Glory Hunters

I used to drink in a pub near Grafton St a few years ago and got to know one of the lads behind the bar,an Aussie lad,we were always having good football banter ,and he, at the time, was well into Leeds,even said he'd been to Elland rd a few times,he used to wear a Leeds T-shirt,and had a scarf behind the bar aswell and me being a lifelong Leeds fan since 1970 thought this was sound.Anyway moved out to the suburbs of Dublin a couple of years ago and don't drink in that pub anymore.
So,there I was in Sinnotts last week for the Liverpool/Chelsea game,and guess who I saw,jumping up and down,biting his nails,shouting at the big screen..yes the same lad,only this time he was wearing a Liverpool shirt :mad: :mad: ,apparently he now likes Liverpool because Harry Kewell plays for them :rolleyes: ,pathetic.There was no point in even having a discussion about it, whats the point I thought,there are certain unwritten rules for supporters and he certainly got a red card for that.

That's life. Most Man U supporters are either glory hunters or bow to the peer pressure as kids in the class to follow them. My godchild followed Wednesday and I brought him to Hillsboro a few times but then his mother drew me aside and told me he was now following Man U because he was getting too much slagging following Wednesday at school :o .

I never regretted following Wednesday. You stand apart from the Man U and Liverpool supporters (and the Leeds ones in their mid to late 30s). People always remember who I support while Man U supporters are just one of the herd of millions of wildebeast who trample across the plains. They win a lot more (which wouldn't be hard) but dare to be different - that's my motto.

The Irish team that I followed of the early 1970s was also taken from me by the media following Italia 90 but sometimes it's nice to be successful :D

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Originally Posted by Dublin12

I used to drink in a pub near Grafton St a few years ago and got to know one of the lads behind the bar,an Aussie lad,we were always having good football banter ,and he, at the time, was well into Leeds,even said he'd been to Elland rd a few times,he used to wear a Leeds T-shirt,and had a scarf behind the bar aswell and me being a lifelong Leeds fan since 1970 thought this was sound.Anyway moved out to the suburbs of Dublin a couple of years ago and don't drink in that pub anymore.
So,there I was in Sinnotts last week for the Liverpool/Chelsea game,and guess who I saw,jumping up and down,biting his nails,shouting at the big screen..yes the same lad,only this time he was wearing a Liverpool shirt :mad: :mad: ,apparently he now likes Liverpool because Harry Kewell plays for them :rolleyes: ,pathetic.There was no point in even having a discussion about it, whats the point I thought,there are certain unwritten rules for supporters and he certainly got a red card for that.

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That is fcuking pathetic...what a gobsh!te :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by drinkfeckarse

That is fcuking pathetic...what a gobsh!te :rolleyes:

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WHAT an Aussie gobsh1te :p

The 2 main clubs with Glory Hunters IMO is Man Utd & Celtic, like last night, this is proven by the half empty stadiums 20 minutes before the end of a match they know they've lost. Now the Liverpool fans seem to be coming out of their closets again, and it won't be long til you'll be seeing Chelsea fans EVERYWHERE. I remember reading that last christmas Real Madrid was the biggest selling jersey in Ireland. WHY :confused: :confused:


And Owlsfan, you think you had it bad, try growing up as a HIBS fan in Dublin :eek:

Almost any Chelsea supporter these days is going to be a glory hunter. Chelsea have no history of irish support through the decades & lot of them were probably outright anti-irish.

You just couldn't move for trophies throughout the 70's and 80's when United were still the most supported club. All glory hunters obviously.....

Leaving early is bad, but sure you see it in eL grounds every week too. Nowt to do with being glory hunters.

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

That's life. Most Man U supporters are either glory hunters or bow to the peer pressure as kids in the class to follow them.

