I am a West Brom fan from Finland. Ice hockey is the biggest sport in here and the football in here is growing but still pretty poor, thats why i support west brom. I actually dont even remember how i started supporting West Brom, but i guess it came from playing fifa back when i was 9-10 years old. Hoping to one day go to The Hawthorns.
I was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, just about a quarter of a mile from the Hawthorns, so it was inevitable that I would be a Baggies fan. In my high school half of the boys were West Brom fans and the other half were Villa fans. Oh, and there was one Birmingham City fan; the rest of us thought he was a bit strange. There was very much a class split. The rough, working class boys were Baggies fans, and the more gentile middle class were villa fans. No idea why.
2005 Champions League Final watching Steven Gerrard lead his Liverpool team overcome the 3-0 half time deficit over a monster of a AC Milan team made me a Liverpool fan forever. And changed my name because of him too.
Im loving this new channel. I have been following you for years and hearing about you and you interests other than history has been really great. Keep it up !
I found your channel very recently due to your collaboration with Mr Beat, and would never have expected you to be a football fan. I myself am a Wolves fan, so you can imagine my dilemma - I was delighted that a cool UA-camr I recently found shares my love for football, but horrified that out of all teams, he supports my team’s arch rivals. But that initial mixture of delight and horror gave way to an overall feeling of happiness as the video went on. Your knowledge an passion for the sport is self evident, and I love your choice to support a team based on your family heritage. Wolves and West Brom are both historic teams, with lots of heritage between them, and both are founding members of the league. No sporting rivalry, no matter how bitter, will ever stop me from appreciating football history. If anything, the near 150 years of rivalry is something to admire, and shows just how important football is to the identity of both towns.
Well said ya dingle...🤣 no jokes aside ur bang on mate, baggies an wolves are massive teams of English football if u look at heritage and where it all started, footballs alot more than just supporting the best teams 👍
Fair play mate. Albion STH here, I've grown out of the hatred between our trams, I wish there were more fans like you and I, who could get over the nonsense and realise we're all the same really.
@@i_know_youre_right_but that's exactly right. Albion's original rival was Villa. Once Wolves started to come back up through the leagues again in the 80s, that's when it started.
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I had something similar. Grew up supporting Newcastle, started to follow Swansea City because of university, and I went to a few Bologna matches when I was in Italy. Love finding new teams based on places that mean so much to me personally
Albion season ticket holder here, it is great to have you on board, although you didn't half pick a bad time to join the rollercoaster that is being a West Brom fan, it is a hard watch right now! Might be a while, but we will be back...hopefully! I don't know how much you know about the history of the club, but I recommend you look up history to fully understand the culture of the club through books, dvds etc. Keep up the good work!
I'm a Liverpool supporter since 2010 and my first Liverpool game I watch was Liverpool vs WBA 😅 Remember that Torres volley goal very well. Don't like WBA too much because they are such a bogey team to Liverpool, but I'd love them to do well (except against Liverpool of course). Good luck for the promotion!
Living and growing up in the city of Reutlingen which is about half an hour away from Stuttgart, I basically grew up with supporting Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. My father would have basically never let anything else happen, as he thinks regional patriotism is the most important thing in football (I do as well). The main reason why many people don't want to root for Hoffenheim is because it is said, that Hoffenheim isn't a "Traditionsverein" which means "traditional club" (a club with long and rich culture and history), but was brought up into the Bundesliga because one of the richest men in Germany invested so much into that club. When your ancestors come from, what today is known as Baden-Württemberg, you should also know if it was former Baden or former Württemberg. We Württembergers and Badeners have some kind of mostly friendly but sometimes pretty nasty rivalry and you should make sure that if you are from Baden you should root for a club from Baden, but if you are from Württemberg, you root for a württembergian club. That's basically true all over Germany, as many Germans (as well as Americans I think) identify strongly with their original state. Not wanting to push you into becoming a fan of any specific club, just wanted to give some insights. Loving this new channel btw!
I too am an American fan of Westbrom. My mom's original last name was Pillsbury. My family tree traces back to the Pillsbury family originating from Warwickshire England area. I started as a Westbrom fan by looking for Premier and Championship teams from that area. I randomly picked Westbrom and once I become a fan, that is the team I stick with. It's a loyalty thing.
Villa fan here but happy for you! Good story here! Wish you all the best and hopefully West Brom will end up back in the Premier League down the line. Hope you do well, just not against us aha. Keep the content coming!
10:20 just to add to your comment about how close rival stadiums are in the UK; in Scotland, Dundee FC and Dundee Utd have their stadiums not even a 1 minute walk from one another.
My family is from Franconia in southern Germany and most of my relatives who are football fans support 1.FC Nuremberg, the biggest club in the region and also vice record champion of Germany (providing you do not count GDR championships) but for almost 60 years now they were always struggling, winning just one cup and not a single championship. Anyways, by birth I was supposed to become a supporter of them but, after watching the Euros over the summer, my father presented a table to hang on your wall to my five year old self and asked for my favorite team. I of course did not have one and so picked at random and landed on Werder Bremen. He probably did not expect a five year old to stick to his word and just wanted to spark my interest for the league and forge me into a Nuremberg fan later but that would not happen, Werder Bremen is my team. Luckily they have not faced off in any big matches since, although it nearly happened in 2016, when Nuremberg played in the relegation play off (similar to the play offs in England but it is one team from the 1st tier and one from the 2nd tier playing for the last spot in the 1st tier next season) but Bremen narrowly escaped in the 88th minute or so on the last game day. A close call for the family peace 😅
What I love about the past 20 years or so of Americans taking to the sport, is exactly what I often hear and heard in this video. A sense of understanding and warmth toward the culture and traditions. Its different to you guys, but different isn't bad. And what you guys seem to take better than we do in the UK is an acceptance to different cultures without mocking it. What really annoys me is how much we look down upon Americans who have got on board with the sport we love. You say "Premiere" instead of "Premier"... is it really such a big deal that pronunciation is different in different parts of the world? Calling it soccer, is it really that deep? You waych the sport, who cares what you call it. I love the fact you're on board with a club like WBA. I've got really into MLS the past few years because I like that the format is different so the season feels different in its objective but ultimately, its the same sport. Keep supporting in your way my man
Everton is the team I choose to follow. I'm from California so it was American football and baseball growing up. When I was in high school I made friends with our school teams goalkeeper. He got me playing fifa, and in the fall of 05 I bought the game myself in those days they used to have a video recap to music of the top 5 euro leagues. And the big point of the England recap was the sale of Rooney and then Everton still qualifying for the Champions League. Ever since then I've been a huge fan of Everton and Bloc Party (their song was used in the England recap).
