Between the ages of seven and fifteen, or thereabouts, I could have named every football league club with my eyes shut*, as well as most of the Conference, and most of the Wales team between 1993-1996. I wouldn't even get close now. I can remember obsessively reading cricket scorecards when I was a kid, and constructing Greatest Team Of The Week out of them. In a way, I miss it.

* you know what I mean.

Gangster Octopus wrote:

QUOTE:
Bored Of Football wrote:

QUOTE:
My knowledge of anything below Division 2 (in old money) is pretty patchy

Fuck me, you've forgotten quickly.

He's not really forgotten, he was always pretty patchy on the lower leagues when we were in them.

Jimmy Bignutz wrote:

QUOTE:
We talk about kits a lot, and most of my favourite kits contain the same (excellent) brand.

I always use "kit manufacturer", though I don't mind the word "brand" when it's actually about, er, a brand.

EIM wrote:

QUOTE:
Harri Saer wrote:

QUOTE:
No, Man U is acceptable. It's the most concise, meaningful abbreviation and it reminds me of being seven.

No. It really isn't.

Genuine question, why not?

I have never thought of it as a term of derision.

Cavalry Trouser Tips wrote:

QUOTE:
'Footie' is used a lot in Yorkshire.

It's not used the horrendous television-advert middle-England hawking insurance type fan way:

QUOTE:
I'm just talking about last night's footee! Wasn't it marvellous?!

but more in the:

QUOTE:
are yer comin' dahn tahn to watch footeh?

way.

I would allow "footeh" as a seperate word from "footie".

Sounds like you're just making allowances now Harri, for regional accents in this case.

Yorshireman saying footie is OK, home counties dweller, no.

Man U - now there's another abbreviation that I just don't have a problem with and yet many others do. It's quick to say and it doesn't lead to any ambiguity like 'United.'

When I was a kid I could have named every English and Scottish league club, and their grounds. But I think this had less to do with being a 'real fan' than with Shoot! and its league ladders.

Jon wrote:

QUOTE:
Sounds like you're just making allowances now Harri, for regional accents in this case.

Yorshireman saying footie is OK, home counties dweller, no.

Absolutely, I am one of the latter so it causes me far more problems. The former is really quite quaint and sweet.

QUOTE:
All these threads essentially boil down to "you can't be a real football fan unless you're exactly the same as me".

Err, no, Jimmy, you have blasted that one way over the bar.

I am expecting and hoping that a lot of the people in the club are waaaay more informed than I am. I am already finding some of the qualifications frightening.

That is why it has to be my dictatorship, my domain, I must be master of all I survey. Otherwise, I will be in danger of being ousted myself

''No, Man U is acceptable. It's the most concise, meaningful abbreviation and it reminds me of being seven.


No. It really isn't.


Genuine question, why not?

I have never thought of it as a term of derision.''


ever heard of Sheff U...or Newcastle U...or West Ham U...or Leeds U...

for that matter Man C...

its the old United (ding) question again...why do they get an abbreviated appellation all to themselves which is common currency in football terms..

Ale, just in case you were wondering, Man United fans (certainly the more hardcore ones) absolutely detest the phrase "Man U".

Surely not as much as they detest "Manyoo", though.

Who needs to say Leeds U, West Ham U or Newcastle U? The United bit, while not redundant, is not needed in a normal conversation - everyone know who you are talking about with these teams. (Although, anyone who has got the Adrian Sherwood/On-U Sound Barmy Army album will hear he samples a 'West Ham U' chant from the terraces of Upton Park.)

Sheff U. Hmm, I've never heard that abbreviated, you're right. I'm afraid it simply comes down to the fact that Man Utd are a much more talked about club, nationally, than Sheffield Utd so they get the abbreviation.

Sheff U is an abbreviation I've heard quite often.

Man/Newcastle/Leeds/Sheff U works much better written down than spoken, obviously.

Funnily enough, you'd hear 'Man U' (or your preferred phonetic representation) pretty often at school in my corner of Salford.