A summer off from football with no World Cup or European Championships to help ease the pain allows a man to fester and ponder upon the upcoming season to an unhealthy degree. Initial thoughts were of excitement. Excitement generated by thinking about all the great players like Torres, Arshavin and Shawcross who would come to “entertain” us at our famous home. Excitement at the thought of visiting some of the greatest theatres of football and ticking them off on my quest for “the 92”. And excitement at being on Match of the Day, on Sky Sports “Super Sunday”, having a write up in every Sunday paper and no longer being just a Championship footnote in English football’s never-ending story. But now, as the season draws closer, as pundits make their predictions, as teams prepare to kick a ball in earnest my thoughts turn to our Premiership colleagues, our rivals and, for the first time in a while, our equals. Darker thoughts.
McGinley - Hall of Shame
All of us in our heads will have a score we would love to see settled with at least one of our new equals. This might derive from a past injustice not yet rectified. A previous scarring defeat. An irrational loathing of another club we perceive to be more successful but less deserving than our own. Or perhaps it’s just to be able to toss that annoying work colleague a knowing smile on a Monday morning. Finally, our chance has come round again and for me a victory against the following would slake a thirst like only an ice-cold Lucozade on the morning after a night on the razz could do:
Aston Villa – My best friend is a Villa fan. For as long as we have been friends we have not beaten them in a competitive match. To be fair he hasn’t lorded it over me as much as he could have over the years but the odd mention of all the hand me downs Villa have given us over the years (Cowans, Birch, Mountfield, Daley, Froggatt, Oakes, Edwards to name just a few) or when they handed our asses to us on their last visit is enough to send me over the edge. I’d give my left bollock to do the double over them and finish as the top team in the Midlands (for the record Stoke City don’t count).
Spurs – For one moment let me use t’internet like 99% of the population do and peddle some hate filled diatribes against people or organisations who are not there to defend themselves. In this case hateful, hateful Spurs. I can’t really tell you why I hate them but I really do. Maybe it’s that they’ve defeated us in key matches over the years like the Wafer Cup Final or the FA Cup Semi (although I’m too young to remember them). Maybe its because they have hold of my beloved Robbie Keane. Maybe it’s because their fans, on the whole, are such a bunch of smug, patronising gits. Maybe its because they buy up lots of England’s best young players and ruin them. Maybe its because they’ve got the loathsome “best friend of the media” Harry Redknapp as their manager. Maybe its some sort of heady mix of all of this. Whatever the reason cue cheesy Kevin Keegan line “I would love it if we beat them”.
Bolton Wanderers – John McGinlay. I can’t say more otherwise I might start crying.
The funny thing about Bolton is, I always forget how much I hate them until it’s time to play them again. Haha – I just can’t forgive them for beating us in that play-off semi final back in 1995.
Plus, the last time we were in the Prem, we should have beaten them at home but Uriah Rennie made some shocking decisions. Does anyone else remember that game?
Although I don’t believe in ‘hating’ any other side in a serious way, I certainly wouldn’t be upset to see us get the better of Stoke, Blues and Liverpool. Although the latter is slightly unlikely.
I can’t believe a picture of that fat, cheating, pig of a footballer is on our beloved blog. It makes me naseous. The thought of the direct lump of horse shit depriving Bully of a shot at the big time makes me want to hurl this lap top out of the window. In fact, I am pulling the cables out of the socke…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
John F**KING McGinlay does to me what Insp Clouseau does to Dreyfus! All of a sudden I’ve turned into a ranting idiot – and I thought I was over it. I hate Bolton and McGinley is the reason – I know they’ll cheat their way to another win over us just to cause me as much mental anguish as possible! So thanks for the picture, my eye is twitching again, send me some haloperidol!
Next is Stoke, and thats because I was born and bred in Stoke and it’s a major embarrassment that those goons are in the Premiership when they deserve to be no higher than the old 3rd Division.
Next is good ol’ Pompey – WTF are they doing in the Premier, will somebody please tell me how it happened – pig sty of a city!
Sorry Ben. Fortunately the Wolves Blog system has spat his picture out anyway.