I'm an American that is a Liverpool supporter. I'm half Korean half Slovakian so I don't have any English roots, but when I was doing research into what team I wanted to root for I did want to avoid being a "glory hunter" but I fell in love with the Liverpool history, the story of it's founding, the songs, the traditions etc. This was pre Klopp so they definitely weren't winning much in that time, but I've been happy since lol.
I am loving the football content. I made it to this video after watching the EPL reaction video. I am a Spurs fan living in Virginia. Moved cities years ago and a new friend sensed my love of sports and invited me to a Spurs Supporter Club (bar). There is nothing like drinking a Guinness at 10am on a Saturday morning and screaming songs with 40 other fans to get you addicted fast. It really is like getting bitten by a bug and just taking over. I follow my local small team, DC United, and Spurs and I can’t get enough.
I love this! I’m American and live in Scotland so I’ve gotten big into soccer at uni here. I’m a Chelsea fan though because I always pick the teams my dad likes. Rangers in the Europa knockouts this year have been massive too. I’ve never been to a professional game before, but playing (and going out) with the boys here has been like nothing else and those are some of the best memories I have from the sport.
I'm an American Burnley fan, a fact that unsurprisingly bewilders people. I knew I wanted to pick a team in the Premier League (at that time), and I knew I wasn't going to pick any of the big teams like Man City or Chelsea. I had 3 criteria for the team I was going to pick. 1) Underdogs 2) Small market 3) Family connection. Growing up in Tampa, a small market, and rooting for teams that had been underdogs for a good portion of their existences, I knew I wanted a team that would match that. Burnley already checked off two of those boxes as they were consistently underdogs during their stay in the Premier League and the town they play in is obviously a small market. When I found out a good number of my ancestors were based in Lancashire, which is the area that the town of Burnley is based in, that sealed it for me. But beyond those reasons, the most personal reason I root for Burnley (and this reason didn't even develop until later) is because of my dad. He passed away a couple years ago and while he did not like the sport, there is a sweet connection between him and the club. Burnley last won the English championship in 1960. That was the year my dad was born, so that gives me a sweet reminder of him. Getting relegated sucked, but man I am absolutely LOVING the culture change that was implemented at Burnley. All the respect to Sean Dyche but Vincent Kompany has been a breath of fresh air. I'm very excited to see how we'll fare when we go back up.
Only because of how far inland it is, It ay on a hill or nothing, If Dudley which is nearby had any League sides they would trump us it is full of hills
I am a Port Vale fan, Port Vale is the only English Football league club not named after a geographical place. However my grandad is a Stoke City fan (our rivals), but my dad is a Port Vale fan like me. My dad ended up becoming a Port Vale because he ended up being a Ballboy at the games, he took me when I was young and Ive never looked back. I have Cerebral Palsy and I play for West Bromwich Albion, even though we (vale) in the modern day loosely have a rivalry with West Brom, (it’s not as fiesty as we haven’t played each other in a while) I now always look out for the West Brom results and dare I say it, I am slowly developing a soft spot for West Brom. What a fascinating story of how you became a West Brom fan, Boing Boing. Up The Baggies!
My parents were raised in Dudley which is basically split down the middle between Wolves and Albion. My Mom picked Albion because she liked Blue AND white better than Gold and Black. I was raised near Wolverhampton so suffered from being one of the handful of West Brom supporters. Glad you picked the Albion because we need all the support we can get being sandwiched between Wolves and Villa. We will come good again soon. Being an Albion supporter is a curse needing faith to persevere. Hence the Lord is our shepherd. I have been in the States since 91 and hope to visit the Hawthorns again this year. I have not been back this century. The Hawthorns is just as good as all the other grounds with regards to atmosphere if you support that club. By the way Villa associated people started Glasgow Rangers. Hence the same club emblem. Albion guys started Brighton hence the name Albion and similar crest.
My grandparents both came from the West Brom/ Birmingham area in 1919 and 1920. I, too, love my family history and genealogy. After talking to some of my English relatives, I finally found out that they are Baggies fans. One of my grandfather’s brothers may have played for Aston Villa. They may start playing well, as they sacked Steve Bruce and just beat Reading. Keep the faith and start watching them on WBA tv. I live in Alplaus, New York in upstate NY. Come on you Baggies!
Hi, I don't know if you know the history of WBA. From the late sixties to the early eighties they had some great players. Jeff Astle, Tony Brown, Bobby Hope, Len Cantello, Derek Statham, Cyril Regis, Willie Johnston, Laurie Cunningham. Some of my favourites. I think the motto then was just to score more goals than the opposition. Great times.
I know how you feel with your team, i am Werder Bremen fan and we play in the 2. Bundesliga, although we've played in the 1. Bundesliga forever, except one year. But it looks like we will rise back to the 1. Bundesliga this season.
