Dear Barclays Premier League Fans

[JGlass]

I hate to be an obnoxious American that calls attention to himself by being ignorant and loud... but I need a Premier League team to support.

Between playing FIFA, going to New York Red Bull games, and watching the occasional match on Fox Soccer Channel, football has quickly become a great joy to watch for me. I love the Red Bull, but the MLS can only do so much for me...

So I need a Premier League team to root for, and I need YOU to help me choose which one to becomes a supporter for.

I don't want it to be Arsenal, Chelsea, or Man U (don't want a consistent frontrunner), and I don't want it to be Liverpool (they're the "trendy" team to root for in the states), but after that I'm open.

I like teams that are generally considered the team of the "working class" (the Mets of Major League Baseball are like that), or teams that are the "second team" of a major city (Mets and Jets). Colors aren't that important to me, but my favorite colors, the colors of my favorite sports team, and the colors of my college are red and black.

I'm sure if I put in a good deal of research I could find a team to back, but I figured why research when there are a few dozen guys that live for football that can answer all my questions in a matter of seconds? So please, I request your help: tell me who to root for!

 

[#1Peep]

If you want a true underdog team to root for, Wolves (the team that I support) are a solid choice. Granted, they probably won't be in the Premier League next season unless they pull out an incredible run of form to close the season. They can play some really nice football at times and they have some real quality amongst their ranks.

Or maybe Tottenham, they are a big club but not what you would call front runners.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Working class? My advice would be to look into West Bromwich Albion, Swansea City and Stoke City. Until this season West Brom had a hard time rising into the Premier League and staying there past a season, I believe this is the first time in over a decade they'll have kept themselves in the league more than a year. Small club, with some great players. Ben Foster, James Morrison, Shane Long, Peter Odemwinge are a few, all pretty talented for a lower league club.

Swansea City are the first ever Welsh side to make it into the Premier League. This is their first season and their manager is already being tipped to return to the club he coached at before venturing into management, Chelsea. They'd some pretty good talent in the club, Michael Vom, Nathan Dyer, Scott Sinclair to name but a few. Very hard working, they were pretty much one of the favorites to go down at the start of the season but have done exceptionally well to be in 14th, eleven points off relegation.

And finally, Stoke City have built themselves from the bottom up. They are known to be one of the hardest places you can go to in the Premier League, definitely in the first couple of seasons they were one of the hardest if not the hardest working team, this season they've not been overly great and their Goal Difference shows that. Tony Pulis is the manager and most football fans seem to like him, he tells it like it is. They have a pretty good team overall, Matthew Etherington, Asmir Begovic, Peter Crouch who is to football as Big Show is to wrestling, Crouch is 6'7" and whenever he is playing well gets little credit. Probably going to be in the England Euro 2012 squad but will be on the bench.

After that, two other teams that come to mind are Sunderland and Newcastle. They're rivals from the same region of England, and as most know Lee supports Newcastle. So I'll allow him to sell you the Geordie's. Hope this was some form of help.

 

[Tastycles]

I am a Liverpool fan, but as I live in London, I had to pick a local team to go and watch, so I've been in a similar boat.

Fulham are the best team to support in the Premier League - it's unlikely they'll be relegated, they play decent football and they employ the best American footballer in the league in Clint Dempsey. Their home kit is white, but their away kit is always either red, black or both.

The working class thing doesn't really apply to football - every team is pretty much working class (though some have gained middle class support in recent years) - but Fulham's ground is less than a mile away from Chelsea's and as I'm sure you are aware, they are far less successful.

But not so unsuccessful that supporting them is lame, and they've given many unlikely fantastic performances just in the three seasons I've been going, not least this:

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Well I'm a Middlesbrough fan. They're not in the Premier League at the moment but looks like they can make the Championship Playoffs. They sit at 8th. At helm is a chairman that is beloved and the coach is a ex-player turned local legend. A statue of his sits right in front.

(Sigh) I wish to see them get promoted but a string of losses has killed our momentum. Anyway, I do see Emnes as someone who could do well in the big-boy league. Come on Boro!



Wait what was this thread about?


Oh ye JesusGlass wants a team. Ye go for Spurs or Newcastle. Doesn't get more working-classy than being a Toon fan, or so they say.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Newcastle or Fulham fit the bill nicely, and you'd have two reliable posters in Lee and Tasty to guide you regarding them.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

If you want to go against the grain of supporting the trend of Liverpool, then what about Everton? They're Landon Donovan's favourite team (probably) and have a fellow Yank in Tim Howard as they're goalkeeper.

The manager David Moyes has the 3rd longest tenure as a manager in the top-flight, only behind Wenger of Arsenal and Sir Alex of Man United. They operate on a tight budget yet continually finish in the top half of the league and can cause some big upsets. However, their strip is blue.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

The best team I can think of to meet your criteria would be Sunderland. First off, their look fits well with your team color preference:

Secondly, you'll have an automatic Mets / Yankees style rivalry established with Lee - our resident supporter of their biggest rivals, Newcastle. Both of these teams are as blue collar as you get.

Finally, they are a solid mid-table team with arguably the best manager in the Premier League in Martin O'Neill. No one could accuse you of jumping on any bandwagons!

