[Closed] Football, your club; who do you not like?

Newcastle, hullit and Mike Ashley

I'm not a fan of football, especially the way they use the moniker -club- when they're anything but. Should all change that to business.

Can you be a member? (and I don't think buying a massively expensive season ticket really counts)
Can you go with your mates to use the facilities for a game?
Join in a training session with the other members?
Get a bit of friendly advice about improving your own performance/fitness?

So this isn't for haterz...

But by post number three...

Sunderland - DiCanio - a complete buffoon who has put us in the crap. Asamoah Gyan - chose to play in a tinpot league so he could earn even more money. It's hard to hate players who are just crap, it's not their fault.

Aston Villa: David O'Leary & John Gregory.

Both for squandering cash, particularly DOL. Though Gregory did buy Bosko Balaban and is still not forgiven.

West Ham. Fat Sam, granted he took us from the Championship and gave us a mid table finish, he however has no passion for the club and has lost the respect of pretty much everyone. Carlton Cole, why the hell did we buy that buffoon back! Also Andy Injury Carroll, he's just a liability.
Going against the 2 views up there, Di Canio was an absolute legend for us.

Boro

Ravanelli and (less so) Emerson. Lazy, disruptive, overpaid

Sir Alex wasn't having his best day at the office when he signed Nani and Anderson. The fact they're both still there is inexplicable. Or maybe not.....

I constantly resent the fact that the club is now owned by a pack of greedy, self-serving and parasitic American shysters, who are treating it like a personal cash machine! If the wheels are now coming off, then I know where the blame lies! And it isn't with David Moyes

But the yanks who bought Man U are entitled to do what they want if they are the majority shareholders are they not ?It`s a business after all .

I constantly resent the fact that the club is now owned by a pack of greedy, self-serving and parasitic American shysters, who are treating it like a personal cash machine!

Wasn't keen on the first set that owned Liverpool either although Henry seems better to be fair. I liked how he played the Suarez situation with Arsenal. "You're not having him! Not for any money." 🙂 Much as I'm enjoying the schadenfreude with Utd. at the moment, I don't like seeing how the club is being milked either. I think it doesn't bode well for them long term. None of what's "wrong" there is Moyes' fault.

For me with Liverpool, Souness. Have only hazy memories of him as a dirty bastard, but as a manager and a human being he's an arse. Player-wise, there are so many donkeys and bad signings over the years, that it's hard to list them. Ones I didn't like? Never really took to Kewell, Anelka or Michael Thomas 🙂

Oxford United

I haven't got any players that I dislike. In the main our past and present players have worked hard for the team and the fans. Some have been better than others though.

All Oxford fans hate Firoz Kassam though. Built a 3 sided stadium which he now refuses to sell us and took us out of league football and into the conference. A tosser of the highest order.

I'm laughing at the Di Canio haters, whilst he was spunking loads of money at our arch rivals Sw#ndon he also presided over 3 derby defeats to the mighty yellows. Bloody brilliant.

Reading fan here. I could name a few I 'hate' but you wouldn't have heard of them. Love - sir Steve coppell and the 106ers, obviously, but we've also had some great players over the years, Jimmy Quinn, Phil Parkinson, Trevor senior, robin Friday, shaka hislop.

Actually - hate is probably the current board. They came in promising money, didnt back it enough to stay in the premier, once that cash flow dried up decided it cost more to run a FC than they'd realised, and are now trying to sell out to 'another' middle east consortium if the rumours are true.

I keep trying to hate Swansea, because they took our manager (ok, we sacked him which was a rubbish decision, certainly in hindsight) who then did at Swansea exactly what he was trying to do with us. And then to rub it in, stuffed us in the playoffs and took them up when it should have been us. And they had better songs and singers at Wembley, bloodywelsh!!! But they're too good to hate properly.

Everton. Not much to hate, but the minute a middle eastern consortium buys them is the minute i lose interest. Hopefully its unlikely.

