Irish connections and your team

bullpost

Just wondering how important it is for your foreign supported team to have an Irish connection?
When I started supporting my team they were exciting, glamorous and exotic (this was pre sky-sports/Ryanair days) and these were the main reasons I picked them.

SectionF

Completely unimportant.

Bounty Hunter

when i started supporting them it was important but then again I was so young back then that if they werent Irish internationals i didnt know who they were. Not wanting to follow the trend of picking United/Liverpool cos they were winning or cos family members supported them I picked Villa who had Steve 'block out the memory of me managing' Staunton, Ray 'block out the memory of me as a pundit' Houghton, Andy 'see Houghton' Townsend and Paul 'God' McGrath.

no senior Irish players at Villa now and O'Hallorans contract ends today afaik (he has been screwed by injuries) but should one be good enough and available whilst playing in a position Villa need i of course would love to see them sign for Villa.

invincibleirish

I don't think an Irish connection to a club warrants reason to support, just ask these guys

http://www.carlisleunitedirishbranch.webs.com/

I doubt they have fond memories of Roddy & Co, doing their thing:eek:.

But it certainly does no harm when an icon of your youth like McGrath happens to be a national hero as well.

_blank_

It's the main reason I support Sunderland Ipswich and Reading Wolves

The Hustler

Not bothered, we've no Irish lads in out entire squad at the moment and the last few we had were awful (Liam Miller and Jonny Douglas)

bUILDERtHEbOB

Yer the reason I support Liverpool because the city and people have strong Irish links and many Irish players have worn the red shirt, nothing to do with being a top 4 club challenging for European Cups every year, I square.

elshambo

bullpost wrote: »

Just wondering how important it is for your foreign supported team to have an Irish connection?
When I started supporting my team they were exciting, glamorous and exotic (this was pre sky-sports/Ryanair days) and these were the main reasons I picked them.

If your going to follow a "thems over there" team for its Irish folk, why not just support an Irish team?

If you want a bit of the exotic forgieen flavor with an Irish twist

Sligo Rovers FTW!

The Hustler

elshambo wrote: »

If your going to follow a "thems over there" team for its Irish folk, why not just support an Irish team?

If you want a bit of the exotic forgieen flavor with an Irish twist

Sligo Rovers FTW!

Xavi6

Big Quinny was a reason in my decision to start supporting City, and when Phelan and Kernaghan later joined it helped too.

Not arsed with the Irish connection now, though it's good to see Given, Dunne and Ireland as first team regulars.

_blank_

Xavi6 wrote: »

it's good to see ... Dunne ... as first team regulars.

:eek:

orly?

Xavi6

Des wrote: »

:eek:

orly?

Course it is, doesn't mean he should be invincible in that position though.

stovelid

I quite like seeing certain players from the teams I support break into the Under-21/Senior international squads if I like them. Not if it interferes with their club game though. Club over country always for me.

But I would never 'keep an eye out for the Irish lads' or actually like a team more because it has internationals.

_blank_

stovelid wrote: »

I quite like seeing certain players from the teams I support break into the Under-21/Senior international squads if I like them.

But I would never 'keep an eye out for the Irish lads' or actually like a team more because it has internationals.

I keep an eye on any player who has gotten the Magic Flight, it's nice to see lads like Doyle do well, having seen them play in the LoI before.

And it's also funny when a player I didn't particularly like crashes and burns in England. Georgie mar shampla.

stovelid

Des wrote: »

I keep an eye on any player who has gotten the Magic Flight, it's nice to see lads like Doyle do well, having seen them play in the LoI before.

Actually, I hadn't thought of that. I do like to see Fahey, Mccourt, Noel Hunt, Doyle and the like doing well for this reason.

Gavin "shels"

I support Celtic, Hibs, Man Utd, Ipswich, Liverpool, Viborg FF because they all have Irish connections.:rolleyes: God be gone the days when you'd see your mates wearing a Man Utd jersey, the next day a Sunderland jersey, you do know it's hard to support two teams in the same division.:rolleyes:

Bobalicious93

I started supporting United because they won all the time. I'd be lying if I didn't say that, (as would most Liverpool fans) but I was young when I chose them, and success is irrelevant to my support at this stage.

An Irish connection is simply a bonus

Y2J_MUFC

Not very important... I started supporting United because my father did, just before the Premiership years.... watching those United in the 70's and United in the 80's videos....

There was more mystique about it too, like if it was 2 mins down the road when I was a kid, i wouldn't appreciate them as much as I do. When your a kid and you can't choose what games you go to, it makes it all the more brilliant when someone did bring you to a game

The fact that they have an Irish connection is just a bonus really, I was always going to support United and that was that.

Also took a liking to Sheffield Wednesday, just because they had a savage kit and a really cool name...

OPENROAD

Supporting an English team so not important at all, when I started supoorting Arsenal our team/squad was basically English, the fact that O'leary played for us at the time had zero influence on my decision to support Arsenal, actually I didn't even know he played for us

Charlie

Not a jot.

I'd rather see a Geordie in the team, than an Irish player. Assuming obviously the Irish player isn't better.

gustavo

I personally support Sligo Rovers because of our strong English links

Dub13

gustavo wrote: »

I personally support Sligo Rovers because of our strong English links

Well you have a good manager who has morales.

Guy:Incognito

Bobalicious93 wrote: »

I started supporting United because they won all the time. I'd be lying if I didn't say that, (as would most Liverpool fans) but I was young when I chose them, and success is irrelevant to my support at this stage.

