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    #26
    Originally posted by elguapo4 View Post
    Weren't we all, to get back on thread I bet sky are wetting themselves over the prospect of a man utd, man city, Chelsea and arsenal league cup semi final line up, come on Bournemouth and Bristol City
    Or Leicester... Talking of which, penalties deep into stoppage time are a slight return of two seasons ago and that is why I'm definitely not turned off from the Premier League. That said I watch less of Match of the Day now than when I didn't have a dog or two in the fight. I don't see much need to torture myself watching defeats I know are coming.
    As for lower level Football, I'm less interested in that than the Premier League. I've barely watched a game in years where I don't have some personal connection to one of the teams, which isn't the case for top flights, either in England or elsewhere. I don't regard it as somehow more real or connected, but more like with all the same drives present but not manifested as the clubs involved are not currently in a position to do so. They would (and generally do) if they could. I still like Football as a spectacle, it remains a brilliant sport in and of itself. As I'm often watching just to see the it played and for no other reasons, I'll pick something where it is being done decently well.

    I don't watch much Champions or Europa League, through a mix of disinterest and being busy on midweek evenings.
    Last edited by Janik; 19-12-2017, 21:54.

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      #27
      I watch a lot of Championship football and Brazilian football live when I’m there, though the quality of the latter is generally dire and getting worse. It helps that my team play excellent, if not always successful, football and that we have an admirable owner and manager.

      I haven’t watched a Premier League game live for more than a decade and when it’s on TV it’s largely background noise and I will look up from what I’m doing if a goal goes in. It doesn’t help that I often despise the clubs and their managers and usually want both teams to lose. It’s slightly worrying that I’ve begun to feel the same way about many non-Brentford-involved Championship games.

      Then there’s the various highlight shows, podcasts and message boards so it would be positively unhealthy to waste any more of my time watching the Premier League.

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        #28
        I went to see Shels play Pats around this time (though it could have been Bohs) and to see Derry win 3-2 in the UCD bowl, which was well weird. They Brought a fucking drum and sang all the way through. It was nuts in that weird makeshift arena, and really nuts when you looked around to see just how empty it was. They were decent enough games. But I have no interest in the League of ireland. for much the same reason that the follower of a fourth tier club may not watch the premier league. There's three tiers of football in Ireland. Senior clubs (the 20 or so league teams) intermediate teams and Junior teams. My local team is one of the oldest clubs in the country, older than all bar five LOI clubs. and in 1929-30 they won the Intermediate FAI cup, while the third team in our town of 2,000 people (then) lost the final of the junior cup. Now there's one club and they play junior football, and the gap in quality between junior football and LOI football isn't big enough to overcome the fact that I'm from Cahir and not inchicore, drumcondra or phibsboro.

        Even In galway, the League of Ireland club isn't my local team. Galway United serve the North of the city. Salthill Devon are the team of the west, and Mervue are the team in the east. At one point all three were in the second tier of the LOI. but salthill, and Mervue have gone back down to intermediate level. I mean I could in theory go to watch Galway United, but it's miles away, and they are fucking awful. I mean properly fucking abject god love them.

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          #29
          I watch Match of the Day at this site. They used to interrupt it randomly every ten minutes with an annoying 30-second ad (always the same one), so I stopped, but now they run uninterrupted. Watch Lincoln games live on iFollow.

          Otherwise I watch Bundesliga and BL2 and the European competitions. Sometimes whole games if I can; sometimes the 'live conference' - jumping around several matches (particularly good for the European group stages); often just highlights. Never bother with Italy or Spain any more. Didn't catch a single second of MLS this year, though Eurosport may still be running live games at 2am.

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            #30
            I've completely lost interest.

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              #31
              My own trough ended in 2009 and I'm definitely more interested right now, but then this is likely to be the highpoint that the club will reach during my entire lifetime. I refuse to pay for Sky and don't bother with BT Sport, so Burnley highlights on the official website aside, my only interaction with MOTD is if I get up early enough on a Sunday. I've probably watched more of the Championship on 5 than MOTD. In fact, I've probably watched more of the Jupiler League on FreeSports than I have MOTD. I care more about the Championship because, lets be honest, its just about our natural level so we're going to be back there soon.