I’m from PA and I wanted to start watching the Premier league. So me and my dad turned on the TV and Arsenal was playing Sunderland and they won so that’s why I’m a Arsenal fun. Ever since then I’ve watched almost every game. The culture and vibe of English football is amazing.
Fun story for my first favorite team -- Bournemouth! Fellow American here with no allegiances or connection to England. In the video game FIFA, I did a career mode as the manager of Bournemouth and off a whim began to follow the team loosely. Later that summer, I was at a Chicago Cubs baseball game and ran into the entire Bournemouth team (kitted in their tracksuits) walking to their seats and had a chance to stop and talk to a few of the players. They were doing preseason training in Chicago, as well as scrims with local U.S. MLS teams. Really cool moment and have felt a true connection to the club ever since then. Recently adopted another red and black team in AC Milan as I am currently studying abroad here in Milan. They've taken over most of my fandom considering the stakes of the games are much larger and since I have been able to see the team play in-person. Witnessing Giroud score 2 goals to overcome a 0-1 deficit in the Milano Derby against Inter in-person was a magical moment and something I'll never forget.
My best memory of west brom is back in 2012/13 season when it was sir Alex Fergusons last game in charge as manager. We, the baggies were getting absolutely pummeled. Then came the big fight back. The game ended 5 probably one of the best games all time
Very historic team West Brom, so much so that Pulis, allarrdyce, Bruce etc use tactics from the 40s! Hoping one day West Brom get someone vaguely innovative
Welcome to the Albion family, you should definitely visit the Hawthorns, meet the supporters and then you'll be hooked. I studied in Glasgow and lived near Ibrox so it's also good to go out in the west end and visit some Rangers pubs or a match. Visit the vine before the Albion game. That's a great pre-match experience.
Always been a Celtic\Partick fan, from Glasgow myself so, my best memory was probably in 2012 when we beat Barça 2-1, was a night that I will remember for the rest of my life! I've also had a soft spot for Liverpool and a few other teams but I'm always gonna be Celtic through and through, but class video mate! Always respect Americans who know about football, should give rugby a watch sometime mate absolutely classy sport not as popular as football but a close second in Scotland and the UK, bet you didn't enjoy that game last Sunday as a rangers fan, I had a brilliant time 🙌🍀😉
I've been watching your main channel for a while, but I didn't realize that you were an Albion fan! As an American of Filipino descent, I have ZERO ties to the West Midlands/Black Country unlike you who have ancestral roots there. But I have been a West Brom supporter for more than two decades, since just before their first Premier League promotion under Gary Megson. (Exactly HOW I became one is a long story... I had been a Man United fan for a few years before that) I've been to the Hawthorns several times, and have even been to see the Baggies away at Manchester City and Watford. It's been a while since I've been over there, but I definitely plan to go back sometime in the next few years.
I'm from.smethwick which is close to west Bromwich. My home town is smethwick. I was born on Brasshouse lane which is walking distance from.where I was born.ive followed the baggies all life. I can remember the highs and lows winning the fa cup in 1968.i now live in new Zealand and still follow Albion
Hello Chris, I've been wanting to say this but this video of yours is the inspiration for me to support a football club that's connected to my roots somehow. Growing up in Vietnam there isn't really a lot of top-tier clubs whose games I can feel excited from watching. Therefore I switched my attention to Europe and started supporting Liverpool a year ago. However, the more I tried to be a Liverpool fan, the more I realized that I cannot bear supporting popular and big football clubs since I don't want to become any ordinary gloryhunting fan from Asia. That's when I realized I should find a team to whose history I'm really connected to. Digging back into my family tree, I found out in 2023 that my paternal 4th greatgrandpa was a Vietnamese soldier (corporal rank) who travelled to France for a diplomatic mission. Even though he was just a rank and file soldier, I'm still very proud of him for being one of the few Vietnamese to have travelled to Europe at the time (He even got photographed!). The first city where he came to in Europe was Marseille (September 10th, 1863), so I have recently decided to support Olympique de Marseille as a result. Finding my lifelong club through genealogy research was straight up the best way for me personally. And you inspired me to do so. Thank you Chris, wish you, your family and West Brom all the best! Allez L'OM! 🔵⚪
If you were amazed by how close Chelsea are to Fulham etc, you should check out how close my local team, Dundee United are to their rivals Dundee (Tannadice Park and Dens Park) they’re literally on the same street! Enjoyed the history channel and now enjoying your extra channel. Keep up the good work!
As an Albion fan, welcome to the family! West Brom is a fantastic, historic club, with a diverse set of fans who possess a great sense of humour. Do visit sometime, stay in Birmingham, it’s a great city, easy to get a team to The Hawthorns, and you can then fly to Glasgow from Birmingham Airport to see Rangers! I live in Walsall and in 20 mins I could get to West Brom, Villa, Wolves, Walsall and maybe to Birmingham City in 30 mins… great video!
That is so cool that you found your root and know who and where they lived to find your support for The Sport. I am an Arsenal fan because I knew nothing of the world of soccer and watched them back in middle school destroy Aston Villa 5-1 and it made me love my team due to their style.
i have been a wolves fan literally since the day i was born, my dad made sure of it, i have always been around football and liked football but i really fell in love with the sport after the 2017/18 season, the year our saviour Nuno gained us promotion, i have so many memories from this year such as one of my first away days, my first derby day and best of all, seeing wolves lift a trophy, since then i have been to even more incredible games like, wolves vs man united in the fa cup quarter final, wolves vs watford fa cup semi final, which was more about the experience rather than the result, wolves vs espanyol was another great one because it was my birthday and we hammered them 4-0 and for the first time i saw Neves score, and it was one of the best in his career, basically what im saying is football is a beautiful sport but in my case also an emotional rollercoaster, that will no matter what give you memories that you will cherish until they day you die
Spurs fan here. Been a fan since the Lineker days. Next time you're in London would love to see a video on the new Spurs stadium if you can get to a game. Awesome video. COYS!!!
