Unreciprocated rivalries

[Kevin S]

Unreciprocated rivalries

ad hoc wrote: Even more than Wednesday-United? Hard to believe

Apologies, a couple of errors of memory there - the report was from 2008 but I can't access it as it is on a pools website which is blocked. They used other factors as well, such as frequency of matches. And Norwich/Ipswich was only second, behind Wolves-WBA. The Sheffield derby was seventh.

There is reference to it here.

Top football rivalries
1. West Bromwich Albion & Wolves
Even though both Villa Park and St Andrew's are close to the Hawthorns, West Bromwich still look a dozen miles north to Wolves as the subjects of their reciprocated dislike. It's been going on for 122 years, and reached its zenith last season when the two teams met five times in various competitions.
2. Ipswich Town & Norwich City
They call it the Old Farm Derby. Though East Anglia wouldn't be considered one of football's hotbeds, the rivalry between Ipswich and Norwich is fierce, intense and long-standing. The fact they are out on a limb geographically, and have played each other with remarkable frequency over the years, are major factors.
3. Liverpool & Manchester United
Both have same-city rivals, but Liverpool and United consider the one separated by the East Lancs Road as much bigger. Some say it's because they regularly competed for the same trophies; others that it is down to the culture of the two cities, whether in sport, the arts or music.
4. Portsmouth & Southampton
Harry Redknapp's oscillation between the two clubs polarised the intensity of the rivalry. But it has always been there: they have long called each other ‘Scummers'. It probably dates back to sea-faring days: Portsmouth being the home of the Royal Navy, Southampton the home of the Merchant Navy.
5. Cardiff City & Swansea City
The two cities are neighbours on the south Wales coast, and their rivalry is deeply embedded both culturally and in sporting terms. Though the teams haven't met for eight years, the enmity hasn't decreased: Swansea players unfurled an anti-Cardiff banner after winning the 2006 Football League Trophy at the Millennium Stadium.
6. Aston Villa & Birmingham
7. Sheffield United & Sheffield Wednesday
8. Bristol Rovers & Bristol City
9. Newcastle & Sunderland
10. Brighton & Crystal Palace
11. Derby & Nottingham Forest
12. Blackpool & Preston
13. Darlington & Hartlepool
14. Luton & Watford
15. Blackburn & Burnley
16. Port Vale & Stoke
17. Arsenal & Tottenham
18. Grimsby & Scunthorpe
19. Everton & Liverpool
20. Leeds & Man United
21. Chester & Wrexham
22. Chesterfield & Mansfield
23. Northampton & Peterborough
24. Bury & Rochdale
25. Man City & Man United
26. Coventry & Leicester
27. Millwall & West Ham
28. Accrington Stanley & Morecambe
29. Colchester & Southend
30. Macclesfield & Stockport

[Paul S]

Unreciprocated rivalries

nmrfox wrote:

Do Southend have a rivalry with anyone?

Southend are obsessed with Colchester, and pretend not to be interested in Orient but they are. The derby with Gillingham is also pretty hot with the two towns on either side of the Thames estuary. The hatred for Birmingham after Barry Fry went there in the mid-90's still hasn't gone either.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Green Calx wrote:

Rangers and Aberdeen

They hate each other's guts. I would call that one quite reciprocated.

Of course I'm talking about the more excitable elements in both supports. I can't picture AMMS harbouring hatred for anyone.

This is totally unquantifiable, but I would be astonished if your average Rangers supporter spent more than 0.5% of their year thinking about Aberdeen.

Perhaps you're right, but good luck singing 'Nice one, Simmy' in front of one of them.

[ad hoc]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Thanks kev. Strikes me as a flawed survey (it would be nice to know what the criteria were), since I'd say Newcastle Sunderland; Southampton-Portsmouth, and Wednesday-United, were by far the most reciprocated rivalries in England. If Man Utd Liverpool is above those 3, however passionate that rivalry is (and obviously it is), then there's something I don;t buy into

[Various Artist]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Paul S wrote:

Do Southend have a rivalry with anyone?

