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Post by nott1 on Jun 2, 2019 10:55:33 GMT
I live in Greater Manchester and I often get asked "United or City/". My reply "City …………….STOKE City" There's only one CITY. The ORIGINAL!
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Post by cobhamstokey on Jun 2, 2019 10:56:24 GMT
I totally get your perspective Cobs. The way I view it is if your a Stoke fan & have either lived in an ST postcode or have lived in an ST postcode within your life time you have a right to say you support your local team. I get that families move on and that you could have parents who lived in Staffs and you've grown up being a Stoke fan in a different part of the country or even world but that's a separate case altogether as this doesn't apply in a lot of cases where the big clubs are concerned. Ive often asked the question 'why do you follow Man Utd' to be told "my dads uncles grandad used to be a season ticket holder there"! Really!! I know that theres quite a high proportion of Sunderland fans who live in North Staffordshire coz of the mining situation so accept in them cases there will be some movement of fans but they can all be traced back to the North East generally through direct family members. My gripe with a large proportion of Liverpool, Man Utd etc etc supporting folk, especially people I know who say they support these teams is that they have no allegiances or ties to these clubs or areas whatsoever! They've simply chosen their club based on successes & or stature when they've decided to get into football and this where fake fans are spawn. I reckon theres a large majority of Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal & Chelsea proclaimed followers who have never even visited Merseyside, Manchester and London never mind lived there or got links there. I remember heading to an away game at Goodison a few seasons ago and an Everton fan said you'll always find a parking space on matchdays when playing Everton as opposed to Liverpool as majority of Liverpool fans are out of towners! But then I think are the Liverpool or Man U fans who actually travel up from Devon and London to matches gloryhunters coz at least they make the effort to go to games! Who knows.. What I do know is that Stoke winning the league cup next season (hyperthetical I know) would mean so much more to genuine Stoke fans than it would to plastic Liverpool fans celebrating the Champions League win last night, or Man City winning another FA cup final! Whenever you challenge a big club “fan” they’ll always come back with “I supported them when they weren’t very good.” And it’s like then you must be over 60 years old.
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Post by Pretty Little Boother on Jun 2, 2019 11:05:33 GMT
I know a few lads from school who were posting pics on FB last night with shirts on, flags up, beers out, tellies on etc.
I also know for a fact that I have been to Anfield three times following Stoke away, and they, as supposed Liverpool fans, have not even been there once.
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Post by callas12 on Jun 2, 2019 11:16:12 GMT
I know a few lads from school who were posting pics on FB last night with shirts on, flags up, beers out, tellies on etc. I also know for a fact that I have been to Anfield three times following Stoke away, and they, as supposed Liverpool fans, have not even been there once. Know a few like this too. I dont have a major issues with the so called gloryhunting lads who keep their heads down. It's the ones who come and criticise the likes of Stoke and gloat without cause or justification that proper nark me. 🙄😤 & the amount of in fighting between Liverpool and Man City gloryhunters is staggering too. The amount of times I've heard Liverpool fans say Man City only won the league coz of the money they spent, clearly forgetting they only became runners up and Champions League winners after spending vast sums of money themselves including the £75mil on Van Dijk and almost £70mil on Alisson! Deluded and fickle is not the word!
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Post by StaffordPotter on Jun 2, 2019 11:24:45 GMT
Stafford high street was full of folks in Liverpool shirts yesterday afternoon. It's like a plague that has spread all over the place.
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Post by felonious on Jun 2, 2019 11:26:32 GMT
Why do you compare yourself with an Irish who supports Liverpool? , compare yourself with a scouser who supports Liverpool. Which is my point. No issue with a Liverpudlian supporting Liverpool. It’s all the free loaders who support them just so they can gloat. It was interesting hearing Noel Gallagher speak after Man City's league triumph and he stressed that he had no issue with the Mancs of Man Utd just the plastics. Didn't say what he thought of his own plastics though.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2019 20:03:43 GMT
I dont know why this bothers folk so much.
Of course armchair fans from other cities/countries are going to celebrate. But they won’t have anywhere near the same ecstatic feeling as the hardcore.
Really... so fucking what??
