Guess which team I don't like.

As has been remarked upon on occasion.

Which team most irritates me?

Well obviously the Devil's spawn across the park. Beyond that, I shall rejoice in the relegation of Newcastle this season - that home of the overpaid and undermotivated - but otherwise have no real itches to scratch.

Irritated by: Manchester United, chiefly. (For their charmless, one-eyed manager, their charmless, diving Ronaldo, their charmless, childish Rooney.)

I'm also not infrequently thrilled by United's football, which is *really* irritating.

Irritated by footballers in general, if truth be told. Most of them seem cheat as a matter of course, from the contested throws when they've clearly sent the ball out, to the sly tugs, to the attempts to maim.

And yet I love watching football, as I loved playing it, in spite of all the tantrums and underhandedness.

It's been a good week.

I'm not sure why, but I find Manchester City irritating.

Forest fan.

A feller I worked with once was a Bolton fan. He told me that if they ever went out of business, he would buy a season ticket for the away end at Old Trafford and support everybody who played against Utd. I know EXACTLY what he means. I cheer on everybody who they play - even in Europe. "But they represent England". Not my part of it, they don't.

What about everybody else? Do you turn a blind eye to your irrational hatreds for the sake of nationalism? Or does your football-related loathing run deeper than that?

I'm a Gooner, living in Liverpool.

Hate: Sp*rs, just because; Chelsea, because, as they proved yet again last night, they have absolutely no class whatsoever; any team managed by Sam Allardyce, it makes me shudder to think that he was being seriously touted as a possible England manager.

Coming up on the rails: Hull City, because of their manager, who used to work with, guess who... you got it: "Big" Sam.

Teams that irritate as follows:

Manchester United. I hate it when people call them United like they are the only ones. They are good though.

Chelsea. Its the delusion of class that I find the most annoying. That and the fact that they were dispicable in the 1970 cup final and yet Chelsea fans always refer to Leeds as Dirty Leeds.

Bayern Munich. Come on you Munchen 1860.

Stevenage Borough. Cheats.

and any other team with Celtic in the title (e.g. Boston Celtics, Farsley Celtic).

Irritated by: Manchester United for obvious reasons.

In Norway I support Viking FK of my hometown Stavanger.
We hate Bryne FK. Bloody peasants.

And here to remind Chelsea fans that yesterday wasn't the first time they've been beaten by Norwegians. In the 2002 UEFA cup Chelsea won 2-1 on Stamford Bridge, but Viking hammered them 4-2 on a glorious october evening in Stavanger.

never a dull moment being a Citeh fan. If they're not being relegated, promoted or bought/sold by a foreign squillionaire then they're probably sacking the manager only to replace him with someone you wouldn't trust to collect your dry cleaning (John Benson, Jimmy Frizzell, Alan Ball, Frank Clarke, Phil Neal, Kevin Keegan et al) I don't think I could take it if we started being really successful again.

Irritants? Ceramics Ferguson's shaved chimps from The Theatre of Debt where we'll be playing on Sunday.

Dislike Manchester United mainly because of Ferguson. They never really annoyed me before his reign. It's got nothing to do with their sucesss, I swear!!!

despite living in Manchester for over 20 years I cannot stand MUFC. I'm also supporting Arbroath from now on - purely 'cos their ground is the nearest to the sea. (I love D Baker's podcast)

and couldn't be happier with life at the moment....

Most dislike - Argyle, obviously, but also Chelsea and Lazio

... played it too for many years and have shot ankles to prove it. Don't follow it at all now. British teams that field no British players, owned by overseas millionaires who have no true interest in the game. The professionalism (in a bad way) - lack of passion, diving, cheating, arrogance and complete narcissism of most premier league players. It is just a business now with profit at its heart.

You all hate him, but you all wish he was your team's manager!

Port Vale,so i suffer more than most.
and as already mentioned, here in Barcelona I Support Espanyol.

Don't mind Villa,Wolves,Fulham and Brighton

Teams i Hate (is there a word limit Fraser ?)
in Order
Barcelona- Self proclamimed"world's biggest club" Not even biggest club in Spain. overhyped cheats(Before the Chelsea match)who've won the same amount of European cups as Forest but try to convince you it's more and worst supporters on the planet.

Stoke City-well who doesn't ?

Sevilla-apart from Freddie Kanoute, Dive,Dive ,Dive.

Walsall and Northampton -No reason apart from people i really don't like support these teams.
God this feels good

between Liverpool , Man U

My choice [inevitably Man U ] was based purely on the 1978 paganini football sticker album .. with Man U just edging it on the number and quality of Scottish players in the squads.

As a young Aberdeen fan my choice was only validated when Fergie and Strachan moved to my English club.

so I always support the team on the left of the screen.

Grew up going to watch the glorious Manchester United when Best, King Dennis and Bobby Charlton were playing.

Liverpool l can't stand, even though l was born there and spent my early years there (l know, a Manchester United fan coming from Liverpool, it's a long story). Had to suffer years of abuse and pisstaking when Manchester United didn't win the league for years and Liverpool swept all before them. Well worth it now though. Don't mind Everton at all.
As l didn't grow up in Manchester, l couldn't care less about Siddy, they're just a joke.
Dirty Leeds l still can't stand. My brother now lives right by the stadium and had his wedding reception in the Jacky Charlton suite (what a dump). He has no interest in football so can be forgiven.
Not bothered about England either - l'm European me.