I would love to have something different to say on the McGinlay subject but the simple fact is he caused a young lad at the time (me) to cry and for possibly the first time in my life i realised life isn’t fair and cheating fat c***s do prosper. Like Ben my blood boils at the mere thought of the pompous prick at the end of that night. On a side note i work with a number of villa fans who remind me on a now daily basis that they are taking an eay 3 points off us this season. 3 points at Villa park my result of choice for this season!
I have a particular loathing for Fulham, and it’s a personal thing. When I was a kid, my Dad used to frequent the old Wolves Sports club on Waterloo Road.Not being old enough, I always sat on the steps with a bottle of pop and a bag of crisps. Quite often, the players used to park on the car park directly outside, off I would run with my autograph book, and no-one ever refused, always got a smile and a pat on the head. One day, we were playing Fulham at home, from memory , it was the first game of the season, and my Dad came running out of the club….”quick son, Tommy Trinder is here, come and get his autograph”…. into the foyer I went..”can I have your aotograph please Mr Trinder?”… looking forlornly up at his gaze and hs trademark Trilby hat… you know what… he pushed me away, “I haven’t got time to sign autographs sonny”… I ended up on my backside, teary, and unaware that my Dad was laying into him!! From that day on, whenever my Dad saw Trinder on the box, he would switch it off, and, when he died, he celebrated with a glass of whisky and a two fingered salute. To this day, I hate Fulham for that…. saft eh?
I quite like Fulham to be honest. I’d say I dislike Liverpool the most. The football terraces accomodate a lot of behaviour that would be totally unacceptable elsewhere in society. However the death of football fans is disgraceful. They should forever bow their heads in shame for Heysel. Because of these fans we missed the oppurtunity to see the likes of Luton and Wimbledon in Europe. A shame and a pity.
I will never forget walking out of Burnden Park that night a distraught young lad, a blatant David Kelly penalty appeal turned down, that fat twat should have been sent off, just horrible.
For me beating united was the pinnacle of our last foray into the premier league as i’m sure it was for so many others but for me it was even sweeter because my dad is a united season ticket holder.
I used to sit in the steve bull stand and my dad was sitting below me with the away fans, before the game i spotted him within shouting distance ( i sat on the second row) and called down to him upon which he flicked the v’s at me with a cocky smile on his face.
Needless to say after the match the smile had vanished and as he was filing out of the stadium i called down to him again to return the compliment from before kick off and he ignored me, he didn’t speak to me for the rest of that weekend as he was in such a foul mood.
After years of being beaten by him at everything this was finally my day and he didn’t even have the good grace to accept the banter that he usually directed at me after a defeat. This led me to the realisation that all united fans, even my own dad, are sore losers and a repeat of that result would bring the biggest smile to my face but i still wouldn’t trade it for premiership survival.
Fulham – for not having the good grace to stop at 3 on their tour of Perth.
Sunderland – for not being good despite buying 100s of players, for buying Lorik Cana for a steal, yet not buying Djibril Cisse from Marseille like they promised. For making a success of Kenwenye (sp) Jones when he was rubbish on FM 07 for me. The list goes on, and I know it’s irrational.
Oh my God, I hate the Villa, My primary school was harsh, You were either a Wolves fan or a Villa fan (and there was only me and two other guys that were wolves fans). I hated it, seeing them sing and chant in the playgroud the day after they beat us in milk/rumbelows cup, Spackmen KO’ing Bully when he scored at thier place. 3pts at Villa park would be a dream come true.
Pompey would be another one, Just becase of one friend in particular who think they have a god given wright to be a Prem team, a sucsseful Prem team at that.
Come boys, Villa Park & Fraton Park, put a little extra in for me!!!!
You’ll all be pleased to know I retrieved the lap top from the ring road, and have done some magical repair work to it. Dazza, I hate Tommy Trinder as well. What a c**t. Sorry for laughing out loud at that story.
That reminded me of my story about Matthew Hayden the cricketer, when touring with the Ozzies in 93. He was a fringe Ashes player back then who nobody had heard of…apart from me and a few other little 11 year olds. I ran to him at New Road at the tea break, where Hayden had just finished a net session.
“Matthew, please may I have your autograph sir?”
To which, Hayden replied, “Can’t you see I’ve got my f**ing gloves on mate?”
Suffice to say, the prospect of peeling off the velcro was far too arduous, and he made me look a right tit.
