Is it just me?

[Mike Hunt]

I'm not from Liverpool, I don't understand too much about the rivalry with Everton, other than them being the other club, and I never claim to.

I met an Everton fan the other day, who was an Eire.. He asked me what team I go for, and I answered "Liverpool", he started giving "us" shit. How It wasn't the people's club, etc.

I genuinely don't understand, I found it really cringeworthy and embarrassing. He's not even from Liverpool, and neither am I... Who gives a fuck about what team I follow, just follow your own team and shut the fuck up.

It's like when this Cypriot Chelsea Fan started telling me that Liverpool are such a shit city, high crime rate, bla bla bla.. Like I give a flying fuck. I just happened to pick the team when I started following the sport, who cares if the city is shit.

When I was in Geneva, an english salesman, from Nottingham, told me he could never understand how people from other countries could "follow" an english team, after I told him that I followed Liverpool. I raised my eyebrows then. I kind of get his point now.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

[quote author=Mike Hunt link=topic=39019.msg1058474#msg1058474 date=1266915254]
I'm not from Liverpool, I don't understand too much about the rivalry with Everton, other than them being the other club, and I never claim to.

I met an Everton fan the other day, who was a Eire.. He asked me what team I go for, and I answered "Liverpool", he started giving "us" shit. How It wasn't the people's club, etc.

I genuinely don't understand, I found it really cringeworthy and embarrassing. He's not even from Liverpool, and neither am I... Who gives a fuck about what team I follow, just follow your own team and shut the fuck up.

It's like when this Cypriot Chelsea Fan started telling me that Liverpool are such a shit city, high crime rate, bla bla bla.. Like I give a flying fuck. I just happened to pick the team when I started following the sport, who cares if the city is shit.

When I was in Geneva, an english salesman, from Nottingham, told me he could never understand how people from other countries could "follow" an english team, after I told him that I followed Liverpool. I raised my eyebrows then. I kind of get his point now.
[/quote]

It suddenly all makes sense now

regards

 

[Mike Hunt]

[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=39019.msg1058476#msg1058476 date=1266915584]
[quote author=Mike Hunt link=topic=39019.msg1058474#msg1058474 date=1266915254]
I'm not from Liverpool, I don't understand too much about the rivalry with Everton, other than them being the other club, and I never claim to.

I met an Everton fan the other day, who was a Eire.. He asked me what team I go for, and I answered "Liverpool", he started giving "us" shit. How It wasn't the people's club, etc.

I genuinely don't understand, I found it really cringeworthy and embarrassing. He's not even from Liverpool, and neither am I... Who gives a fuck about what team I follow, just follow your own team and shut the fuck up.

It's like when this Cypriot Chelsea Fan started telling me that Liverpool are such a shit city, high crime rate, bla bla bla.. Like I give a flying fuck. I just happened to pick the team when I started following the sport, who cares if the city is shit.

When I was in Geneva, an english salesman, from Nottingham, told me he could never understand how people from other countries could "follow" an english team, after I told him that I followed Liverpool. I raised my eyebrows then. I kind of get his point now.
[/quote]

It suddenly all makes sense now

regards
[/quote]
Right..

 

[SaRed]

[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=39019.msg1058476#msg1058476 date=1266915584]
[quote author=Mike Hunt link=topic=39019.msg1058474#msg1058474 date=1266915254]
I'm not from Liverpool, I don't understand too much about the rivalry with Everton, other than them being the other club, and I never claim to.

I met an Everton fan the other day, who was a Eire.. He asked me what team I go for, and I answered "Liverpool", he started giving "us" shit. How It wasn't the people's club, etc.

I genuinely don't understand, I found it really cringeworthy and embarrassing. He's not even from Liverpool, and neither am I... Who gives a fuck about what team I follow, just follow your own team and shut the fuck up.

It's like when this Cypriot Chelsea Fan started telling me that Liverpool are such a shit city, high crime rate, bla bla bla.. Like I give a flying fuck. I just happened to pick the team when I started following the sport, who cares if the city is shit.

When I was in Geneva, an english salesman, from Nottingham, told me he could never understand how people from other countries could "follow" an english team, after I told him that I followed Liverpool. I raised my eyebrows then. I kind of get his point now.
[/quote]

It suddenly all makes sense now

regards
[/quote]

How else do you do it if you're not from the country?

I started following them because my Dad did and I don't think he had any specific reasons for picking them over any other team.

 

[manwithnoname]

*surprised face*

 

[Avmenon]

It is an interesting point, tho.

How do we start supporting the club?

My earliest memory of the club was watching us get humped by Leicester 3-0 on Big League Soccer seen on my fathers crappy B&W TV in 1980.

( Tho Ritchi insists it was 1981 and we lost 2-0; I'm still waiting for older supporters to confirm this..I was 7 and could have been mistaken)

We lost 3-0 and something clicked; I don't know why, after all we got humped and I could have picked the Foxes..(bullet dodged there)..I began following the team since then...thankfully most of our matches in the 80's werent as shitty)

I don't think I'd say that I 'picked' the team, rather it sometimes feels like the team picked me.

