When new people join my company inevitably within the first few hours someone will ask “which team do you support” (even the blokes get asked this). So it struck me that I’ve seen relatively few footie related threads on the Afterword site – hope Im not transgressing something in the small print ?
For nigh on fifty years Ive followed my home team Rotherham United through good times and bad (cue the cliché joke). I go through periods where my interest is cursory and since moving south in the mid 70s, whilst I don’t get to see them very often, I generally manage at least a couple of games a season. At the moment following two promotions on the bounce including a memorable play off victory at Wembley last year (are there any Orient fans out there ?) and now struggling to keep our heads above water in the giddy heights of the Championship the fervour is most definitely high.
So it got me thinking (as only Afterworders do) who is the Rotherham United of the musical world ?
Got to be someone who has been around a good while but generally under the radar; unbelievably unfashionable; an honest no nonsense style of play and a small but dedicated fanbase. Oh and not forgetting have come within a whisker of going out of business.
So Ive come to the conclusion its either Chris Rea – fits most of the criteria (including the nearly going ‘out of business’) but arguably a bit too successful in the early days or Wishbone Ash.
If Im honest Im a bit disappointed with the result as though I was a fan of the Ash back in the day Id struggle to go and watch them now (and there’s two of them so that’s confusing). Chris Rea I neither like or dislike but if Im doing this objectively the choices seem to work.
The decision Ive come to , and in honour of the two WA’s in existence , is a new band ‘Chris Rea plays the music of Wishbone Ash’.
Bingo Little says
We never have football threads.
And I never get uncharacteristically point-faced and argumentative on them, either.
Bingo Little says
But since you asked…
Arsenal – Daft Punk. Touched by Gallic genius, delivered some sensational stuff in the late 90s and early part of this century. Had a few quiet years but back to winning ways last summer. Would help this metaphor if Daft Punk were constantly looking for a goalkeeper who wasn’t mad, and there was little or no crowd noise at their gigs, but there you go, you can’t have everything.
SixDog says
Queen’s Park Rangers
Forever ( in my mind) linked with the The Who and The Clash (Westway, Acton Grammar, Jones, Goldhawk Club, Townshend wearing a QPR scarf on the My Generation cover etc…)
Bingo Little says
It isn’t a Matchday at Loftus Road without London Calling.
VincePacket says
Another one for QPR.
While The Clash & The Who are closely tied to the team, I don’t think they represent what the team is.
We need a band who, played very sexy music in the 70s, had a couple of flamboyant front men and then hit their peak in the mid 80s. There then followed a terrible crash in fortune bought on by mis-management and in-fighting. Things finally turning round in the ’10s but still with far too many controversies and head-bangingly bad decisions.
I am tired and hungover this evening and cannot figure a suitable candidate. Any ideas?
SixDog says
Yes!
Sewer Robot says
Surely QPR=Beyoncé ?
After all, we are the “R”s
And the SL(PAROI)H has a most impressive a*se..
paintyface says
Rod Stewart? Puts me in mind of Stan Bowles. A great player on and off the field.
moseleymoles says
As a Manchester City fan it’s hard to separate us from les freres Gallagher, but I’d like to think of us as rem – years of credibility, toiling away as everyone’s second favourite band, a cult – then inexplicably the biggest band in the world seemingly overnight with everyone having to say ‘ I was into them years before Everybody Hurts/Silva, Yaya and Aguerro’
Kid Dynamite says
Plymouth Argyle. Workmanlike, forever toiling round lower division toilets and offering no real entertainment value. Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts it is, then.
moseleymoles says
not a band as such but that’s a fairly good desciption of the Dame’s career – certainly at his commercial peak in the Let’s Dance era.
moseleymoles says
not got the hang of the new site yet, that last comment was meant to go with the QPR comment
Blue Boy says
Spurs. Entertaining, stylish, and some magnificent moments. But also a frustrating ability to fall short of their potential, and despite always having some swashbuckling stars to end up being less than the sum of their parts. The glory days are in their past. I’m saying Crosby Stills Nash and Young.
Leedsboy says
Leeds. The Who. Mighty, powerful and hugely successful in the 60’s and 70’s. Never quite The Beatles or The Stones.
Gatz says
Patrick Thistle. Never really hit the heights, never really fashionable, and always overshadowed by two much bigger concerns from the same neighbourhood. I think that might make us the Inspiral Carpets to the Old Firm’s Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.
Hawkfall says
The Jags remind me a bit of the Ramones and Motorhead: lots of people buy the T-shirts, not many buy the records. Similarly, if everyone who professed to supporting Thistle turned up regularly at Firhill every now and again they maybe wouldn’t be overshadowed.
Hawkfall says
That comment reads meaner that it was meant to be. I like Thistle, I’m just a bit tired of the Glasgow celebrities who use them as a safe option when asked what team they support.