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Post by y_oh_y_delilah on Jun 3, 2019 4:05:41 GMT
My five year old grandson was born in Australia and now lives in St. Albans, strong Spurs and to a lesser extent Watford, territory. He loves and adores the beautiful game. At every school game, kickaround or any opportunity at all, he’s proud to wear his Stoke City strip. Despite the constant jibes from his mates about supporting a shit team (kids in St. Albans don’t actually say that, but you know what I mean!) he has no doubt that Stoke City are HIS team. Why, because his dad is a forever Stokie and so is his grandad (me) so loving and supporting Stoke is the right and natural thing to do.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2019 13:03:55 GMT
My five year old grandson was born in Australia and now lives in St. Albans, strong Spurs and to a lesser extent Watford, territory. He loves and adores the beautiful game. At every school game, kickaround or any opportunity at all, he’s proud to wear his Stoke City strip. Despite the constant jibes from his mates about supporting a shit team (kids in St. Albans don’t actually say that, but you know what I mean!) he has no doubt that Stoke City are HIS team. Why, because his dad is a forever Stokie and so is his grandad (me) so loving and supporting Stoke is the right and natural thing to do. Nope, should be a Wallaby Wanderers supporter as his local team.
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Post by Seymour Beaver on Jun 3, 2019 15:21:58 GMT
I guess it's all a matter of perspective isn't it?
While to us the "plastic" fan or "gloryhunter" is just a piss -poor faux imitation of what being a football supporter is about - they may well equally look at us and pity people who regularly spend their hard earned watching shit football (certainly recently) week in week out and then spend the rest of the week on social media moaning about it.
There's a whole economy growing up flogging "experiences" - which are just the antithesis of what experience is about as none is actually necessary - where to me you should actually learn to fly a balloon before you go up in one - rather than pay someone else to do it while you stand around getting pissed.
But who's to say who get's the most enjoyment out of life? It may seem like they're shallow but aren't a lot of things? While there's often less to something deeper than it's protagonists would have you believe.
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Post by robstokie on Jun 3, 2019 19:09:51 GMT
And not Liverpool. After watching the CL final. When I watch games like this with all the Londoners and Irish and various nationalities celebrating the mighty reds on Facebook after the game I’m mighty grateful that my dad took me to see my local club when I was 5. Stoke might not be that great at the moment and be a yo-yo club but I’d never want to support anyone else. Lots of highs and lows and the feeling that they’re your club and not someone you support because they’re a big club who you chose to “support” because the were winning titles when you were a kid. You will never get that passion and pride unless you support your local or hometown club. I think if you are a plastic fan or an armchair fan or whatever, its just not the same is it? For me, and i suspect a fair few others on here, football is more than about just a game - its about standing behind your home-town club (maybe i feel it more than most as im exiled in south wales) through the good times and the bad, for instance the cup final meant more to us because weve been there, in the pissing rain away at the likes of Rotherham, Bury, Bristol Rovers and Wrexham on a Tuesday night in november, getting trounced and never thought the good times would ever return, whereas the ones who watch their team from the comfort of the pub or their armchair just dont have that emotional connection. Plus its a character building exercise.
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Post by johnnypotter on Jun 3, 2019 22:28:44 GMT
I knew this lad at school who went to stoke [Boothen End]. Fast forward several years, I bumped into him in Epworth Street and he was wearing a Blackburn Rovers top, guess who had won the league that year?. I said to him ''Hope you are not planning to wear that in the Boothen on Saturday, no he said, don't go to Stoke anymore, I have always Supported Blackburn'' I have to admit to feeling incredulous and got quite abusive to him. I said '' at school you were a knob, now you have grown into a complete and utter wanker'' He went red and skulked away.
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Post by kustokie on Jun 3, 2019 23:46:53 GMT
I’m from Leek originally. Is it ok if I support Stoke? Or should I support Leek Town? Isn’t Burslem closer to you than Stoke?