Edric - I don't understand how what those sharks have done is even legal!! Borrow all the money to buy the club, then transfer the debt onto the club? Meaning hundreds of millions in servicing those debts, all while paying yourselves hundreds of millions into the bargain? They've turned a club that was always profitable into an economic basket case, up to its eyeballs in (their) debt! And got very rich doing it!

It's a testament to how good Fergie was that he's managed to paper over the cracks for so long. They're parasites, who couldn't give a toss about United! To them, it's just a cash cow! The figure they've taken out of the club presently stands at £700 million. It's scandalous!

Football.

Most of the terrible signings at Liverpool; El-Hadji Diouf for around £10 million. Bruno Cheyrou, Salif Diao and of course Andy Carroll. None of them were fit to lace boots at Liverpool.

DD, Souey was a legend as a player, hard as nails and a great competitor. I do however share your opinion of him as a manager and person.

Mind you... It could be worse. Any Blackburn fans in?

Leeds fan here and can't stand that old man Ken Bates. Was only ever at the club for his own gains.

Him and Terry Venables. Media whore who was completely out of touch with the club - why would you play Paul Okon instead of Dacourt or Batty ffs?!?

As a Leicester fan there are 2 names that send me into an utter rage

Dennis W**e

Peter (utterly ****ing useless) Taylor

Yeah... Ken Bates behavior at Leeds definitely falls into the 'how on earth can this possibly be legal?!!!!' Catagory.

Leeds United.
Ken Bates +1. Gone now, thankfully. Neil Warnock goes down as "not one of our better decisions" too.

Woy Hodgson at Liverpool, always played for the draw. Echo comments about Souness as a manager but as a player for the club, he was very good.

While I'm thinking about it, I don't follow Portsmouth, but am delighted they are out of top flight footie as while they were in the PL, getting in and out of town and resident parking on match days was a complete PITA. Hopefully the ground will get sold and they'll have to decamp to Leigh Park...

Newcastle United - We've had many many money-driven, lazy parasites play for us over the years but hands down it has to be: Joe Kinnear.

Sweet baby cheeses what is that man on? Blabbing to Sky before he's gotten the job; effectively dismissing his predecessor in the process; telling all and sundry he was a talented manager with an imaginary CV; acting like a foul-mouthed barrow boy; Despite being able to pick up the phone with anyone in football, all he did in the summer was possibly assist in a loan signing that was largely set up before he arrived.

All you need to know about him is here:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/oct/03/newcastleunited.premierleague

The sooner he leaves Newcastle and football alone, the better.

At least we aren't Blackburn or Portsmouth....

Birmingham City - Carson Yeung, the light-fingered hairdressing club-wrecking fraudulent a$$-clown. Not mighty fond of Zigic, even if he does pop the odd goal in, as I think he's the only player we have left on wages from the "glory days" that no bugger will buy off us. 🙁

Scandal, I've been waiting for Leicester to get promoted so I can watch the Hammers at the [s]King Power[/s] Walkers, looks like you will come up and we will go down. Typical.

Sunderland - Manager: Lawrie Mcmenemy. Came in as the highest paid manager in the country at the time and lauded as the man to take us to great things. If taking us down to the (old) third division in two seasons is great, then he did well. Useless tosser.

Player: Darren Bent. Greedy bastard.

On the other hand... Niall Quinn. Hero.

jimmy - Member

Everton. Not much to hate, but the minute a middle eastern consortium buys them is the minute i lose interest. Hopefully its unlikely.

Off the pitch there is a hardcore group of supporters that truly despise Bill Kenwright, for his failure to invest 10 pence in the club over 15 years. Came to a head over the proposed stadium move which fell through (thank the Lord), but has never really boiled over due to results on the pitch being good.
It's a sad indictment on premiership chairmen that Blue Bill is prob amongst the best. He's awful, but he's not a criminal, fraudster, despot, murderer, plutocrat or asset-stripper so that puts him ahead of most.