Some basics:
Founded: 1879
Stadium: The Stadium of Light (capacity 49k)
Nickname: The Black Cats
Wiki Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunderland_A.F.C.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

The best team I can think of to meet your criteria would be Sunderland. First off, their look fits well with your team color preference:

Secondly, you'll have an automatic Mets / Yankees style rivalry established with Lee - our resident supporter of their biggest rivals, Newcastle. Both of these teams are as blue collar as you get.

Finally, they are a solid mid-table team with arguably the best manager in the Premier League in Martin O'Neill. No one could accuse you of jumping on any bandwagons!

Some basics:
Founded: 1879
Stadium: The Stadium of Light (capacity 49k)
Nickname: The Black Cats
Wiki Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunderland_A.F.C.

Oh when Lee sees you peddling the Mackems he's going to be a tad peeved!

Also, while O'Neill is a fine manager and gets good results from the clubs he works for, you'd have a hard time arguing he's the best manager in the league. Next season will be interesting to see what he can do in the summer transfer window and have control of a club from the very start.

As far as manager of the year, winning the league doesn't mean as much as its expected of United, so it's probably between Pardew, Lambert, Rogers and Moyes.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Stupid Mackems.

 

[Miko]

Support Wigan, your guaranteed an entertaining relegation battle from a team that play nice football, plus they have the worlds most positive manager.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Oh when Lee sees you peddling the Mackems he's going to be a tad peeved!

Also, while O'Neill is a fine manager and gets good results from the clubs he works for, you'd have a hard time arguing he's the best manager in the league. Next season will be interesting to see what he can do in the summer transfer window and have control of a club from the very start.

As far as manager of the year, winning the league doesn't mean as much as its expected of United, so it's probably between Pardew, Lambert, Rogers and Moyes.

Hence the 'arguably' part. However, O'Neill has several years of managerial excellence:

He brought Wycombe from non-league obscurity to the cusp of the old Division One (now the Championship).

Leicester City gained two League Cups and mid table security under his watch.

With Martin, Celtic broke the Rangers stranglehold on the SPL Title (something they had only managed once in the previous 12 seasons).

With limited funds he brought Aston Villa from a relegation dodging 16th to three straight 6th places.

Even in his current role, O'Neill has taken Sunderland from being 16th and in the relegation dog fight to 11th in the space of four months. It is also highly possible that he could lead them as high as 7th and this in a team bereft of any notable players.

To me, this is a résumé that gives him a legitimate claim to being the best manager in the Premier League as he can hardly be faulted for not having the bankrole that Sir Alex has.

Stupid Mackems.

Hope I ain't lumped in there, I'm a lifelong supporter of the Liverpool Red Sox!

 

[Loveless]

I don't want it to be Arsenal, Chelsea, or Man U (don't want a consistent frontrunner), and I don't want it to be Liverpool (they're the "trendy" team to root for in the states), but after that I'm open.

I'll add Man City to that list then.

Man Utd
Man City
Arsenal
Tottenham
Newcastle
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
Fulham
Norwich
Sunderland
Stoke
West Brom
Swansea
Aston Villa
Bolton
QPR
Blackburn
Wigan
Wolves

I like teams that are generally considered the team of the "working class"

There goes Tottenham and Fulham. And QPR as well too, seeing as they're in London.

Man Utd
Man City
Arsenal
Tottenham
Newcastle
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
Fulham
Norwich
Sunderland
Stoke
West Brom
Swansea
Aston Villa
Bolton
QPR
Blackburn
Wigan
Wolves

teams that are the "second team" of a major city (Mets and Jets). Colors aren't that important to me, but my favorite colors, the colors of my favorite sports team, and the colors of my college are red and black.

Villa are out and probably Swansea

Man Utd
Man City
Arsenal
Tottenham
Newcastle
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
Fulham
Norwich
Sunderland
Stoke
West Brom
Swansea
Aston Villa
Bolton
QPR
Blackburn
Wigan
Wolves

That leaves

Newcastle
Everton
Norwich
Sunderland
Stoke
West Brom
Bolton
Blackburn
Wigan
Wolves

and I'd cross the bottom 4 out as they might not be around next season.

5th. Newcastle (Black and white, rivals of Sunderland)
7th. Everton (Blue, rivals of Liverpool)
10th. Norwich (Yellow)
11th. Sunderland (Red and white, rivals of Newcastle)
12th. Stoke (Red and white, rivals of Wolves and West Brom)
13th. West Brom (Black and white, rivals of Aston Villa)

As a Newcastle fan, anyone but Sunderland.

 

[Davi323]

Wolverhampton, simply because that is the best city name ever.

 

[Loveless]

Wolverhampton, simply because that is the best city name ever.

He wants a Premier League team

 

[Davi323]

He wants a Premier League team

They are.

 

[Барбоса]

They are.

The likelihood is that their tenure in the Premiership will have ended by this time next month.

Bottom of the table, six points from safety with six games left, two of which are against teams in the top four.

 

[Davi323]

The likelihood is that their tenure in the Premiership will have ended by this time next month.