Scunthorpe United.
Newcastle United.

Irritated by: any reference to "The Big Four"

*sigh*

I don't dislike any teams. Following Chelsea is torment enough.

God bless them and keep them.

Nowt much for the cleaners to polish in the trophy cabinet in over 50 years and currently sat in the cockpit of a plummeting spitfire with a leg trapped.

Who cares? That black and white kit has always been the best. Can we have a prize for that please?

If you'd managed to keep the Haymarket and Broken Doll pubs open, l'd have sent you a prize myself

Aldershot Town man & boy.

If you're an old Shots fan (pre-going out of the league), then you hate Reading, Brentford and AFC Bournemouth, particularly after they changed their name specifically to get ahead of us in the alphabetical listing of league clubs. Not that we're petty or anything.

If you're a new Shots fan (post going-out-of-the-league-then-16-years-in-the-wilderness-before-last-years-triumphant-return-and-the-slightly-disappointing-first-season-back), then you hate Woeking, Farnborough and anybody managed by Graham Westley and/or that fat bloke at Crawley. Not fond of Nigel Clough either.

We nearly beat Man Utd back in 1970 you know...

Liverpool (Irritated by you know who)

Glasgow Celtic (More Irritated by you know who from the West end of the city)

Kettering Town (The poppies)Irritated by Rushden and Diamonds formerly Rushden and Irthlingborough Diamonds

Brilliant, my hometown club.

Of course, I'm not one for the "supporting the team from where you were raised" rule (I'd actually have to support Northampton Town if I did) so instead I cheer on Liverpool.

But the Seagulls can pull my heartstrings, geographically from my youth - Brighton & Hove Albion.
I always liked the idea of Partick Thistle,for some reason too.

I'm not one of the jaded old birds who find possible success upsetting. If it happens (a Milk Cup, an Anglo-Italian Cup, I really don't care) after the 30-odd years of horror I've endured then I'll be happy. Just one trophy would do me.

And I really like East Stirling too - been up there four times. They're having a fab season too after years of misery.

Hate: MK Dons and Leicester City. And Birmingham City too. I've had death threats from their fans.

Been a difficult last couple of years for the hoops, with our revolving manager policy.
one of the best nights of my life was going to Loftus Road in april 1977 and watching Rangers tear Man Utd apart 4-0.
Eddie Kelly scored straight from kick off after about 30 seconds!

Am I the only Celtic fan here, the Barca of Glasgow, first British team to win the European Cup. You would expect me to say Rangers as my hate team but not so. My grandfather was the spitting image of John Greig so I have always had a soft soft for them bar when they play the Buoys.
Hate team Chelsea Real Madrid and any team Beckham plays for

And, as a backup, Charlton Athletic (one where I live now and the other where I used to live). You may guess correctly that this has not exactly been my favourite season.

Irritants - well, you'd expect me to say Portsmouth but since Redknapp left for Spurs I've transferred my irritation to White Hart Lane.

And nobody likes Crystal Palace and their tikka-tinged chairman, do they?

Buoys? surely Bhoys.

Yes Stevo59 I knew that didn't look right. My spelling is shite. Since I joined this forum I haven't has to spell this much since I left school 25 years so im very rusty,and it takes me bloody ages to type all this crap out then i usually hit the wrong button and loss it and have to do it all again , like now.

Yes a long suffering Toffee who is living in hope of getting a FA Cup Final ticket - season ticket holder who can't afford away & cup games so little chance of a ticket!
Love my team and have followed them since Feb 75 when I was 4 and we got beat in the FA cup by Bobby Moore and Fulham.

I used to live in France in the early 90s and support Olympique Lyonnais - sad to see our 7 year hold on the league slipping but c'est la vie.

Teams that irritate me? Newcastle United - unbearable in every sense. Blackburn - 'Big Sam'. Aston Villa - sorry but O'Neill just bugs me and their ground is like a funeral parlour.

Sorry Evanslyonnais have to disagree with on 2 fronts here. Im no big fan of Newcastle but any club that can attract that many fans to watch that much shit must have something good going for them. And O' Neil is a man who can turn other peoples rubbish into something useful. A bit like David Moyles!

Ipswich. It's got a bit more interesting recently and I'm afraid the halcyon days of "Crisis? The only time there's a crisis etc etc" are long gone, although if truth be told they've been long gone for a...er...long while. We do seem to have produced an inordinate number of managers of national sides for our turnover though. Always keep a look out for Morecambe these days and don't really hate anyone. There's always Delia's lot of course, but 'pity' is more the word.

Been watching them disappoint me yet again at Dundee United tonight.

and I don't hate Everton. I'm rooting for them in the final.

I do hate Man U, I suppose that's to be expected but it's down to two things.

Fergusson.

Rants about players not showing referees respect whilst his own are dreadful and him even worse.

Has this illusion of playing free flowing football and digs Liverpool for being negative when he adopts the same tactics.

United at Arsenal were classic Houllier, I can't remember the last time they didn't have eleven men behind the ball at Anfield.

His assertion that they like to bring young players on, Liverpool's last wave was Gerrard - Carragher, Man U's was Neville, Giggs, Scholes.

