Kenny Dalglish Won't Be Delivering the Module: English Premiership 2011-12

i like podolski a lot

If you carry on seeing 2/3 of your Spurs games at O.T then I fear you are destined to be disappointed Darragh.
xp

Nice job burying the lead there Ismael!

was he one of the celebrities ik

FWIW I've seen Spurs 8 times: 2 wins (including 4-0 against United and 5-2 or 5-1 against Everton), 2 draws, 4 defeats.

(that's not actually "including", is it? more "consisting of")

xp That he ended up at Villa was a worse fate tbh.

To be fair we didn't have a clue til we stopped at a pub after the game. Nowadays I could enjoy ilf banter and questionable puns within seconds.

Wanna explain Kerr? I only ever really saw him for Germany (could be very good, but i'm glad they have ozil and gotze now) and Bayern (the drizzling shits).

Spurs four times - can't actually remember any of the other results (home v Leicester, Portsmouth and Wolves) but I think I had a 100% record 'til Sunday.

Wish I'd kept track of my Arsenal attendances from the early years when I went five or six times a season as a JG. A few memorable ones include a 3-0 against Newcastle when Vieira scored the goal of the month and Freddie Ljungberg's debut against Man United (4-1 iirc).

Only away trips have been two to Old Trafford (9-2 on aggregate) and Villa in the only game of that season when we conceded three (after being 0-2 up at half time). That was also the game when a parachuting Father Christmas crashed into the upper tier of the stand and broke his leg in the plummet that followed.

Impressed that ILFers have been on the spot for so much carnage and catastrophe.

I was at the Johnny Haynes memorial match at Craven Cottage when he died in a car crash, but that wasn't *at* the game thankfully.

Not saying this in a superior way - but are most people here TV viewers of their clubs rather than match attenders? These last few posts have quite surprised me.

xpost to Local Garda. Nowhere you'd want to drink near Wembley. The Globe at Baker St is always full of cretins. But you certainly want to drink at the central London end of your journey, not the Wembley end.

most ppl everywhere are tv viewers tbf

Go down Baker Street a bit from the Globe to Paddington Street/Crawford Street if that's the way you're going (runs parallel to the Marylebone Road).

xpost As I say, not having a pop.

(I am not a Spurs supporter, btw)

I probably go a couple of times a year, but I get quite excited about it when I do. Also it's kind of expensive and time-consuming. No regular side or location - I wish I'd got a season ticket for fulham when I lived nearby and they were only about £350, I don't know why I didn't. I've been trying to remember games all afternoon - it feels like a lot more than I'd thought, but that's more because I've been to plenty of grounds over plenty of years than anything else.

I can only think of the Villa or QPR lads here who might be week-in-week-outers.

and Dan and the Celtic lot obviously

never been able to afford to go regularly, uni and unemployment not ideal, so for me it really is a 'treat' when i do go, which is usually twice a season. i saw us draw 1-1 with sunderland on the opening day of this season, beat wolves 2-1 in september, and was at the 6-1 v brighton a couple of weeks ago. i'm on the waiting list for a season ticket which will hopefully come through when we have a new stadium (20 years at this rate), and i'll be making an effort to go more often once i sort my life out.

I followed Brighton quite regularly for about 5 seasons from the age of 12-17 ish. Had a season ticket etc. I always loved LFC more but obviously wasn't practical for a kid from Sussex to be going to Anfield. Nobody else in my family was into football so mostly went to games by myself.

Whenever Brighton were away further north than Watford I would go into London and watch either West Ham, Arsenal, Tottenham (this was the 1980s you could do that then with no problems with getting a ticket). A few too many run ins with an undesirable element at games meant I stopped going, coupled with Brighton's drop down the divisions meant I never really started going again aside from when mates could score me tickets to LFC away games in London.

Crawley is probably the closest Conference or above team to me and I've been 5 or 6 times but tbh the football was mostly crap and I was paying £12 for the privilege.

I could conceivably afford a season ticket once my Masters finishes and I'm no longer forking out double rent, but I can think of many many better uses for the money tbh. My younger self would not understand this viewpoint at ALL.

Should probably go more often than I do though (only twice this season and only when someone has suggested it).

heh, it actually took saints dropping down the divisions to reignite my interest in going to games, as there was more chance of seeing them win - plus it was cheaper obv. i've been to more games in the last 2 years than in the previous 10. not sure i'll be able to maintain current levels of interest once they become whipping boys in the prem again.

