[Football] Why am I still not excited about England?

[Richy_Seagull]

Can't be arsed reading all of the 25 pages worth of slur and counter slur but I have the sentiment in the thread title. I cannot get enthused and I don't know why. I don't hate my country. I am not a Marxist/Nazi. 1990 and 1996 are two of my favourite football years because of the national team. It is nothing to do with hooligans. I have bought some beers and will watch the game and want us to win.

But the dead rubber CIty game meant more to me and I don't know why. All I can think is I cannot warm to Southgate and I don't like our style of play. We have beaten a Germany team that scraped through the group and no-one else of note. But that wouldn't have bothered me in 1990 or 1996.

Bottom line though - I can't force enthusiasm.

Great post. Exactly how I feel.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

It is also possible to not be wetting yourself with excitement over a football match and not be a member of the Taliban.

Oh shit, I just sent off my annual subs. Do you know if they do refunds?

I suppose I could just keep the kalashnikov under the bed for when the balloon goes up, and use the complementary copy of Insurgency Monthly to line my hampster cage.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Oh shit, I just sent off my annual subs. Do you know if they do refunds?

I suppose I could just keep the kalashnikov under the bed for when the balloon goes up, and use the complementary copy of Insurgency Monthly to line my hampster cage.

You get it back at the same time you get all the virgins.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I know what you mean (your previous post about being more excited about our game with City).

I know that some on here hanker for the Albion of 20 years ago, and all the thrills of travelling the land without the need to have a ticket in advance, to watch us wallop the likes of Bury with our Bobby Zamora, and now it's just corporate rubbish....

But others, me included, feel (and I mean really feel) this is the best times for The Albion. Playing (and beating) the best teams in the world.....

So, like so many supporters of top flight teams, as it was and ever will be (look at the flags at England games - see below from 2018), England takes second prize when it comes to excitement about football.

Many of our (Albion) supporters are living in the past and still have lower league mentality.

I have though about almost nothing other than England since before the semi. I am very excited. But compared with every Brighton game, not so much

View attachment 138485

Edit: the bottom right flag refers to Notting Forest winning the European cup in Munich in 1979, not the defunct nazi wankers.

You've got flags there from Man City and Villa, unfortunately EPL stalwarts Palace.
And Massive, Massive Wednesday. I'm not sure that backs up your point at all.

There may well be something in the fact that the England team is now full of players we see as rivals whereas they were a world away 20 years ago. But one of my frustrations is how good a group of attacking players we have and yet the emphasis is on defence so I don't think it is that. My opinion is that some of the wins have been in spite of the manager rather than because of him - if you have Kane, Sterling et al then you can always nick a goal. But we put up with that kind of game just a couple of years ago when it got results for our club.

Genuinely don't know what it is or what is missing. Maybe it is age, maybe it is just being contrary. Maybe it is politicians condemning the team one week and then jumping on the bandwagon a couple of wins later. Maybe the last 18 months has had more of an effect than I thought. No idea.

I'm loving the tournament but I can't help drawing parallels between this England team and our promotion season under Hughton. He's on record as saying the first aim that season was a clean sheet because then we always thought we'd go on and win. Carried out by having a solid back four, a CDM in Stephens who was happy just to keep possession and two wingers supplying a deadly finisher in Murray and sometimes chipping in themselves (Knocky). And I loved that season. Loved it much more than finishing 16th on 40 points again. Yawn.

Contrast that with the Potteristas who, to a man, would prefer to see us play "nice" football and pick up the odd win against a great side, even if we can't beat the bottom three. It's why the two camps will never agree.

And now the whole country (almost) is playing the role of a packed Amex back in that glorious season and the likes of you and Icy are already looking forward to a domestic season that has the potential, to be fair, to be the best ever in our history. And then your faith will have been 100% worth it.

The only problem with the analogy is what happened in our last game of that season, though I take solace in the fact that the decisive goal came from Jack Grealish.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

You get it back at the same time you get all the virgins.

I knew I should have gone for the intermediate membership .

All I get with the basic membership is a chat on "Applying the Koran to the Modern Consumer Society" from a man with a beard so big his mum's moved out of her council flat to live in it.