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Post by PotterLog on Jun 4, 2019 4:50:47 GMT
Good thread this with some thoughtful replies. I wrestle with this issue a bit. I recoil instinctively at the idea of the stereotypical gloryhunter who eschews their struggling local club, desperate for the support of their community, in favour of whichever elite, trophy-winning club they so desire to attach themselves to. Especially when their “support” extends to sitting in a pub, basking in the glory watching Sky and claiming superiority over fans of “lesser” clubs like the one from their own locality. As has been mentioned a lot of this ill feeling comes from growing up as a Stoke fan in the 80s and 90s surrounded by crowing Liverpool (and Everton) classmates. I can’t say seeing a good number of those same kids posting pictures in Stoke shirts from the Brit during our Premier League years didn’t rankle somewhat, even though speaking rationally I’m totally accepting and grateful of the extra support we got in those years... But of course the reality is not so black and white and people rarely fit the stereotype. I know a lad from Telford who attached himself to Arsenal as a kid because his brother liked them, and they’ve both followed them around the country and Europe for 35 or 40 years.. sure they’re a big club but can you really pass that commitment off as gloryhunting? Especially now He also follows Telford and has been to countless numbers of their games, listens on the radio, contributed financially when they had to start again - I give him endless grief about supporting two teams but he just kind of shrugs his shoulders - what are you going to do? He just *is* a Telford and an Arsenal fan. Another guy I know from Kent has a simple question for me whenever I question his support of Liverpool - who is he supposed to support? The best I can muster is a quick google of the nearest league club to where he grew up. “Gillingham!” I declare, at which point he bursts out laughing. It’s a forty minute drive away - as close to us as WBA or Wolves or the Manchesters - and to his recollection he’s never even been there. Why would he have any connection to them? And then there’s the question of where the line is drawn. At what level is it acceptable to reject your local club - as a couple of people mention above, they’re closer to Leek and Stafford than Stoke... there must be plenty from Newcastle who watch Stoke when Town are at home... should they not be down at their grounds every other week? It really just depends on the individual and the circumstances. The stereotypes exist and they’re irritating, and I’ll never stop grilling (and mocking) people about why they support certain clubs, but at the end of the day those people are unimportant, and they’ll never know the semi-spiritual experience that most of us are completely tuned into from Day 1. When you look at the story of someone like my mate from Kent, really we’re privileged to be in a position where we have an intrinsic, unconditional attachment to our local club from the very beginning. He and many others will never know what that’s like.
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Post by cheekymatt71 on Jun 4, 2019 6:40:56 GMT
I’m from Leek originally. Is it ok if I support Stoke? Or should I support Leek Town? You should support legalisation of incest 😀. Sorry couldn’t resist hehe
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Post by Laughing Gravy on Jun 4, 2019 8:23:19 GMT
I’m from Leek originally. Is it ok if I support Stoke? Or should I support Leek Town? Isn’t Burslem closer to you than Stoke? I used to go the long way round to avoid the stench.
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Post by Laughing Gravy on Jun 4, 2019 8:24:54 GMT
I’m from Leek originally. Is it ok if I support Stoke? Or should I support Leek Town? You should support legalisation of incest 😀. Sorry couldn’t resist hehe Only sheep in danger up Leek. Incest? It's not Biddulph you know.
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Post by StaffordPotter on Jun 4, 2019 8:29:33 GMT
This thread really needs to be posted on one of the Liverpook messageboards, just to see what kind of response it would get. Not a very good one I can imagine.