 

[Stulikesdrums]

John Barnes is the reason I follow Liverpool.

 

[H]

Yeah, if your not from England go support someone from ya own country. Class.

 

[manwithnoname]

[quote author=H link=topic=39019.msg1058554#msg1058554 date=1266928146]
Yeah, if your not from England go support someone from ya own country. Class.
[/quote]

 

[Squiggles]

I don't have a real reason to support Liverpool, other than a few excuses as to why I didn't support my 'local' team growing up.

Where I live in Warwickshire there is not football team within less than an hour and there was nobody to take me to any of the games as a kid. Coventry, Leicester, Oxford, Birmingham City, Aston Villa meant absolutely nothing to me and never would. I had no means to see them and no connection to the cities. For similar reasons my friends all selected Premiership teams and I guess I got sucked up.

For an impressionable 8 year old Liverpool just seemed to have the best attacking players - the aged Rush and Barnes and the exciting Mcmanaman and Fowler, plus the arrival of Collymore, and the later emergence of Owen, who I idolised. Sure we couldn't defend to fuck and our midfield was poor, but that was never a priority to someone a young as myself. Also, the Liverpool fans also just seemed the best by a absolute mile.

Then the obsession started. My bedroom because a tacky shrine to the club; posters on the walls, on the ceilings. If it wasn't red, I wasn't interested. Remember that awful childhood bedroom Robbie Keane sat in for a FF interview and told us what a massive Liverpool fan he was? Mine wasn't so different. Then I got my Dad, who was living in Lancaster, to take me to Anfield for the first time, aged 10-11, and it just was the best.

I've now lived in Liverpool for five years and stupid as it sounds, the football club was one of the main reasons I decided to study here. Everything else has turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.

Speaking from an OOT who has moved into the city, and without meaning to sound all superfan-ish, you understandably develop a closer connection to the club when it's on your doorstep. I may not have the posters on the walls any more, but I certainly 'get' the club more; I have real reason to dislike Mancunians, complete disdain to Everton; you see the city notably happier when the club win, it makes a difference to customer service in shops, bars, etc. You're just more on the pulse and see it matters.

 

[doctor_mac]

Living where I doin Norn iron, LFC are the closest PL club to my house. So they're my local club.

 

[Squiggles]

Ha, well I was born in Derry.

May as well use that too.

 

[darkstarexodus]

[quote author=doctor_mac link=topic=39019.msg1058573#msg1058573 date=1266930912]
Living where I doin Norn iron, LFC are the closest PL club to my house. So they're my local club.
[/quote]

Living where I do in Canada, they're also the closest Premiership club to me. Or close to it. 😉

The closest professional football club to me is an MLS team 900 miles away. I have no natural affinity for the Chicago Fire so I picked a team in a league I actually enjoy watching and with a history I can be proud to support.

 

[SaintGeorge67]

My dad's from liverpool, though doesn't like football. I picked liverpool myself at about 6 or 7. Probably cos they were the best and on tv most. Thank fuck I didn't wait, as a year or two later some schoolkids could have led me towards salford.

 

[Oncy]

My aunty Ella bought me a football shirt in 1980 and it was a Liverpool one. That's why I support the reds. She also incidentally got me a Pitsburgh Steelers shirt which I've also stuck with......team not shirt!

 

[Squiggles]

[quote author=Herr Onceared link=topic=39019.msg1058660#msg1058660 date=1266942893]
My aunty Ella bought me a football shirt in 1980 and it was a Liverpool one. That's why I support the reds. She also incidentally got me a Pitsburgh Steelers shirt which I've also stuck with......team not shirt!
[/quote]

Mine was the green and purple version of this one.

Ghastly! Although the padded arms were sweet.

 

[Oncy]

Like I give a flying fuck. I just happened to pick the team when I started following the sport, who cares if the city is shit.

You just don't get it do you. Dumb fuck.

 

[manwithnoname]

[quote author=Herr Onceared link=topic=39019.msg1058665#msg1058665 date=1266943078]

Like I give a flying fuck. I just happened to pick the team when I started following the sport, who cares if the city is shit.

You just don't get it do you. Dumb fuck.
[/quote]

I don't like Mike Hunt one little bit.

 

[Oncy]

[quote author=Squiggles link=topic=39019.msg1058663#msg1058663 date=1266943048]
[quote author=Herr Onceared link=topic=39019.msg1058660#msg1058660 date=1266942893]
My aunty Ella bought me a football shirt in 1980 and it was a Liverpool one. That's why I support the reds. She also incidentally got me a Pitsburgh Steelers shirt which I've also stuck with......team not shirt!
[/quote]

Mine was the green and purple version of this one.

Ghastly! Although the padded arms were sweet.

[/quote]Cor fucking hell that's an abortion, it looks like a b and q's been sick.
Mine was the first ever pinstripe one. God I loved that kit.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

My grandfather got me to support them. I got the Candy kit in '89 I think (and wore 'em with the Maradona cleats) ... Didn't watch them 'live' on the Telly until the mid 90s when I moved to England ... That's why I support 'em and I've passed it on to my little brother and one day, me son too.