 

[m@goo]

I missed that post, did he really say he despised this country?

This is what I said in context, not out of context as Mr. Fergus has pointed out.

"It's this f*cking country itself. It's the utter shambles and bare faced hypocrisy and corruption of the people in charge of this country that has made me despise it and therefore feel very little patriotism towards my national team."

Which is partly still true. But I guess I have to ignore all that and as I have also said there are many things, more things that I do like about this country.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

You've got flags there from Man City and Villa, unfortunately EPL stalwarts Palace.
And Massive, Massive Wednesday. I'm not sure that backs up your point at all.



I'm loving the tournament but I can't help drawing parallels between this England team and our promotion season under Hughton. He's on record as saying the first aim that season was a clean sheet because then we always thought we'd go on and win. Carried out by having a solid back four, a CDM in Stephens who was happy just to keep possession and two wingers supplying a deadly finisher in Murray and sometimes chipping in themselves (Knocky). And I loved that season. Loved it much more than finishing 16th on 40 points again. Yawn.

Contrast that with the Potteristas who, to a man, would prefer to see us play "nice" football and pick up the odd win against a great side, even if we can't beat the bottom three. It's why the two camps will never agree.

And now the whole country (almost) is playing the role of a packed Amex back in that glorious season and the likes of you and Icy are already looking forward to a domestic season that has the potential, to be fair, to be the best ever in our history. And then your faith will have been 100% worth it.

The only problem with the analogy is what happened in our last game of that season, though I take solace in the fact that the decisive goal came from Jack Grealish.

I enjoyed it under CH as we probably needed to play like that as we didn't have top players. He didn't play like that in the Championship when he knew he had top class players for that level. That is what frustrates me watching England. All of the attacking talent we have and yet we play Rice and Phillips. City would probably still have won the league if they had played like England - emphasis on defence and allow the top class players to nick games for you. But why bother when you can win it in style?

Still don't know if it is solely that that has me disinterested as I was never that up for it before it started. But the style doesn't help.

 

[m@goo]

So I'm a nutshell....

Glory Hunter.

No, I'm always a supporter but as the majority of people have said it's been hard to get excited about England due to always being let down. But we've gone one more step than we have since '66 so even if we lose as long as it's not without bottling it or putting in a gutless performance then I'll be proud and hopeful for the World Cup.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

I enjoyed it under CH as we probably needed to play like that as we didn't have top players. He didn't play like that in the Championship when he knew he had top class players for that level. That is what frustrates me watching England. All of the attacking talent we have and yet we play Rice and Phillips. City would probably still have won the league if they had played like England - emphasis on defence and allow the top class players to nick games for you. But why bother when you can win it in style?

Still don't know if it is solely that that has me disinterested as I was never that up for it before it started. But the style doesn't help.

I think playing in a more conservative style is much more understandable in a knockout competition where a single mistake or off night can dump you out of the tournament, than in a league.

City also have the advantage of being able to buy the quality in midfield to get away with not playing two defensive minded midfielders, while neither Rice or Philips are consistently good enough to allow that.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

I think playing in a more conservative style is much more understandable in a knockout competition where a single mistake or off night can dump you out of the tournament, than in a league.

City also have the advantage of being able to buy the quality in midfield to get away with not playing two defensive minded midfielders, while neither Rice or Philips are consistently good enough to allow that.

Can't argue it has worked and other people like it. Just not for me.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

You've got flags there from Man City and Villa, unfortunately EPL stalwarts Palace.
And Massive, Massive Wednesday. I'm not sure that backs up your point at all.



I'm loving the tournament but I can't help drawing parallels between this England team and our promotion season under Hughton. He's on record as saying the first aim that season was a clean sheet because then we always thought we'd go on and win. Carried out by having a solid back four, a CDM in Stephens who was happy just to keep possession and two wingers supplying a deadly finisher in Murray and sometimes chipping in themselves (Knocky). And I loved that season. Loved it much more than finishing 16th on 40 points again. Yawn.