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I think you'll find that is a load of ******, Owlsfan if you'll excuse my french! Fans of "unfasionable" clubs are always coming out with this ****e as if its fact, that and the old "most of the crowd at OT aren't from Manchester you know" Its reckoned that 75-80% of those at OT are from the Greater Manchester area and in Ireland their are long family traditions of United support due to immigration to Manchester, same can be said for 'Pool, Leeds and Arsenal. Celtic is a different kettle of fish.
Some of us grew up in the 70's and 80's you know and if supporting United then was Glory hunting well they you are right, but I think you'll find Glory was thin on the ground in those days.
so I suggest you keep these sweeping generalisations to yourself. Obviously you are upset that your Godson not appreciating having the Owls shoved on him made his own decision to support United as is his right!

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Originally Posted by Saints4Ever

The 2 main clubs with Glory Hunters IMO is Man Utd & Celtic,

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It's one thing being a glory hunter, it's another thing completely to change teams like that...especially as an adult :eek:

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Originally Posted by Heinze

Some of us grew up in the 70's and 80's you know and if supporting United then was Glory hunting well they you are right, but I think you'll find Glory was thin on the ground in those days.so I suggest you keep these sweeping generalisations to yourself. Obviously you are upset that your Godson not appreciating having the Owls shoved on him made his own decision to support United as is his right!

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European Cup a few years before, George Best, Bobbie Charlton - in every newspaper, TV etc at the time. No, it was still huge to follow Man U in those days as well. No one expected them to drop out of the 1st Division - that comes with following a team - so having run with the hounds, there were a few years they had to flee with the foxes. Your analogy of emigration to Manchester doesn't stand up - so why so few City fans then ?

You can't shove the Owls on anyone - believe you me. However, your passion for something can rub off. But the point of that story is peer pressure to follow successful teams.

Saint - well done on following Hibs. Why did u choose them over any other Scottish team ? By right, the two Edinburgh teams should be as strong as their Glasgow neighbours but for historical and other less savoury reasons they've lost out.

I know a Chelsea supporter of long standing. One of the most nationalistic people you could meet and their NF connections among some of their supporters never seemed to bother him. I think he goes back to the days of John Dempsey and Paddy Mulligan.

A football club, like a pet, is for life :D

My younger brother started off supporting Liverpool, then when the glory dried up he supported Leeds, Rangers :eek: , Man U, Celtic, before settling on Man U. I'll grant it he was young at the time, but I always remind him of with whenever he attempts to gloat. I've been a Liverpool\Limerick fan through thick and thin all my life, since I can remember watching football.

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Originally Posted by Saints4Ever

The 2 main clubs with Glory Hunters IMO is Man Utd & Celtic

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As a Celtic fan would agree that, as with any club that gets a bit of success, a number of muppets who have never been near Celtic park have jumped on the band wagon. It sickens me to see the way Celtic jerseys have become the jesrsey of choice for every Chav, 45 degree baseball cap , white runners&tracky bottoms and gold chain hangin outside the jersey wearing d***head.

But the vast majority of these people are not real Celtic fans and know nothing about the club.

People paint all Celtic fans with the same brush but most of the people i meet attending games in Glasgow and Europe (inc. 52k season book holders) are genuine and lifelong Celtic fans.

Lads, next time ye see the fool in Celtic jersey talking crap about the RA (even though he left school at 11 and cant even spell history) from a barstool dont assume he is representative of all tic fans.

I've a mate at home who used to be an Arsenal fan, wore the jersey, bought one for his son, everything. Then he fell out of love with football and watched rugby more and more. Which is all fair enough until this season, for a laugh he joined one of the fantasy football leagues in, and picked Frank Lampard as his captain. Since Chelsea, and Frank in particular, have done so well this season, and earned him tons of points in the fantasy football, he's now a Chelsea fan!

I usually dislike top teams. Shels and Rosenborg are rare exceptions, in most countries I support small teams. And even so... In Ireland there are no really big clubs, and though Rosenborg is big in its own country they aren't in Europe + I follow them for 11 years so from the very beginning of what has become an incredible domestic success story.