Ronaldo

He is probably the best player in the world but his petulance is intolerable.

His diving and waving his arms in the air.

Most of all when he's brushed in the slightest, he leaps to the ground, shouting out like a big soft nana.

Great goal on Tuesday from a free kick that wasn't, that is the Ronaldo story.

How Fergusson has brought him on is admirable, he's made him the player that he is, it'll be interesting to see how he fares in a team of makeweights next year in Madrid.

It'll also be interesting to see how Man U do next year without Tevez or him.

I wouldn't really say I "support" any team as I don't follow football close enough these days, but as a kid it was Sheffield Utd and I still check the scores / position each weekend. I have the shirt, but thats mainly as in this hot and humid weather in Singapore football shirts are extremely comfortable and it makes me stand out from all the Man U / Liverpool supporters here.....

There's no one I really dislike, although Man C would be the closest but thats mainly because one of my colleagues when I was in Manchester was a passionate city fan and it was always great fun winding him up. I guess I could add Leeds, but thats purely a Yorkshire rivalry thing from when I was younger - still love the sign coming up the M1....

The North
Sheffield
Leeds

(sounds correct to me.....)

I'll watch games if they are on, but don't go out of my way to watch and if there's a Rugby game on, that'll get my vote everytime.

I'm just watching thr Uefa cup semi-final Hamburg- W Bremen and it is sickening to see the way footballers are acting. Its a fairly good game but the constant cheating and feigning injury is spoiling the game. Players trying get others booked or sent off is another thing. Chelsea,United and Liverpool have 3 or 4 players who are at this all the time as well.

Our holiday in the Premier League may be coming to an end, although it very much depends on whether Newcastle can - as they've done all season - remain just that little bit shitter than us.

I live in an Arsenal household - we can hear the roar of the Emirates from our back garden (they weren't that loud on Tuesday, mind) and both my sons have Arsenal posters wallpapering their room. So while I'll never be a gooner, I can't dislike them that much - unlike Chelsea. Or Leeds, even though they're two divisions below us (for now).

I support West Ham.

Liverpool, although really I support Marine, since I grew up in the next street along and nicked many of their footballs.

Don't really hate anyone, although Man Utd annoy me because they win all the time. It's kind of why I hate bankers. AIG is a very appropriate sponsor.

I am waning on my football love, though, because of all the 4x4, way-more-money-than-they-deserve aspect. But god it keeps sucking me in.

Why - because thats where my uncle started to take me from the age of six. I landed lucky - but also had to sit through best part of 20yrs worth of failure before reaping the benefits.

Hatred - none.
Pity - The usual deluded fools from the other end of the East Lancs Road... This going to be our year..er well next year is our year.. well maybe the one after that... 'But we've won more trowfeees'..etc etc

What does amuse me is the Ronaldo references for diving and throwing his arms about. Yes - it get on my nerves sometimes, but has anyone seen Drogba play ? And our friend Stevie G should be representing GB in the fixed platform 10m freestyle.

dislike every other team intensely.

United is my team, and has been since I was about six, and my mum put a white 7 on the back of a red jumper, and I ran to my dad and asked who played in red in England. For some reason he said Manchester United, not Liverpool, and this being about 1980, it was a strange choice. But there you go.

As I said somewhere up there ^ like many Norwegians, I grew up watching English football on tv every saturday.

I still prefer watching English football to most other leagues, as I know something about most teams. Dislikes are: boring Arsenal, Leeds, City and Liverpool.

As a young glory hunter in the mid-80s it was Liverpool, but I've had a long standing affection for Charlton Athletic since my teens, mainly from going with a good mate of mine. Will probably go more now they're in League 1 cos it's easier to get tickets.

Dislike - none really. It seems Man United are a popular dislike (and I quite enjoy it when they're beaten by a lesser side), but when they click into gear they're awesome to watch, and that's the point where you have to forget any prejudices you have against the team and just enjoy the football they play.

I'm not a real fan I just follow them for the glory.

Dislike Portsmouth & Chelsea
Soft spot for Southend

And mighty relieved after we survived our annual relegation battle.

Dislike Sheffield united, as is compulsory after one of their players fractured our record signing's skull with a seemingly intentional elbow.

Although really it's individuals that most irritate me. The likes of Ashley Cole and Drogba. Basically all those highly paid prima donnas who are contributing to the downfall of the game.

To quote our wonderful little Russian Andrey Arshavin. I have been going since i was 6yrs old in 1968 when my Dad first took me and we were rubbish then.A season ticket holder since 1969,I have had some of the most special moments of my life at Highbury and now the Emirates (less so,especially last tuesday!) with firstly my Dad and since he passed away with my son. Its the only place I have gone to regularly for most of my life...i have changed home,wife,job,doctors,dentist but going to The Arsenal is an absolute constant. I have seen the most boring football and the most sublime,seen the team winning the title with the last kick of the game at Anfield and lows of the last minute goal Naim scored from the halfway line in Paris.As Vincent Jones once said "It's been emotional".
And I will always despise Spurs even though there are not remotly rivalling us and have not for years :-)

Since I was a boy. Quite enjoying things at the moment under Zola and Clarke. In terms of hate teams, Chelsea for their behaviour and attitude and because I don't like John Terry. Tottenham because I'm meant to and that's about it.

for me since the 1977 cup final with Satan's spawn! My brother supports them so plenty of arguments over the last 30 years! I also hate Celtic, but only because being Irish I'm supposed to like them!