Chicago season tickets start around $200 so yeah, I go to every game. Usually good for 2-3 away games each season too (our nearest league rival is ~350 miles away).

I used to go a ton with my dad when I was little. 80s Scottish football was pretty great now I think about it, when you didn't know what it was going to turn into.

btw if anyone ever wants a ticket for anfield then get in touch and you can use my fancard (provided you guard it with your life and return it to me safely!!!!!!!!!!!)

The game that always sticks in my memory is away at Portsmouth, pouring rain, no roof on the away end, Brighton lose 5-0. The police keep us in at the end of the game for 30 mins 'for our own safety' and the PA plays radio commentary of each Portsmouth goal, and then plays it again, and again. Soaking wet, incredibly depressed, wondering just what the hell I am doing there.

http://banouby.wordpress.com/is-the-season-ticket-still-an-appropriate-pricing-model-for-football/

There were season ticket holders, and then there were other fans. And then, last of all, there were fans who just watched on the TV.

And after them the ilf crew with their laptops.

Fair enough. I guess I was lucky to get into the football watching habit when it was still £3.50 to go and stand, and you could pick and choose which match to go to on a Saturday afternoon, rather than it being an operation of military precision to try to get one of the half dozen remaining tickets that go to general sale for most PL clubs. And nowadays, though I do resent the cost, I can afford to get a season ticket.

I used to go seven or eight times a season and stopping has basically coincided with Spurs becoming good. I should rectify this really :/

Interesting piece about pricing. That's certainly caused ructions at QPR when they've discounted some games. Mind you, the pricing strategy at QPR has long appeared to be: "What will cause the greatest unhappiness to the greatest number of people for the longest time? We'll do that."

yay gerrard starting tonight after a year out injured and 120 mins on sunday THANK YOU STUART

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/feb/29/pepe-reina-race-row-tv-advert

haven't watched the video, how bad is it?

a couple of thoughts on that season ticket pricing article:

1) re: getting to Wembley - yes, the experience has been devalued by holding FA Cup semi-finals there, but *most* clubs aren't going there significantly more often than they used to. While United and Chelsea will have been there far more in the last decade than in the 1980s, that's because those teams are far more successful now than they were then. I doubt fans of most clubs (including 'big' but not terribly successful clubs in recent times: Everton, Villa, Newcastle etc.) would be uninterested in a trip to Wembley because of overfamiliarity. In the case of Man Utd (and probably several other clubs) the problem with the 'season ticket = guaranteed ticket for cup final' equation is that the allocations for cup finals are always smaller than the number of season tickets, so plenty of season ticket holders miss out (or pay well over the odds to get tickets that have been given to the corporate sector etc.)

2) Again, it's certainly the case with a lot of Man Utd supporters so I imagine it's true at other clubs, that following the team away is seen as far more of a desirable experience than following the team at home (for many reasons, top of the list being the all-standing all-singing element). The article talks about not needing a season ticket to guarantee a seat in a home match, but doesn't mention that many people might want them for ease of access to away tickets. (Again, with Man Utd there is such excessive demand for these that a season ticket is next to useless in this respect, but for most clubs I'd imagine that's not the case)

Yeah: at QPR having a season ticket means I can pick and choose away games, which is nice. Don't need to go to Wigan etc in order to pick up the loyalty points to get me a seat at the Emirates or Stamford Bridge.

One thing I've been musing on (in a different context) which indirectly ties in is access for young people and whether the game is still trading on the edgy image of the hooligan era, with the edginess taken out. I'm sure that was true in the 90s, and being sold to the ex-hoolies who'd got richer and no longer had the stomach for a ruck - but I'm not sure there's any equivalent constituency from the 90s and beyond to take over as regular attendees. Might explain the slow tailing off of crowds that seems to have started outside the big clubs.

But maybe the game doesn't trade on that so much now, what with being the best league in the world and all.

yay gerrard's gone off injured. fuck you very much stuart/england/fa.

very odd decision to start him, especially in that role

There's a fabulous game over on youtube just now, guys

eh, i just have it on in the background

i assume he's injured anyway, or has at least felt a twinge. can't for a second imagine pearce and the fa are daft enough to plan for him to only play 30 minutes in a meaningless fucking friendly OH HANG ON

sensational crowd reaction to mcclean coming on

what's the game like? couldn't be arsed streaming it

trap out

good good

btw andrews is awful awful awful do i make myself clear he hates the ball and football in general

cox with two nutmegs and a goal.

Andrews assist gah

two in two for West Brom...

cox/mcclean look v good on left since coming on with 15 mins to go trap out btw