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Who is your second team?


Saint Charlie

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As a part time resident of Kharkiv, Eastern Ukraine due to work I have been able to go and watch Metalist Kharkiv quite a bit at the 38k capacity Metalist Stadium.

 

Standard of footy is good at times, after 13 games we are 4th with 24 points. Metalist are well known in Ukraine/Russia for producing good young players only for most to be snapped up by the bigger Kiev teams and some of the wealthy Russian teams...sound familiar? Our defender Denys Barvinko will be the next to go with some big Italian teams looking at him.

 

This is supplemented with some good experienced Ukrainian Intls and as with most Eastern European teams a selection of South Americans looking to move into European football. Cleiton Xavier, a Brasilian attacking midfielder is the pick of the bunch, with skills like Lallana.

 

Quality atmosphere, totally unlike English football. Anyway - who is your second team?

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As a part time resident of Kharkiv, Eastern Ukraine due to work I have been able to go and watch Metalist Kharkiv quite a bit at the 38k capacity Metalist Stadium.

 

Standard of footy is good at times, after 13 games we are 4th with 24 points. Metalist are well known in Ukraine/Russia for producing good young players only for most to be snapped up by the bigger Kiev teams and some of the wealthy Russian teams...sound familiar? Our defender Denys Barvinko will be the next to go with some big Italian teams looking at him.

 

This is supplemented with some good experienced Ukrainian Intls and as with most Eastern European teams a selection of South Americans looking to move into European football. Cleiton Xavier, a Brasilian attacking midfielder is the pick of the bunch, with skills like Lallana.

 

Quality atmosphere, totally unlike English football. Anyway - who is your second team?

 

Funny you should say that, my second team is (rather randomly) Dynamo Kiev. They had a great team in the late 90s but they've been gash for a few years now. Nowhere near the quality of Shakhtar these days and in real danger of finishing the season behind Metalist and Dnipro and missing out on next years Champs League. Oleg Blokhin is taking over though, so hopefully he will get them back on the right track.

 

How does a Saints fan end up living in Kharkiv of all places?

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Funny you should say that, my second team is (rather randomly) Dynamo Kiev. They had a great team in the late 90s but they've been gash for a few years now. Nowhere near the quality of Shakhtar these days and in real danger of finishing the season behind Metalist and Dnipro and missing out on next years Champs League. Oleg Blokhin is taking over though, so hopefully he will get them back on the right track.

 

How does a Saints fan end up living in Kharkiv of all places?

 

Tight race for the CL in Ukraine!

 

The company I work for has a big presence in Kharkiv for some unknown reason - will probably only need to go out there for one more trip - but its an interesting place once you get used to the quirks!

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Well there's two of us, I work in Ukraine also, near Poltava (Sokolva Balka) four weeks on and four weeks off.

I came in through Kharkiv from Vienna last Tuesday. Getting a bit nippy here already!

I spent a night in Kharkiv last year when Austrian Airlines cancelled my flight - had a great time.

Excellent hospitality.

I'll be travelling back to Kharkiv (airport) at the end of this month.

 

My other team is Vorskla Poltava (and Gillingham)

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And here we were thinking you were a man of the world.

 

I like a few other teams. Nottingham Forest, Man United, Millwall, Rangers, AC Milan, Barcelona, Bilbao, Fiorentina and Napoli. As in i would want them to win if i happened to see them play or might look at their results on a monday morning. They aren't my second team though. Having a second team is like having a wife and a mistress.

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I like a few other teams. Nottingham Forest, Man United, Millwall, Rangers, AC Milan, Barcelona, Bilbao, Fiorentina and Napoli. As in i would want them to win if i happened to see them play or might look at their results on a monday morning. They aren't my second team though. Having a second team is like having a wife and a mistress.

Spot on summary in my opinion

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I like a few other teams. Nottingham Forest, Man United, Millwall, Rangers, AC Milan, Barcelona, Bilbao, Fiorentina and Napoli. As in i would want them to win if i happened to see them play or might look at their results on a monday morning. They aren't my second team though. Having a second team is like having a wife and a mistress.

 

I see what you are saying. My allegiance would be 80% Saints and 20% Metalist so I am probably not as good a fan as you are (100% Saints), but better than some who support their second team more than 20%.

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Dundee.

 

Managed them by picking them at random on my first ever management game. Win the SPL with them and just always looked out for them ever since. They got relegated the same year as a Saints and promoted last season. They're also bottom with 4 points. :)

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I see what you are saying. My allegiance would be 80% Saints and 20% Metalist so I am probably not as good a fan as you are (100% Saints), but better than some who support their second team more than 20%.

 

I suppose it might be different if you lived in another country. For example if i moved to Naples i'd probably go and see Napoli most weeks, or Glasgow with Rangers. I guess then that might understandable for people who live there to have divided loyalty. I guess you couldn't help it being immersed in the culture of the club and city everyday.

 

What i dont get are these people that support two teams. I met a lad on holiday who was a Chelsea and Norwich fan. He was a Norwich fan but when he was a teenager decided he needed to support a premier league team so chose Chelsea and now supports both. My first thought when he said that was "knob" i was right, he was. A lot of people at work in Reading support Reading and someone else, Liverpool, in a lot of cases. I find this very odd.

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I suppose it might be different if you lived in another country. For example if i moved to Naples i'd probably go and see Napoli most weeks, or Glasgow with Rangers. I guess then that might understandable for people who live there to have divided loyalty. I guess you couldn't help it being immersed in the culture of the club and city everyday.

 

What i dont get are these people that support two teams. I met a lad on holiday who was a Chelsea and Norwich fan. He was a Norwich fan but when he was a teenager decided he needed to support a premier league team so chose Chelsea and now supports both. My first thought when he said that was "knob" i was right, he was. A lot of people at work in Reading support Reading and someone else, Liverpool, in a lot of cases. I find this very odd.

 

That is quite bizarre. Symptomatic of a small club IMO.

 

if you look through most of the teams on this thread theya re either foreign teams where someone has a link to them through family, work etc, or minnows that people have a soft spot for.

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I've been waiting for this opportunity, Charlie. Is Kharkhiv the same as Xharkhov? Ie a biggish city to the east of Ukraine? I spent a month over there in 1991 - great times, learning Russian, though there was a lot of unrest at the time.

 

My first exposure to football was many years ago at Plainmoor, so Torquay is my second team, Bury also latterly. I used to care whether ManU, Chelsea etc did well in Europe, but don't nowadays. I was very excited when Forest/Liverpool/Villa did well in Europe, nowadays, don't give a damn. I thought these taams were playing for 'us', now I don't know who 'us' is - not coz of casual racist stuff, just that I/We had the Empire thing still hanging over us in the 70s/80s.

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I guess Liverpool.

 

I watched them outplaying every European side at Anfield during the 1970's.. .and winning the title almost every season into the bargain and the great players they had then.

Ian Callaghan on the wing, St.John, Hunt, the (young) Keegan, Steve Heighway, Ian Rush, John Aldridge, Emlyn Hughes (the 1970's version of Steven Gerrard) ..what a great side they were...dare we forget ....Jimmy Case.

 

I'd support them every time - except when they play us ......

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