... is my club.

I'm okay with just about any others except:

Manchester United - Arrogant and graceless. Morally bankrupt. They sum up everything that is wrong with the modern game. Satan's team.

Chelsea - Kenyon said a few years ago that he wants them to be the Manchester United of the South. Says it all really. Drogba's behaviour was disgraceful, but rather typical of the Mourinho's legacy.

I do really like Arsenal (Wenger has done a magnificent job there since arriving and his teams usually try to play football in the right way) and generally Everton (again, great manager). Also, Martinez seems to be building a team at Swansea.

and Altrincham FC. No I don't have a papier maché head.

Dislikes Newton Heath FC and The M*cclesfield scum. Not much time for Spurs either.

Admiration for any other clubs who try to keep the ball on the ground and whose players don't try to roll all over it.

Irritated by Burnley (of course!)

I used to support Southampton.

Not much point in that now.

Hartlepool United fan & season-ticket holder (Yes, there is one...). Have to follow them as it's my home town team.

The obvious local rivalry is with Darlington, and I want that team to suffer - though having to see that club pretty much dissappearing before our eyes is a sad sight, and I have great sympathy with its supporters - though when the town of Darlington itself doesn't seem to care, financial oblivion is just round the corner.

and may I say how pleasant it is to see NUFC getting a fair bit of stick.
Don't care much for Chelsea at all but my all-time hate team is whichever one Fat Sam Allardyce is managing with his 'play-for-a-nil-nil-draw-lads' mentality.

The "real" hoops....dislike Brentford...

Work in the Premier League so it gets a bit tough!

We sing when we're fishing....

My tele team is Liverpool (but I dont dislike the other big northern clubs including Man Utd).

As a child, I was indoctrinated into despising all the London clubs. Despite having lived in London longer than I ever lived in Gimsby I cant shake that off. I do have a slight soft spot for West Ham and Spurs which my Liverpudlian mate told me was because those two teams "are not a serious threat" unlike Chelsea and Arsenal.

But mildly amusing....

Started following them around 1974. I just thought they played great football when I saw them on MOTD. Perfect FA Cup win in 1978 because I was the only Town supporter at my Surrey school and I was 11. I have no problem with Norwich. Is there a rule that you really have to hate the nearest club to yours?

Chelsea are the only team I seem to actively dislike. Just when the negative feelings begin to subside, something else happens to confirm my life-long gut feeling about them. Uncanny.

Queens Park Rangers.

Been going since 1978, and have yet to enjoy myself.

Cannot stand Chelsea in any way shape or form. Remember having to run across the pitch in 1978 (0-0) when their 'fans' kicked off in the loft. You really were taking your life in hands in those days.

Don't like Fulham out of sheer jealousy.

Don't like Brentford either, they don't like us, may as well reciprocate!!

Luton, Port Vale, Stoke, Cardiff, Colchester, West Brom all a pain in the arse too.

I am a one eyed biased, partisan QPR fan. And proud of it.

...even though I'm surrounded by mancs. I've nothing but disdain for Man Utd since they've spent the last 20 years singing about Hillsborough at every opportunity - I won't watch the CL final, not even to support Barca, I simply don't care about the game.

I'd like to see Citeh do well but they really need a world-renowned manager if they're going to attract world-class players.

I genuinely pity any club who suffer the misfortune of being managed by Fat Sam Allardyce.

I've always had nothing but respect for Arsenal and Wenger has been the best manager in the Premiership for years. I don't begrudge Chelsea their wealth (I wish Abramaovich had bought us) and most criticism is just plain jealously, IMO.

I've never liked Engerland, either - the European Championships were a pleaure to watch without them being involved.

Finally, I've always had a soft spot for QPR for some reason.

Millwall fc (going up hopefully)
Cray Wanderers (promoted to Rymans premier last week)
Without football there is nothing...
Oh,while I remember No one likes us etc..

for Birmingham City. Say, we are premier league!!

If they ceased to exist it would be Derby, Arsenal or Spurs. Anyone but Man U,Villa and Chelsea. More than any team however I dislike Frank Lampard. Despicable person IMHO.

I am a Liverpool fan, perhaps unique amongst many London-based Liverpool fans in that I'm an actual Scouser. I remember our glory days with considerable fondness, I reflect on Heysel and Hillsborough with shame and outrage respectively, I endured the wilderness years in frustration, and I greet the somewhat faltering green shoots of recovery under the aegis of El Jefe with a cautious optimism. I am proud to say that I loathed Man United when they were crap, and when the zenith of their season was taking maximum points off us or coming fourth in two-horse races, and my continued loathing of them has nothing to do with their pre-eminence in the modern game. Unlike Chelsea, whom I loathe with almost equal depth, they have at least earned, rather than bought, the right to call themselves the best team in Europe (even if they aren't). Chelski, on the other hand, seem to have overlooked the fact that it wasn't so long ago that they were being turfed out of the UEFA Cup by St. Gallen, despite having four World Cup winners in their side, so there's a little more paying of dues (and winning of European trophies) to be done before I'm prepared to show them any graciousness. I reserve a special place in the blackest corner of my heart for Wimbledon, practitioners of what Bill Shankly (describing Southampton, IIRC) once called 'alehouse football', who prevailed by stifling superior sides with Sunday League tactics long before it became that most mortal of footballing sins. They are now exactly where they deserve to be. That said, I never felt the same about Steve McMahon after he let Vinny Jones scare him out of the 1988 FA Cup Final.

