Arsenal or Tottenham? And other local rivalries.

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AliBobbyJ

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In the pub or on long train journeys the topic has often come up "which of these local rivals do you prefer (or dislike least)?" With some it's easy to choose: Everton not L'pool, Sunderland not Newcastle, Sheffield Wednesday (blue) not Sheff Utd. But between Arsenal and Spurs it's a lot harder. If you HAD to pick one, who'd it be? The arrogant Tarquins who've grown even more dislikeable under Arteta in the past year, or Tottingham going back to 1981?

More generally, do folk have preferences, however peculiar or irrational, between, say, Norwich & Ipswich? Southampton & Portsmouth? Derby County & Notts Forest? Swansea & Cardiff? I'm not getting into Scottish rivalries but further afield is it Roma or Lazio? Benfica or Sporting? River Plate or Boca?
 
It’s almost always the Blues. Or the perennial underdogs /underachievers. Preferably both. Politics or religion has 0% influence on my doubtless irrational preferences. Espanyol, Torino, Munich 1860. Millonarios in Bogotá, and never Santa Fé, who play in the Arsenal shirts their founder supported.

The North London pair is very much an Ugly Baby contest for me though. A plague on both their houses.
 
As I detest Spurs more than all but three other teams, it is no contest, though Arsenal are not very high up on my list of likeable clubs.

Another rivalry that hasn’t been mentioned is Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle, who absolutely loathe each other.

I prefer Exeter because a mate - Tony Kellow - used to play for them. The first professional football match I ever saw was Exeter's 4th round replay victory over Leicester in 1981, in which Tony scored a hat-trick:
 
I don’t like Spurs. But I’d choose them over letter-headed Woolwich. I can’t stand Arsenal.

West Ham and QPR over all other London clubs
Sunderland over Newcastle
Pompey over Southampton
Bristol Rovers over City
Brum over Villa
Everton over Liverpool
Wednesday over United
Derby over Forest
Swansea over Cardiff
I quite like both West Brom and Wolves
I hate United and Liverpool equally

Queens Park over Celtic and Rangers
Hearts over Hibs
Torino over Juve
Hamburg over St Pauli
Nurnburg over Bayern
Shalke over Dortmund
Espanyol over Barça
Rayo Vallecano over Atléti and Madrid
Sevilla over Betis
I like both Real Sociedad and Bilbao and always want them to beat all other Spanish teams.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Psychedelic Casual said:
I don’t like Spurs. But I’d choose them over letter-headed Woolwich. I can’t stand Arsenal.

West Ham and QPR over all other London clubs
Sunderland over Newcastle
Pompey over Southampton
Bristol Rovers over City
Brum over Villa
Everton over Liverpool
Wednesday over United
Derby over Forest
Swansea over Cardiff
I quite like both West Brom and Wolves
I hate United and Liverpool equally

Queens Park over Celtic and Rangers
Hearts over Hibs
Torino over Juve
Hamburg over St Pauli
Nurnburg over Bayern
Shalke over Dortmund
Espanyol over Barça
Rayo Vallecano over Atléti and Madrid
Sevilla over Betis
I like both Real Sociedad and Bilbao and always want them to beat all other Spanish teams.
Click to expand...
Cloned! Apart from the first one.
 
I oddly favour certain teams over others , sometimes for reasons, sometimes no reason at all.


Always had a soft spot for sheff weds. Think i had their subbuteo team.

Sunderland after that maine road game where they went down ensures a life long soft spot. Get sick of hearing about the amazing geordie support of newcastle

Everton over liverpool OBVIOUSLY!

Brum over villa. Brum are the birmingham team, like we are the manchester team.