Bolton. As we're the one and only wanderers I guess hate is directed at wolves and Wycombe, oh and milngavie 😉

He's awful, but he's not a criminal, fraudster, despot, murderer, plutocrat or asset-stripper so that puts him ahead of most.

Indeed. It really does make you wonder what someone would actually have to do not to pass the FA's 'Fit and proper person' test. Thaksin Shinawatra - war criminal, human rights abuser, corrupt embezzler and all round criminal - was seen as fair game to own one of the biggest clubs in the country 😯

And :lol:@ Joe Kinnear . Pure comedy gold. That interview was even more bonkers than his last one, with all the Champions league titles he's apparently won

West Ham: Kevin Nolan. If he was a horse, he would've been turned into glue by now. Instead, Fat Sam keeps him as captain.

Sunderland - DiCanio - a complete buffoon who has put us in the crap.

Don't count on it Pik n Mix

History suggests we have an excellent chance of totally stuffing up a great chance of promotion.

🙁

He's not a buffoon, as his highly impressive record at Swindon shows.

what record was that then? Spending so much money in getting promoted that the owner of the club sold up which almost led to liquidisation?

Good value for it, perhaps. Fighting with his own players and then selling them at a loss, substituting the keeper after 20 minutes as he'd let in a goal, trying to unsettle the top striker at your biggest rival befor the derby game who then goes on to score twice to defeat you?

Down at the Lane there is nothing but love.

Not sure I can say I hate any old managers or players... but my god we've had our share of useless wallies both on and off the pitch.

Some would argue we still have... cmon AVB just get it in there man... play two up front and stop pussy footing about on the edge of the box.

Newcastle. Joe Kinnear is a joke.

However, I don't quite understand the full on hatred for Mike Ashley. Yes, he has behaved quite strange at times and made some questionable decisions. However, the club was a financial ruin when he took over, the Sheperds and Halls had took millions out of the club and didn't provoke the reactions he has.

I am hoping that he can make the club a viable business and then sell out to some mega rich oligarch!

Newcastle - agree with Kinnear as mentioned above but also a bit sick of Cisse. We should have kept Ba for longer, Remy is trying hard and with Cabaye is doing well but Cisse has had no form since only a couple of good starts when he joined. Time he was swapped out for a decent striker.

My family are mad Pompey supporters (I am the exception)

My little niece got a letter sent home from school because she refused to sing 'oh when the saints' during assembly. Her mum was dead proud.

Not sure I can say I hate any old managers or players... but my god we've had our share of useless wallies both on and off the pitch.

As a Liverpool fan El Haj Diouf, delighted when Glasgow Rangers signed him, they were made for each other. I also have to confess not to be totally delighted about Suarez

Huddersfield Town

Malvin Kamara. Lightening pace but give him a ball and he was utter tosh. Good at pointing at things though, which was handy as it was all he seemed to do.

Him and Steve Bruce.

More of a rugby fan but supported (loosely) Chelsea until the Chelski era. Now I love the see them lose especially if Terry is at fault.

But I can't see how anyone can not hate modern football frankly. The most obvious and grotesque way of money transfer known to modern man. Worse than the poll tax. The most regressive transfer of wealth imaginable combined with money laundering, dodgy financing deals (please can we buy you company and use your money to pay off the debt we need to do it?), fraud and the relatively innocent marketing abuses. And when the scorer kisses the badge in his shirt, do we ignore the loyalty (sic) bonus paid for merely turning up?

Still each to their own. But I would never give my hard earned money to any football club these days.

Another Newcastle fan. Where shall I start? Going backwards from the present day..

Mike Ashley - Yes he has put the club on a stable financial footing (to protect his own pocket I might add), but that's the limit of his ambition. It's now nothing more to him than a vehicle for advertising sports direct.

Joe Kinnear - This goes without saying

Steven Taylor - Badge kissing Idiot whose talent is much less than his ego.