Everton are, as my late mother used to say, more to be pitied than scorned.

Currently in administration-the manager, Jimmy Gannon and his staff have been laid off, the club shop is shut, the ground, in a series of deceptions by businessman Brian Kennedy,is owned by some entity called Cheshire Sports leaving County without a ground. They have six thousand loyal supporters.At this moment we are more an idea of a football club than an actual one. Howewer I would rather throw my support behind a club like County than the money grubbing Manure Uniteds and Chelskis of this world, who have ruined the glorious game. Support local not global.(Trudges off into the sunset, football rattle in one hand, hot scalding Bovril in the other, quietly singing Stockport's anthem "The Scarf My Father Wore")

Reading FC season ticket holder. Have seen us go from near obscurity to the once unimagined "promised land" of the Premier League.

From a 100 year old atmospheric terraced and corrugated iron death trap of a stadium to a new Ikea bolt-on antiseptic one with optional Hotel and increased corporate facilities attached that can host the Red Hot Chili Peppers and London Irish rugby club.

I've witnessed the Club's first season in the top flight since they formed in 1871 and yet I wasn't too unhappy to be relegated again. From an honest bunch of footballers playing as a team to having their virginity well and truly taken by cheating diving tossers like Drogba and whinging cry babies like Ronaldo, biased refs and moaning opposition managers. Bad foreign signings: "all my life I have dreamed of playing for a club like Reading", players get corrupted, agents stirring up moves to bigger clubs, players pleasant childhood sweethearts become WAGS and end up on reality shows, bimbos, "Fracas outside nightclub", having to watch those idiots Lineker and Lawrenson patronise your club on MOTD...

No, it might sound strange but give me mid table Championship stability any day!!

Sorry - coming into this a bit late in the day however a couple of things...

Lard...Theatre of Debt! Brilliant! I see what you've done there. You've studiously ignored the twenty odd trophies won by the other lot since you last picked up a pot and chosen to focus on the financial model instead. You guys! Good luck in your cup final on Sunday by the way.

Meccano- yes singing about Hillsborough is abhorrent and I would never defend it (and in 20 years of going to OT have never heard it) but come on.....pot, kettle , black, Munich songs.

is my team...even though their inconsistency annoys me greatly.

Also look out for Alloa Athletic's results as I used to watch them when I was younger, in the world class stadium known as Recreation Park.

English team....Arsenal....also like Everton (mainly cos I think David Moyes is a good manager)
I live in Houston just now, so Houston Dynamo are the local team.

Dislike?
Rangers, Celtic, Chelsea

I think applies to Manchester United as well.

Someone said "Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for the house in blackjack"

Season ticket holder with the Jacks.

Biggest hated side? Not Cardiff, not even close. I admire anyone from South Wales who doesn't "armchair" and actually goes to games. I dislike the big 4. Rammed down our bleeding throats.

Since they were in the old Division Three in the mid 70s so next season should bring back memories.

Irritated by: the whole Premier League.It was when they thought Thaksin was a fit and proper person that did it for me...

is that like many of our musical heroes they had their best years in the 60s, 70s and, arguably 80s. Since then it's been the odd scintillating performance, the occasional masterpiece on otherwise indifferent albums.

They tour every year, and every year we fans have high expectations, only for problems with management, the departure of the temperamental lead singer and/or guitarist to other more successful bands, the usual string of mediocre gigs to leave us deflated.

As usual, after a dismal start to this year's tour, the arrival of a more sympathetic manager and the emergence of a more consistent rhythm section has led to promising end of tour dates - leading once again to high expectations for next year and the forlorn quest for the heights of yesteryear.

Hartlepool United - through the medium of Stelling

This week I am both irritated and entertained by the Chelsea bad losers

Do you remember how Cloughie always used to say it ?
Made it to the European Cup semi-final on today's football equivalent of small change - M Wenger for Manager of the Season !

Based on the wealth of comment above, and taking the balance of favourable and unfavourable opinion, if the Word blog site contributors were to decide these things it looks like Man Utd & Chelsea would need to – in the old way of doing things - seek re-election (& probably be convincingly turned down), West Ham or Man City would be Premiership champions (come on you Irons) followed by Liverpool & Arsenal, Sam Allardyce would be unemployable, QPR & Ipswich promoted, Gerrard voted the least popular Player of the Year, Brighton in the play-offs instead of Leeds, Kettering Town catapulted into League 2, and Brentford have some points deducted & miss promotion (pity – they’re my local team). Seems to be a bit of a southern bias here !