Gatz says
No offence taken. If it helps, I don’t get to see them myself being Essex based and not lving in Glasgow since I was 11.
It’s how these things work – you can change your political opinion, renege on your marriage vows, and apostacise your religion, but if you were an 8 year old boy in Partick when you made your allegiance to your football team your stuck with it for life. (Even if your were actually on opposites sides of Partick, with me in Broomhill and The Jags in Firhill.)
Ernest Scribbler says
Billy Connolly; “…now, I say ‘Partick Thistle FC’ because most English people think they’re called ‘Partick Thistle Nil'”
retropath2 says
Uncertain if still valid as they may no longer exist: I refer to Brighton & Hove Albion, the Seagulls, no less, one hit wonders, FA cup whenever it was, the year they got relegated, decades ago, from the heights of the top league, never more to see such views.
Bit like Chumbawamba really.
duco01 says
West Ham United = the Kinks. Plenty of flair. And hit a purple patch (or should that be a claret-and-blue patch?) around 1966.
Iggypop says
Newcastle Utd…best days behind them , little bit of a laughing stock these days and only loved by their own fans…but still gamely plugging away ( well, apart from yesterday ). Comparable i suppose to Midge Ure …he peaked with Vienna, we almost got there with Sir Bobby .
Sitheref2409 says
Norwich City, and Scotland.
So, never truly cool, occasional flashes of genius, and no-one really hates us. We are Ride.
Scotland – perenially derided by our ‘cooler’ Southern neighbors, sometimes with but more often without good reason. Why, the very definition of Big Country.
Cookieboy says
Not living in the UK I don’t have any local team however I do fancy one team purely because of the scene in The Rutles where Eric Idle introduces someone he was about to interview as (roughly) “He was born in Liverpool, grew up in Liverpool, went to university in Liverpool and his football team is of course Everton”
So my footabll team is Everton and they are The Rutles
Tiggerlion says
As an Everton fan, I’m very happy with that.
Cookieboy says
Thanks glad to hear that.
It occurred to me after I posted that I may have been inadvertently offensive to Everton fans as saying they were The Rutles implies Liverpool are the real deal and Everton nothing but a comic imitation. I honestly don’t know enough about the sport to make a comment that sophisticated.
I tracked down the correct quote and this is it…
The Rutles a parody of Beatlemania sees Eric Idle interviewing respected Liverpool poet Roger McGough (a real life Evertonian). He introduces him to the camera as “he was born in Liverpool, grew up in Liverpool, drank in Liverpool, wrote about Liverpool and his football team is of course … Everton.”
Tiggerlion says
I think Everton are Smokie. Their biggest hits were in the seventies, there was a rebirth in the eighties and today they are more successful in Europe than in the UK.
Harry Tufnell says
Barnsley = UB40
Relevant and quite exciting in the late seventies/early eighties during the Alan Clarke and Norman Hunter years, trundled along being quite forgettable during the nineties but now they are absolute shite.
Chrisf says
I wouldn’t really say I’m a supporter these days, but as a kid it was Sheffield United and I guess I still keep an eye on there results, without being particularly bothered about it.
I guess Sheffield United are the habitual one hit wonders – do well in the Cup competitions but never seem to get anywhere in the league
Hawkfall says
Celtic.
These days we seem to resemble U2: smug, a bit self-righteous, approval-seeking and with this strange delusion that other people think we’re cool and rebellious.
Clive says
Bristol Rovers = Nine Below Zero.
Minor success in the 80’s now only of interest to a hardcore following of about 5,000.
SteveT says
As a Birmingham fan usually in the shadow of that shite from across the city I have to think of us as a local band with a decent following who have had the occasional success . So I give you Judas Priest – sometimes flattered to deceive but never matched the achievements of Black Sabbath.
However, we can score goals.
thecheshirecat says
Chester. Gone bump a couple of times. Completely off the radar of most people, yet somehow stick at it and manage to survive. I have little doubt they nip out at half time for a crafty tab round the back of the stand. They sound just like so many of my favourite folkies.
And they play at the Deva, so, if you’ll pardon the pun, they can be Anne Briggs.
Dodger Lane says
Leeds United. Slightly disagree with the estimable Leedsboy. We were The Who, Stones, Beatles and Kinks in the early 70’s. Now we’re some 3rd rate X factor warbler.
Black Celebration says
For Rotherham United, I would suggest the Beautiful South purely due to their song “Rotterdam” . But I suppose they were too successful.
Could I suggest the hard working, ever present, decent enough but never bothering the trophy cabinet Shed Seven?
Black Celebration says
I used to equate my team, Ipswich Town, to Depeche Mode – but I think Depeche Mode are more like Everton. Still up there but they’re not going to the top again any time soon.
Ipswich – I now like to think – are Roxy Music. Influential and stylish in the 70s/80s, led by a Geordie.