              I did use to sit down and watch the Champions League on ITV, but moving to BT put paid to that.

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                #32
                I've been to more games this season already then I have usually managed in an entire season for 20 years. This is helped by Shrewsbury doing unexpectedly well and making friends with people who go to matches locally and going with them.

                I watch MOTD and MOTD2. Never had paid for Sky but I get SSN so sometimes watch Jeff et al on a Saturday afternoon. By watch, I mean I have it on while doing stuff. People share the Shrewsbury goals in Facebook for games I haven't been to.

                Never really cared about the Champions League. I watched the 2017 final because it was in Cardiff. The cheating and general horribleness of Real Madrid confirmed my prejudices against the Champions League.

                I listen to Five Live including 606 in the kitchen if I'm cooking or washing up. Or if Five Live are orgasming in excitement about the latest Brexit news I switch to Talksport. I generally listen to Talksport in the car. I want company but not company that bangs on about fucking Brexit every fucking morning.

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                  #33
                  And a friend has got me playing Sky Super 6 so I do check the results to see how I've done. I'm generally crap though as too often my heart over rules my head and I want to see eg Huddersfield winning at Old Trafford, say.

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                    #34
                    Originally posted by Janik View Post
                    As for lower level Football, I'm less interested in that than the Premier League. I've barely watched a game in years where I don't have some personal connection to one of the teams, which isn't the case for top flights, either in England or elsewhere. I don't regard it as somehow more real or connected, but more like with all the same drives present but not manifested as the clubs involved are not currently in a position to do so.
                    Agree with this. I watch far more lower and non-league football than Premier League games but that's because I like going to crappier grounds and have always watched relatively crappy football thanks to living most of my life in Scotland. It's what I'm used to - seeing players do things like accurately pass the ball most of the time rather than belt it in the air seems weird. I suppose that level is more "connected" in that there's less likely to be international money kicking around and, in non-league, more local players, but I don't think that makes it any mpre "real".

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                      #35
                      I stayed with the Champions League longer than I should have due to just loving to watch Iniesta and Messi, but I stopped for good when the final moved to Saturdays, a fucking ridiculous and disgusting decision even by UEFA standards. Also Barcelona became as wanky Galactico pointless after Guardiola left.

                      I have to say, however, that I have enjoyed Man City's last three games. Obviously it's a bought title but the team is playing football that is often joyously good, like Milan during their early Channel 4 games in 1992. But now they've seen off Man U and Spurs, it's going to be exhibition stuff and totally pointless as well.

                      Relegation dogfights in May can be fun, and the Schadenfreude of Sunderland finally going down in ignominious fashion.

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                        #36
                        Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
                        My own trough ended in 2009 and I'm definitely more interested right now, but then this is likely to be the highpoint that the club will reach during my entire lifetime.
                        This resonates with me as I am also a Burnely fan (born in Burnley but grew up in Southend) and I keep on telling myself that it won't get any better than this but the enthusiasm still isn't there. I can't connect with the club the way I used to, the link and passion which was there as a teenager has now long since departed. I don't know how or why I came to feel like this and I still get excited when I see Burnley playing on the TV, but the whole premier league just feels so obscene it turns me off. I know the fourth division days were dark ones, but I feel more connection with the likes of Roger Eli, Tony Hancock and Graham Lancashire than the current first team squad.

                        That's not to say I have lost my passion for the game completely. I'm of to watch Barking v Witham Town in the Ryman League North on Boxing Day which is something I'm really looking forward to.

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                          #37
                          Yeah, but that is just part of getting old. As someone who delights in the accepted order of things being usurped, the concept of one of the BRCs losing out on a Champions League place to a knackered mill town in Lancashire is something I find hilarious. We're not going to do a Leicester and seeing Lawro, Crooks et al doing a rundown of the league table and skipping over a slot because their tiny minds cannot comprehend what is in front of them is amusing.

                          Plus every time someone tunes in to one of the matches to see what the fuss is about, we're inevitably grinding out a 1-0 win. It's not as if we've got Ashley Barnes smashing them in from 30 yards.