When everyone around me supports one team/sporter I usually chose the other side because I don't like the "we are the biggest and best and greatest" thing, I always feel more sympathy for the underdog. In some countries I even support non topdivision teams (eg Ceuta - Spain, Vanspor - Turkey, Venezia - Italy)

I can understand someone changes a club for a certain reason if for example the atmosphere has changed so negatively that he doesn't recognise the feeling of friendship that once made him start to support the club. But those are exceptional cases, very exceptional. In general: stick with whatever team you chose.


I know someone BTW who changed club, but I have to forgive him for it, because he HAD to: his first choice merged with the arch-enemy and the new team went to play in the enemy's stadium. In such cases I can understand you give up the club, because it's simply not your club anymore. That's the sort of exceptions I mean.

If Shels would merge with Pats, I would probably feel like a loved one has been taken away and finally recognise what Rovers fan experience: being homeless :D

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

My younger brother started off supporting Liverpool, then when the glory dried up he supported Leeds, Rangers :eek: , Man U, Celtic, before settling on Man U. I'll grant it he was young at the time, but I always remind him of with whenever he attempts to gloat. I've been a Liverpool\Limerick fan through thick and thin all my life, since I can remember watching football.

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He supported both Rangers and Celtic in life ?? :eek: Wow, that is the sort of lad Jerry Springer could do a show with: a unicum in a freaky way :D



I had a classmate back in my school days who supported the same team as me. When they were about to relegate I sticked with the team, while he left for another club. Two weeks later that club lost, and he started to support the club that won that game. When they also started to lose a short while later, he ditched football and became a basketball adept...

I lost track of him, but given the fact that we are 10 years later, he may have ran out of sports to support by now ;) Or maybe he found a never losing team somewhere in waterpolo or handball or so :D

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

He supported both Rangers and Celtic in life ?? :eek: Wow, that is the sort of lad Jerry Springer could do a show with

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Yup, he was only about 7 at the time though and Ally McCoist was his favourite player. It was purely because Rangers were winning everything back then, he was only 7! As he grew older and started learning the history, the posters suddenly disappeared off the wall. Replaced by Scumchester United ones, and gradually Celtic ones. He kind of supports both teams now, but more Utd than Celtic. From the frying pan into the fire :D

Chose to support aston villa when I was 5 because my friend told me about them and everyone else supported utd.Went to villa park twice as a young lad and was pretty mutch a fanatic.Gradually began to become more and more of a lapsed supporter as ltfc took over at this stage,I really dont care,looking out for the results every now and again is as far as I go.Like to see them do well but whether they win or lose it rarely has an affect on me.
People who change clubs doesnt really get to me,usually they dont really know alot about football let alone what it is to be a fan.If your going to "PICK" a foreign club to support,pick who you want,its unlikely they will ever have any real affiliation with the club

Well let me see now. I was very fortunate as I have pointed out elsewhere my primary schoolteacher was a Waterford fan. So he was an influence on me eventually becoming an EL fan. But there were few if any in my class at the time. I went to see Shels play in 1972 and Rovers play in 1973 and I think I was one of a very small minority who had been inside a League of Ireland ground at that stage. There 50 kids in the class 35 lads and 15 girls for the record.

I spent a few years in the Giles era watching out for Leeds United results. BUt the first team I ever saw play in person were Shels back in 1972 against Finn Harps. Saw Rovers play (Glasgow not Cork) Celtic in 1973, Bohs play Home Farm in 1975, Rovers play Drogs the following year and in 1977 saw Sligo Rovers play Blackburn in a friendly and Thurles Town in the League. Went to my first UCD game in 1981 when they took on a Vancouver Whitecaps team peopled by ex-1970's Leeds players.
UCD held them to a 1-1 draw. And that was it I was a student and these guys became MY team! So you could say in a manner of speaking my years of delusion watching out for Leeds results( never stepped inside Elland Road) eventually led me to the true faith that is the EL.
I will never be a Premiershi* heretic again :D