I remember going home to my old man telling of a new found hatred, and how he was a load of crap anyway, who couldn’t even make 12th man.
30 odd test hundreds and an average of about 50, he has gone down as a legend. Prat.
As for teams I loathe, I love this whole notion! Leicester City are up there, primarily for Steve Walsh and the dog hole Filbert Street.
But I go Bolton. I was speaking to a bloke who interviewed McInlay for the Bolton News. After he retired, he asked him if he hit Kelly or not.
McInlay grinned and said no, I didn’t hit him….I absolutely dropped him.
For that, I will always hate that him, and that racked off tin pot club.
Lets not forget our new found, combined hatred of Phill Brown ergo Hull!!! Ha Ha.
Just thought I’d re-post my thoughts on Phil Brown, for those who didn’t pick up my old blog, before the days of Thomas and this glorious site…
Phil Brown, manager of Hull, is top of my hate list, thanks in part to:
a) a ridiculous perma-tan and David Brent ‘styled’ goatee.
b) Stupid gay headset that no other self respecting manager wears.
c) an ever beurgeoning obsession with himself, as first seen at Man City when he decided to up his street-cred with a half time team talk ON THE PITCH!! Prat.
d) And now, to cap it all, his ridiculous, cringeworthy Delia Smith moment, when he went completely doolally and celebrated his side’s awful season with a rendition of the Beach Boys. It made me nauseous watching it.
Whatever must Sir Alex have thought of such crass, ‘in your face’ over reaction to a side that finished 4th bottom?
Is this what the world has come to…Celebrating a pitiful points total, home defeat to a ‘C’ team and another stay of execution due to others’ ineptitude!!
Sir Alex would never react like that if his side duly wins the Champions League for crying out loud.
Brown’s incessant references to Sir Alex in the run up to the game, as if some close friend who he shares pino grigio with, also grated immensely. It was as if the two were old sparring partners, inseperable but for a charity shield or two.
One way of getting close to the rich and famous though eh?!
Here’s a revolutionary idea Phil…How about, a bit of humility, a bit of modesty and some tact. Throw in a touch of praise for your players (instead of the vulgar sing-a-long) and a recognition that yes, you have achieved something impressive and noteworthy.
Fourth bottom deserves respect. What it doesn’t warrant is an excessive, sickly show of self gratitude from a man whose ego really shouldn’t get any bigger.
Ben i give your rant 8/10. Good stuff.
He saves the 10/10 rants for moxey Kwolf!!!
why whats wrong with moxey, or is that a can or worms i shouldnt open!?
Serious can of worms mate!! Honestly don’t start him
Can’t believe Sam Mk II posted that comment over an hour ago and Ben hasn’t replied…………must still be writting it!!!
i knew i should probably have said nothing but intrigue got the better of me!
No he’s gone to his happy place mate!!!
I’m keeping my powder dry on Jez. And because the new season is 48 hours away, I refuse to say anything remotely negative. (apart from teams I loathe on this brilliant Sam blog!)
well continuing on the original theme i used to hate liverpool but being surrounded by their fans at work i’ve grown to just not liking rafa.
hull for all the reasons ben mentioned above and the fact a load of hull fans i knew were prancing about like they’d got into europe before xmas. their faces until the final day were classic.
other than that im pretty chilled.
ben – that Hayden story really got to me. Adam Hollioake did exactly the same thing to me at New Road after a Sunday League match and it just brought back all the bad memories.
Compare this to Bully – I use to go to the summer “soccer” schools day which they used to run during the holidays at Molineux as some of you may remember. We used get to play on the massive bit of grass that used to be between where the pitch was and what was then the John Ireland Stand (I think the pitch has now been moved slightly across towards that stand with the redevlopment and what was left of the grass tarmaced over – I’m talking around about 89/90). Bully would sometimes jog around the pitch and mid jog he’d stop and sign an autograph for every single kid (about 30-40 i reckon). Legend. That’s the thing is people don’t remember him just for his goals but the fact he was a top bloke. Still he probably should have gone to Torino when he had the chance!
Ben that is a great story. Scratch that, 2 great stories. Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer are just about the most successful and dislikable opening partnership in Australian history. Simon Katich on the other hand is tops.