for the bus home. the only player i really remember from back then was Terry Curran who always gave 110% and was a real scrapper.

When my dad got posted to Germany i wanted to go to a match now and again so needed a team. I went to a few matches with friends (i tried Hannover, Werder Bremen, Braunschweig and Hamburg SV - Keegan days) and was pretty much fixed on Braunschweig when i got the chance to go to a Gladbach match at the old ground. And blimey, it was a rattly, shaky old stand, and the fans were really really something. So that was it. And now I'm on my 3rd season ticket and they're not quite as useless as Wednesday, but relegation is only a matter of time.

As for VAR i say: if you need a calibrated line to detect offside, you should rule in favour of the attacking side. Goals are the entire point, tbh, and we need more of them. The time it takes is astounding and they need to cap that. If they need to look and look and look and the ref also needs to look? Go with the ref's original decision. (and if it's something he didn't see that deserves a card or something? they need to have a way of applying that) I'd prefer a tennis-style version where each side gets 2 challenges per match.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13595659/Man-United-redundant-cost-review-Red-Devils.html

Not interested in what you Wednesdayite’s have got to say thanks. Hope you go down and stay in the lower leagues forever. Can’t stand your fans.

Wow, maybe this is not the right thread for you CinnamonCuirass.

Handy that the dicks are revealing themselves in the pre season 👍🏻

charming. Especially given what i said about the Blades.
I was going to report and ask for it to be removed. But what ho, we'll leave it there for all to see what the red side of the city can be like

I stand by what i said: Sheffield is a city that deserves a PL team. That it didn't work for the Blades this time is a shame, but one or other of us will be back.

go away. This is a rather jolly supportive thread with a bit of friendly bants. not the spittle flecked frothing hate you are spewing.
Thanks again for being the second part of "if you can't be a good example you'll be a terrible warning"

Again for the hard of thinking: sheffield is a lovely friendly city and should have a PL team whichever club makes it.

Are you quite ok?

Have you mistaken this thread for a terrace in the 80’s. Read the room you crackpot.

I don't think we have ever had deletions on these threads

If you can't be respectful towards other fans and clubs then there are plenty of other forums available and X is that way ➡

Can we borrow your spare goalie again please? He was great for us at Chesterfield last year.

Well, that escalated quickly!

I'm Arsenal, but even my feelings about Sp*rs are more about banter than visceral hatred...

Reporting in as a Reading fan. Our rotten owner is still in charge. We are still under a transfer embargo (fourth season in a row), and he has now ruined the women's team!

😂😂 same for me with Arse-nal… I do actually love a lot of your players (Saka, Rice, Havertz, Raya… most of them, in fact!) And your manager 😍😍😍

Arsenal fan,

I was born in North London and so had the choice of Arsenal or Spurs as neither parent was in to football.

I first got interested in football in my 20s during Euro 96 and my earliest memory is Southgate's penalty miss.

I decided to choose Arsenal because of Ian Wright.

I feel for you Reading Fans. I am not our owner's biggest fan but compared to yours he's harmless.

What about Xhaka? If only I was 20 years younger (and lived in Germany).

He can join the list too! Does he play for Arsenal though? I’ve only heard of him through the Euros. I didn’t think he played for a PL team atm.