Brand new modern fitba 2018-19 thread!! SEE YOU!!

Definitely. Move on from one Ripper to another. Can't be too London-centric.

 

"Slice, you're doing a fine job as program director but the board are concerned about the necessity of three separate 2-hour documentaries about Gerry Francis in the span of two weeks"

 

"Also, ratings for "'Fitbaw, Innit' Featuring Jimmeh" are not particularly strong"

 

Give it a chance! Seinfeld didn't start off with the greatest ratings either.

 

Do they stay open until the early hours of the morning though?

 

Yeah most do.

 

Soonds Dane gerous.

 

Slice, is it true that the streets of Copenhagen are loaded with upright walking, talking, armed Great Danes in policeman uniforms or am I just on acid right now looking at a picture of Peter Schmeichel?

 

it's all true!

 

Speaking of dogs, for some reason that post reminded me of this Golden Retriever. I love these big spazzy idiots

 

They're great... complete idiots and lazy as hell

 

When I saw the shortlist I assumed it'd be Manchester/salford, tbh.

 

Average league attendances last season

1. Dortmund 79.6k
2. Bayern Munich 75.0k
3. Man Utd 74.8k
4. Tottenham 67.8k
5. Barcelona 66.6k
6. Real Madrid 66.3k
7. Shalke 61.1k
8. Arsenal 59.2k
9. Celtic 57.7k
T. Inter 57.5k

Across leagues

Bundesliga : 44.5!
Premiership: 38.3
La liga: 27.3k
Seria a: 24.7
France: 22.5
Netherlands 19.7k
spl 16.0k
Portugal 11.9

 

Some European cities by total top flight average attendance since I was super curious where Glasgow would place and more to point am *that* bored

London 270k
Madrid 120k
Manchester 119k
Glasgow 111k
Milan 110k
Istanbul 104k
Lisbon 97k
Liverpool 92k
Barcelona 84k
Dortmund 80k
Munich 75k (86k including lower league 1860)
Rome 67k
Turin 57k

Hon mention: Hamburg which is 80k inc st Pauli

Fuck you, London

 

I'm probably being dumb as shit here because I've had little sleep but is London's number because of the amount of clubs? We must have the most football clubs out of any city in Europe.

 

Aye it's the total of the average attendance of top flight clubs. Purely because, as prodigiously bored as I am, there's no way I'm going thru 4 flights in every country . I bet London would be even further ahead if someone did tho

HOME! THE ENGLISH ARE TOO MANY!

 

Most cities in Europe have two clubs at most. London has, off the top of my head, six in the top flight alone. Glesga's number is pretty impressive.

 

Back in the hooligan days policing London on a Saturday must've been murder....dozens of sets of fans criss crossing all over the place

I just checked buenos aires - 128k across 5 clubs

 

The work which goes into making sure certain London club's fans don't bump into each other on the same day is intense. I know an ex-copper who used to work on football days, she said it was exhausting stuff. The only set of fans I've encountered when on the trip back from QPR is Arsenal at Hammersmith, but there's no real beef there so it was always fine.

I don't envy the people who arrange the fixtures before each season, must be a nightmare of a puzzle.

 

It had to have been absolutely hellish in the really severe hooligan days... having to try to prevent out and out riots every weekend

 

Aye no wonder fitbaw attendances were in the toilet. I'm not a timid sort but fuck dealing with the threat of aggro constantly

That reminds me actually I was at one of the last full on terrace riots in the uk when I was a kid - my grandad was staying in Clydebank and he took me to see them play dundee on a whim. Luckily we were in the seated bit, no trouble

 

It's nuts... you look at some of the crowds in those years and it looks scary as fuck ... I remember trying to explain The Old Firm, how it's tied in with overtones of Northern Ireland despite taking place in Glasgow etc to a good friend of mine and eventually I just gave up and showed him the 1980 cup final riot and he just couldn't believe it... there's that one unforgettable shot of the little boy who can't be any older than 6 in the Rangers scarf hiding in the goal crying his eyes out; imagine how terrifying it must've been for him, the adults around him stark raving mad attacking one another

And the way terracing was set up in those days where the people were herded in to pens like cattle, how easily one could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, literally pressed dead ... so many ominous warnings unheeded (that match in I think 1981? At Hillsbrough where the fans literally had no choice but to break out of the pens or else they'd literally have the breath squeezed right out of them; the horrifying Bradford City fire, etc) until it was too late... scary

I went to many Yankee games when the Bronx was one of the most dangerous places in North America but once you were in the stadium you were safe... yeah there were drunks and some shady people but you had a seat, you had air, space, safety ... there wasn't anything on the scale of potential danger inside that there was in British football in those years

 

Take away the fact it was an all seater stadium and the 'Hugh dallas' game in 1999 would've been as bad as 1980 there were fights in every direction, a dozen people running on the pitch (fully aware their tickets/names were linked to individual seats and they were on cctv) a guy fell off the upper tier, coins raining everywhere then after the game both sets of fans sprinting at each other through lines of polis horses, fights on every back street on the way back to the car. A dozen people died that night in 'football' related incidents. I was 13 and I was bricking it. The weirdest thing was the feeling in the air all day, even before the stadium filled, I know it sounds like silly hocus pocus but everyone who was there comments on that. Never been a 'normal' kick off time for an old firm game since

 

No I don't think it's hocus pocus ... there's always a mood to crowds

 

The kind of thing is completely alien to North American sports fans. Even the most heated of rivalries here don't compare to the animosity or potential violence some 3rd division clubs in Europe have. If you're wearing a rival jersey as an example you might either get some light hearted teasing or at worst some drunk might have a few nasty words for you. It's extremely unlikely you'd ever get beaten to a bloody pulp just for being a supporter of the wrong side.

 

I think it's because our professional leagues were started as business entities first, clubs second and being fixed leagues, there were fewer viable teams to support so team identification tended to be almost entirely geographic and free from any other connotations...

It's a good thing because imagine a hooligan culture here with the wide availability of firearms...

 

The guys at work are talking about Ranieri going back to Leicester once Puel is sacked. I cannot see that happening in all honesty.

 

Why would he take even if offered. Guy delivers them a miracle and then gets sacked not long after.

 

On the other hand, owner dies in horrific crash, all the sudden there's a job offer... obviously he's working with the DEEP STATE

 

Only the sheeple can't see it.