Arsenal

[metalblade]

I would like to add that the lack of major success over the years has meant that we have been able to maintain this identity.

We have never been faced with the prospect of demolishing Bramall Lane and moving to an out-of-town mega-bowl stadium. We've never been infested with plasticism in the fan base. We've never had a crackpot owner try to fuck about with our name or our colours.

If we had to endure all that in order to win things, I'd simply walk away. My affinity to the club is something very particular, and that particular something is not worth trading off for silverware.

This probably makes me ultra-conservative as a fan but I don't care. If we have nothing else, we still have who we are, and I consider that to be our most precious commodity of all.

Apart from last season

 

[Tyler Durden]

Apart from last season

Behave

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Being a Blade is the best education available. If you can cope with that, the rest of life is easy. I really feel sorry for the glory-hunters.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Not that fucking Arsenal again!
I simply can't abide a club that expects its fans to virtually remortgage their houses for the price of a season ticket. All Prem clubs could afford to let their fans in for next to nowt. But instead they choose to fleece em instead.
I hope the whole sorry lot of em go bust.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Not that fucking Arsenal again!
I simply can't abide a club that expects its fans to virtually remortgage their houses for the price of a season ticket. All Prem clubs could afford to let their fans in for next to nowt. But instead they choose to fleece em instead.
I hope the whole sorry lot of em go bust.

 

[Grizzly blade]

^^^^^^^

Disgusting isn't it.

Yet Bayern have an exciting side, full of quality players and don't have the TB deals many of our teams do.

 

[Tyler Durden]

^^^^^^^

Disgusting isn't it.

Yet Bayern have an exciting side, full of quality players and don't have the TB deals many of our teams do.

This is a quote from the Bayern chairman a few years back. Obviously the figures have changed a bit but the principle remains:


"We could charge more than €130 (£104). Let's say we charged €380 (£300). We'd get €2.5m (£2m) more in income, but what's €2.5m to us?"

"In a transfer discussion you argue about the sum for five minutes. But the difference between €130 and €380 is huge for the fans."

"We do not think fans are like cows, who you milk. Football has got to be for everybody."

"That's the biggest difference between us and England."

 

[Hamburg Blade]

I would like to add that the lack of major success over the years has meant that we have been able to maintain this identity.

We have never been faced with the prospect of demolishing Bramall Lane and moving to an out-of-town mega-bowl stadium. We've never been infested with plasticism in the fan base. We've never had a crackpot owner try to fuck about with our name or our colours.

If we had to endure all that in order to win things, I'd simply walk away. My affinity to the club is something very particular, and that particular something is not worth trading off for silverware.

This probably makes me ultra-conservative as a fan but I don't care. If we have nothing else, we still have who we are, and I consider that to be our most precious commodity of all.

Fuck that and fuck you, I want a big shiny silver cup.






Only joshing. I am happy to agree with every word you've written here. A while ago, when rumours were in the air of us leaving Bramall Lane, I realised that that would be the end for me. I would love for us to win something - anything - but there is also a nagging worry about what would happen to us if we joined the top of the PL on a permanent basis. I've met fans of clubs who've won too much and they're a different kind of animal. For all my criticism of McCabe and all the things I think he's done wrong, I do appreciate some of the things he's not done, things which would have taken our soul away.

 

[Grizzly blade]

It's exactly the point.

but those bastards at the top of the leagues won't notice.
If one team took a stand and did similar it might set a precedence. But the thing is that while fans pay it, they will charge it. And even at those crazy prices most clubs still lose millions.

but I would love to see someone try. Let's hope it's us.

 

[Fanny magnet]

The bayern fans were protesting about increasing ticket prices just the other night

 

[Ainsley Harriott]

The bayern fans were protesting about increasing ticket prices just the other night

Quote me wrong here but I'm sure a club in Germany protested against a ticket rise of something like €5.

The club backed down.

A Wendy supporter I know paid £46 to watch the Norwich game on their north stand last week.

 

[YES Blade]

This is a quote from the Bayern chairman a few years back. Obviously the figures have changed a bit but the principle remains:


"We could charge more than €130 (£104). Let's say we charged €380 (£300). We'd get €2.5m (£2m) more in income, but what's €2.5m to us?"