Most others i couldnt care less. Dont mind west ham, QPR.
Couldnt choose between arse/spurs, both pricks. Probably dislike arsenal slightly less

Never liked cov for no reason.
Always look out for plymouth results for no reason at all
 
AliBobbyJ said:
In the pub or on long train journeys the topic has often come up "which of these local rivals do you prefer (or dislike least)?" With some it's easy to choose: Everton not L'pool, Sunderland not Newcastle, Sheffield Wednesday (blue) not Sheff Utd. But between Arsenal and Spurs it's a lot harder. If you HAD to pick one, who'd it be? The arrogant Tarquins who've grown even more dislikeable under Arteta in the past year, or Tottingham going back to 1981?

More generally, do folk have preferences, however peculiar or irrational, between, say, Norwich & Ipswich? Southampton & Portsmouth? Derby County & Notts Forest? Swansea & Cardiff? I'm not getting into Scottish rivalries but further afield is it Roma or Lazio? Benfica or Sporting? River Plate or Boca?
Click to expand...
I wonder if this is down to 'em looking a more formidable outfit (last night excepted) than previous seasons. We were much loved before we started winning and the RDAHMeedya and associated shitehawks took and still take great exception with every point we accumulate.

And had I the misfortune of living in North London, but an avid footy fan, I'd plump for Barnet!
 
Spurs over arsenal - fans are less annoying.
Norwich over Ipswich - the weakest link banner when we went down.
Swansea over Cardiff - Cardiff knocked us out of the fa cup
Southampton over pompey - that annoying fan with the bell.
 
West Ham over any London team.
Sunderland over Newcastle.
Jimmy Grimbles team ( apart from Gordon) over Wreckingham.
The Blue team over the red team in Bedknobs & Broomsticks.
Soft spot for Jossies Giants too.
 
117 M34 said:
Spurs over arsenal - fans are less annoying.
Click to expand...

My experience has been the opposite. Had a good mate at college, decades back, who was a lifelong Arsenal fan (his stepfather had played in the great team of the 1930s); he was always very respectful of City, as I was of his club. We both knew that we knew our football inside out. We both of us had a mutual semi-friend who was always very noisy about being a United fan. I'm pretty sure he'd never been anywhere near Old Trafford (of course), and knew nothing whatsoever about Manchester. Typical know-nothing rag supporting southern plastic.
With the mate in question we went and stood on the Kippax, along with his girlfriend (whom I'm still friends with, although she's not friends with him and hasn't been for a long time!), to watch us play his team (we won…) Once we went up the steps and got on the terraces, he just looked judiciously around at the stands, and quietly said “Yes, right… big club.” I stood on the North Bank several times with him to watch matches, not all of which involved City. Lost touch with him years back, but I often think of him, especially on nights like last night. I'm pretty sure he must have been at the Emirates. I can just imagine his gloomy face walking away from the stadium.
But even more recently, the Arsenal fans I've met in pubs and suchlike have been generally o.k., by and large.
By contrast, I've found Spurs fans uniformly full of themselves. Can't think why, since they haven't actually won anything within living memory. I suppose they just think, “We're Spurs, so we're big”. Hate losing to them. Fucking hate it!
To cheer myself up I often watch highlights of the 2011 Dzeko Show at White Hart Lane. Or the more recent De Bruyne Show at the Etihad in December 2017.
By the same token, I have a strong preference for Everton over Liverpool. By and large, I've found the blue fans sound. The other lot are so full of themselves it's not true.
So as far as rivalries go, it depends entirely on the personal contact I've had with supporters, really.
 
I love this stuff.

Arsenal over Tottenham
Everton over Liverpool
Wednesday over United
Birmingham over Villa
Sunderland over Newcastle
Rovers over Bristol City
West Brom over Wolves
Swansea over Cardiff
Norwich over Ipswich
West Ham over any London club
Rangers over Celtic
Dundee United over Dundee
Hibs over Hearts
Atletico over Real
AC Milan over Inter
Lazio over Roma
Real Betis over Seville
Torino over Juventus
1860 Munich over Bayern
Sporting Lisbon over Benfica
Boca Juniors over River Plate
 
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