                          I just hope that when it does go, we disappear fairly quickly. I'd hate for us to be the next West Brom / Swansea / West Ham / Stoke and just merely settle for existing as a Premier League club. Pick up the telly money cheque and fuck off, preferably just as the entire TV money bubble bursts anyway. After years of Blackburn being Hyacinth Bucket, I'm pleased that Burnley are Onslow.

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                            #38
                            I really enjoyed seeing Shelbourne at Tolka Park but can't remember anything about the game and this was before I was watching Bath City regularly so perhaps the abjectness was a novelty.

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                              #39
                              Being an expat I don't get to watch a lot of UK (specifically English) football. The last game I saw was Colwyn Bay v Stalybridge Celtic and before that Bala v FC Utd of M/C. My interest in the PL and MOTD has fallen to basically zero. The only interest I show is directed at teams supported by friends so that I'm not completely out of the loop. FC Utrecht, however ....

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                                #40
                                There is nothing on Earth that will stop me following Celtic, other than death, and lack of coverage. But it's not exciting. And it's not on TV over here.

                                We have more than a few appliances which can cover more than a few sports packages, and they, like 'our' interest, is seasonal. (The payments unfortunately, are not.)

                                I'm 51. There are more important things in life than football. But, it's a constant to fall back on, when life is a shit sandwich, and one doesn't have one's teeth in. It is, at best, a diversion. And if I am perfectly honest, I think Manchester City are wonderful. Manchester GlobeTrotters. Lovely to watch, hard to dislike. (Except, you know, the whole ownership thing.)

                                signed: Mesut Ozil.

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                                  #41
                                  Originally posted by Reginald Christ
                                  Fans of clubs in the lower leagues are no more or less fixated on glory than fans of bigger clubs, they're just not accustomed to experiencing it to the same degree (though that may be relative) and have developed a fatalistic attitude because their club may never have the wealth of others.
                                  That's a good point, and I think one of the reasons I enjoy being at non-league or lower league is that there isn't (generally) the same sense of entitlement amongst fans at that level.

                                  The other reason that I enjoy games further down the pyramid is because I'm an antisocial bastard who doesn't often enjoy being surrounded by other people, especially if they turn out to be gobshites, dickheads or both. Sooner or later I'm going to see myself as the subject of one of BB&Fs 'lonely people at non league football' photos, stood as far away as possible from everyone else.

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                                    #42
                                    I have Sky Sports and BT Sport at home. My ex-wife works weekends, so I'm home alone with my boys and usually end up watching the live Saturday and Sunday matches, though the only Friday night Premier League match I've seen this season was Brighton winning at West Ham. I have the Tivo set for the Channel 5 Saturday night highlights and MOTD, but I usually watch the former and am then asleep by the time of the latter. I usually catch up with that on Sunday mornings, but it's seldom that I watch the entire thing (I'm primarily interested in watching if one or more of Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool have lost).

                                    My blind spot is the Champions League. I think I watched both of Spurs' matches against Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, but other than that I don't bother with it. It's not a competition until the quarter or semi-finals any more. If it's all quiet, I'll stick Stelling on for a couple of hours during the week sometimes, but I spend a lot of time with the TV on in the background rather than actually watching it.

                                    I went to a couple of Saturday non-league matches with the older boy before the younger one was born in October, but that's off the menu now until either someone will mind the younger one or she's not working. I'm doing a match on Boxing Day, but that might well be it for the season for me, live games-wise.

                                    I also had the overwhelming feeling earlier this week that every competition in England is going out of its way to be as boring as possible this season.

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                                      #43
                                      Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
                                      There is nothing on Earth that will stop me following Celtic, other than death, and lack of coverage.
                                      Ha ha, all these years you've been on the board and I always thought you were a Rangers fan. Testimony to my waning attention span.