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Post by iglugluk on Jun 4, 2019 11:21:51 GMT
But what about all the stoke fans who are not local to stoke. Should we go and support someone else? I don’t live in Stoke anymore but it’s in your blood if you’re born there. I can’t see there being many Stoke fans who haven’t got some sort of link to the area unlike your Liverpool and Man Us and soon to be Man City’s. I guess what I’m trying to say is I didn’t like glory hunting. I have absolutely no link to SoT at all. The reason I support Stoke and always have is that my dad regularly took us to matches in the '70's even though he had no links to Stoke either. My dad started to support Stoke in the early '50's for a complex number of reasons, as far as I can tell. He then passed that passion onto my brother and me. Ever since I developed a childhood loyalty to the club its remained with me to this current day .. no matter how hard I've tried to shake it off
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Post by Not_Nick_H on Jun 4, 2019 12:04:56 GMT
My five year old grandson was born in Australia and now lives in St. Albans, strong Spurs and to a lesser extent Watford, territory. He loves and adores the beautiful game. At every school game, kickaround or any opportunity at all, he’s proud to wear his Stoke City strip. Despite the constant jibes from his mates about supporting a shit team (kids in St. Albans don’t actually say that, but you know what I mean!) he has no doubt that Stoke City are HIS team. Why, because his dad is a forever Stokie and so is his grandad (me) so loving and supporting Stoke is the right and natural thing to do. My lad's born and bred in Warrington (I moved there mid-90's before he was born). After a brief flirtation with Liverpool (even though his first two matches were at Stoke), he accompanied me to all Stoke's League Cup and FA Cup games in the 2010/11 season and took over his Grandad's Season Ticket when he passed away in 2012. I wondered if he'd wobble last year, as he's only ever known us be in the Premier League, but he is more "Stoke" now than if he'd grown up in an ST postcode. I've spent loads on shirts and stuff and away travel when he's wanted to go to games more than I have. I'm sure he's taken far more crap off people for his choice of team than I did as well. He's off to Uni in September (Lincoln, fingers crosed) and it'll be hard without my match buddy there on matchdays. I know he'll miss being there regularly - but his seat's safe - I wouldn't want it any other way. Sometimes it's not locality that influences who you support, but family and the experience of live football with someone that you know and love. It beats being an armchair, remote fan of a team that you are traditionally and geographically unconnected with, every day of the week.
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Post by robstokie on Jun 4, 2019 12:18:35 GMT
Good thread this with some thoughtful replies. I wrestle with this issue a bit. I recoil instinctively at the idea of the stereotypical gloryhunter who eschews their struggling local club, desperate for the support of their community, in favour of whichever elite, trophy-winning club they so desire to attach themselves to. Especially when their “support” extends to sitting in a pub, basking in the glory watching Sky and claiming superiority over fans of “lesser” clubs like the one from their own locality. As has been mentioned a lot of this ill feeling comes from growing up as a Stoke fan in the 80s and 90s surrounded by crowing Liverpool (and Everton) classmates. I can’t say seeing a good number of those same kids posting pictures in Stoke shirts from the Brit during our Premier League years didn’t rankle somewhat, even though speaking rationally I’m totally accepting and grateful of the extra support we got in those years... But of course the reality is not so black and white and people rarely fit the stereotype. I know a lad from Telford who attached himself to Arsenal as a kid because his brother liked them, and they’ve both followed them around the country and Europe for 35 or 40 years.. sure they’re a big club but can you really pass that commitment off as gloryhunting? Especially now He also follows Telford and has been to countless numbers of their games, listens on the radio, contributed financially when they had to start again - I give him endless grief about supporting two teams but he just kind of shrugs his shoulders - what are you going to do? He just *is* a Telford and an Arsenal fan. Another guy I know from Kent has a simple question for me whenever I question his support of Liverpool - who is he supposed to support? The best I can muster is a quick google of the nearest league club to where he grew up. “Gillingham!” I declare, at which point he bursts out laughing. It’s a forty minute drive away - as close to us as WBA or Wolves or the Manchesters - and to his recollection he’s never even been there. Why would he have any connection to them? And then there’s the question of where the line is drawn. At what level is it acceptable to reject your local club - as a couple of people mention above, they’re closer to Leek and Stafford than Stoke... there must be plenty from Newcastle who watch Stoke when Town are at home... should they not be down at their grounds every other week? It really just depends on the individual and the circumstances. The stereotypes exist and they’re irritating, and I’ll never stop grilling (and mocking) people about why they support certain clubs, but at the end of the day those people are unimportant, and they’ll never know the semi-spiritual experience that most of us are completely tuned into from Day 1. When you look at the story of someone like my mate from Kent, really we’re privileged to be in a position where we have an intrinsic, unconditional attachment to our local club from the very beginning. He and many others will never know what that’s like. Where I lived as a kid was actually closer to Fail Park than the Vic or the Brit - luckily, my uncle dragged me to Stoke.