chose to support palace at the start of the 80's. i remember readin in shoot that with venables in charge they would be the force to reckon with in the 80s :eek:

still with them though

No greater crime can a person commit than to change football teams.
Buddy of mine followed Leeds when we were younger, then when Leeds got relegated he said he had to have a First Division (as it was then)team as well so he went for Manure, then Leeds came back up and were vying with Utd for the title God he was a mess. Still follows Utd to this day but none of us can really take him seriously.
All the Chelsea fans I know are well into their 40's and have been Chelsea fans for many years, no problem at all with these people.
4tothefloor, do you think your brother finally settling on Utd may have been in direct opposition to you following Pool? Cos thats what happened in our house.

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Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

So you could say in a manner of speaking my years of delusion watching out for Leeds results( never stepped inside Elland Road) eventually led me to the true faith that is the EL.
I will never be a Premiershi* heretic again :D

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I think that's going to be the case for anyone following Leeds.

TUT TUT Hitman, by the way College check out the Championship,much better than the Premiership ;)

[QUOTE=razor
4tothefloor, do you think your brother finally settling on Utd may have been in direct opposition to you following Pool? Cos thats what happened in our house.[/QUOTE]

that happened in my gaff, I got a Manchester united 1988/1989 annual, christmas 1988, (still have it, makes for some great reading) when i was a mere seven years old, My brother who is two years my senior got the liverpool one, ever since i've followed Manchester United, and hes followed Liverpool !

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

That's life. Most Man U supporters are either glory hunters or bow to the peer pressure as kids in the class to follow them. :D

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That's a very sweeping statement. You could say the same about most Liverpool supporters in the 70's and 80's when I started supporting United. There was a lot of peer pressure to support Pool back then.
There wasn't much glory to be had for United supporters back then.

There wasn't much glory to be had for United supporters back then.[/QUOTE]


And there won't be much more for a long time to come either :D

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Originally Posted by Saints4Ever

There wasn't much glory to be had for United supporters back then.

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And there won't be much more for a long time to come either :D[/QUOTE]

9 days ain't too long :)

There was a time not so long ago when Manu considered the fa cup not good enough to even enter the competition,now it's the last resort for a bit of silverware :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Dublin12

There was a time not so long ago when Manu considered the fa cup not good enough to even enter the competition,now it's the last resort for a bit of silverware :rolleyes:

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And how much have the feeder club won in the last few years?

Im not too familiar with Royal Antwerp myself,perhaps you could let me know :D

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Originally Posted by razor

4tothefloor, do you think your brother finally settling on Utd may have been in direct opposition to you following Pool? Cos thats what happened in our house.

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It was one of the reasons, he was a Liverpool fan for ages, had a couple of jerseys with Ronnie Whelans number 5 on the back, but the main reason was he was just a glory hunter basically.

I just find the notion of someone "picking" a team utterly ridiculous, if they have no connection to that team. You pick a team because they're from your area, because you know a player, because your dad/mam was a fan, because it was the first team you ever saw in the flesh- not because they won something on the telly.

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Originally Posted by Éanna

I just find the notion of someone "picking" a team utterly ridiculous, if they have no connection to that team. You pick a team because they're from your area, because you know a player, because your dad/mam was a fan, because it was the first team you ever saw in the flesh- not because they won something on the telly.

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do u want to explain madrid so

Well I followed Liverpool because they had Ronnie Whelan, Lawernson, Beglin, and then Aldridge, Houghton, Staunton at the time. Whelan was, and still is, my favourite Liverpool and Irish player of all time. The football they played was class. I also started going to Ireland games around the same time, so seeing them in the flesh was a big thrill. Basically I followed Liverpool because of the Irish connection at the time. Since I started going to Liverpool, I've gotton to know the city and I love it. Great place, great people, even the Evertonians!

