Other Teams You Follow? Alongside MCFC

Growing up in Ireland, as well as my City obsession, my local team was Cork Hibernians, sadly now defunct for years. Their best years in the early 70's were under Dave Bacuzzi BTW. And around the end, Rodney Marsh played a couple of games for them. My local heroes playing with my City hero at the time; I almost crapped myself in delight.

Other than Hibs, I of course look our for the present Cork team incarnation; Cork City and of course over here in Boston, I support the New England Revolution. Well I should as I live a half mile from the stadium (Gillette Stadium) and have been a season ticket holder in the past.

But next weekend, I will be witnessing my first football love in the flesh at the Etihad...can't fucking wait.
No, not Newcastle...;)
 
Last edited:
Well, it's trying . . . MLS is the Prem, USL is the Championship and like EFL, has a USL League One and USL League Two underneath it. Some MLS teams are drawing tens of thousands; others just thousands. It's pretty imbalanced. The Seattle/Portland rivalry is a pretty epic one now, and the football is improving, and the fan bases growing . . . but we've adopted the Mexican fan practice of drums (argh), and more chants instead of songs, so the at-game atmosphere is still (IMO) woeful vs. the UK and Europe.

Again, just IMO, if we assume the MLS is basically upper EFL League One quality (maybe lower Championship), then USL is EFL League Two (maybe lower League One) in quality. No promotion/relegation -- which is a fan debate yes/no, but not an owner debate (a clear NO). A few USL teams are like the farm teams for the MLS clubs (like Barca B).

When I say "2nd tier USL" I am being redundant -- the Roots are USL, or the American Championship, or 2nd tier, not the League 2 of USL, which is 4th tier. The Roots play at an old junior college (American) football stadium in Oakland with 5K capacity and sell out every game. Season tix are $300 for general admission; $1300 for pitchside seats with a few "luxury boxes" (one is actually the PA announcers' booth for American football).

Here's what you get for $1,300 . . .
  • Private Entrance (no lines)
  • Exclusive Seating on the sideline of the field at Laney Stadium. Includes footrest and cup holders.
  • Access to reserved parking area near Stadium
  • Access to a complimentary private bar (Beer, wine, soft drinks)
  • 2023 Official Roots Jersey per Membership
  • Reserved Seat
That's a pretty good deal for 17 matches I think. $75/game for the best seat, free parking and free drinks -- and the Bay Area's best weather with relatively little chance of rain since its a March-October sport here. And $300/seat for cheapest season ticket is really good.

The Roots are starting to look for a more permanent stadium site but its ludicrously expensive to build one. Ownership thinks they could draw 8-10K a year for the mens side and is starting a womens side too.

Today it's cheap and a great time, and I think has resonated esepcially with the Oakland Raiders NFL team moving to Las Vegas, the Golden State Warriors moving across the bay to San Francisco, and the Oakland A's baseball team regularly drawing less than the Roots (and also rumored to move to Las Vegas).
No lines , that will put a few off as they probably like a sniff before the game :-)
 
Well, it's trying . . . MLS is the Prem, USL is the Championship and like EFL, has a USL League One and USL League Two underneath it. Some MLS teams are drawing tens of thousands; others just thousands. It's pretty imbalanced. The Seattle/Portland rivalry is a pretty epic one now, and the football is improving, and the fan bases growing . . . but we've adopted the Mexican fan practice of drums (argh), and more chants instead of songs, so the at-game atmosphere is still (IMO) woeful vs. the UK and Europe.

Again, just IMO, if we assume the MLS is basically upper EFL League One quality (maybe lower Championship), then USL is EFL League Two (maybe lower League One) in quality. No promotion/relegation -- which is a fan debate yes/no, but not an owner debate (a clear NO). A few USL teams are like the farm teams for the MLS clubs (like Barca B).

When I say "2nd tier USL" I am being redundant -- the Roots are USL, or the American Championship, or 2nd tier, not the League 2 of USL, which is 4th tier. The Roots play at an old junior college (American) football stadium in Oakland with 5K capacity and sell out every game. Season tix are $300 for general admission; $1300 for pitchside seats with a few "luxury boxes" (one is actually the PA announcers' booth for American football).

Here's what you get for $1,300 . . .
  • Private Entrance (no lines)
  • Exclusive Seating on the sideline of the field at Laney Stadium. Includes footrest and cup holders.
  • Access to reserved parking area near Stadium
  • Access to a complimentary private bar (Beer, wine, soft drinks)
  • 2023 Official Roots Jersey per Membership
  • Reserved Seat
That's a pretty good deal for 17 matches I think. $75/game for the best seat, free parking and free drinks -- and the Bay Area's best weather with relatively little chance of rain since its a March-October sport here. And $300/seat for cheapest season ticket is really good.

The Roots are starting to look for a more permanent stadium site but its ludicrously expensive to build one. Ownership thinks they could draw 8-10K a year for the mens side and is starting a womens side too.

Today it's cheap and a great time, and I think has resonated esepcially with the Oakland Raiders NFL team moving to Las Vegas, the Golden State Warriors moving across the bay to San Francisco, and the Oakland A's baseball team regularly drawing less than the Roots (and also rumored to move to Las Vegas).
Thanks for that mate, it does fascinate me somewhat as to why America values different sports to pretty much the rest of the world.

Obviously I would have thought as well the corporate interests of the NFL will not want soccer gaining popularity at their expense.

A dumb question maybe, but will fans of the Raiders still support them now they have moved to Las Vegas?
 
Derby County for a good friend of many years who died last month. Burnley, good footballing team when I was a kid.
Hibernian, for Bobby Johnstone.
Torquay for holidays there in the '60s.
Fulham from when I lived in London.
Raith Rovers, just liked the name and the supporters sing "I can't help falling in love with you."

Swinton R.L. (I could walk to the ground), now barely existing.

Belle Vue Aces.

(And a long time ago my admiration for Duncan Edwards led me almost to like the team he played for.)
 
Last edited:
Crystal Palace, my grandad was born prematurely at 80 Whitehorse lane. ( sainsburys end) always had a soft spot for em, especially with the Malcolm Allison connection.
 
Proper football
1860 Munich ; the play in Sky Blue , and have red neighbours who everyone hates
Celta Vigo ; they play in Sky Blue
FC Tasmania Berlin . . .I live in TAS ,so
Swansea - grandparents lived there , quite a nice town , look you
Forest - Cloughie . . . and the 0-4 at the Swamp Jan '78
Fulham . . .dunno why , something to do with the boat race
Cov City ; they play in Sky Blue
Naitasiri & Tailveu District (Fiji) (. . .or is it Tailevu & Natasiri ?) ; I played one game for them and still have the shirt. It's . . . Sky Blue .
Accy - I'm big fan of Yes & Bumble
Hearts - Good song about them by Marillion

American Football
New England Patriots . . . since 1983, yes I was there when we were . . . .not terribly good
 
Thanks for that mate, it does fascinate me somewhat as to why America values different sports to pretty much the rest of the world.

Obviously I would have thought as well the corporate interests of the NFL will not want soccer gaining popularity at their expense.

A dumb question maybe, but will fans of the Raiders still support them now they have moved to Las Vegas?
Well, under regular circumstances once teams leave a city there’s usually not much following support — and sometimes there is outright hatred for the “betrayal”, especially regarding owners — but the Raiders are an odd duck. Their support is pretty fanatic. Flights from Oakland and SF to Vegas for game days are regularly packed (United Airlines flies a 777 for a one hour flight). The Raiders went Oakland to LA back to Oakland and then to Vegas over the last 40-odd years!
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.