Peter Beardsley - Pains me to say it. I loved him as a player, but these days he's nowt more than an Ashley kiss-arse.

Michael Owen - A parasite the likes of which may never be seen again.

Most of the players Greame Souness bought.

Greame Souness - Just like he did at Liverpool, he destroyed all that was good and successful of what came before.

Kieron Dyer. - a trail-blazer for the egotistic, blinged up idiot stereotype for a lot of talented young english players. Lit the spark that ended up with Bobby being sacked.

Freddie Shepherd/Douglas Hall - Parasitic ego-maniacs the both of them. Nearly drove the club into bankruptcy. Sacked Sir Bobby and installed that idiot Souness.

John Hall - Started off with good intentions, but like those before him and after, he milked the club for all he could in the end and left it in the sh*t.

I could go on but I'll stop there as I'll be here all day otherwise.

again, more of a Rugby fan, but I was born in Portsmouth so support them as my local club.

With their well documented fall from grace, I dislike pretty much everyone that was at the club prior to the fans buying it. Owners (whether they actually existed or not) managers and most of the players!!

George Graham & Sol for most Spurs fans I know.

OMG ... How could I forget Sol.... !"£$er

Graham... meh... he did a job of steading the ship after the calamity that was Gross... I sat through the Graham years and whenever we are rubbish now I think of those dark dark days and realise how lucky we are not to have Chris Perry and Ramon Vega smashing everything up the pitch....

Goes to show how much football has moved forward in the last 10/15 years... a massive hump like Younas Kaboul is really comfortable on the ball

But I would never give my hard earned money to any football club these days.

You're not on your own there thm. The demographic of who's turning up for the matches has completely changed. We used to go to OT all the time. Not any more. A lot of my mates were season ticket holders, some of them for 30+ years. Every single one of them has given them up in protest at the Glazers debt-fuelled wrecking of the club. OT used to be entirely season ticket holders. Now they're emailing you trying to flog (very expensive) tickets for this weeks match

The Glazers don't care, obviously. They'll still be making the money on corporate packages instead. But it'll be interesting to see what happens if we have (as looks likely) a couple of trophy-free seasons. What happens if we don't even qualify for the Champions League this season? Are their new-found corporate friends still going to be prepared to pay top dollar? Because the genuine fans, who've been margianalised, won't be going back while the Glazers still vastly profiting from the situation

I'd imagine a similar thing is happening at all the big clubs

For those defending Mike Ashley
Joe f kineer
Denis wise
Trying to sell the naming rights that nobody wanted to buy then changing the name of the stadium to your own company.
Jfk again
Failing to sign the players we needed
Banning the local papers because they wrote articles he didn't like

Citeh fan ( and BH&HA)

Mark Hughes - constantly whines on about how he was treated but his legancy of players was just shocking - Jo ( how much?) Roca Santa Cruz (how much),
Alan Ball - except as he is dead it is bad form
Steve McManaman, possiblt the lasiets man to ever put on a light blue shirt - other than Robbie Fowler
Robiniho - take the piss why don't you with your mate Macon

Peter Swales - need I say more , ruined the club by some dreadful business decisons
Some mexican bloke that Sven (or Hughes) signed, who played at Anfield, and really couldn't kick a ball straight. I think it was his only game- and I still don't know how he got selected
Boteang - plays well for BM and Germany, couldn't be arsed to turn up for Citeh

But by post number three...

Leeds
Players or managers I don't like - we've had a lot of rubbish through the doors in the last 10 years but the obvious highlights are:
- Bates (obviously). That said, he 'stabilised' the club but then raped it for every penny he could, as shown as the investment in the playing squad despite millions coming into the club in player sales.
- Warnock. Despise the man. Thought I'd have warmed to him a bit but absolutely clueless, bought rubbish, played rubbish, absolutely over the moon to see Colin ****er get the boot.