"In a transfer discussion you argue about the sum for five minutes. But the difference between €130 and €380 is huge for the fans."

"We do not think fans are like cows, who you milk. Football has got to be for everybody."

"That's the biggest difference between us and England."

That bloke clearly wasn't in charge of setting the prices for the Germany vs England friendly later this month! I hear all this about German football being cheap, then they charge me £39 for a friendly?!?

 

[YES Blade]

There are many reasons to dislike the Premiership but I still want us to get there and hopefully win something.

Otherwise what's the point in supporting a club like ours? You might as well just support Sheffield FC.

 

[Tyler Durden]

There are many reasons to dislike the Premiership but I still want us to get there and hopefully win something.

Otherwise what's the point in supporting a club like ours? You might as well just support Sheffield FC.

I do, in fact I'm a club member

 

[nicksufc]

The Premiership seems like a bit of a false dream to me. Obviously as a club you should always be looking to advance as far as you can, but to be honest the thought of us playing in the Prem doesn't fill me with excitement. What would basically happen is you immediately scratch off at least 10 games a season as having no hope of getting even a point from. Then, even if you establish yourself in the Prem, you become as pointless as someone like Stoke, finishing 10th or 11th every season with no real hope of breaking into the top 6 or fear of going down. All whilst paying £40 a match to sit in some soulless bowl without singing for 90 minutes. So...yeh.

Quote me wrong here but I'm sure a club in Germany protested against a ticket rise of something like €5.

The club backed down.

A Wendy supporter I know paid £46 to watch the Norwich game on their north stand last week.

And supporters like those are the exact problem with English football. Whilst German fans protest the smallest rise in ticket prices, Wednesday fans happily pay £46 because they think it makes them a better supporter if they do it. No. No. No. No. No.

 

[Davalon]

Arsenal are a proper club with proper fans, just like City are.

What's changed in recent times is the money involved and how this has attracted the wrong types both sides of the touchline.

Crowds have grown significantly in the last 25 years in general but there's a variety of reasons for that, better facilities for one.

However we're no different. I sit near the Executive area in the South Stand and it tickles me who I see in there when things are going well these days.

Twice this season I've seen lads on there who I went to school with, who've become very successful in their careers and become wealthy, but were Pig fans 30 years ago.

There's plenty I hate about the modern game and the Prem but I'd be a hypocrite if I said I didn't want to see us do what Leicester have done.

 

[coaxingstar71]

I just think the opening OP just goes to show that no matter what team you support, you're never entirely happy. Arsenal have finished in the top four for how many consecutive seasons, yet the fans think the manager should go. How long will Guardiola last at Citee if they don't win a trophy this season or next? This is a team that we're playing in League One not so long ago.

 

[Inter_blade83]

It's a bit harsh to have a go at 'glory' supporters to be honest. Unfortunately we live in a time when the first time a kid sees football it is usually on the TV. I remember 'flirting' with the idea of Liverpool (I was born in 83) at the end of the 80s, but I was taking to Bramall Lane by an uncle for Blades v Liverpool and that was it for me... the affiliation to my local club was born, and that's all it's ever been since.

I'm a football fan first and foremost and I'll wear shirts of other clubs if I particularly like the shirt... I currently have a Betis shirt due to a liking of their kits in the late 90s (Kappa when Denilson played for them), and had a Roma shirt in the mid 2000s.

I currently live in Kuwait and the affiliations people have with teams out here are born from the TV, but they are no less supporters than locals. Yes, they'll never have that local pride feeling, but they support, follow, travel and spend 000s just going to see a few games every other year.

For me it's different when it becomes 'fashionable' to support a team, like the Chelsea of 2004-2008, or City today. Clubs gain 'glory fans' because of exposure, and we did too during our season in the Prem.

At the end of the day, we want to keep our identity, but with success comes global exposure.

 

[grafikhaus]

Lucky in the sense of following a club with a distinct identity and being in the company of friends and acquaintances for whom it is a way of life deeply ingrained into the DNA.

It's a community within a city, sometimes a very insular one but yet welcoming to anyone who proclaims themselves part of it.