Partick Thistle & Aberdeen would be kings

My comment about Newcastle as least favourite team - yes they have great support but so do many teams. I really object to this notion that because of the support they must be a great club. WRONG! NUFC have won naff all during my lifetime and even my team, Everton, have won 3 championships (albeit one when I was in the maternity ward!!), 2 FA Cups, European Cup Winners Cup in my lifetime. Personally I look forward to the day in the next fornight when their relegation is confirmed.

were my first love, and first love never, ever dies. Only they seem to be in front of my very eyes over the last 3 years. Relegation from the Football League for a 2nd time, an owner that has driven the hardcore supporter base down to 1000 by outrageous mismanagement (minutes silence for a 'club benefactor' who turns out to be the North West's biggest drugs baron anyone?), a local council that seem to have had enough of said owner and wont sanction anything he proposes, and an estimated £1.1m owned to HMRC. Our six most senior pros had their contracts terminated this week (including 18 goal in a rubbish side hero Ryan Lowe), and due to losing our League status have lost our Centre of Excellence funding, thus snapping the neck of the goose that may lay the golden egg.

I would take liquidation now, and the chance to start again in the NW counties to allow us to get a community club, back in local hands and run correctly. Seems a million years away though...

Tickles me when I see Southampton fans moaning, they want to try what us and Darlington are going through.

Occasionally go to watch (matriarchal hometown) Bangor City in the Welsh Premier too. A suprisingly friendly, hospital and affordable League. Highly recommend to anyone.

Despise 'big club' Wrexham for a number of reasons. Mainly because as a proud Cestrian it is my birthright.

Since I was a kid in London, though my parents were both Ars*nal -work that one out. I had an uncle (actually married to my mother's cousin) who actually went to Spurs and that carried more weight.

2nd team - Coventry City I suppose, because I've lived in Cov for a large chunk of my life, though I have more than a bit of affection for Wolves, whom my son briefly supported - love the Molyneux - much better footballing side.

If we're talking (Ice) Hockey then Coventry Blaze (started following as Solihull Barons back in the mid-80s) and in North America - Vancouver Canucks - 1st live game I went to was in Vancouver.

I'm a Man Utd supporter. I used to find Arsenal the team that got my goat the most - in fact I was at Old Trafford for that game when Keown and his pals starting attacking Van Nistelrooy.

But now its Liverpool, or rather that goatee faced Spanish waiter of a manager that annoys me most.

Roll on Barcelona, cant wait!!!

Along with nigelthebald, Austin and skirky, I'm an Ipswich Town boy and always will be. The reason? I was born in Ipswich and grew up there.

However, I moved away about... 8 hours ago and now my local league team is Aldershot, so I intend to go and see them a few times in 2009/10.

There are no teams I really despise, my main bugbear is people who don't support their hometown team or support a team they have absolutely no connection with. I feel sorry for the budgies up the road and wish they hadn't gone down to Division Three - it'd be good to play them next season.

Teams I'm slightly against: teams that seem to think they have a God-given right to be in the top tier (seemingly Leeds and Newcastle) and Sheffield United. For an unknown reason, I have a soft spot for Crewe...

Translation - (Teddy) Bears rhymes with Gers (at least it does in a Glaswegian accent!)

Oh, and it's Rangers by the way, not Glasgow Rangers. The original and still the best, so no need for a geographical explanation!

Yes, I'm feeling smug today and yes I may have had a shandy or two to celebrate today's vital ground-out victory over our green hooped foes. Anyone else feel that sometimes those games, although not pretty, have a certain grim satisfaction and are what football is really all about? Or is that just the dour Calvinist in me?

Is how it's spelt. And yes, I'm feeling rather smug after today's result, too. Gaun yersel, wee man!

Can't be doing with Association Football - never understood the attraction myself :-)

Always

for good or ill.

Also, after living near Lens for a bit I still support Racing Club de Lens from afar. Ought to be back in Ligue 1 next season, barring accidents...

Written with a hint of irony (no pun intended) after our result vs the Micky Mousers yesterday. However, we have largely always tried to play creative, attacking football, and have of course been the only club side ever to win the World Cup.
Team I don't like - not really the team, but the board of Sheff Utd, worst losers in history, money-grabbing, excuse making leeches. Couldn't even beat Wigan at home to stay up, then blame it all on 1 player. What a joke, I hope they get to the play-off finals and lose 10-0.
Don't really agree with the Man U haters, they play great attacking football, fantastic to watch, and it's not their fault where their supporters come from is it?
Hopefully things will continue to progress with Signor Zola, just wish he could find another Di Canio out there somewhere as we desperately need a creative goalscoring midfielder.
Up the 'Ammers !!!

I've really lost all intetest in the overpaid whingers in the premiership. Particularly as it is being refereed into being a non-contact sport. I'm not asking for a return to Norman Hunter/Nobby Stiles style leg-breakers but I doubt many of the centre backs of even 10 years ago would survive todays refs.

...although formative years were spent in Ayr, so they were my own 'first' club as I followed Norwich from afar because they were my father's team long before I came to live here. Hence username too!

You would expect me to say Ipswich, and although there's a lot about their set-up that I don't like, plus the fact that eight years ago Five Live treated them as everyone's second favourite club, and there's the whole administration thing too, I know enough of their fans who are just as loyal as City's.

So let's go for...
Crystal Palace, not just for being a tin-pot, won-nothing club in a faceless part of south London, but also for having the gall to charge us £35 - more than Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United - to see our Premier League meeting there in 2005.

Coventry/Everton, for conspiring to send us down in 1985 after what you'd be forgiven for thinking was an Austria v West Germany 'agreement' a couple of weeks after we'd played our last game.