Players (who are still playing) I'd love to see return? Two men top the list - Max Gradel and Jermaine Beckford. As well as being a great player he showed a bit of passion for the club despite not even being there too long. Beckford, the same. Yes, he walked away at the end of his contract and has been on a downward slide ever since but what he acheived with us and the goals he scored (especially 'that' one) will never be forgotten.

I'm just glad we're playing half decent football at the moment with a good manager and a good bunch of players.

MOT

what record was that then? Spending so much money in getting promoted that the owner of the club sold up which almost led to liquidisation?

He put the club in a blender?

If the chairman let Di Canio spend money the club couldn't afford, then the fault lies with the chairman. I note that Di Canio offered to pay loan players' wages out of his own pocket.

Most people would consider promotion, a cup final and a strong league performance in the following season to be a good effort.

NUFC for me. Kenny Daglish. He inherited a pretty decent team off of Keegan that probably needed a little tinkering with and he pulled it to bits!!

I can't make my mind up with Ashley. When things seem to be going well and you think he's doing a good job he throws a massive spanner in the works. Renaming the stadium probably being the worst one closely followed by the JFK debacle.

For the love of god Davey, Beckford is an absolute shower these days.

Stay well clear of that work shy ****er.

NUFC for me. Kenny Daglish. He inherited a pretty decent team off of Keegan that probably needed a little tinkering with and he pulled it to bits!!

Oh I'd forgotten about him! I'll never forgive him for turning us into the Liverpool retirement club. Although most of my dislike of him has been erased by the superb job he did in his second stint as Liverpool manager 🙂

Right Toon fans, a few random disliked players from my years watching:

Ray Ransom
Billy Askew
Wayne Feraday
Mike Hooper
Lee Bowyer
Jean Alain Boumsong
Marcelino (injured little finger and was absent for about a year!)
Albert Luque
Michael Owen - especially Michael Owen

Didn't actually hate them all. More hated the fact that they were at our club and in many cases bleeding it dry for doing very little.

Didn't actually hate them all. More hated the fact that they were at our club and in many cases bleeding it dry for doing very little.

I hated Michael Owen with a passion that scared me at times. Even now my hackles raise when I see or hear his meaningless platitudes on the telly and radio. Damian Duff's not far behind him, for the way he celebrated when we were relegated at Aston Villa.

Ah Ray Ransom! The man who introduced SISU to my team, Coventry City.

Hedge funds? Refusal to pay rent? Relegations? Judicial reviews? Playing 'home' games 35 miles away? We've got the lot and more...

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/dec/02/coventry-city-owners-northampton-league-one-sisu

I agree on most of those slowpuncheur and especially Owen. He still doesn't seem to have a clue why he's so disliked up here!!

Here's a few more off the top of my head.
Fumaca- probably the only brazillian who couldn't play football.
Cordone
Des Hamilton.
Rob McDonald he was signed on loan from a dutch club I think. He made George Reilly look like Messi!!

Arsenal, probably Nasri, followed by Adebayor. Gallas was a jerk too.

For those defending Mike Ashley

I am not defending him. He has made some stupid decisions.

However, I think the Halls and the particularly the Sheperds did more real damage to the club and milked it for all they could. They never got a backlash like Ashley has.

Michael Owen is probably top of my list. He really doesn't seem to think he acted unprofessionally. His punditry is shit as well.

Liverpool. Michael Owen. Went to play for the scum. Nuff said. Plus Houlier valued him over Fowler, which resulted in the most boring football I've ever seen and Fowler being pushed out. Fowler was a much much better player.

Those yank clowns. And Moores and Parry for selling to them.

However, I think the Halls and the particularly the Sheperds did more real damage to the club and milked it for all they could.

Agree 100%. Although in the long run I think Ashley will take far more than they did.

They never got a backlash like Ashley has.

Not so sure on that. I never met another toon fan who had a good thing to say about Shepherd or Douglas Hall. Probably the only difference was that they at least had some ambition in terms of the football, even if they did make some catastrophically poor decisions.