 

[peterhague]

i support liverpool because they were champions when italia 90 was on, which is when i got into soccer.

and we've been going downhill since, fantastic. how unlucky's that? if only i'd got into it a few years later i could've been a man utd fan and supported the best club over the last 20 years, and plenty more to come.

 

[themn]

That there shirt up there (or round the corner) is going to be in nightmares tonight.

 

[QUADRASPAZ]

I'm a red cos me dads a red, his dad, me grandad, was a red an me grandads dad, me great grandad, was a red but his dad, me pyar great grandad, was prob a blue like. The cunt.

 

[themn]

WALLOOOOOP !!

 

[Vlads Quiff]

[quote author=Brendan link=topic=39019.msg1058668#msg1058668 date=1266943215]
[quote author=Herr Onceared link=topic=39019.msg1058665#msg1058665 date=1266943078]

Like I give a flying fuck. I just happened to pick the team when I started following the sport, who cares if the city is shit.

You just don't get it do you. Dumb fuck.
[/quote]

I don't like Mike Hunt one little bit.
[/quote]
He does not do a lot to endear himself to me either, still I am sure he will not lose much sleep over that one.

I can understand people getting drawn to Liverpool because of it's history, proximity, family connections, an auntie buying a shirt, all of that.
I find it very warming that people start considering the place as a second home once they have visited, I love to hear about when people off the site are visiting, and if I can I will help with advice or lifts or whatever is possible, and I know all the local lads do the same, and am sure feel the same.
But to seemingly have no affinity or affection whatsoever with the City of this apparently random choice, or no passion just seems so....., well cold and pointless.
Understanding or trying to understand the culture and mindset of a club and a city, and wanting to try and be a part of that is surely as big a part as watching them play



regards

 

[themn]

Bang on, Vlad !

 

[SummerOnions]

Relating to this, i support Liverpool cos i'm from there and my Dad did so i was a red, not a blue.

Back in the day though, he'd go to whoever was at home, Goodison one week, Anfield the other. He wanted the city to win over anything.

Does anyone still think to this, ie if Everton were in the final of the Europa league thing and we weren't, would you want them to win it?

 

[Vlads Quiff]

[quote author=SummerOnions link=topic=39019.msg1058702#msg1058702 date=1266946137]
Relating to this, i support Liverpool cos i'm from there and my Dad did so i was a red, not a blue.

Back in the day though, he'd go to whoever was at home, Goodison one week, Anfield the other. He wanted the city to win over anything.

Does anyone still think to this, ie if Everton were in the final of the Europa league thing and we weren't, would you want them to win it?
[/quote]

Those days are gone, I am afraid.

It did used to be the way though, people would go and watch either team

regards

 

[the count]

[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=39019.msg1058689#msg1058689 date=1266944802]
[quote author=Brendan link=topic=39019.msg1058668#msg1058668 date=1266943215]
[quote author=Herr Onceared link=topic=39019.msg1058665#msg1058665 date=1266943078]

Like I give a flying fuck. I just happened to pick the team when I started following the sport, who cares if the city is shit.

You just don't get it do you. Dumb fuck.
[/quote]

I don't like Mike Hunt one little bit.
[/quote]
He does not do a lot to endear himself to me either, still I am sure he will not lose much sleep over that one.

I can understand people getting drawn to Liverpool because of it's history, proximity, family connections, an auntie buying a shirt, all of that.
I find it very warming that people start considering the place as a second home once they have visited, I love to hear about when people off the site are visiting, and if I can I will help with advice or lifts or whatever is possible, and I know all the local lads do the same, and am sure feel the same.
But to seemingly have no affinity or affection whatsoever with the City of this apparently random choice, or no passion just seems so....., well cold and pointless.
Understanding or trying to understand the culture and mindset of a club and a city, and wanting to try and be a part of that is surely as big a part as watching them play



regards
[/quote]

I remember reading on another forum a year or two ago how one of the posters there had spotted a couple of European Liverpool fans who were over for a match, laughing at all the run down and boarded up houses. The clearly thought that it was alright to take the piss out of the City of Liverpool. Rightly the poster was irate and upset.

Now, and I freely admit that I view it through red tinted glasses, really like Liverpool. It's faded grandeur is there for all to see and I believe it wouldn't take much for it to be restored to its former glory. It was obviously once a great and proud city and it is only right that it's inhabitants should still hold their heads up and be proud. But truly, what I most love about Liverpool is the people. Friendliness, good nature and humor are there in abundance. While fully appreciating that, like in any city, there is a broad spectrum of people there, I feel a great affinity with Liverpudlians.

I have followed Liverpool since the heartbreak of the Cup Final in 1971, following in the footsteps of my older brothers, yet I only got to go to a match at Anfield for the first time in 2005. Standing in the Kop, scarf aloft, singing "you will never walk alone" brought a tear to my eye. Sad though it may be for a grown man to be like that, I am not ashamed. I felt part of a family that night, part of a great big family. Liverpool, the city and the team, has and hopefully always will have a very special place in my heart.
I cannot understand how any fan could be indifferent to either.

 

[themn]

The Count - angling for Poster Of The Year.......early-doors !