Gatz says
The Tractor Boys? Surely that makes you The Farm.
count jim moriarty says
Sorry BC, but since when was Byron Ferrari a Geordie? He’s not from Newcastle, but from Washington, so not a Geordie (closer to a Mackem, really).
Black Celebration says
I have just checked Jim – dammit you’re right, yes, Washington is 13 minutes drive away from Sunderland whereas Newcastle is 18 minutes drive away. What was I thinking?
itfc1959 says
Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be playing like Black Sabbath on angel dust. At our worst in the past we’ve played like Deacon Blue – pretensions occasionally to edginess but overall, far too polite – but McCarthy has added a certain steeliness that has led us to grind out results that once we would have squandered. We also have the fabulously named Tyrone Mings, so I therefore give you –
Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.
Freddy Steady says
Well, after todays dismal derby day display, how about The Floaters?
A friend had a compilation which consisted of a few hits (Er…Float on and…?) and the rest which was described as “Workmanlike”.
That`s pretty much how we played today….how we`re in with a chance of the playoffs let alone the top two is frankly a mystery.
seanioio says
Burnley.
The Hives. No one really likes them but you can’t help but have a bit of respect for them & their top notch front man – Pelle Almqvsist/Sean Dyche
Chumbawumba are from Burnley too but I am just going to ignore that!
For any Chelsea fans here are my views on Saturday;
Min 30 – Yellow card, not a straight red as Jose said
Min 33 – Is a handball but as he turns his back there is an argument it was not intentional. As such I can see why it was not given.Having said that if the shoe was on the other foot I would be calling for a penalty .
Min 43 – It was a penalty. Definite shove from Shackell but Costa did not help himself by making a meal of it. It was still a penalty though!
Min 69 – Should have been a straight red for Barnes. It was a bad tackle & I understand why Matic reacted like he did. However, he did react so deserved the red & it will not be rescinded. I think Jose is showing himself up a bit with this though, Cahill did a tackle just as bad earlier this season as did someone (can’t remember who) on Henderson as well.
Black Celebration says
Ha! Maybe…but I think Ipswich had a longer run of success than The Farm. The Tractor Boys thing came in the early 2000s, well after the glory years. After a summit meeting between Wenger, Ferguson and Houllier, the demeaning nickname was invented and popularised by them as they set about undermining Ipswich further by scoring more goals and playing better football etc.
Ernest Scribbler says
Nottingham Forest – Both a critical and commercial success story in the late 1970s and for all of the 1980s, with a leader who is seen, depending on who you’re talking to, as either a charismatic magician or complete and utter tool. Now playing in smaller venues, to decent-sized crowds, whilst constantly trying to recreate the glory years.
Sounds like Simple Minds.
Twang says
Well I don’t support anyone, but unless Rotherham were once brilliant and innovative (Wishbone) they must be and have always been stodgy and quite dull – Rea.
badartdog says
hmmm, beg to differ. I can name, even sing, a fair few Chris Rea tracks, I have never knowingly heard anything by the Wishbones and couldn’t name a single member of either version – I’ve even forgotten the name of the chap in Mark Ellen’s book, similarly I know nothing of Rotherham United apart from a vague recollection of a red and white, Arsenal type kit from a booklet of team strips given away free with a comic in the very early 70s. Ergo Rotherham are the Wishbones.
Wiggy says
Hartlepool United = XTC
Quirky underachievers, critically acclaimed (by Stelling at least), prone stage fright (we always lose on live TV). Managed by Brian Clough in the 60s during which time his son was born ( yes he was Making Plans For Nigel).
Jackthebiscuit says
FWIIW.
I am an long distance follower of Everton, a club with a proud history & a solid, passionate fan base.
The musical equivalent I would suggest would be Madness.
nogbad says
Spurs are the Rubettes.
James EB says
Portsmouth. Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts these days..
MC Escher says
Leeds. Where is FBW BTW?
Like Leedsboy I immediately thought of The Who when I saw this thread last night so I guess they’ll do.
They don’t really cover our resurgence round the early Nineties though, but I’m not having Tom Jones for his lack of style and brute force approach. Please avoid the obvious gags at this point….
retropath2 says
Are the Seagulls still in action? if so, Brighton & Hove Albion would be the Rockingbirds, gamely soldiering on, better than the credit, and results, they deserve. If they have gone, then it was Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, a fond memory of something rather good to a small number of people.
(Sorry, I stopped any interest in football about 30 years ago.)
Jack Kelsey says
Slow on the uptake here – just managed to find my way in/home:
Southend FC – Dr.Feelgood
Scunthorpe United – Iron Maiden
Arsenal – The Mighty Gunners – Guns & Roses! or The Mighty Caesars -One Day We Will seize it ALL – have to win 3- nil at Monaco first – ever the Optimist A!