John Hall understandably has some goodwill left for dragging us out of the McKeag doldrums and putting together the Keegan team.

Was never really bothered about George Graham. He did actually manage to win us a trophy in what was admittedly the dullest final ever played.

Sol - now I still hate him. Not because he went to Arsenal but the way he did it.

When I properly went I used to hate Paul Allen, everyone else thought he was wonderful, i just thought he ran round in circles.

Then there was the idiots who created the Hummell problems that meant we were so much in the shit financially we had to sell Waddle just as we were buying Lineker.

lb77 - Member

Ah Ray Ransom! The man who introduced SISU to my team, Coventry City.

Hedge funds? Refusal to pay rent? Relegations? Judicial reviews? Playing 'home' games 35 miles away? We've got the lot and more...

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/dec/02/coventry-city-owners-northampton-league-one-sisu

Although reading the comments it sounds like there's a lot of blame to go round - the current capitalist pigdogs in charge are attempting to exploit a situation that was already v bad (ISTM).

Although in the long run I think Ashley will take far more than they did.

If you mean he may sell up at a big profit, that's not taking money out of the club though. AFAIK he hasn't milked things the way the previous owners did.

If he can get us in a position where somebody would want to take us over (lets all dream of a top 4! :-))and he makes a profit then I think he deserves it.

Everton fan still an old school club with an old school stadium whats is there to dislike :-), fans are very fickle great away fans but jeeze that can moan for England @ home.

Oh the idiots that changed the crest last year sack the ****ers!

Leeds again. I forgot to mention "Publicity Pete" - Ridsdale

spent far too much of somebody else's money trying to shoot the moon. Left us in a position where Bates was "the saviour"... (or so he kept telling us)

Blimey! Toon fans moaning about Mike Ashley? He looks like a kindly, generous uncle next to the rapacious corporate bastards running United. You just (deservedly) beat us at home for the first time since 1659, you're sat above us in the table, and Pardew (again deservedly) has just been judged manager of the month. I'd take that at the moment

Fair enough though… he has renamed St James the Two Tracksuits for a Tenner stadium, and appointed you a sort of foul-mouthed, delusional court jester, but you can't have everything 😉

villa - doug ellis for reasons too numerous to mention and our own fans for being the most fickle bunch of tossers in the world when the moment suits them.

If you mean he may sell up at a big profit, that's not taking money out of the club though. AFAIK he hasn't milked things the way the previous owners did.

No I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about him running the club on the minimum amount he can to simply remain in the Premier League so he can reap the tv money, make money off transfers, and use it to advertise his low-rent sportswear business. There's no ambition to do any more than that, which from a supporters point of view removes the point of it. Despite what many seem to think these days, football is still a sport (just!), and the aim of it is to try to win things and be better than your competitors. That's not what is happening at Newcastle these days, although it may sound a little rich given our recent good run and league position.

Aye things are going well at the moment binners.(BUT) We're all waiting for the next barmy decision. See my earlier comment about spanners being thrown into the works!!

God knows what he'll come up with next.

God knows what he'll come up with next.

I think we know. Cabaye will be gone in January, Ben Arfa, Krul and Tiote not far behind him, Remy won't be signed permanently. And that's probably just for starters. I hope to be proved wrong though.

dazh - I agree with you to some extent but the club isn't making any significant profit and Ashley would sell if he could. He could use the millions tied up in NUFC for much more effective marketing campaigns for his business. There are very few Premier League Clubs that make any profit at all.

There's no ambition to do any more than that

Luton Town here

Hate the previous owners of the club that put the club where it is now.

God knows what he'll come up with next.

You think you've got problems? We'll have a 40 year old starting a champions league match tonight. Because he's the best midfielder we've presently got. We've need to strengthen the midfield for seasons now and haven't. What worries me is that everyone is assuming Moyes will be looking to January to bring someone decent in.

