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Do you ever feel sorry for the opposition..?


david in sweden
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NO!... I don't either, but I think one man kicking himself must be Oldham manager Paul Dickov. It must have seemed a good deal when he loaned goalie Ben Amos from MAN:UTD,..last Friday. Although only 20, Amos is one of Sir Alex's up and coming talents and even had an outing in goal in a Euro Cup game v. Valencia earlier in the season.

 

Last night 's 6-0 cold shower must have given everyone something to think about.

Don't know if he was at fault more than his non-existent defence, but it brought back sad memories of Saints one-time youth keeper Keith Grainger.

 

In May 1986, whilst still recovering from an operation he found himself the only keeper on Saints' books after Peter Shilton went off on holiday and Saints prematurely released reserve keeper Phil Kite. Still only 17 at the time, Keith found himself standing between the posts for the last two games - BOTH AWAY - at Everton and Spurs.

 

We were slaughtered in both matches 1-6 at Goodison and 3-5 at Tottenham.

 

Keith later moved on, but suffered a severe injury after a few matches which no amount of operations could remedy and he was forced to retire from the game. He became a respected coach for the Academy in recent years, but memories like that must haunt you all your life.

 

''Pity Amos didn't stay at Old Trafford, Sir Alex might even have considered him for the FA cup tie later this month- if he had !

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No.

 

I have coached a youth football team for the last seven years. As well as dishing out a few hammerings we have also been on the receiving end of our fair share too.

 

When being beaten like that the last thing I would want to have is the opposition feel sorry for me, it's more then a little condescending..... opposing managers have generally been of the same opinion.

 

Therefore, no, I wouldn't feel sorry for them. It's sport, it's the risk you take as a fan that every now and then your time might get an utter spanking.

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Never usually, i think the only time i felt a little bit was for the 300 or so Dagenham fans at SMS, more because i have a bit of history with them and like them as a club, when they were 4-0 down at SMS and they started singing "let us score" i thought that was funny and kind wanted them to get one just for that really.

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I often feel for the young innocent kids who think their team are worldbeaters, even if it is Oldham , D&R or any other club, and they see their side hammered.

It takes me back to when Joe Kirkup ,Eric martin etc were my heroes and coming home after a match after seeing them beaten, for my dad to tell us what a load of rubbish they were.

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I often feel for the young innocent kids who think their team are worldbeaters, even if it is Oldham , D&R or any other club, and they see their side hammered.

It takes me back to when Joe Kirkup ,Eric martin etc were my heroes and coming home after a match after seeing them beaten, for my dad to tell us what a load of rubbish they were.

 

Yeah, would hate to take Mrs Colinjb's daughter to see a game only for us to be slaughtered. Perhaps I shouldn't be quite so positive about Saints in front of her fragile little mind.

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Never usually, i think the only time i felt a little bit was for the 300 or so Dagenham fans at SMS, more because i have a bit of history with them and like them as a club, when they were 4-0 down at SMS and they started singing "let us score" i thought that was funny and kind wanted them to get one just for that really.

 

Totally agree - dagenham's the one club i've felt a degree of sympathy for- like the management -john still/terry harris and their lot took it on the chin without the grovelling love-in between opposing fans you sometimes get on these occasions e.g. Southend.

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Feel sorry? Probably not. Respect? Sometimes yes. I respect the Huddersfield away fans from last season that came all that way on a Tuesday night to see their team get stuffed, for example. I won't respect the man utd "fans" that watch "their" club for the first time in years at St Mary's cos they have Soton connections/mates that can get them tickets in the home end.* In fact, I'll hate them.

 

 

 

* I hope nobody's thinking of doing this.

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I felt sorry for Wimbledon when we relegated them from the Premier League at the Dell. Neil Ardley was crying on the pitch after we scored our second.

 

Spot on. The sight of what relegation meant to Ardley and their fans left me feeling sorry - particularly relevant at the time when we had sailed so close to it so often. Ardley's genuine emotion about his club is all too rare

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I don't know if 'sorry' is the right word but I'm very conscious of the crucial difference our new found wealth makes and by comparison just how impoverished our typical L1 opponents are - we were in much the same position not so very long ago after all.

Life (and football) has never been fair I know, but a tad more humility from SFC supporters towards less fortunate clubs might just make us a little less disliked in the world of lower league football than we now are.

 

“In defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity” - Winston S Churchill
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Spot on. The sight of what relegation meant to Ardley and their fans left me feeling sorry - particularly relevant at the time when we had sailed so close to it so often. Ardley's genuine emotion about his club is all too rare

 

Compare that with how Manure fans started a countdown in our last few minutes in the Premiership. Lets hope they suffer on the 29th.

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I felt sorry for Wimbledon when we relegated them from the Premier League at the Dell. Neil Ardley was crying on the pitch after we scored our second.

 

+1... Well, +2 I guess...

 

Before she passed away, my mum would often think back to that day. Their fans were genuinely nice people who didn't really deserve what eventually happened to their club. I think everyone that day that relegation from the Premier League was going to be the start of their problems.

 

Aside from that? Nah.

Although (swapping sports for a sec) I remember our mum took us to the Vikings ice hockey games growing up. We were beatin the opposition that badly one time, everyone started supporting the other team for a joke :)

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I don't know if 'sorry' is the right word but I'm very conscious of the crucial difference our new found wealth makes and by comparison just how impoverished our typical L1 opponents are - we were in much the same position not so very long ago after all.

Life (and football) has never been fair I know, but a tad more humility from SFC supporters towards less fortunate clubs might just make us a little less disliked in the world of lower league football than we now are.

 

I hear what you are saying, but then we'll be out of here pretty damned soon and ain't coming back, so feck 'em....

 

 

 

But it HAS been a lot more fun than hoping we can somehow scrape together 38 points in the PL playing against a different bunch of mercenaries every week.

 

So I feel sorry for those fans who ONLY have that to look forward to each season. With luck our bus will ride right over them on our way to being the next Barcelona.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah right

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I might have a bit of sympathy for Man Utd on the 29th.

 

You might be taking the p*ss but even if they had shown us some sympathy when they sent us down I'd still laugh if we kicked them out.

 

The fact that their fans were actually gloating about sending us down that day makes me want to see their asses whipped even more.

 

Roy bloody Keane, what a tosser.

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I felt sorry for Wimbledon when we relegated them from the Premier League at the Dell. Neil Ardley was crying on the pitch after we scored our second.

 

Yes, me too. I wasn't thinking about the opposition until our second goal went in and then I realized what it meant for them and I never wanted Saints to ever be in that position.

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I felt sorry for Wimbledon when we relegated them from the Premier League at the Dell. Neil Ardley was crying on the pitch after we scored our second.

Me too. Actually - our fans were singing "Going Down, Going Down..." etc during the game but when it became clear that they WERE going down our fans stopped the chant. Which was fair play to us I thought. We applauded them off the field too but I don't suppose that that made them feel any better.

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