Better fan than you

[CJ]

We love a good moan us Villans.

To be a true cockney you have to be born within the sound of Bow bells.

To be a true Brummie you have to born within the sound of someone moaning about something 

[Simba]

I was watching live on the box down here. Honest, I nodded off at 85 minutes!! Well, few late nights.

Got the happy shock of my live when I played the last ten minutes back.

Does that make me a bad fan?

Yes it does, Simba.

I cycle from Shanghai to Birmingham for all our home games and some of the London away matches if Chico can get me a ticket. I can't believe you live such a short distance from the ground and don't bother attending yourself. Glory hunter.....

I will - honest- be at the Chelsea game. (Kayak) so I will wait in front of the Holte for your bike to arrive. Will I recognise you by your pith helmet?

[Steve R]

It's all getting a bit precious isn't it? Whatever happened to football?

Watching the game on the concourse TVs, booking a taxi to get away from the ground - and worst of all, leaving your seat to have a piss.

What's wrong with using a rolled up programme? If you don't happen to have bought one, just ask the bloke in front if you can borrow his.

I hate what SKY have done to our game.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

What's wrong with using a rolled up programme? If you don't happen to have bought one, just ask the bloke in front if you can borrow his.

I've tried that, but it came to pass that I actually needed a shit. That glossy paper is no use under those conditions.

[olaftab]

I was watching live on the box down here. Honest, I nodded off at 85 minutes!! Well, few late nights.

Got the happy shock of my live when I played the last ten minutes back.

Does that make me a bad fan?

Yes it does, Simba.

I cycle from Shanghai to Birmingham for all our home games and some of the London away matches if Chico can get me a ticket. I can't believe you live such a short distance from the ground and don't bother attending yourself. Glory hunter.....

haha it's not so easy for Simba. I have just had a look at the map and the way I see it is that from Shanghai it's a straight forward flat run to Birmingham where as Simba has to climb up all the way from down there. It might be shorter but looks a lot more difficult coming up north from down south!

[Simba]

Don't forget Kilimanjaro and the Sahara.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Don't forget Kilimanjaro and the Sahara.

Great band.

[Pat McMahon]

I was watching live on the box down here. Honest, I nodded off at 85 minutes!! Well, few late nights.

Got the happy shock of my live when I played the last ten minutes back.

Does that make me a bad fan?

Yes it does, Simba.

I cycle from Shanghai to Birmingham for all our home games and some of the London away matches if Chico can get me a ticket. I can't believe you live such a short distance from the ground and don't bother attending yourself. Glory hunter.....

haha it's not so easy for Simba. I have just had a look at the map and the way I see it is that from Shanghai it's a straight forward flat run to Birmingham where as Simba has to climb up all the way from down there. It might be shorter but looks a lot more difficult coming up north from down south!

The cheek of it - have you heard of the Himalayas?!! It'a a good jobI'm mates with Lance Armstrong's pharmacist is all I can say.

 I usually have to stop off in Iran to deliver some er, sensitive materials from China too. It's not all pedalling for 1 hour and then freewheeling downhill you know, despite what your atlas may have you believe. And when you get to B6 you can't trust those little urchins outside the ground either - "Fiver to mind yer bike mister?". A fiver?!!! WTF  - that's two week's wages...

[Pat McMahon]

I was watching live on the box down here. Honest, I nodded off at 85 minutes!! Well, few late nights.

Got the happy shock of my live when I played the last ten minutes back.

Does that make me a bad fan?

Yes it does, Simba.

I cycle from Shanghai to Birmingham for all our home games and some of the London away matches if Chico can get me a ticket. I can't believe you live such a short distance from the ground and don't bother attending yourself. Glory hunter.....

I will - honest- be at the Chelsea game. (Kayak) so I will wait in front of the Holte for your bike to arrive. Will I recognise you by your pith helmet?

I will be wearing my standard issue party uniform - with non regulation claret and blue lapels - and will be sporting party haircut number 2. I shall also be holding Nicholas Anelka hostage in my saddlebags.

[Rob92]

I stay til the end because pre-booked train tickets usually mean I can't leave Birmingham New Street til half 6, but if I didn't have that problem I'd be on my toes if we were a couple of goals down and playing shite.

I've never understood why people leave early when the game's hanging in the balance, but each to their own!

[Simba]

Well you would leave a bit early if you had to cycle the Himalayas. The number 11 don't go there y'know.


What a silly thread. "better fan than you" FGS. Glad we could take the piss.

[olaftab]

The cheek of it - have you heard of the Himalayas?!! It'a a good jobI'm mates with Lance Armstrong's pharmacist is all I can say.

 

No I am not having that. On my map I just see a flat track from East to West as the world is flat.  However I do know that North is up as in up north and South is down as in down south so it must be harder for Simba. SO THERE!
By the way Simba I have PM'd you about the Chelsea game.

[Simba]

Sorry chaps: Got it. Just sold house. Coming back to UK permanently. Going out to get ratted. Will pm tomorrow.

[adrenachrome]

What's wrong with using a rolled up programme? If you don't happen to have bought one, just ask the bloke in front if you can borrow his.

I've tried that, but it came to pass that I actually needed a shit. That glossy paper is no use under those conditions.

That's where the bobble hat or its modern equivalent,  the beanie,  comes into play.  I think Glenn Peen once wrote a sonnet about this activity.

[amfy]

I don't think I'm a better fan for always staying to the end, but moments like the last minute winner on Saturday are really what it's all about, and I just feel sad that people miss that. Those kind of moments feel the same whether they win you The Champion's league, save you from relegation to the Blue Square premiership, or just fall in the middle of mid-table mediocrity. The way the remainder of the ground went up on Saturday defied explanation really, there were people going over 3 rows of seats in celebration! If you weren't in it you'd probably call it "small time" to be so delighted to scrape a win against Fulham with a 92nd minute goal - but we let ourselves to just love it without any thought of any 'entitlement' to expect better. A last minute winner when things aren't running for you, is a feeling you cannot explain to a non-football fan, it is something only we know.

When that goal went in, it was a feeling that made me remember why I put up with all the crap in between. It reminded me that sometimes the crap bits are worth it, because the contrast when something good happens is what throws it into such sharp brilliance. All those people who left early (no judgement implied) didn't get that reminder, so for them it was a last minute winner (good - that's a relief), without that same sense that those of us remained got. This means that next time, they won't have been as revived by it, or lifted, or as ready to face the next game with a new spirit, and I think a shame for all of us. No-one owes it to anyone else to stay to the end of course, I just wish you would. 

It's just a suggestion, but anyone who leaves early because for example "otherwise it takes an hour to get off the leisure centre car park" etc - have you thought of experimenting a bit and seeing if you can find a quicker getaway? If I go in the car, I am driving freely out along Walsall Road within 10 minutes of leaving Villa Park without ever leaving early. Surely football these days is too expensive to potentially miss the best bits?