Given the Glazers record, I wouldn't bank on it. They're more interested in the share price, or their next enormous 'consultancy fees' cheques, or some dodgy idea to list United on the Afghanistan stock exchange, than on our woeful position in the league 🙁

For the love of god Davey, Beckford is an absolute shower these days.

Stay well clear of that work shy ****er.

Nah, its just because he'd played for crap clubs and had no service since leaving Leeds 😀

The harsh reality of modern football is that there are very few clubs that can compete with the likes of Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd.

This season might well be different. Things have moved on from being able to spend 150m to guarantee silverware. This might well be to do with Financial Fair Play or just a general re-adjustment of the finances of football, but I think in the top half the of the PL things are now much more competitive. From a fan's point of view, the tragic thing is that but for a little more investment in the team, Newcastle might once again be able to compete for a top 4 place, but that won't happen. Instead Ashely will probably take the view that he doesn't need to invest thanks to our good league position, and may even be able to sell a couple of our blue-chip players. It's exactly what happened after the season we finished 5th.

You think you've got problems?

Binners - I love this. You have just changed your manager after a thousand years. Did you not think there would be a drop initially?

Besides you have already qualified for the next stage of the CL, it must be terrible.

I wouldn't right Man Utd off for a top 4 finish just yet.

However, I WOULD LOVE IT, if you don't make top 4 and don't qualify for the CL next season. Then you will have problems as the financial house of cards begins to topple!

I've said in my previous posts. You can't blame Moyes. He's a good manager who needs some time. Whats coming home to roost is the Glazers creaming off hundreds of millions, year after year, while depending purely on Fergie to keep delivering trophies. The fact that he did so is a testement to just how good he is/was

The glazers expecting to keep getting away with it without him was fanciful, at best. Criminally negligent most probably. I think it might actually do the club some good in the long run, if we didn't qualify for the CL and finished mid table. What would that instigate? It would certainly shake things up. And I think most United fans would know where the blame lies. And it isn't with David Moyes.

Binners: 'criminally negligent'? Have you read that article up there about SISU and Coventry City? It makes Glazers and Ashley appear angelic.

League clubs are dying a slow death every day. The vast swathes of money in football attracts these financial speculators/gamblers/sheisters. The only way it could ever change would be if Sky/BT etc weren't confident of selling subscriptions. The whole world wants a piece of the prem now so I can't see it changing anytime soon. Accountants don't care if you win a trophy.

Gooner here. In two words, Cashley Cole. Ridiculously talented player, but execrable as an individual. Gael Clichy was a bit rude when he left also. Otherwise struggling to think of anyone I hate per se. Kind of resent the likes of RVP and Fabregas who turned their back just when we looked like we could be on the cusp of a return to the good times, but can understand why they did it and they had certainly served their time, and the club, well. Never particularly liked Nasri, but have him filed under c*ck rather than full-on hate figure. When I look further back than 2005 it is with rose tinted speccies to the great teams of the late 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Sure there were some idiots in the mix but the Arsenal have always had spirit and I guess that shone through. I suppose Bendtner is the current player we all like to dislike, but even he is more of a buffoon than a genuine bad boy 🙄

I'm a Rangers fan. Can't remember too many players who I've hated, but a couple other things immediately spring to mind.

First off, Craig Whyte and pretty much everyone currently involved in the current shambolic running of the club. Whyte started it off with the deliberate non payment of taxes, he never had the money the said he had in the first place and it was his actions that were the main factor in the club going into admin and the old company being liquidated. The current board and requisitioners aren't much better. Playing silly buggers and wasting huge amounts of cash all over the shop.

Secondly, and this makes me sad, some of our fans are ****ing morons. Bigoted imbeciles who insist on hanging on to old traditions that have no place in the game at all. Luckily a huge number of us have either moved on or never agreed with all the political and religious shit in the first place, but there's always a few loud mouthed knuckle draggers to make trouble for the club.

Oooooooo before I forget,

Alan Shearer, the face kicking prick.