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Post by PotterLog on Jun 4, 2019 12:46:33 GMT
Good thread this with some thoughtful replies. I wrestle with this issue a bit. I recoil instinctively at the idea of the stereotypical gloryhunter who eschews their struggling local club, desperate for the support of their community, in favour of whichever elite, trophy-winning club they so desire to attach themselves to. Especially when their “support” extends to sitting in a pub, basking in the glory watching Sky and claiming superiority over fans of “lesser” clubs like the one from their own locality. As has been mentioned a lot of this ill feeling comes from growing up as a Stoke fan in the 80s and 90s surrounded by crowing Liverpool (and Everton) classmates. I can’t say seeing a good number of those same kids posting pictures in Stoke shirts from the Brit during our Premier League years didn’t rankle somewhat, even though speaking rationally I’m totally accepting and grateful of the extra support we got in those years... But of course the reality is not so black and white and people rarely fit the stereotype. I know a lad from Telford who attached himself to Arsenal as a kid because his brother liked them, and they’ve both followed them around the country and Europe for 35 or 40 years.. sure they’re a big club but can you really pass that commitment off as gloryhunting? Especially now He also follows Telford and has been to countless numbers of their games, listens on the radio, contributed financially when they had to start again - I give him endless grief about supporting two teams but he just kind of shrugs his shoulders - what are you going to do? He just *is* a Telford and an Arsenal fan. Another guy I know from Kent has a simple question for me whenever I question his support of Liverpool - who is he supposed to support? The best I can muster is a quick google of the nearest league club to where he grew up. “Gillingham!” I declare, at which point he bursts out laughing. It’s a forty minute drive away - as close to us as WBA or Wolves or the Manchesters - and to his recollection he’s never even been there. Why would he have any connection to them? And then there’s the question of where the line is drawn. At what level is it acceptable to reject your local club - as a couple of people mention above, they’re closer to Leek and Stafford than Stoke... there must be plenty from Newcastle who watch Stoke when Town are at home... should they not be down at their grounds every other week? It really just depends on the individual and the circumstances. The stereotypes exist and they’re irritating, and I’ll never stop grilling (and mocking) people about why they support certain clubs, but at the end of the day those people are unimportant, and they’ll never know the semi-spiritual experience that most of us are completely tuned into from Day 1. When you look at the story of someone like my mate from Kent, really we’re privileged to be in a position where we have an intrinsic, unconditional attachment to our local club from the very beginning. He and many others will never know what that’s like. Where I lived as a kid was actually closer to Fail Park than the Vic or the Brit - luckily, my uncle dragged me to Stoke. Haha I’d forgotten about them - I mentioned Stafford, Leek and Newcastle but of course there are other tiny little outfits in the area as well....
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Post by Pretty Little Boother on Jun 4, 2019 14:17:00 GMT
Good thread this with some thoughtful replies. I wrestle with this issue a bit. I recoil instinctively at the idea of the stereotypical gloryhunter who eschews their struggling local club, desperate for the support of their community, in favour of whichever elite, trophy-winning club they so desire to attach themselves to. Especially when their “support” extends to sitting in a pub, basking in the glory watching Sky and claiming superiority over fans of “lesser” clubs like the one from their own locality. As has been mentioned a lot of this ill feeling comes from growing up as a Stoke fan in the 80s and 90s surrounded by crowing Liverpool (and Everton) classmates. I can’t say seeing a good number of those same kids posting pictures in Stoke shirts from the Brit during our Premier League years didn’t rankle somewhat, even though speaking rationally I’m totally accepting and grateful of the extra support we got in those years... But of course the reality is not so black and white and people rarely fit the stereotype. I know a lad from Telford who attached himself to Arsenal as a kid because his brother liked them, and they’ve both followed them around the country and Europe for 35 or 40 years.. sure they’re a big club but can you really pass that commitment off as gloryhunting? Especially now He also follows Telford and has been to countless numbers of their games, listens on the radio, contributed financially when they had to start again - I give him endless grief about supporting two teams but he just kind of shrugs his shoulders - what are you going to do? He just *is* a Telford and an Arsenal fan. Another guy I know