It's not about the prospect of success, it's not always even about the football itself. It's a vibrant and volatile culture of its own.

That's what it is to me anyway.

I liken us Blades supporters as an oppressed minority who refuse to go away. When we have been blatantly cheated, twats like Martin Samuel accuse us of whingeing. That's because, like those old cunts in the House of Lords, Samuel supports 'the establishment' because his club - West Ham - have done very well out of the Establishment.

Think of us as the Catalans whose motto (Més que un club, More than a club) has been adopted by Barcelona.

The Blades are More than a club.

 

[Tyler Durden]

I liken us Blades supporters as an oppressed minority who refuse to go away. When we have been blatantly cheated, twats like Martin Samuel accuse us of whingeing. That's because, like those old cunts in the House of Lords, Samuel supports 'the establishment' because his club - West Ham - have done very well out of the Establishment.

Think of us as the Catalans whose motto (Més que un club, More than a club) has been adopted by Barcelona.

The Blades are More than a club.

100%.

That last sentence perfectly sums up what I tried to say in two posts.
Some other clubs have that about them, but many don't.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

Arsenal are a proper club with proper fans, just like City are.

What's changed in recent times is the money involved and how this has attracted the wrong types both sides of the touchline.

Crowds have grown significantly in the last 25 years in general but there's a variety of reasons for that, better facilities for one.

However we're no different. I sit near the Executive area in the South Stand and it tickles me who I see in there when things are going well these days.

Twice this season I've seen lads on there who I went to school with, who've become very successful in their careers and become wealthy, but were Pig fans 30 years ago.

There's plenty I hate about the modern game and the Prem but I'd be a hypocrite if I said I didn't want to see us do what Leicester have done.

Going to a premiership game especially in London , can be classed the same as going to the theatre . Also the fan base age for the majority of the clubs seems to be around 40 years of age to me .

Clubs do tend to focus on the corporate side and people perhaps with spare income . They must have carried out some sort of research , marketing on this , which loses the ground root supporter who is forgotten , not looked after , and if we can fill the stadium , have a so what attitude .

There is so much money floating around , clubs IMO don't much care for the grass root fan. It ain't a working class sport any more . I suppose we all dream of the premiership promise land , but will we be able to afford to go to games if we get there.

 

[him behind you]

I've got plenty of Arsenal supporting pals. Not the type of idiots you see all over social media but proper, working class, down to earth Arsenal lads who've supported them since the 80's.

I was chatting to a couple after the Bayern game and they were quite rightly distraught/embarrassed. One of them, a bloke in his 50's said "I'd swap places with you (Blades) in a heartbeat"...it got me thinking. He was gutted to leave Highbury, a proper ground with a decent atmosphere and he despises what the club have become. I've heard Citeh fans say similar.

Taking into account our lack of success, turbulent league form over the years/decades, Do you count yourself lucky you're a Blade?

Always have, always will.

 

[nopigfansintown]

The game has increasingly moved from a white, working class male sport, into a more diverse sport. Its a type of gentrification that has been accelerated by TV saturation of the game. Being a football fan has been normalised regardless of your background. It's only natural that it attempts to cater for its new clientele: families, women, the middle and upper classes. Places like Sheffield take longer to catch up as we're still largely a working class city. That said, look how quickly the corporate side and more expensive seats sell out for anything close to a "big game".

 

[Liaminho9]

Quote me wrong here but I'm sure a club in Germany protested against a ticket rise of something like €5.

The club backed down.

A Wendy supporter I know paid £46 to watch the Norwich game on their north stand last week.

Not really a fair comparison, we all know Wednesday fans have no sense.

 

[BushBlade]

So do we want success or not? Or are we just desperate to get out of 'this shit division' into another shit division, but shit in a different way?
How many years in the championship before people are counting them saying 'we've spent x years in this fucking wilderness, when are we going to show some ambition'?

The old days are gone. And they won't come back.

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

I like being a Blade. It wasn't a choice, the club chose me but I think supporting any club of United's stature is much better than being a fan of one of the biggest. I would be bored supporting Arsenal, Chelsea or Man U. Their relationship with the supporters goes as far as making tickets unaffordable and finding any way possible to squeeze an extra few quid out of them. No sense of community.