An Irish connection is simply a bonus

Your either really young or really old.:)


Irish players are overrated. We had the best one and he was crap.:P

pablomakaveli

People here should support Floriana in Malta. Their nickname is Tal-Irish(The Irish) and Roddy Collins is their new manager.

stovelid

pablomakaveli wrote: »

People here should support Floriana in Malta. Their nickname is Tal-Irish(The Irish) and Roddy Collins is their new manager.

Heard Roddy on the radio this evening -ever the multiculturalist- talking about the move and saying that he'll have to endure the rabbit-stew over there.

Xavi6

pablomakaveli wrote: »

People here should support Floriana in Malta. Their nickname is Tal-Irish(The Irish) and Roddy Collins is their new manager.

And who might their arch rivals be? Cause that's whose replica shirt I'll be buying.

Seaneh

A.C. Milan played Athlone town in the 70's in the old european cup, Athlone got a draw in Mels, should have won by all accounts, Johnny Minock missed a penelty, first miss of his career from the spot, never missed one after that for athlone either, guess it just wasnt ment to be, lost 3 - 0 in Milan.

that's not why I support Milan though.

I support Milan because when i was growing up Milan were inventing the modern game.

the Milan team of the late 80's/early 90's invented and perfected the possession based prressing 4-4-2 that is currently the most used tactic in the world (its UTD played untill this season, how arsenal played the year they didnt loose, its how real played when they won a few cl's a few years back, etc etc etc etc) and i prefered watching that than the kick and chase shíte that passed for football in england at the time (and still does tbvfh!).

Reason UTD keep getting spanked when they come up against attacking. possession bassed pressuring midfeilds is that english football is STILL playing catch up with Italy in spain as far as technique is concerned and is overly dependant on physique and that wont change anytime soon as it is a fundimental flaw in english footballing culture and would have to change at grass roots level, its the same reason that the english midfeild tends to look non existant against good possession based midfeilds.
Untill the mid set of the average ebglish puter changes from "end to end = good" to "keeping the ball = good" then I will never, ever be able to watch a full premiership game not want to beat some muppet to death with his own shoe for giving the ball away for the umpteenth time because rather than pass the ball sideways or backwards and retain possession he decided to go long/run at 4 players/play ball to nobody/try pass to player marked by 2 players/whatever.


in short. I like Italian football because in Italy technique has always been king and that is what beautiful football is.

gustavo

Dub13 wrote: »

Well you have a good manager who has morales.

We do indeed and in all seriousness we do have a long history of having English players in the team which has defintely added to the character of the club imo down the years

bullpost

Wow - You must have been a very cerebral kid. I must admit I would have been incapable of that type of penetrating insight when I was 10 - fair play to you

Seaneh wrote: »

I support Milan because when i was growing up Milan were inventing the modern game.

in short. I like Italian football because in Italy technique has always been king and that is what beautiful football is.

Seaneh

I was lucky enough to have a youth couch who thought us tha the only way to make sure that the other team doesn't score is to make sure you don't give away the ball, so yea, even at 10/11 years old I'd get terribly annoyed watching the premierleague and seeing players needlessly giving the ball away every 30 seconds.

Paparazzo

Seaneh wrote: »

I support Milan because when i was growing up Milan were inventing the modern game.

Translation:
I support Milan cos they were winning everything

stovelid

Seaneh wrote: »

in short. I like Italian football because in Italy technique has always been king and that is what beautiful football is.

Good job that when you went looking for an Italian team to support, you just happened to chance upon Milan.

And in the late 80s/early 90s too.

What are the chance of that?

SectionF

Seaneh wrote: »

In short. I like Italian football because in Italy technique has always been king and that is what beautiful football is.

What a load of superior tosh.

When will you making your proposal to UEFA that the sport should be scored a la gymnastics or ballroom dancing?

I couldn't give a flying fcuk where our players are from.

Seaneh

SectionF wrote: »

What a load of superior tosh.

When will you making your proposal to UEFA that the sport should be scored a la gymnastics or ballroom dancing?

Did you read my post?
I pointed out the flaws in the english game and why english teams always get spanked by strong spanish and Italian sides like Milan, Barca and Real (inter dont count as if it were not for the juve demotion and milan being fined/docked points the would still be chasing behind the first two) in the champions league.

the english team do really well against average/weak european sides but the second they come up against a possession based midfeild they fall apart, always have and always will, and its not just their club teams, we see it time and time again with their national team who dispite having one of the best teams on the planet on paprt in 9 out of 11 positions tend to look like amatures against teams like Spain, Brazil, Portugal etc because the give the ball away A LOT.

stovelid

Seaneh wrote: »

Did you read my post?
I pointed out the flaws in the english game and why english teams always get spanked by strong spanish and Italian sides like Milan, Barca and Real (inter dont count as if it were not for the juve demotion and milan being fined/docked points the would still be chasing behind the first two) in the champions league.

the english team do really well against average/weak european sides but the second they come up against a possession based midfield they fall apart, always have and always will, and its not just their club teams, we see it time and time again with their national team who dispite having one of the best teams on the planet on paprt in 9 out of 11 positions tend to look like amatures against teams like Spain, Brazil, Portugal etc because the give the ball away A LOT.

Must really hurt you being Irish then?

Or do you just support the best 'possession based midfield' country you can find in international tournaments?