Wolves, for not being exactly welcoming for the 2002 First Division play-off semi-final second leg.

Stoke, for barely filling two-thirds of their ground when we played there in 2007/8 despite adults being charged just £6 to get in. But, of course, they're such great fans.

As with all conspiracy theories, the working of a deluded mind. Everton had won the league, won the European Cup Winner's Cup and lost an FA cup final. By the time the Coventry game came along it was something like our 60th match of the season. Not a lot left to play for at that point, but what benefit did we gain from Norwich going down?
I think we'd also beaten Norwich 3-0 a few weeks earlier. That might have had something to do with their relegation.

you don't need shorts

Completely hooked on my home town team of Rochdale. Beaten by Gillinhgam in the league 2 play off semis yesterday but we'll be back.

why, the mighty Tottenham Hotspur of course!

memorably described as such by one of my more literate mates after having led 2-0 at Old Trafford a couple of weeks ago, we succumbed in typical Tottenham fashion 5-2..

Teams I fervently dislike;

The Arse - it goes without saying. For the over-bearing arrogance of their myopic manager and their tourist 'supporters'.

Chelsea - the most fickle supporters in the land and a horrible bunch of players - particularly Terry, Drogba and Cole.

and so agonisingly accurate - it's just like being hopelessly in love with a heartless harlot who looks a million dollars but puts out behind the bike shed for an Embo king size and a swig of your cider.

I have supported them since 1976. I can only apologise.

I dislike all teams that play in RED.

it's great to see that money hasn't changed us - still underperforming and frustratingly inconsistent.

Also keep an eye for the results of Conference North side Southport - Fourth Division (that's League 2 to you younger ones) champions when I first watched them, and who've just lost in the playoffs for the second year in succession.

Dislikes - Stretford United, obviously, and Wigan Athletic (for taking Southport's league place in 1978). And Glasgow Rangers, primarily because I once spent a 3 hour train journey in a carriage filled with men with UDA tattoos, who sang lots of lovely songs about sashes their father wore and how they wanted to have sexual intercourse with the pope. Not pleasant.

Crazy name - Inverness Caledonian Thistle; crazy club - hire him; no sack him; no, hire him back again; oh just sack the f****r! Begetters of the best ever football headline following a 3-1 drubbing of the mighty Celtic - "Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious". Currently embroiled in their annual fight with relegation but it keeps me enthralled.

Dislikes are many, but Leeds, Liverpool (I once lived in a blue house in Crosby!) and Chelsea are right up there. Not really logical, more visceral, but it's football innit?

...Oh, you weren't talking about Rugby League then?

Any other Rugby a Treize fans out there in Wordland?

Described by Alan Hansen on MOTD this week as "magnificent".

Who'd have thought it at the start of the season, when one bookie paid out on relegation bets on Stoke before a ball had been kicked.

As for dislikes, it has to be Chelsea and the foul attitudes and behaviour of several of their players both on and off the pitch. Disgraceful.

And I don't like the way Alex Ferguson chews gum with his mouth open.

Lifted over turnstile by my Dad at age of 8 but had been pestering to go from age of 6.

Hate all seater stadiums and getting hassled by stewards to sit down even though there's nobody sitting behind you
Hate 12:30 pm kick offs.
Hate lack of decent Premier League highlights package on terrestrial TV.
Hate paying 24 quid at Parkhead to squint around a pillar to get see team get thumped relentlessly.
Hate how Champions League just makes rich richer.
Actually I think I have fallen out of love with the "beautiful game".

is my club. Frustrating, under-acheiving, heart-breaking shower of c***s. But I love them cos they`re mine.
And we hate with a limitless passion our illustrious neighbours Real F****** Madrid

Can't be arsed to look through 1001 other entries but prepared to bet that I'm the first here to mention them (probably in both the love/hate categories). We're that kind of team.

Sadly, the halcyon days of the Gradi era are now long gone, a bit like the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Back in Div 4 for the first time in 15 years, the season has unfolded like a cross between a Greek Tragedy and huge slow motion car crash, casted and driven respectively by a bunch of on-loan soldiers for fortune.

I can actually pinpoint the very day that it all went Pete Tong....the day we sold Dean Ashton in January 2005. A few days earlier we had won at Elland Road and beaten them comprehensively by 2 - 0. Deano scored both, team placed just a few points short of the Championship play-offs zone.

Deano sold, don't win again until last match of the season....just stay up. Since then its been one low after another.

Plenty of kids coming through the fabled Academy but are they good enough? Seems not, sadly. Looks like a long slog for a good while around all those places we thought we'd left behind, and a few new ones we hoped never to see.

Ramble over....

As for hate? Well, at various times have probably cheered most people on, but generally have little time for Leeds (old habits die hard) or Chelsea (as has been said before, no class and served them right last week). Unfortunately I have to admit that this season has seen grudging respect granted to Stoke. The clayheads have worked with what they've got and no-one has figured them out. I expect to see them regularly spanked next season.

First started going with my Granddad when I was 5. We've been rebuilding ever since and that was 43 years ago.
Oh and that g**ner who commented earlier - the feeling's mutual, mate. You'll never win anything at the Emirates Urinal - it's cursed....

is the team I support and the club I dislike the most. I know too much. It's where I was born and where I stayed. I adopted a Division 1 side for Primary School playground purposes based upon the colour of their top and the pleasing shape of their name. It was a great relief when I realised I was old enough not to have to care about them, thirty years later.

