What club should I adopt as my favorite in the Premier League this year?

what teams have the least evil ownership?

Also, Sunderland and Middlesborough are amongst the grimmest, most mocked places in England and I cannot root against either, really and there was a time when Sunderland entertained me a good deal (Kevin Phillips era).

As a neutral on this one (as my team have been excluded), I'd say go for Spurs. Failing that, try Everton.

Out of curiosity, why Arsenal?

'Cause they have so few English players?

ha if real are the yankees (big if), than barca are the red sox, which doesnt make em much better

anyway i say go "red bulls"

I'm a Red Sox fan.

Political baggage seems to be half the fun of Euro football IMO. It's so foreign to the American sports experience.

Will be a Portland Timbers supporter next season.

Villa or Everton

Yeah, I'd go with that. Or Spurs.

No, not Spurs

I'm really leaning towards Villa

my only exposure to SOME of these clubs is playing Fifa soccer games on the Xbox. though I've seen Blackburn, Chelesea, Man City, Man U all play before....

Everton have good US links, as someone posted above. They play good stuff, under a good manager, they bring through youth and get bargains in. Not too many of their players seem to be dicks. They've got history. They've got a hell of a derby.

Go with Everton.

You also have to choose whom to hate.

Oh yeah, the hating is everything. (Chelsea).

Spurs would win that poll as well.

Would they?

We did it once iirc, Man Utd won in a walk.

have any of you killed a man with your barehands at a soccer match, or have you avoided the Italian leagues....

(or I guess the real question is, do you often get into ruckuses over soccer matches)

I once maimed a small child for whirling his rattle too frequently, but nothing serious, no

I've been to see Roma a couple of times. No killing was done.

I'm sure ILX has some right nasty geezers, I mean real hard men. When it kicks off you can be sure they're posting proper hard zings, innit?

iirc ronan murdered someone, with a knife

Oh yeah, the hating is everything. (Chelsea).

― Ismael Klata, 14 July 2010 17:02 (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Spurs would win that poll as well.

― James Mitchell, 14 July 2010 17:02 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Would they?

― Grand amiral de la marine des licornes (Michael White), 14 July 2010 17:05 (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

Guilty hand raised here if you're looking for someone to blame for this.

Rly, it'd be Chelsea tho I think? Or Liverpool (based on hating post volume)

If football posts could kill ronan would have been in solitary this long time since i tihnk.

I can't imagine it would be Spurs though I can imagine Chelsea or Man U. I can't imagine my team would fare terribly well, either, but they're not in the Prem right now anyway.

xxxpost *gets an image of ILXors standing in Old Trafford angrily IPhone-ing insults to each other while the match is unfolding below them*

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/12/article-1161501-004D0FDC000004B0-990_468x322.jpg

After a particularly brutal thread derail.

The day after Liverpool win the league next year

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_jay/0209brawl.jpg

Spurs nowhere

Maybe San Te should base the decision on which club has the best mascot.

Probably would be between Moonchester, Chang The Elephant or the Frogmore The Frog (RIP) for the most bizarre.

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/moonchester.jpg

Paul Robinson. Fat clown.
Zokora. Diver.
Dawson. Shit.
Gareth Bale. Geek.
Aaron Lennon. Runs like a girl.
Jenas. Shit.
Huddlestone. Fat bastard.
Kevin-Prince Boateng. Comedy tattoos.
Malbranque. Ugly and has silly name.
Defoe. Midget.
Berbatov. Looks like a vampire.

― Tom D., 12 December 2007 14:46 (2 years ago)

real talk

everton no question - steady but spirited, interesting blend of players (some of whom are young and exciting) a good history, and a lack of resources that makes them perennial underdogs. comedy big local rival too. also, for someone just getting into british football, a great and useful contrast to some of the... more involved shall we say... narratives of the other clubs.

but consider west ham if you fancy something a little riskier that could turn out pretty silly; maybe wolves too, a grand old club building sensibly.

villa, as people have said, are as similarly stable as everton but will be dull and suffer under a looming thwarted vibe this season imo. newcastle will be just be grim and not nearly as lol as advertised.

under no circumstances enlist in the yid army (tottenham hotspur and their merry band of ilx plonkers).

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_jay/0209brawl.jpg

glory days.

Voted Liverpool.

Based on the team I think most likely to have the biggest impact w/o being in the top 3, I'm going for City

Also, because he said, "...this year."

shame on you

Lost the ability some time ago.

Since this thread is blowing up today I'll leave this here.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/morrissey/2495474,CST-SPT-morrissey14.article

If soccer ever does take off here, it's going to take off on the strength of the game, not on the fervor of its fan base.

Soccer is a great participatory sport for kids. It's a great way to stay in shape. It's not so great to watch. Unless there's something we've yet to see, that's not going to change for many of us.

Is that OK?

It's going to have to be.

*puke* Just make sure you don't let irrelevant media dinosaurs like this guy influence you, San Te.

Why is affirmation so important to them?

Ha ha. After many years of arguing w/American soccer haters or critics, I've basically taken the converse approach. "You don't like soccer? Awesome, now go talk to someone over there about how and why you don't like it or whatever You're not going to convince either of us to not like it and we actually have some informed discussion going on and aren't interested in your proposed rule changes and gripes et cetera."

You should start watching the SPL, games widely available on justin.tv and iraqgoals every weekend, and the SPL thread could do with some new blood.

The football's mostly pish, right enough.

Who should he support though, Aberdeen?

Yeah, why not. They can't do any worse than last year. We've got Celtic, Rangers, Hamilton and Hibs covered, so take yer pick from Hearts, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, St Johnstone, St Mirren, Kilmarnock (not advised), Inverness Caley Thistle (even less advised) or Motherwell.

(I just like saying "sheep shaggers" in my comedically woeful Scots accent)

I have a friend who's a Hearts fan. He's kind of a gloomy dude, though.

san te, good question. i was in this boat a year or two ago. i decided to let a season play out and see who i fell for. and i fell for...none of them. i stayed neutral.

i've ended up liking the way arsenal play, the way everton are run, specific managers (hodgson, moyes, o'neill, zola) and specific players (arshavin, fellaini, nasri, ireland, dempsey, etc) but nothing's connected at that ~visceral~ level. yet. i still think if i saw a game in england, or had a loved one devoted to a team, that that might change my pov.

but it's been fun, being neutral. i've never done it before. this way i get to laugh at liverpool and half-hate chelsea and roll my eyes at tottenham without any of it mattering too much.

all that said, i voted Everton.