I was born in West Brom but my parents moved to Australia when I was 3.5yo. When time came to select an Australian Rules Football side (not Rugby - ‘Aussie Rules’) the choice was very clear - Hawthorn Football Club who are based in Melbourne. Luckily for the now 3 generations of my family who support Hawthorn they are the most successful team having won 11 AFL Premierships since we arrived here in 1974. I love Hawthorn and the lads from The Hawthorns….it is all about family history! Thanks for sharing 👍
I'm from Birmingham and although I support chelsea, I have a strong affinity for west brom as they're my local team. Tickets are fairly cheap and affordable tbh, especially as they're back in the championship. One little recommendation if you ever go to a match, go to the vine. It's a pub near the ground but its got a tandoori grill which is the perfect pre match meal before a game. Me and my dad had a season ticket a few years back and we used to go there a few times before matches.
I left my comments on your other site about being an Albion fan for 70 years. Two amusing incindent's amongst hundreds. During a visit to Milan to see the Milan Derby between Inter and AC Milan, my friend and I were discussing the game with our waiter on the evening before the match. The waiter asked my friend "who you support"? "Sunderland" says he. "You also Sunderland" the waiter asked me. "No No" says I West Bromwich Albion. "Oooo" says he, "My Sububteo team is West Brom. There was a very famous Albion player who in the 60's was absolutely fantastic and was called the King. Jeff Astle is still revered in song to this day. When I was a young man I used to joke about wanting to marry Jeff. The stag party for my second marriage was organised by my two kids at the Hawthorns. About 9.00pm the doors to the "Bomber Brown" bar opened and this person entered with full bridle gown and veil, knelt before me and raised the veil. Believe it or not my kids had contacted Astle and convinced him to propose to me.
Great video. My father grew up in Ipswich but was never a huge football fan. I saw a lot of the Tractor Boys when visiting the family as a youngster. Personally been a West Ham season ticket holder for around 40 years and supported them for 60. Growing up in Kent everyone followed the local side (Gillingham) but had a “London” team. Most of my friends were Arsenal or Spurs. I wanted to be different and West Ham were it, having the likes of Bobby Moore certainly helped. In reverse as a kid I managed to find US forces radio. Trying to work out American football without the benefits of things like the internet was a challenge but it was the time of Broadway Joe and for my sins I have followed the Jets ever since, at least like West Ham winning things is a luxury. PS for Germany look into the backstory of St Pauli, something different about them as a club even given the German models. Great book called Pirates, Punks and Politics. Another perennially “unsuccessful” team, mostly Bundesliga 2, but even as they have become more mainstream still unconventional.
I've only seen this video a year on. Im a Westbrom fan, im from a small town called Walsall, 15 minutes away from the hawthorns. It's been a manic season for us, but you are guaranteed loads of highs and lows that all come with football. I became a westbrom fan because of my dad who is also a westbrom fan. Both season ticket holders at the hawthorns, and even though westbrom stress me out, I love going to all the games home and away.
A Singaporean watching too. My dad was a Manchester United fan and as a result, I was a fan as well. I became a fanatic because of Cantona. He had a spell over 7 or 8 year old me.. Became a fanatic ever since.
Hey VTH, I am 22 and an Arsenal fan from Pennsylvania. The origin of this is pretty funny but simple. I started playing the game FIFA 13 10 years ago and the fastest player on the game was Theo Walcott. I loved using him for that and he played for Arsenal and I’ve supported them ever since 😂. I now have Arsenal kits bags and a wallet and been watching their games for years
Lol, I am from China, and live in Pennsylvania, I sorta had the same story, basically this player, Randal Kolo Muani, was absolutely insane on FIFA 23, banging in top bin goals from every angle, he played for Eintracht Frankfurt and thats why I am a fan of him and Eintracht Frankfurt 😂
It was a no brainier to me being a Baggies fan. I went to school opposite the ground, (Halfords Lane). When my school team won the local league Cyril Regis handed me my winners medal in front of the whole school! The school has since been knocked down and replaced by a new school but my tie is still there even though I live in Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Welcome to the Baggies family.
English West Brom fan here . No idea how I managed to find this channel. Great story about why you follow the club . Such a shame started following us while in bad times . Anyway If you are interested in stadiums being close to each other check out the two Dundee clubs . Believe me it's mad 😂
Re Scottish football, growing up the only time they showed the league was usually when smtg unsavoury occurred e.g. Hampden Park. We were told that if you were Catholic you followed Celtic and Protestants followed Rangers. That was what i held to till 2002 when living in Newcastle, my gf and I went on a drive all around Scotland. I visited a whole range of clubs, inc, Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, both Dundees, Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Raith, Queen of the South and the 2 Glasgow clubs. But my favourite ground was actually Inverness-Cali-thistle, Just a surreal experience to be watching a game in such a beautiful part of the world. Anyway, on my way from there to Glasgow, smoke started coming out of my engine. I pulled over the side of the highway in pitch darkness and 2 mins later a minivan full of Celtic fans pulled over to help us out. Not only did they fix my car, they invited my gf and I to the pub to watch the game with them. Since that day, I've been Celtic all the way and I love how welcoming the fans are to foreigners(esp east Asians), and I love what the club stands for and the causes they support. I gotta admit, it was def boring after winning 9 in a row(only 2 teams with a chance of winning is not much better), but now with Big Ange involved I can see the potential for success in Europe. While ill always support Celtic, I do wish the league became more open tho I dont know how any other club can compete with the resources of the big 2. Still feel its best to try and make this happen or not I just cant see the league attracting younger ppl and keeping them interested.