It's just pathetic hating your neighbours out here. I don't know how the local clubs manage to survive from season to season. So Hereford United finish bottom of League 1; with the size of their average gate it was pretty remarkable that they got there in the first place. Evesham United made it to the First Round of the FA Cup with the footballing equivalent of a well-drilled works side. Good for them. (City entered four different cup competitions and lost all four ties. No fixture congestion for them.)

No matter how the pyramid has been reorganised and renamed over the past quarter-century, City have always remained two promotions from the Football League. It's possible to enjoy the stillness. It's like "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay", watching other clubs going up and down.

City score an own goal in the first minute of a crunch match against Margate, a chip from the edge of the box into the top left corner. City lose 1-0 and Margate head into the Nationwide Conference. Margate have just been relegated from the Ryman League Premier, three levels below the Football League, to a division where you have to buy a specialist sports paper in order to find out the result.

You do see some strange sights in the lower leagues. Paul Gascoigne's final act in football was managing Kettering Town to defeat at Redditch United. And that took some doing. To think that was the last ground he visited in a professional capacity is genuinely sad. It's a heap.

I'm alarmed by the recent trend for certain Scottish clubs to disappear without trace. Have they started over or do these towns do without a local football club now?

Yes, I recall losing 4-0 at Scarborough, when they were in the league. (Consult your reference books.)

No, I don't think we've always played the nicest football. But I don't understand or admire the plate of chips on Arsenal fans' shoulders. Look, we didn't LIKE stopping you winning the league that year, which meant that our least favourite team (the one with the biggest debt) did instead. It's just that we accidentally discovered it was so easy to scare you, like going up behind a child and shouting "boo". Then you hired Abou Diaby to all but end Ivan Campo's career by lunging studs-up at his ankle. Apparently, they call it Wengerball.

Mealy-mouthed mitherers apart, who do I dislike? As Badly Drawn Boy once said (see quote at http://fourfourtwo.com/interviews/celebrityfans/186/article.aspx - there's other musical types there too), "growing up in Bolton, it’s inherent that you hate Man United". As it happens I think they can play rather nice football, although Arsenal's is better, at its best.

Like others, what I hate most is the funneling of money into the teams nearest the top - and, yes, in the 92+ scheme of things, I'm perfectly aware that that includes my own football club. Cartels like the Premier League and "Champions" League are designed to squeeze the life out of those outside the circle-jerk. I'd have loved Villa to break into the top four to ease the monotony, even if Arsenal would be the last of the top four I'd evict.

But sadly they didn't, and they didn't even bother with the UEFA Cup because it's not financially worth it. So the money stays at the top, and the rich get richer, and the poor can go bust - as I'm sure some will. Season ticket sales will be markedly down over summer, almost across the board. English football has started to fancy itself as premium entertainment, with ticket costs to boot, while still hoping to trade on the traditional undiscerning blind loyalty - we're "consumers" when they're fleecing us but "fans" when they want us to buy the new shirt every year, or pay £30 to watch two teams of automatons battle it out in a ten-man midfield malaise. Would you? I no longer do, very often. I preferred it at Scarborough. At least it didn't cost me the equivalent of four or five albums shrewdly bought.

I still love the game, though, for its perfect combination of intelligence and physicality. There's nothing better than watching Barcelona pass with purpose and intent, slicing opponents apart with quick feet and quicker brains. Or Bournemouth battling back from their points penalty to avoid relegation. There's a thousand stories and you never quite know how any of them will end... even if you've a very good idea who the top four will be.

In a family of Blues going back to the start of the Club. My great-grand parents (on my mother's side) upto WW1 had season tickets to Goodison. My Dad was a "renegade" - he saw the light as a lad after seeing the great WR Dean score 5 goals in one match in the early '30s.

Glad to say my son - though born in London where I have lived for over 25 years - is carrying on the tradition of not being a manufactured fan and is not a brand follower like many from the region.

Apart from the inevitable antipathy to all things Red - tho' I have a soft spot for the Arse - I particularly dislike:

1 Spurs for their fans persistent arrogant but unjustified posturing and their current manager HR

2. Chelski (a) where were all their curent supporters in the 1980s/ early 90s (b) Will they still be there when Putin's place mate departs?

3. West Ham - multifarious reasons, including their denial / support of Di Canio's fascist leanings - tho' I admire Zola as a player and manager.

4. Leeds, Millwall and Cardiff for their wonderful fans and having to endure unfortunate happenings when visiting their respective grounds.

a Spuds (Spurs) fan?

The coolest strip in the world. Hughie Gallagher. 1924. Derek Whiteford (my old PE teacher and shit footballer). The roll-call of glory could go on but my chip pan is smoking - must dash.

Been a fan pretty much ever since we won the World Cup, and that's despite (or perhaps because of) my dad taking me to Millwall as a kid.

Not sure how well they are playing these days - I always asleep before MOTD gives them their 2 minutes

I've given up hating Swindon, it's just not worth the energy anymore.

and for for some reason we are meant to hate Fulham, but as we haven't played them for a number of years I am at a loss as to why!