from Kent has a simple question for me whenever I question his support of Liverpool - who is he supposed to support? The best I can muster is a quick google of the nearest league club to where he grew up. “Gillingham!” I declare, at which point he bursts out laughing. It’s a forty minute drive away - as close to us as WBA or Wolves or the Manchesters - and to his recollection he’s never even been there. Why would he have any connection to them? And then there’s the question of where the line is drawn. At what level is it acceptable to reject your local club - as a couple of people mention above, they’re closer to Leek and Stafford than Stoke... there must be plenty from Newcastle who watch Stoke when Town are at home... should they not be down at their grounds every other week? It really just depends on the individual and the circumstances. The stereotypes exist and they’re irritating, and I’ll never stop grilling (and mocking) people about why they support certain clubs, but at the end of the day those people are unimportant, and they’ll never know the semi-spiritual experience that most of us are completely tuned into from Day 1. When you look at the story of someone like my mate from Kent, really we’re privileged to be in a position where we have an intrinsic, unconditional attachment to our local club from the very beginning. He and many others will never know what that’s like. The rules are that you can claim any League club as your own, as long as it is within a 38 mile radius of where you are born or where you have lived for the longest period of time between the ages of 0-8. Unless: 1. They are crap, in which case you can extend it to 70 miles, or 2. They are ace, in which case it reduces to 12 miles. If you decide on a team after the age of 8, it has to be the closest possible League club to the place where you were born, or a team of your choosing as long their average league finish over the past 30 years is 46th out of 92 (or lower), unless you pick Stoke. So sayeth the Boother.
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Post by senojbor on Jun 4, 2019 15:57:13 GMT
My five year old grandson was born in Australia and now lives in St. Albans, strong Spurs and to a lesser extent Watford, territory. He loves and adores the beautiful game. At every school game, kickaround or any opportunity at all, he’s proud to wear his Stoke City strip. Despite the constant jibes from his mates about supporting a shit team (kids in St. Albans don’t actually say that, but you know what I mean!) he has no doubt that Stoke City are HIS team. Why, because his dad is a forever Stokie and so is his grandad (me) so loving and supporting Stoke is the right and natural thing to do. Call social services immediately!
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Post by yeokel on Jun 4, 2019 16:03:59 GMT
Good thread this with some thoughtful replies. I wrestle with this issue a bit. I recoil instinctively at the idea of the stereotypical gloryhunter who eschews their struggling local club, desperate for the support of their community, in favour of whichever elite, trophy-winning club they so desire to attach themselves to. Especially when their “support” extends to sitting in a pub, basking in the glory watching Sky and claiming superiority over fans of “lesser” clubs like the one from their own locality. As has been mentioned a lot of this ill feeling comes from growing up as a Stoke fan in the 80s and 90s surrounded by crowing Liverpool (and Everton) classmates. I can’t say seeing a good number of those same kids posting pictures in Stoke shirts from the Brit during our Premier League years didn’t rankle somewhat, even though speaking rationally I’m totally accepting and grateful of the extra support we got in those years... But of course the reality is not so black and white and people rarely fit the stereotype. I know a lad from Telford who attached himself to Arsenal as a kid because his brother liked them, and they’ve both followed them around the country and Europe for 35 or 40 years.. sure they’re a big club but can you really pass that commitment off as gloryhunting? Especially now He also follows Telford and has been to countless numbers of their games, listens on the radio, contributed financially when they had to start again - I give him endless grief about supporting two teams but he just kind of shrugs his shoulders - what are you going to do? He just *is* a Telford and an Arsenal fan. Another guy I know from Kent has a simple question for me whenever I question his support of Liverpool - who is he supposed to support? The best I can muster is a quick google of the nearest league club to where he grew up. “Gillingham!” I declare, at which point he bursts out laughing. It’s a forty minute drive away - as close to us as WBA or Wolves or the Manchesters - and to his recollection he’s never even been there. Why would he have any connection to them? And then there’s the question of where the line is drawn. At what level is it acceptable to reject your local club - as a couple of people mention above, they’re closer to Leek and Stafford than Stoke... there must be plenty from