I was a history major in college and never stopped learning. I love your channel. Now I find out we both love Premier League Football? Ok, I’m a Man City supporter. But here’s why. I played soccer my whole childhood and was good at it. I was on a serious travel team club. But I grew up with baseball in our bones and I’m a third generation yankeee fan (I’m 50). When we started getting the Premier league games here easily I watched and was a fan but had not connected with any particular team. Then, City Football Group partnered with the Yankees to bring an expansion MLS team to NY - New York City Football Club (NYCFC). They are part of Man City’s family and so I fell into being a Man City supporter as a result. It had nothing to do with being a front runner. That said, it hasn’t sucked being a Man City fan. But even better, I go to a lot of NYCFC games and they won the MLS cup last year. That was awesome. MLS is inferior to Europe’s big leagues for sure, but it is growing in quality and popularity. Ohio’s team is the Columbus Crew. Do you follow them? Oh, and NYCFC just lost one of their homegrown talents to Scotland’s Rangers FC this past off season. His name is James Sands.
Love your main, your reaction and this channel!!! Grew up in Ireland so there was a lot of Liverpool and Man Utd fans around, but I actually grew up a Chelsea fan. I was 4 when Abromovich came in with his money so it's not my fault I only grew up with the club being successful lol... but yeah, I had family that grew up 10 mins from Stamford Bridge, and my first in-person football game when I was maybe 5 was Chelsea vs Fulham, so a big rivalry game -- been in love with the Blues ever since!!! Dont watch an awful lot of Bundesliga myself, and I doubt there's much of a family connection tying you to this team, but Union Berlin seem like a cool enough team to root for. They're competitive but not to the level of Dortmund or Bayern, and they're a proper rags-to-riches story -- their stadium is one of the smallest in the bundesliga because they haven't been around the big money for too long. They don't have a massive grandios affair for pre or post-game antics or anything, their whole thing is respect for the game itself: football is the attraction, not the lightshows or blaring music... as a sidenote, since 11 i've been following the NFL and playing here in Ireland (actually the QB for the first team from Ireland to defeat a touring American club!), and the geography of the US still baffles me: I've been a Bengals fan since I started watching (back in the Carson Palmer dark days) and the fact that Cincy and Cleveland are in the same state, yet Cleveland-to-Cincy is nearly double the drive of Cleveland-to-Pittsburgh, is bonkers lol
The coolest thing for football for me is how a club can define the type of person you are. I'm a Manchester United fan (yeah ik) through my family. Do we have any ties? No. But it's about what the club stands for. Hardworking. Working class mentality. But, also the idea of expressing yourself. Enjoying the game. Wanting to excite people etc. The ethics are the club are the ethics I stand by. Built from foundations from managers and players over the years.
I’m a Newcastle fan because my dad is from there all my brothers and dads side of the family support them I live in west London so my closest teams are Chelsea and Brentford. My first game was against benfica in the europa league quarter finals in 2013 where we got knocked out and haven’t been in European football since 😭. Im looking forward to the future with the new ownership and their ambition
I was born and grew uo in a town called Flensburg right at the german-danish border, and as long as i can remember, none of the clubs from this region played higher than 4th league. As i started getting interested in football, the nearest Bundesliga(1st League)-Club was "Hamburger SV (HSV)",around 100 miles from my hometown, so i had to be a fan of them and it was their most succesful time winning three championships (1979, 1982, 1983), European Cupwinners-Cup 1977 and European Champions-Cup 1983. In 1995, i was 13 years old, i heard from a club called FC St. Pauli, also from Hamburg, and their fans were waving Jolly-Roger-Flags, and they were the underdogs, what i like. You know, it´s easy to be a fan of Bayern Munich, but it needs real passion being a fan of an underdog. The club went up and down between 1st and 2nd league at this time. From 2000 to 2003 i lived in and around Hamburg and got Season-Tickets from St. Pauli and it was a very intense time beeing their fan. In 2000 they were in 2nd League and were save staying in this league almost at the last second. In 2001 at the last game they had to win against 1. FC Nürnberg, who were placed 1st, to go up to 1st league, and they made it. In the following season they finished 18th (last place) and had to go back down to 2nd league but have won against Bayern Munich 2:1, the 2nd victory against Bayern in history! In 2003 St. Pauli finished 17th and had to go down to 3rd league. At his time i didn´t buy a Season-Ticket, i would have but i moved back to my Hometown because of loosing my job and it was too expensive to travel 100 miles to Hamburg and 100 miles back every 2 weeks. But i stayed beeing a fan. Today both, St. Pauli and HSV are in 2nd league, St. Pauli placed 3rd and HSV 7th, and maybe next season could be the first season in history, St. Pauli (founded 1910) playing one league higher than HSV (founded 1887). I know, Chris, you might not have any ancestory in or around Hamburg, but i have to recommend being a fan of FC St. Pauli, the club with the Jolly Roger!