Of course in Irish football, you follow the team where you are born. However, following Limerick in the EL is not enough to feed my football appetite i'm afraid, and never has been. After 19 years of being a Liverpool supporter, there's no looking back now. What I don't understand is people who follow the EL preaching against supporting foreign clubs. It's basically just them being pi$$ed off with the state of Irish domestic football, a state caused by the morons who ran it when it was flying years ago, but invested nothing in return. It's Irish football's own fault that it is where it is today, not football fan's supporting foreign clubs.

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Originally Posted by thecorner

do u want to explain madrid so

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gladly :D It was the first jersey I ever got (aged 6). First team I ever saw in the flesh- I was there when I was 10 and I went to see them training and got some autographs after the training session. That plus, my folks lived there for 2 years before i was born and I've been going back there on holidays since I was 2.

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Originally Posted by Éanna

gladly :D It was the first jersey I ever got (aged 6). First team I ever saw in the flesh- I was there when I was 10 and I went to see them training and got some autographs after the training session. That plus, my folks lived there for 2 years before i was born and I've been going back there on holidays since I was 2.

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is eanna a spanish name then :D

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Originally Posted by thecorner

is eanna a spanish name then :D

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yeah, kinda like brooklyn :p no, its a galway name actually

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

Well I followed Liverpool because they had Ronnie Whelan, Lawernson, Beglin, and then Aldridge, Houghton, Staunton at the time. Whelan was, and still is, my favourite Liverpool and Irish player of all time. The football they played was class. I also started going to Ireland games around the same time, so seeing them in the flesh was a big thrill. Basically I followed Liverpool because of the Irish connection at the time. Since I started going to Liverpool, I've gotton to know the city and I love it. Great place, great people, even the Evertonians!

Of course in Irish football, you follow the team where you are born. However, following Limerick in the EL is not enough to feed my football appetite i'm afraid, and never has been. After 19 years of being a Liverpool supporter, there's no looking back now. What I don't understand is people who follow the EL preaching against supporting foreign clubs. It's basically just them being pi$$ed off with the state of Irish domestic football, a state caused by the morons who ran it when it was flying years ago, but invested nothing in return. It's Irish football's own fault that it is where it is today, not football fan's supporting foreign clubs.

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I don't agree with the "always support the local team" thing. Support the team you like most, for any reason, no matter if they're 1 km or 10000 km away. Preference for a club is the same as what music, women, art, movies, etc you like: it's an emotional thing that cannot always be rationally explained.

I support Ostend in Belgium ever since I seriously started to follow football (that was 12 years ago now) while I was born 70 km away from Ostend and never lived near the town until the 11th year of supporting the club when I actually lived in the city for a short while.
In national teams football, I am and remain a Norway fan. The Belgian national team doesn't move me, I don't care if they lose or not and will only watch them when there's nothing else to do. I support Norway as well when they are playing Belgium and went to the stadium even to cheer Norway against the Belgians. My favourite player Rushfeldt scored the equaliser so it was a tiptop evening for me :ball:

Support whatever team you like best. Just supporting a team because they're closest to your place is not a good reason IMO. Don't forget that it's not your city playing, it's just 11 players representing a sports club that happens to be based in your city. It's not because a club is named Liverpool FC that it is like the honour of Liverpool City is at stake ; the 11 players on the pitch may as well not even be from the town itself (I just pick LFC as an example, don't know if they have a Liverpudlian in the squad or not)

Same with national teams. Some of my friends back in my native country say I am 'wrong' because I don't support Belgium. They even say "at least I am a real Belgian". Nice one :rolleyes: 11 players having the Belgian citizenship does not mean that the team is Belgium ; it's just a team using the banner Belgium, but in the end it's just a team, you could just as well put 11 other players there and use the same name for the team...
The Norwegian squad contains some of my favourite players in the world. Why would I not support them while I have absolutely no emotional bond with the 11 players that are usually playing under the name Belgium ?? They all play for clubs that don't move me at all. I don't support against Belgium, I support against 11 players that THINK they are Belgium.

