It's hard to escape football over here in the UK, but I'm not an obsessive fan. I live about a mile away from the Celtic stadium here in Glasgow, so I've had the chance to catch an odd game there.
I am- I played varsity in high school and intramurals in college.
I'm from Seattle area, favorite clubs are:
MLS: Seattle Sounders (been a fan since I was little and they were in the USL), I went to every single home game the first 3 years they were in MLS. Extremely excited for Jordan Morris and this upcoming season. EPL: When I was younger I was a gloryhunting Chelsea fan but in college I decided I was sick of supporting them (didn't feel a connection) and started looking for a club with American ties. Settled on Leicester City because Kasey Keller (Pacific Northwest and American soccer legend) played for them in the late 90s. I also send out good thoughts for Fulham and Sunderland due to American players. I've been supporting Leicester for like 3 years, more seriously in the last two, so I'm not realllllly bandwagoning, although I admit their run has been insanely rewarding for somebody who only recently started seriously following them. Other leagues: Athletic Bilbao in La Liga are cool, one of their directors helped write a really, really cool book about using soccer to empirically test the tenets of Game Theory (Economics sub-field). I like seeing any team from Manchester fail.
Yes huge soccer fan! If there were fantasy soccer i'd be playing it. Big Arsenal fan here, as well as FC Barca. Hoping some day in my future to go see either one of them play. I just have issues with getting up so damn early to watch Arsenal play. Also i obviously support the Montreal Impact, finally got around to seeing a game and hoping to see like 2-3 this spring/summer.
You have seen Celtic! That would be a fun experience. You be able to tell me anything about how Blackett is doing? haha
Celtic games are definitely an experience! The whole football culture here is so different than hockey is over there (it's even completely different than hockey over here - we have a team playing in the Elite league, who are always fun to watch, even if the quality of play is dubious). Each team's supporters are cordoned off in their own sections with police buffers in between, and they spend the bulk of the game hurling insults at each other. That being said, if you're supporting the correct team, the atmosphere can get pretty manic.
The whole hooliganism element (and sectarianism here in Scotland) is also a bit of a sore side on the sport. Late last year Ajax were playing Celtic here in the Champions League qualifiers, and a group of 20-30 Ajax 'casuals' smashed their way through a number of Celtic pubs along the way to the stadium. Pub owners trying to defend their property ended up in the hospital with battered faces, and I think there were a couple of stabbings too. Pretty disgraceful stuff...
I can't say I'm a keen enough supporter to give any unique insight on how Blackett is doing. Celtic as a whole have been struggling over the past few seasons. They're missing having proper competition in the top flight ever since Rangers ran into financial difficulties, although Aberdeen is only 3 points behind them in the title race this season (that says more about how poor Celtic has been though).
Last Edit: Feb 18, 2016 4:59:45 GMT -8 by MIN (Juuso)
That's awesome. I love football so much. It's very hard to talk about it with Atlantic Canadians because no one watches it here. As a Manchester United fan it sucks currently. I dream of going to the Theatre of Dreams some day soon. Celtic is also top on the list.