Southend are obsessed with Colchester, and pretend not to be interested in Orient but they are. The derby with Gillingham is also pretty hot with the two towns on either side of the Thames estuary.

Ah, that is interesting — I wondered if there might be some cross-estuary needle due to the proximity there, but hadn't consciously heard about it before. Some of my best friends are from Southend, but don't give a monkey's about football unfortunately so are of no help at all.

I was being flippant before about the Norwich-Ipswich relationship; clearly it is strongly reciprocal, and it's one of the most neatly balanced as the clubs are broadly the same size, have unrivalled hegemony in their own county and have tended to take turns in the ascendancy historically so each gets to look down smugly on the other, depending on present league trajectory or on which past glories are being raked over. I think the head-to-head is something like 80-35-78* in Ipswich's favour, i.e. supremely closely balanced as well. The relatively long distance over which the rivalry is played out makes it a curious one since the 'contest' is for preeminence over the whole region, not merely a city or district of one county, and so on the one hand it means you have the sense of two entire counties swinging as one to face each other down, yet at the same time there's a partial diluting by distance — I mean, I have an affection for Ipswich as a fellow East Anglian side, living afar as I do, in a way I might not were it a rival side within Norwich, say; it maybe helps I don't live over there in the eye of the storm so to speak. (Kev I believe has a foot in both camps and Cambridge's (?) as well.) If the two end up going at it in the Championship playoff final it would be phenomenally exciting, and yes undoubtedly there would be an awful lot of heat there.

It would be intriguing to see what if anything happens to the, well, not balance of power, but the shifting web of relationships, if Lowestoft and King's Lynn rise any higher in the pyramid. At the moment as far as I know they're not treated with anything but fond pat-on-the-head little brotherness by the top dogs in the region, although I'd be interested to learn if there's any animosity the other way toward the teams from the local Big Smoke, or if they're purely concerned with old rivalries from the local level or current/recent tiers of the pyramid.

Edit: * OK, I seem to have contrived to roughly double the numbers somehow — it appears to be 45-17-44 to Ipswich at present, but even tighter than I thought in other words.

[earnest]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Green Calx wrote:

Rangers and Aberdeen

They hate each other's guts. I would call that one quite reciprocated.

Of course I'm talking about the more excitable elements in both supports. I can't picture AMMS harbouring hatred for anyone.

This is totally unquantifiable, but I would be astonished if your average Rangers supporter spent more than 0.5% of their year thinking about Aberdeen.

There's no "rivalry" as we have been outgunned by Rangers through history and we haven't even been in the same division for three years but there is "hatred". Most Dons fans would own up to "hating" Celtic and Rangers with a vengeance, not really the same as a rivalry reciprocated or not.

[G-Man]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Evariste Euler Gauss wrote: re Man Utd and Leeds, I do believe the two sides have played each other not that many years ago. Hang on, I remember now, it was January 2010, FA Cup 3rd round. I can't remember the result, though presumably Man U enjoyed a comfortable victory, what with being two divisions higher up the system? Can somebody check for me please?

That game proves the point of this thread. For most Man Utd fans, the defeat was annoying because it was to a lower league team, not so much because it was Leeds. Of course, Man Utd aren't going start wishing Leeds well, but it didn't hurt like losing to Liverpool or the team from the Manchester Municipal Sports Ground would.

Leeds haven't really mattered to Man Utd since the 1970s, that interlude in the 1990s notwithstanding.

[Patrick Thistle]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Benjm wrote: Walsall aren't really seen as peers by any of the other West Mids teams.

The everyone's second favourite tag really bugs hardcore Swifts fans.

What? I don't know anyone who would call them their second favourites.

[jameswba]

Unreciprocated rivalries

I don't really see how they justify WBA-Wolves being top of that table Kevchenko posted. It's hardly an unreciprocated rivalry - I'd say it belongs in the top ten - but WBA fans' attention does waver from it a little when we're sharing a division with Villa.

Newcastle-Sunderland, Wednesday-United and Norwich-Ipswich are surely more worthy of being top as they're much less diluted by (so to speak) rival rivalries.