I became a true sports fan a little later in life than most people. I was a teenager when I really got into sports. This might be a little long to explain my fandom, sorry. My Dad is an Atlanta Braves fan so naturally I grew up as a Braves fan. My favorite player was Jeff Francoeur and in 2009 he got traded to the New York Mets. Me being very individualistic and always marching to the beat of my own drum decided to follow him and become a Mets fan. A year later he was traded to the Rangers but I stuck with the Mets as my favorite baseball team. I then became a Dallas Cowboys fan in the NFL because of my Dad being a Cowboys fan. I also became a Tennessee Titans fan because we started going to their games being close to Nashville. Around the same time in the NBA Lin-Sanity was going on and since I was already a Mets fan I adopted the New York Knicks to be my team, plays in New York and has the blue orange color scheme. Within a year or so I became a New York Rangers fan in the NHL because I saw that New York had a hockey team and they were in the playoffs, they were also called Rangers which was cool because I somewhat liked the Texas Rangers. I also pull for the Nashville Predators. About a year later I started to become interested in soccer and following it, so naturally I see that New York has a soccer team in MLS the New York Red Bulls and I become a fan. I also became a Manchester United fan because they were the only team from overseas that I had heard of so I became a fan, not a bandwagon fan they haven't won since I have been a fan, lol. I later on became a fan of BVB in the Bundesliga because they had the American Christian Pulisic. And I find myself pulling somewhat for Glasgow Celtic because of my Irish heritage and I liked the name. In college sports I am a huge Murray State fan. My Dad attended college there so I grew up going to basketball and football games at Murray. I then attended college there myself. Go Racers! Also, back in 2011 I filled out an NCAA bracket for the first time and had a school called Butler in the final, I had no idea what I was doing, I selected teams based on how the name sounded. Butler went all the way to the final and I have always pulled for Butler Bulldogs in basketball ever since. Lastly, in college football I do pull for Murray in FCS, but my main team in D-1 is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish because I loved their uniforms, the gold helmets, and because of my Irish heritage. I also pull for the Memphis Grizzlies because of Ja Morant who played at Murray State. Sorry I had to list off all my teams. I love sports and the my early fandom lead me to become a fan of the New York Red Bulls who are my favorite soccer team.
I'm from a tiny country called Bahrain in the middle east and football is huge but nearly no one supported local clubs, it's always Real Madrid or Barcelona or maybe Premier league teams. I was brought up as a Real Madrid fan but never had an eye for them, and little did my family know, i've already fallen in love with Bayern Munich way earlier, i mean one of my earliest memories as a child involve Bayern when i watched a Bayern legend, Oliver Kahn, play his farewell match which was in 2008, and so i was 5. If you want to root for a bundesliga team i'd be happy for you to choose anything but dortmund!!! but it won't matter what team you pick, Bayern will always be the champion of Germany and Europe :)
I can relate a bit to West Brom. Former player Jonas Olsson was brought up just down the street from my home. Great and hard central defender that played some years for Albions (9-10y I think). Today he is an expert commentator on TV for Champion League.
My family on my dads side is Leeds born going back four generations. Went to my first game under bielsa, last minute penalty save, went absolutely mental.
I was born near the hawthorns home of West Bromwich albion FC. My first match was West Brom v Everton we won 2-0 Everton were unbeaten after 20 games I was 12 years old in 1969.
I'm an American who actually just got into the Premier League right on New Year's Day this year. I decided to root for Brentford. They are popular for using the Moneyball method to win, an idea conceived by the Oakland Athletics in baseball. It involves using advanced data to identify cheap but very good players who are often overlooked by bigger teams. As a person who's been into baseball all of his life, and who has been always interested in advanced data and sabermetrics, they really appealed to me. It's been an amazing season, even though we're in the bottom half of the Premier League. Seeing the 4-1 thrashing by Brentford over the defending European Champs in Chelsea was probably the greatest sports game I've ever seen, especially given the fact that that win keeps us safe now from relegation.
The first time I saw Arsenal play I fell in love with them. That was during the Bergkamp, Henry, Viera times. It was a joy to watch them play. I stopped watching football for a few years and I started following them again since Arteta took over the team. Youngest team in the prem, inexperienced young manager, and they are fighting for 4th place. These last few games are going to be very exciting.
Reasons why I personally love the promotion/relegation: 1. It really adds to the drama of the competition. Every season you will see: a. Teams who are competing for the PL title. b. Teams who are competing for the Champions League spot. c. Teams who are competing for the other European spots (both for Europa League and the Conference League) d. Teams who are competing to escape the relegation zone. 2. Because of it, there are big clubs in the lower tiers of the EFL such as Nottingham Forest and Derby County.
Growing up in malaysia during the 80s and early 90s the only teams we saw on the tv were, United, liverppol, Everton and spurs. I started following United coz i was attracted to the history(Munich in particular, I'm drawn to tragedies for some reason) and also bcos of Norman Whiteside. Eventhough the first 15yrs i followed the club was a hugely successful time period, I never felt totally engrossed in the club due to never having been to a game. Then in 2000/2001 I moved to Newcastle to study. I didn't have much care for the team b4 i got there, but the spirit of the locals and their love for the club was just so infectious. Also, at a time when racial tensions were pretty high, I was never made to feel unwelcome in that city. In my 2 years there, I often made the drive down to Cardiff to visit my gf who was studying there at the time. I made it a point to try and visit as many football grounds as I could get to in the country. at the time i think there were 94 professional clubs in England, inc 3 from Wales, I got to visit 73 which was quite an adventure as well given there was still the hooligan element very present in a no of clubs. My fav clubs I visited in terms of ground, fans and the general vibes were Wrexham(it's wonderful to see what's happened to them), Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday, Preston and Darlington. While id say Newcastle is my fav team, their new owners make it impossible for me to support them 100%. Still in happy for the locals that they're finally rid of mike ashley, the Geordies are the best ppl and they deserve to see some success.
I forgot port vale, those fans are pretty full on. hahaha the tribalism in English football while it does have a dark side is one of my fav aspects of the English football. Just so much character and history with every club unlike the manufactured nature of many American sports clubs, there's a certain charm in English football thst I haven't seen replicated except in Australian Rules football.