Contrast that with the Potteristas who, to a man, would prefer to see us play "nice" football and pick up the odd win against a great side, even if we can't beat the bottom three. It's why the two camps will never agree.

And now the whole country (almost) is playing the role of a packed Amex back in that glorious season and the likes of you and Icy are already looking forward to a domestic season that has the potential, to be fair, to be the best ever in our history. And then your faith will have been 100% worth it.

The only problem with the analogy is what happened in our last game of that season, though I take solace in the fact that the decisive goal came from Jack Grealish.

Mate, you're over thinking it. I'm loving the England adventure, but my heart will always be for the Albion, whatever division we are in. FCH

 

[drew]

You've got flags there from Man City and Villa, unfortunately EPL stalwarts Palace.
And Massive, Massive Wednesday. I'm not sure that backs up your point at all.



I'm loving the tournament but I can't help drawing parallels between this England team and our promotion season under Hughton. He's on record as saying the first aim that season was a clean sheet because then we always thought we'd go on and win. Carried out by having a solid back four, a CDM in Stephens who was happy just to keep possession and two wingers supplying a deadly finisher in Murray and sometimes chipping in themselves (Knocky). And I loved that season. Loved it much more than finishing 16th on 40 points again. Yawn.

Contrast that with the Potteristas who, to a man, would prefer to see us play "nice" football and pick up the odd win against a great side, even if we can't beat the bottom three. It's why the two camps will never agree.

And now the whole country (almost) is playing the role of a packed Amex back in that glorious season and the likes of you and Icy are already looking forward to a domestic season that has the potential, to be fair, to be the best ever in our history. And then your faith will have been 100% worth it.

The only problem with the analogy is what happened in our last game of that season, though I take solace in the fact that the decisive goal came from Jack Grealish.

The problem with that is that in the promotion season (and the previous year) we aimed not to concede knowing that we had a very good chance of scoring at least one to take the win. Unfortunately, elevated to the EPL, that tactic relied on not conceding against far better players and teams and 'hoping' we might steal a goal when the probability was we wouldn't.

 

[essbee1]

Mate, you're over thinking it. I'm loving the England adventure, but my heart will always be for the Albion, whatever division we are in. FCH

This exactly Harry. A lot of my friends are saying how utterly nervous and stressed they are about the England match and, to an extent I do get the
same feelings. But it is nothing, absolutely nothing to the nerves I get before and during an Albion match, especially if it's a real
crunch relegation match. That's because my heart is with the Albion and, in footballing terms, there's not a whole lot of space for any other
team.

 

[Medwayseagull]

Can't be arsed reading all of the 25 pages worth of slur and counter slur but I have the sentiment in the thread title. I cannot get enthused and I don't know why. I don't hate my country. I am not a Marxist/Nazi. 1990 and 1996 are two of my favourite football years because of the national team. It is nothing to do with hooligans. I have bought some beers and will watch the game and want us to win.

But the dead rubber CIty game meant more to me and I don't know why. All I can think is I cannot warm to Southgate and I don't like our style of play. We have beaten a Germany team that scraped through the group and no-one else of note. But that wouldn't have bothered me in 1990 or 1996.

Bottom line though - I can't force enthusiasm.

You are not the only one - some of the stuff in the media has now reached hysterical proportions.

 

[pasty]

Well for what it's worth, I'm ****ing loving this tournament, and can't bloody wait until tomorrow night. England are in only the second tournament final in my life time, and as I was only 18 months old in '66 it feels like the first.

Tomorrow night I won't give a shit about the state of this country, whether people boo the Italian anthem, if we get a dodgy penalty or anything else. I will even be ecstatically happy if Grealish, who in club football I can't stand, starts, scores a hattrick and gets mom.

Bring it on. #SuperExcited

 

[R. Slicker]

Can't be arsed reading all of the 25 pages worth of slur and counter slur but I have the sentiment in the thread title. I cannot get enthused and I don't know why. I don't hate my country. I am not a Marxist/Nazi. 1990 and 1996 are two of my favourite football years because of the national team. It is nothing to do with hooligans. I have bought some beers and will watch the game and want us to win.