Newcastle who watch Stoke when Town are at home... should they not be down at their grounds every other week? It really just depends on the individual and the circumstances. The stereotypes exist and they’re irritating, and I’ll never stop grilling (and mocking) people about why they support certain clubs, but at the end of the day those people are unimportant, and they’ll never know the semi-spiritual experience that most of us are completely tuned into from Day 1. When you look at the story of someone like my mate from Kent, really we’re privileged to be in a position where we have an intrinsic, unconditional attachment to our local club from the very beginning. He and many others will never know what that’s like. The rules are that you can claim any League club as your own, as long as it is within a 38 mile radius of where you are born or where you have lived for the longest period of time between the ages of 0-8. Unless: 1. They are crap, in which case you can extend it to 70 miles, or 2. They are ace, in which case it reduces to 12 miles. If you decide on a team after the age of 8, it has to be the closest possible League club to the place where you were born, or a team of your choosing as long their average league finish over the past 30 years is 46th out of 92 (or lower), unless you pick Stoke. So sayeth the Boother. I was born in Burslem in 1960 so naturally supported, er, Everton in the late ‘60s & early ‘70s as they kept winning things. Then we moved out to Madeley and I went to watch Madeley White Star, but they weren’t as good as Everton so I went off football and did loads of other stuff instead. Moved down to Somerset and started going to Yeovil Town. It just so happened that this was just before we won the FA Trophy and then the Conference so I may have been a bit of a glory hunter to a degree (that’s what friends said anyway!). But I was a loyal season ticket holder for about 14 years until I began to get pissed off with the ownership of our club and the total lack of any investment or long term planning, particularly during the one season we spent in the Championship when we were crying out for further funding. Since those glory days we’ve slumped down the divisions and are now back in the Conference (although they seem to have changed its name while we were away) where the talents and ambitions of our owners and directors are more suited. All that while, I tried to pop up to Stoke two or three times a year to catch a bit of footie at Stoke, and to pop in to visit me mum! I also used to get to a few Stoke away games (Bristol clubs, Plymouth, Southampton etc) if I could. But last year I didn’t go to a single match and I don’t know why, although I suspect it might have been because Stoke were shit and Yeovil were shit. Will I go next season to either – I don’t know but, for now, I can say that Stoke City is my league team, and Yeovil is my non league team. Why am I telling you this? I don’t really know! (although there is a nice connection in that Begović used to play for us at Yeovil, and Nathan Jones used to play for us too)
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Post by PotterLog on Jun 4, 2019 17:16:51 GMT
The rules are that you can claim any League club as your own, as long as it is within a 38 mile radius of where you are born or where you have lived for the longest period of time between the ages of 0-8. Unless: 1. They are crap, in which case you can extend it to 70 miles, or 2. They are ace, in which case it reduces to 12 miles. If you decide on a team after the age of 8, it has to be the closest possible League club to the place where you were born, or a team of your choosing as long their average league finish over the past 30 years is 46th out of 92 (or lower), unless you pick Stoke. So sayeth the Boother. I was born in Burslem in 1960 so naturally supported, er, Everton in the late ‘60s & early ‘70s as they kept winning things. Then we moved out to Madeley and I went to watch Madeley White Star, but they weren’t as good as Everton so I went off football and did loads of other stuff instead. Moved down to Somerset and started going to Yeovil Town. It just so happened that this was just before we won the FA Trophy and then the Conference so I may have been a bit of a glory hunter to a degree (that’s what friends said anyway!). But I was a loyal season ticket holder for about 14 years until I began to get pissed off with the ownership of our club and the total lack of any investment or long term planning, particularly during the one season we spent in the Championship when we were crying out for further funding. Since those glory days we’ve slumped down the divisions and are now back in the Conference (although they seem to have changed its name while we were away) where the talents and ambitions of our owners and directors are more suited. All that while, I tried to pop up to Stoke two or three times a year to catch a bit of footie at Stoke, and to pop in to visit me mum! I also used to get to a few Stoke away games (Bristol clubs, Plymouth, Southampton etc) if I could. But last year I didn’t go to a single match and I don’t know why, although I suspect it might have been because Stoke were shit and Yeovil were shit. Will I go next season to either – I don’t know but, for now, I can say that Stoke City is my league team, and Yeovil is my non league team. Why am I telling you this? I don’t really know! (although there is a nice connection in that Begović used to play for us at Yeovil, and Nathan Jones used to play for us too) If Stoke played Yeovil who would you want to win