Not soccer but Australian rules football. My dad was a diehard Fitzroy Lions fan. He went to all their games in Melbourne, even when they were losing nearly every game they played. Over here, team support is inherited and I loved them until 1996 when they were forced by the AFL to move north to merge with the Brisbane Bears to compete as the Brisbane Lions in 1997. It happened as most clubs were in debt but because we were the worst team at the time (we won 2 consecutive 'wooden spoons' in '95 and' 96. Dad wasn't happy but I decided I would continue the lions tree
Being from Mexico, football its a big part of our culture, i grew up supporting one of my local teams, Tigres de la UANL, its located in San Nicolás de Los Garza in the state of Nuevo León, we have a big rival in the team of Monterrey which are basically in the same city, as mexican i grew up watching football and playing it, as in england i am a support a team called portsmouth poaying in the 3rd tier i like that team because as a football fan i play fifa, and this game you can be the coach of lots of teams and leading them into champions league, so naturally portsmouth was the first team i picked and i actually learned about them and became a supporter
American Palace supporter since 2016 here. I started playing football in junior high 2015-16 and was terrible, but I fell in love with the sport. I chose Palace because they had a cool/ unique name and you've got love those bubble gum jerseys. I can't wait for the 2026 world cup. Second favorite club is probably FC Porto in Portugal.
Smaller clubs seem to represent the true spirit of football through generations, family, and culture far more than larger clubs, we almost saw the destruction of football with the idea of the Super League last year.
There are multiple teams in different leagues I root for English: Liverpool , I was originally stuck between Chelsea, man United or Liverpool but ultimately chose Liverpool because of the passion of the fans and the song “you’ll never walk alone” German: Borussia Dortmund, like Liverpool the passion of the yellow wall won me over and later I also found out klopp used to manage the team. Italian: Genoa? I haven’t began seriously watching Italian football yet but from what I know currently I’ll probably choose Genoa. Was originally stuck on Milan or inter or juve or Napoli but I begin to feel like I probably should not root for a powerhouse for a change. And I chose Genoa because of it’s history and also because I found out about the friendship between Napoli and Genoa and also because I kinda see Genoa as a compromise between red and blue And for the question will I still support them even if they get relegated . Of course I will keep supporting them as that’s what any good football fan should do
Liverpool and everton are literally across from each other and are seperated by stanley park. Goodison park and Anfielnare 5 mins away from each other. The merseyside derby is massive. I live in south africa and my brother introduced me to football and to support liverpool so since 2005 ive been a liverpool supporter
I’m from Northern Ireland but support Man United cause my grandad who raised me supported them. He supported Man U since he was a teenager since he was the same age and from the same place as George Best, arguably Man United’s greatest ever player. A lot of young lads from Northern Ireland were inspired to support that team in the 1960s as Best was a young, good looking lad who was voted the best player in the world the year Man United won their first ever European Cup.
I’m a Sunderland fan and as well known been through many ups and downs. Had some great moments usually against Newcastle haha. Jermaine defoe’s volley, relegating Newcastle by beating Everton 3-0 and getting to Wembley in League cup final. Wouldn’t change it for the world despite path we’re on now
Hi, I've just fell onto this, I'm a Baggie too, first games in the early 80's (I'm in my 40's now), born and raised in the town, got the bug for knowledge and travelled the world with always an eye on the progress,worked for the club twice in a coaching role as well as recruitment and disability. Last few years since the chinese ownership the club have become unrecognisable sadly, no fight, no enthusiasm, no foresight. I will always love the team and still follow results but the club itself and the owner and the PC media guys can all spin the situation as much as they want as I will never spend another penny on them while they continue on the vein You should have considered Walsall mate lol
I'm English and I'll be honest..not the biggest football fan (more into motorsports), I do support Newcastle United though because that's where my family is from. I loved hearing about your story and ancestry though!
I’m a West Bromwich Albion fan, born and bred in West Bromwich. Now I live in Iowa and I miss going to the Hawthorns so much. I try and follow soccer here but it’s not the same. I was baptized in All saints church and my mom and dad got married there. My Grandad is buried in the graveyard there!!!
The English magazine World Soccer was asked why they were called World Soccer instead of World Football. Their response was in some countries Football is a different sport but wherever you go Soccer means Soccer (Association Football).
I support League One (third tier) team Wigan Athletic and have done for around 10 years, despite being initially raised a United fan by my brother. I have no family connection to Wigan, although we have strong roots in other parts of Lancashire. I fell in love with Wigan during their last few seasons in the premier league, the constant battle for relegation and always just surviving was something I found really exciting. Winning the FA Cup in 2013 remains one of the highlights of my time supporting Wigan. Our journey also these last couple of years has been remarkable. Plunged into administration by dodgy owners (allegedly our owner bet on us to be relegated and when that looked like it wouldn’t happen he tried to make sure it did), we were relegated to League 1. Playing our youth team we just survived last season and now we’re currently sat top of the league after only having a 2-3 players at the start of last summer. Wigan Athletic continue to defy the odds, and that’s why I will always love them
I'm a West Brom fan, originally from West Brom but now in Edinburgh. My parents walk the dogs around the graveyard of All Saints. A West Brom legend in Billy Bassett is buried there.
West Brom fan of 50 years here. There's one thing you need plenty of to support the baggies, and that's resilience. Particularly when your older brother is a Villa fan. If you do manage to get across to the UK, I'm sure there will be plenty of people willing to meet up with you and show you around the local area.
Family history is always an awesome thing to get into. Also nice to see a fellow American Gers fan. I’m just Polynesian. So don’t have any direct links to Britain. Got into soccer from my Mexican friends. My family are hardcore Laker fans. When I started getting into the European scene, I found out about Septic. Thought Celtic FC and Boston Celtics were connected. I hated Boston Celtics, so I hated Celtic. Celtic hated Rangers, so I ran with Rangers. I was like 8 or 9. It also helped they wore my favorite color. Also they had an Aussie, Craig Moore. I feel kinship to the Poly and Anglo-Pacific nations. On the English side, I ran with Portsmouth. I found out their stadium, Fratton Park, was on an island and they wore blue. 2007-08 season was exciting for both. Pompey’s road to winning the FA Cup and Rangers on the verge of getting a quadruple. While Gers got the cup double, we dropped the ball on the league and UEFA Cup final. Then Pedro Mendes transfer from Pompey to Rangers the season after, cemented I made the right choice in clubs. I was in high school, during the 2011-12 season. Rangers’ liquidation and Pompey’s relegation to League 1. Then 2012-13 would begin the true decline of the Lakers. Took a while, but was glad to see Gers and Lakers get a ring. And don’t want to jinx it but Pompey is looking pretty good right now.