Interesting point about Bolton. Haven't there been attempts to contrive a rivalry with Wigan over recent seasons?

[jeanmid]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Stumpy Pepys wrote:
Fans of a certain age have a certain rabid dislike of Wolves.

Thanks to a certain John McGuinlay

[Giggler]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Stumpy Pepys wrote: I always feel Bolton have been lacking a natural rival since the mid-90s.

In my lifetime it's kind of vacillated between Manchester United and Bury.

Man U was fair enough when footballer was in black and white, but — despite some memorable wins in the Allardyce years – they're really too big to be especially concerned with us.

Bury were a continual thorn in our side in the 80s and early 90s, but we've not been in the same division since then.

Bolton-Blackburn games are pretty vocal these days, but we know that they reserve their loathing for Burnley.

Fans of a certain age have a certain rabid dislike of Wolves.

Apologies, hadn't seen this nefore jumping into the other thread feet-first.

[Jobi1]

Unreciprocated rivalries

G-Man wrote:

re Man Utd and Leeds, I do believe the two sides have played each other not that many years ago. Hang on, I remember now, it was January 2010, FA Cup 3rd round. I can't remember the result, though presumably Man U enjoyed a comfortable victory, what with being two divisions higher up the system? Can somebody check for me please?

That game proves the point of this thread. For most Man Utd fans, the defeat was annoying because it was to a lower league team, not so much because it was Leeds. Of course, Man Utd aren't going start wishing Leeds well, but it didn't hurt like losing to Liverpool or the team from the Manchester Municipal Sports Ground would.

Leeds haven't really mattered to Man Utd since the 1970s, that interlude in the 1990s notwithstanding.

Have to say the last time I was in Old Trafford (in 2007) I was surprised and rather amused by the quantity of songs sung that were anti-Leeds, so some people must still care!

Apparently York are the only team in the league that nobody considers to be a rival, so essentially anything we consider a rivalry is unreciprocated. I'll just make it fair and say we hate you all equally.

[zahidf]

Unreciprocated rivalries

AFC wimbledon vs Milton Keynes. It's hard to have a rivalry with a club which doesn't exist

[Giggler]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Jobi1 wrote:

re Man Utd and Leeds, I do believe the two sides have played each other not that many years ago. Hang on, I remember now, it was January 2010, FA Cup 3rd round. I can't remember the result, though presumably Man U enjoyed a comfortable victory, what with being two divisions higher up the system? Can somebody check for me please?

That game proves the point of this thread. For most Man Utd fans, the defeat was annoying because it was to a lower league team, not so much because it was Leeds. Of course, Man Utd aren't going start wishing Leeds well, but it didn't hurt like losing to Liverpool or the team from the Manchester Municipal Sports Ground would.

Leeds haven't really mattered to Man Utd since the 1970s, that interlude in the 1990s notwithstanding.

Have to say the last time I was in Old Trafford (in 2007) I was surprised and rather amused by the quantity of songs sung that were anti-Leeds, so some people must still care!

Apparently York are the only team in the league that nobody considers to be a rival, so essentially anything we consider a rivalry is unreciprocated. I'll just make it fair and say we hate you all equally.

With a bit more put by for Bury after that incident before the play-offs in 1993? There seems to be a lot of hate for us from sections of your support.

[ingoldale]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Hamish! Dougal! wrote: Us and Scunthorpe. We pity them, they bang on about lack of coverage on local radio and call us unpleasant names. Bless.

Presumably this a Hull fan. You can extend that to Scunny and GY and v anyone else from Yorkshire due to their constant unwanted attempts to annex the northern part of Lincolnshire.

Also from Grimsby, Wolves (and Arsenal). I refer you to the 30s and the FA Cup. And the fact that they always bemoaned "having to come to Grimsby on a Tuesday night".

Newcomers for a special mention: Gateshead.

[EIM]

Unreciprocated rivalries

There's quite a few of our young lads who sing about hating Leeds. Young enough that I doubt they remember the last time they played in the PL, so it evidently does matter to some.