They also generally win something most of the time and pummel 90% of teams that cross their path. Yes it's nice to win but when you know you're almost guaranteed to win most of the time how can that be exciting?

At least supporting Sheffield United, Wolves, Derby, Norwich etc. keeps you intrigued. Has its ups and downs and you know they're capable of flirting with the Premier League for a while. On the flip side supporting small lower league clubs would depress me too, when they have almost 0% chance of ever reaching the second tier, never mind the top league. The second level clubs likes ours could end up in any one of the four divisions and that's one of the reasons it's so much fun.

I proudly tell people I'm a Blade. Most people that tell me what team they support usually say Chelsea or Arsenal etc. and I roll my eyes with boredom. Especially when I know that they have no connections with the area that team is from

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

As someone who chose to become a Blade not because of family or even where I grew up I think I can probably give a slightly different perspective. I chose United because primarily of TC and Woody. I loved their style and even kidded myself I looked a bit like TC, looked not played!
I pretty much knew from day one that my choice was unlikely to result in huge success or large numbers of trophies.

Do I regret my choice? Well most of the time no. Have there been occasions when I've stood or sat at games thinking what the fook am I doing here? - bloody loads. Has it ever crossed my mind to abandon them and nail my colours to another mast?

Not a fucking chance!!!!

Have I inflicted the pain and despair of being a Blade on my kids - you know I have!!!

 

[Ricky]

The identity aspect is significant. We have a real identity and not all clubs do. Some don't have it at all, many have had theirs diluted. I'm glad we're not one of them.

I like being a Blade. It wasn't a choice, the club chose me but I think supporting any club of United's stature is much better than being a fan of one of the biggest. I would be bored supporting Arsenal, Chelsea or Man U. Their relationship with the supporters goes as far as making tickets unaffordable and finding any way possible to squeeze an extra few quid out of them. No sense of community.

They also generally win something most of the time and pummel 90% of teams that cross their path. Yes it's nice to win but when you know you're almost guaranteed to win most of the time how can that be exciting?

At least supporting Sheffield United, Wolves, Derby, Norwich etc. keeps you intrigued. Has its ups and downs and you know they're capable of flirting with the Premier League for a while. On the flip side supporting small lower league clubs would depress me too, when they have almost 0% chance of ever reaching the second tier, never mind the top league. The second level clubs likes ours could end up in any one of the four divisions and that's one of the reasons it's so much fun.

I proudly tell people I'm a Blade. Most people that tell me what team they support usually say Chelsea or Arsenal etc. and I roll my eyes with boredom. Especially when I know that they have no connections with the area that team is from

None of us want to be in the 3rd or 4th division, but we are a club who you can have a wide variety of experiences supporting.

It keeps it interesting. We're definitely not a boring club to support.

 

[Sharrow Snuff Mill]

When I was at school in about '92 a new kid rolled up. He decided to follow the Blades and was even a ball boy for a while. I remember seeing him down by the touchline. Leeds won the title that year (at BDTBL of all places), and the next school year that same kid came in wearing a Leeds shirt.

How you play football and even how you support it is as good a indicator or character that I know of.

The first thing I say to any Man U fan is to ask them what part of Manchester they`re from.

 

[Davalon]

Going to a premiership game especially in London , can be classed the same as going to the theatre . Also the fan base age for the majority of the clubs seems to be around 40 years of age to me .

Clubs do tend to focus on the corporate side and people perhaps with spare income . They must have carried out some sort of research , marketing on this , which loses the ground root supporter who is forgotten , not looked after , and if we can fill the stadium , have a so what attitude .

There is so much money floating around , clubs IMO don't much care for the grass root fan. It ain't a working class sport any more . I suppose we all dream of the premiership promise land , but will we be able to afford to go to games if we get there.

You're probably right. I remember listening to Graham Taylor commentate on a game at Villa Park at some ridiculous early kick off time. I was doing a daft drive from the coast for the game against Scunny when people got their shoes off for Robson.

GT was bemoaning the silly kick off times to fit in with foreign countries. He also said the average of a PL supporter was 39 and that had increased notably in recent times due to the cost of tickets.

The only positive is the max away ticket campaign.