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Post by yeokel on Jun 4, 2019 20:30:11 GMT
I was born in Burslem in 1960 so naturally supported, er, Everton in the late ‘60s & early ‘70s as they kept winning things. Then we moved out to Madeley and I went to watch Madeley White Star, but they weren’t as good as Everton so I went off football and did loads of other stuff instead. Moved down to Somerset and started going to Yeovil Town. It just so happened that this was just before we won the FA Trophy and then the Conference so I may have been a bit of a glory hunter to a degree (that’s what friends said anyway!). But I was a loyal season ticket holder for about 14 years until I began to get pissed off with the ownership of our club and the total lack of any investment or long term planning, particularly during the one season we spent in the Championship when we were crying out for further funding. Since those glory days we’ve slumped down the divisions and are now back in the Conference (although they seem to have changed its name while we were away) where the talents and ambitions of our owners and directors are more suited. All that while, I tried to pop up to Stoke two or three times a year to catch a bit of footie at Stoke, and to pop in to visit me mum! I also used to get to a few Stoke away games (Bristol clubs, Plymouth, Southampton etc) if I could. But last year I didn’t go to a single match and I don’t know why, although I suspect it might have been because Stoke were shit and Yeovil were shit. Will I go next season to either – I don’t know but, for now, I can say that Stoke City is my league team, and Yeovil is my non league team. Why am I telling you this? I don’t really know! (although there is a nice connection in that Begović used to play for us at Yeovil, and Nathan Jones used to play for us too) If Stoke played Yeovil who would you want to win That is something I have wondered about myself a few times.
Stoke did play at Huish Park in a pre-season friendly a few years ago and, to be honest, I think I wanted Yeovil to win that one as it would have meant so much more to Yeovil than to Stoke.
I can't remember what the score actually was in the end. I think it would depend on the circumstances. If, for instance, Stoke needed the points in order to secure a promotion then it would definitely be Stoke. But, if it was third round of the FA Cup and an away tie at, say, Man Utd was the reward I think I might be hoping for a Yeovil win because the gate receipts from that one tie would secure them financially for quite a few years. On the other hand, if Stoke had a realistic chance of winning the cup, then it would definitely be Stoke. What I do know is that if we moved away from Somerset, I would still support Stoke but might not follow Yeovil quite so closely. Yeovil was a choice for me, but there is no choice when it comes to Stoke.
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Post by y_oh_y_delilah on Jun 4, 2019 22:36:07 GMT
If Stoke played Yeovil who would you want to win That is something I have wondered about myself a few times. Stoke did play at Huish Park in a pre-season friendly a few years ago and, to be honest, I think I wanted Yeovil to win that one as it would have meant so much more to Yeovil than to Stoke.
I can't remember what the score actually was in the end. 1-1
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Post by Goonie on Jun 5, 2019 22:44:03 GMT
Can you imagine how truly dreadful it must be to be a Manchester United/City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea Liverpool fan? - yes you're high profile, win loads more games than us, get watch them almost weekly live on TV, some of the best players in the world but lose a run of three, fail to score on 2, miss top 4 spot, don't win a cup, fail to progress on Europe, miss out on big-time-Charlie signings and you've not had a bad season but rather a disastrous one
So attuned to success are they that anything other than top spot is a failure, their fans become bitter and entitled
Supporting Stoke is a rollercoaster and the 10 years in the Prem were amazing, then drab, then amazing, mediocre and finally disappointing but we now have a dream to get back to winning ways, maybe promotion and Stoke will always be Stoke - the big-little club, the punching-above-their-weight giant killers and often equally humbled (damn you Blythe Spartans), the proud yet inevitably disappointed fan base, the cheering-moaning bastards in the crowd, the extortionate snacks and drinks-yet free away travel:
We are a happy few, conflicted and disgruntled, determined and without hope, we are typical fucking Stoke
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