I'm too old and jaded for hatred*. It doesn't matter enough, does it?

*Terms and conditions apply

[Stumpy Pepys]

Unreciprocated rivalries

jonmid wrote:

Fans of a certain age have a certain rabid dislike of Wolves.

Thanks to a certain John McGuinlay

If you're referring to Super John's 'little' altercation with David Kelly, that didn't help matters, but I think it goes back to the 80s.

Ooh, someone's uploaded it to YouTube. It's about 53s in. Greavesie is understandably unimpressed.

[jeanmid]

Unreciprocated rivalries

By little altercation you mean McGinlay punching Kelly and not getting sent off

[Giggler]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Stumpy Pepys wrote:

Fans of a certain age have a certain rabid dislike of Wolves.

Thanks to a certain John McGuinlay

If you're referring to Super John's 'little' altercation with David Kelly, that didn't help matters, but I think it goes back to the 80s.

Ooh, someone's uploaded it to YouTube. It's about 53s in. Greavesie is understandably unimpressed.

That Dirty Sod McGinlay also went in studs up on Gary Kelly in a Coca Cola Cup game in 1993, in which Luther Blissett scored for Bury.

The hat-trick that McGinlay scored for Bury at Burnden Park in 1991 now may as well be erased from the records. To Bury fans, he's nothing more than a thug.

[1974ddr]

Unreciprocated rivalries

John McGinlay also had a spell as player-manager of the mighty Gresley Rovers some years ago. It's probably fair to say that by the time he joined Rovers he was no longer the finely-tuned athlete we all remember from his Bolton days. His debut came as a substitute against some bunch of cloggers (Gloucester City? Bilston Town?) whose right back had spent seventy five minutes kicking our eighteen year old left winger. McGinlay entered the fray, and his first action was to boot the offending full back about four feet in the air, then repeat the treatment when he came back down. A fairly indulgent ref issued a yellow.
Sadly that was pretty much the highlight of his Gresley career, which reportedly cost the club a small fortune and ended when he was seduced by the bright lights of Ilkeston.

[chien_andalusia]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Orient and, er, anyone.

We just don't seem to have any real animosity built up with any team at all. Geographically it should be West Ham or Spurs but clearly we're irrelevant to them and they've got bigger Spurs/Arsenal/Chelsea shaped fish to fry.

Around our level we've built up a bit of a thing at various times recently with Brighton (more concerned with Palace), Southend (more bothered about Colchester) and perhaps Brentford, but they've died out immediately as soon as we stopped playing each other regularly and they never really seemed to hate us much either.

Whenever WSC do their pre-season poll no one really seems to pick us out as a team they dislike. Although this season we'll probably pick ourselves.

[pebblethefish]

Unreciprocated rivalries

[quote=Kevchenko post=1043680]
4. Portsmouth & Southampton
Harry Redknapp's oscillation between the two clubs polarised the intensity of the rivalry. But it has always been there: they have long called each other ‘Scummers'. It probably dates back to sea-faring days: Portsmouth being the home of the Royal Navy, Southampton the home of the Merchant Navy.
quote]

No one in Southampton would ever call someone from Portsmouth a scummer. They're skates, we're scummers.

[Muller Road Take Me Home]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Greenlander wrote: Exeter certainly have a thing for Argyle, see Division 4 threads passim. The posters on here can confirm but I believe they did see Bristol Rovers in a similar way as we did Bristol City.

Yeah, Exeter seem to have a thing about us. Their crew have even been known to turn up at Torquay in order to fight our mob. We have no interest in them whatsoever beyond it being a handy hop down the M5.

Cheltenham and Yeovil dislike us. We don't care about Cheltenham and Yeovil... well there is some dislike, largely stemming from some feisty encounters in their first Gary Johnson era and us usually coming off second best. Once we're above them again I'm sure we'll not be bothered any longer.

[McAvennie]

Unreciprocated rivalries

The Rangers, and the Scottish press, seem especially keen to create a rivalry between them and Celtic.

[N est à?]

Unreciprocated rivalries

Ahaha