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                                        #44
                                        I'm almost completely disengaged. Despite having relatively good coverage in the US, on Saturdays and Sundays it's broadcast between 7 and 11 in the morning when I'm usually cycling. If I'm home I'll have it playing on my laptop while I'm working on my desktop, but it's peripheral background and I tend not to care what's going on. It's basically visual muzak. I know that Leicester won a couple of years ago, but I actually don't know or remember (or care) who won in any of the other previous few seasons. I know it's one of a small group of the same teams every time, but they all seem so interchangeable that I really don't care. I'm obviously aware that the vile Mourinho is now at a different of the interchangeable club - which should change my preferences, but it really doesn't. My interest is almost solely about hoping that a big red or blue club gets beaten. Except, as mentioned above, when I've watched this year Manchester City seem to be playing a completely different class of football and I'm almost engaged as well as entertained, for the first time in half a decade. Not enough to go out of my way, but enough to raise above my normal ennui.

                                        Other than that, I follow the results of Oxford United, but even then I've stopped reading match reports and have no idea what's going on.

                                        I'm hoping that the arrival next year of NASL's 1904 San Diego will revive my interest in the game a little. But I may be a lost soul now, only watching cricket and baseball (and the occasional tennis and cycling).

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                                          #45
                                          This year I've watched and followed a bit more than usual. I've taken to watching Match of the Day on a Sunday morning on fullmatchesandshows (though I usually skim through at least one or two games). I usually (though not religiously) listen to the Guardian podcast. But it's something of a distracted interest, like I presume people who follow celebrity stuff do so. I watch games live occasionally, though usually Romanian Eurosport will choose the big teams who I am less interested in. They always show fucking Arsenal and I won't watch them. Now it's wintersports season, it's hit and miss as to whether they'll show games at all. Rather than the Manchester derby a couple of weeks ago they had ski jumping on. I think ski jumping is the most tedious sport ever to be put on TV, and yet this fact sort of amused me.

                                          The CL has more or less entirely moved to satellite channels that I don't get, but I can't say I miss it. I'm not sure if I have seen a single match, including the final for about 3 years. [No, hang on, I did see the Barcelona PSG comeback game last year]

                                          Locally I will go to live ice hockey rather than football. Now my older daughter has stopped playing for the local girls' team as they have basically disbanded through lack of numbers, I don;t even have that involvement.

                                          I follow Wednesday in the sense of keeping updated as to the score as the games progress, but don't watch them, and I find I have to steer clear of any kind of online fan forum or discussion threads. I can and do talk about them with family members, but that's it.

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                                            #46
                                            In New Zealand, the only regular live football on free TV is the Bundesliga. I'm quite happy with that, and will watch full games most weeks. It's a nice mixture of quality and cock-ups, good entertainment and compared with the Premier League, a shorter list of clubs I feel compelled to loathe.

                                            Like Ad Hoc, I'm at the mercy of the local programmers who regard soccer as a filler, and are gloriously indifferent to their (presumably small) audience. There's an hour-long EPL highlights package, up to a week after the games were played, but sometimes whole matchdays (sorry) will go missing from the schedules. This would drive me nuts if my team was one of them, but that's not a problem I'm ever likely to have. YouTube supplies the rest.

                                            If there was more free football available on TV, I'd probably watch. But I don't feel anything like the deprivation I felt 10+ years ago.

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                                              #47
                                              Originally posted by imp View Post
                                              Ha ha, all these years you've been on the board and I always thought you were a Rangers fan. Testimony to my waning attention span.
                                              And what is my favourite biscuit? (It's actually written underneath my name, FOR THE LAST X YEARS, you maniac!)

                                              Fucking Lincoln: the proximity to Spalding is incredible.

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                                                #48
                                                I'm with imp on this. I always thought you were Glasgow Rangers. You never said as much, but you gave off that whiff of Glasgow Rangers.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
                                                  After years of Blackburn being Hyacinth Bucket, I'm pleased that Burnley are Onslow.
                                                  I love that analogy and I'm going to steal it to use elsewhere! And yes, little old Burnley getting into the champions league spots is very satisfying, long may it continue!

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                                                    #50
                                                    Originally posted by treibeis View Post
                                                    I'm with imp on this. I always thought you were Glasgow Rangers. You never said as much, but you gave off that whiff of Glasgow Rangers.
                                                    I know this is a wind up, but for fuck sake, you might as well call me heterosexual.

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