Bottom of the table, six points from safety with six games left, two of which are against teams in the top four.

Maybe, but as of right now, they are. And, it is still an awesome city name. Which is the only reason I listed them.

 

[Барбоса]

There are so many better team names in the football league.

Accrington Stanley (who are they?) immediately springs to mind but there are so many others.

 

[Gelgarin]

Hamilton Academicals have a pretty kick ass name.

 

[JGlass]

I'm very grateful for all the feedback and the time many of you put into this. You've helped a great deal and I think I'm on the verge of picking my team. It's down to three...

Fulham- They employ Clint Dempsey, who I know fairly well from the World Cup, they have the right colors, and Tasty recommends them, and he's the smartest. Also, after some research, I've determined that the owner is a self-made billionaire. That's pretty cool too. I also like their nickname, The Cottagers, as it seems distinctly English. Their mascot is nuts too.

Everett- Not only am I familiar with Timmy Howard from World Cup play, but as a Red Bull fan, I was also a fan of the Metrostars, where Tim Howard got his start! He's like an old friend with nervous ticks and the occasional outburst of profanity (but seriously, TS is a serious disorder). They're rivals with Liverpool, which would put me at odds with the many American Liverpool fans. That's DEFINITELY a plus. Then again, most American Liverpool fans probably don't know who's on what team.

Sunderland- The idea of having a rivalry with Lee and Loveless tickles me. The team is owned by an American, which is a huge surprise to me. Alas, I doubt I'll support them as they have no Americans on the field, they seem to be all over the board in terms of their record, and their kits are fucking goofy looking.

So really, it's between Fulham and Everton. I'm going to do a little more research, but what should I know about each team before I make a decision?

 

[Барбоса]

The Scots certainly can have something of a poetic flourish when it comes to naming their football teams - Heart of Midlothian, Blyth Spartans, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Gala Fairydean

 

[The Dragon Saga]

The Scots certainly can have something of a poetic flourish when it comes to naming their football teams - Heart of Midlothian, Blyth Spartans, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Gala Fairydean

Hibernian. Simple but effective.

 

[Vega]

If you like working class teams the modern Premier League may not be your thing. Almost every team is owned by multimillionaires / billionaires and the stadium atmosphere became horrible in recent years by getting out working class people with high ticket prices and banning terraces among other things.

If you're interested in working class clubs, fan culture and atmosphere instead of battles of the billionaires the Bundesliga might be the right thing for you. There are English fans who fly over to Germany to watch matches because even with plane tickets it's cheaper and the atmosphere is much better. From a German (and to a certain degree English) fan pespective English football is dead, but it depends on what you like in it. To compare the ticket price: I pay 180 pounds for my season ticket which includes 21 matches while the cheapest Chelsea ticket is 36 pounds.
There are people and clubs who try to adopt the English model in the Bundesliga, but there is a lot of resistance from most fans and clubs, especially those with strong fan bases. There are some billionaire's clubs (Hoffenheim with Dietmar Hopp, Wolfsburg with Volkswagen, Leipzig with Red Bull), but they are hated by almost everyone.

I'll make a case for my club, Borussia Dortmund, but there are other great clubs like St. Pauli or Kaiserslautern.

The club is strong because of the fans like few in the world and has an impressive history and culture. The fans are known for their loud and continous support, which is why the Westfalenstadion was elected best football stadium by The Times for the great atmosphere. We also lead in terms of average league match attendance with over 80,000 fans per match.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_attendances_of_European_football_clubs

Some videos of the atmosphere:

[youtube]2NPYJ5XOggs[/youtube]

Atmosphere of a whole match (montage)

[youtube]38bjkqU2Css[/youtube]

"Deutscher Meister" (German champion) choreo

[youtube]dqp6KTuWJU0[/youtube]

"100 Jahre" (100th birthday) choreo

Dortmund lies in the Ruhr district where hard work and commitment is valued over success and dominance. The fans are very staunch and supportive and won't abandon their team during hard times or bad matches. That's one of the key factors in why the club survived the almost-smashup of 2005 and was able to play a good role in many decades. Boos against the own team are frowned upon and support is expected over the full length of a match.

Currently it seems like a golden era is lying ahead, with a great emotional (and a bit crazy) trainer in Jürgen Klopp, a lot of talented young players (many of whom are homegrown) and healthy finances. The last player bought who cost more than five million pounds was Frings in 2002. Compare that to other teams who have similar success and you'll see a big difference.
The style is very hard-running, pressing and teamwork based. And it pays. Dortmund is the current champion and leads the league in front of juggernaut Bayern München (Munich) who have a very arrogant and high-class demeanor and generally aren't liked.

If you want a club of honest endeavor, passionate commitment and loyal fans through good and bad times, a club with ups and downs and a clear profile, Borussia Dortmund is for you.

Tonight (14:00 EDT) is a very important match between Dortmund (currently first) and Bayern (currently second), you might want to check it out.

That's it for now, I have to get to the stadium.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

The Scots certainly can have something of a poetic flourish when it comes to naming their football teams - Heart of Midlothian, Blyth Spartans, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Gala Fairydean

Dundee United...aye, very poetic.