But the dead rubber CIty game meant more to me and I don't know why. All I can think is I cannot warm to Southgate and I don't like our style of play. We have beaten a Germany team that scraped through the group and no-one else of note. But that wouldn't have bothered me in 1990 or 1996.

Bottom line though - I can't force enthusiasm.

I'm the same, I will support the team but can't see myself being overly upset if we lose. What doesn't help is all the jingoistic posts I see on Facebook are from my slightly racist 'friends'
and 'fans' on twitter reporting which Hotel Italy are staying at and suggesting Fireworks etc. outside.

classy.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

I'm the same, I will support the team but can't see myself being overly upset if we lose. What doesn't help is all the jingoistic posts I see on Facebook are from my slightly racist 'friends'
and 'fans' on twitter reporting which Hotel Italy are staying at and suggesting Fireworks etc. outside.

classy.

Although Boris jumping on the jingo bandwagon did result in one of my favourite Twitter quips. Pictures like this has people asking if Carrie has been to Poundland.



Someone said that it probably cost £20m. The reply was that it cost £19999900 to contract someone to buy the flags and £100 to actually buy them.

Probably the wrong thread for this but it did raise a sad smile,

 

[Baldseagull]

This is what I said in context, not out of context as Mr. Fergus has pointed out.

"It's this f*cking country itself. It's the utter shambles and bare faced hypocrisy and corruption of the people in charge of this country that has made me despise it and therefore feel very little patriotism towards my national team."

Which is partly still true. But I guess I have to ignore all that and as I have also said there are many things, more things that I do like about this country.

I get it, but I am still surprised at the wording.
I have come to realise that my own ambivalence towards the England teams success is a mixture of not wanting the ****ers in Downing Street, the anthem and knee take booers, the tub thumping jingoists and little Englanders to bask in reflected glory as we know they will, Harry Kane, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker and others being players I have come to recognise as less than sportsmanlike, and the history of having given my hopes and dreams over to the team in the past and being let down, not by losing, but by the occasional dive, or disinterested performance of some players.

This weighs against the admiration for Gareth Southgate, other players like Kalvin Philips, Declan Rice, Luke Shaw that have performed well and with clear pride, and my Englishness.

In fact, I am going to stop thinking about it now as I am getting quite pissed off with the ****s of this country, and the cheating players past and present having reduced for me what could or should have been joyous, to a dispassionate interest.

 

[R. Slicker]

Although Boris jumping on the jingo bandwagon did result in one of my favourite Twitter quips. Pictures like this has people asking if Carrie has been to Poundland.

View attachment 138487

Someone said that it probably cost £20m. The reply was that it cost £19999900 to contract someone to buy the flags and £100 to actually buy them.

Probably the wrong thread for this but it did raise a sad smile,

I thought this was the Original

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I get it, but I am still surprised at the wording.
I have come to realise that my own ambivalence towards the England teams success is a mixture of not wanting the ****ers in Downing Street, the anthem and knee take booers, the tub thumping jingoists and little Englanders to bask in reflected glory as we know they will, Harry Kane, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker and others being players I have come to recognise as less than sportsmanlike, and the history of having given my hopes and dreams over to the team in the past and being let down, not by losing, but by the occasional dive, or disinterested performance of some players.

This weighs against the admiration for Gareth Southgate, other players like Kalvin Philips, Declan Rice, Luke Shaw that have performed well and with clear pride, and my Englishness.

In fact, I am going to stop thinking about it now as I am getting quite pissed off with the ****s of this country, and the cheating players past and present having reduced for me what could or should have been joyous, to a dispassionate interest.

Mate, stay off the radio and telly, switch it on 30 minutes before KO (with the sound off it's on ITV - haven't checked yet) and enjoy the interlude.

By not mixing with anything I don't like I have created my own football universe, populated by a few pals, those on NSC who are funny and humane, and the rest of it can exits in its own bubble, 'on ignore'. I laughed at Poundland Boris - what an absolute plum. I am listening to cracking music, wearing a very old 'Hart 9' Albion shirt and looking forward to tomorrow's fun and games. FCH.