I see national teams the same as clubs: you pick the one you like most to support, for whatever reason. If it happens to be the country you live in, that's fine. If it's a country at the other end of the world, also fine. After all, you just support a team of 11 players you like, it's not like you actually support the country. Supporting the squad Brian Kerr selects does not mean you support Ireland as a state, you support just 11 players that represent a sports federations with office in Dublin.

And you don't need a valid reason to support a club/national team. Just the fact that for some reason you emotionally feel affection for the club is reason enough. There should not always be searched after a logical explanation for feelings of affection or disaffection. Same with love: feelings know no ratio, they just happen for some reason you can't explain. If it were as easy as "I like men/girls who look exactly like that and act exactly like that" it were very easy to find a perfect match, unfortunately (??) it doesn't work like that.

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Some of my friends back in my native country say I am 'wrong' because I don't support Belgium. 11 players having the Belgian citizenship does not mean that the team is Belgium; it's just a team using the banner Belgium, I have absolutely no emotional bond with the 11 players that are usually playing under the name Belgium?? Supporting the squad Brian Kerr selects does not mean you support Ireland as a state, you support just 11 players that represent a sports federations with office in Dublin.

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Choices in club football are different than International football. There should be no grey area when supporting national teams. You don't have a choice with International teams. If you're Irish, you support Ireland, if you're Brazilian, you support Brazil, and if you're Belgian, then you support Belgium. You should always, ALWAYS, support the country from where you are from. If we all followed your logic, we'd all support Brazil, or Germany, or France, because they all have good players. But we Irish support Ireland, because it's where we are from, and it is, good or bad, part of who we are. The rules are such that all of the squads in every International football team, must have some connection with the country, however small. It means a lot more than merely "representing a sports office in Dublin". The players also represent the people of the Republic of Ireland, in International football.

Well said Mypost about the international team.
If you have the passport and the citizenship that is the country you have as your#1. Now you can have anyone you like as #2 and you can also root for another country especially if you're lot fail to make the EURO Championships or the World Cup as the Republic of Ireland habitually failed to do until the arrival of Jack Charlton in 1986!

Some of the other countries I root for when we are not in the competition are
The Italians and Yugoslavia (a.k.a Serbia-Montenegro the Brazilians of Europe)

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

Well I followed Liverpool because they had Ronnie Whelan, Lawernson, Beglin, and then Aldridge, Houghton, Staunton at the time. Whelan was, and still is, my favourite Liverpool and Irish player of all time. The football they played was class. I also started going to Ireland games around the same time, so seeing them in the flesh was a big thrill. Basically I followed Liverpool because of the Irish connection at the time. Since I started going to Liverpool, I've gotton to know the city and I love it. Great place, great people, even the Evertonians!

Of course in Irish football, you follow the team where you are born. However, following Limerick in the EL is not enough to feed my football appetite i'm afraid, and never has been. After 19 years of being a Liverpool supporter, there's no looking back now. What I don't understand is people who follow the EL preaching against supporting foreign clubs. It's basically just them being pi$$ed off with the state of Irish domestic football, a state caused by the morons who ran it when it was flying years ago, but invested nothing in return. It's Irish football's own fault that it is where it is today, not football fan's supporting foreign clubs.

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4thtothefloor

If Limerick played Liverpool who would you be up for?
If your answer is Liverpool kindly burn your passport please! :mad:

I would be up for Limerick always in that scenario and I am not a Limerick FC supporter . Why?
Two reasons. 1/Limerick are the Irish team and 2/ are also The underdogs.

I have always liked the David in a David V Goliath situation. Hence my choice of club.

I have a friend who follows Shamrock Rovers and ManUre.
In fairness to him he was delighted when Rovers beat Man Utd in that famous friendly back in 1986. Mind you so was every genuine EL supporter back then to be fair.