I'm American and support Sunderland A.F.C. I got into soccer after playing fifa, and through that, met a hard-core supporter from the UK. He became one of my best friends, and converted me lol
I'm a Whittaker from the east (not west) Midlands in the UK. Don't know how you spell your name - one "t"; two "t"s; "acre" instead of "aker". As I'm sure you know it means "wheat field" or people who lived by a wheat field. Whittakers in the UK are generally from Lancashire (north west England) or Lincolnshire (east Midlands). My lot are from the east Midlands. Can't think many Whittakers are in the West Mids but we get places! My family supported Notts County (grampie), Nottingham Forest (Pop) and Leicester City (arch enemy, me) as we moved about. All east Mids clubs. I follow "Citeh" - the "Blue Armeh" - song Frank Sinatra's "When You're Smiling". Whoever you follow and for whatever reason, your club is special and part of your identity. Give your all to the Baggies in Ohio. Can't be many Wolves, Villa, Brum or other Midlands crews to have a pop at down your way. Enjoy!
Hello! I'm a fellow American who's very well interested in Eastleigh FC. It's because of their well unique style. The badge, nickname, kit, grew on me. To me, it's a symbol of pride. It stands out perfectly. Mind you, the badge was only here since 2020.
I support Newcastle since I was 8 , I support them cus it’s our local club . My best memory is when we where in the Europa league in the 2012/13 season and seeing us get to the quarter finals
I'm an Albion fan too. My dad's side are Albion fans, my mum's side are Villa and my stepdad's are Wolves. However, in the Midlands, some people do support those big 6 teams, but if you do, people will just disregard your opinion. So they have to search for some tenuous link to legitimise their fandom.
As i have said before when i was reading comics in the 50s in England one of the characters within my comic was "Roy of the Rovers" and the word soccer was used in the story . The word soccer was first used in England in order to differentiate between rugby football and association football so the word soccer has a long history in England.
Massively respect going for a team based on your family history rather than just going for a super successful one. As a Baggie I gotta say things could be better, but good on you for sticking with them.
Grew up a United fan since I have two cousins who live in Ireland who introduced me to the sport, one is a United fan who I was closer to, the other is a Liverpool who my brother was closer to. I fell out of love with the game for a while, and when I came back I remember playing FIFA as Wolverhampton Wanderers a bunch, and so I decided to watch them. This was the season Nuno came in and they stormed the Championship, had me hooked after that. Maybe one day the Baggies will be able to play us in the Prem again
I’m a West Brom supporter from Spain (and a levante fan) I’d love to go too at the hawthorns in order to see a baggies feature. Great video mate
I am a West Brom fan from Finland. Ice hockey is the biggest sport in here and the football in here is growing but still pretty poor, thats why i support west brom. I actually dont even remember how i started supporting West Brom, but i guess it came from playing fifa back when i was 9-10 years old. Hoping to one day go to The Hawthorns.
Same in Czechia!
I started fifa and my first career mode club was sunderland so thats why im a sunderland fan
I was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, just about a quarter of a mile from the Hawthorns, so it was inevitable that I would be a Baggies fan. In my high school half of the boys were West Brom fans and the other half were Villa fans. Oh, and there was one Birmingham City fan; the rest of us thought he was a bit strange. There was very much a class split. The rough, working class boys were Baggies fans, and the more gentile middle class were villa fans. No idea why.
2005 Champions League Final
watching Steven Gerrard lead his Liverpool team overcome the 3-0 half time deficit over a monster of a AC Milan team made me a Liverpool fan forever. And changed my name because of him too.
Funny, that exact game is the reason I started hating Liverpool xD
I was going to make this very comment. Wore the number 8 as a player in honor of Stevie G
Dont remind me plz
Jerzy dudek was a hero!
Gerrard was a golden era of Liverpool
Im loving this new channel. I have been following you for years and hearing about you and you interests other than history has been really great. Keep it up !
I found your channel very recently due to your collaboration with Mr Beat, and would never have expected you to be a football fan. I myself am a Wolves fan, so you can imagine my dilemma - I was delighted that a cool UA-camr I recently found shares my love for football, but horrified that out of all teams, he supports my team’s arch rivals. But that initial mixture of delight and horror gave way to an overall feeling of happiness as the video went on. Your knowledge an passion for the sport is self evident, and I love your choice to support a team based on your family heritage. Wolves and West Brom are both historic teams, with lots of heritage between them, and both are founding members of the league. No sporting rivalry, no matter how bitter, will ever stop me from appreciating football history. If anything, the near 150 years of rivalry is something to admire, and shows just how important football is to the identity of both towns.
Well said ya dingle...🤣 no jokes aside ur bang on mate, baggies an wolves are massive teams of English football if u look at heritage and where it all started, footballs alot more than just supporting the best teams 👍
Fair play mate. Albion STH here, I've grown out of the hatred between our trams, I wish there were more fans like you and I, who could get over the nonsense and realise we're all the same really.
I’ve heard from older fans that there never used to be a Black Country Derby, Albion and wolves only started hating each other in the late 80s.
@@i_know_youre_right_but that's exactly right. Albion's original rival was Villa. Once Wolves started to come back up through the leagues again in the 80s, that's when it started.
I had something similar. Grew up supporting Newcastle, started to follow Swansea City because of university, and I went to a few Bologna matches when I was in Italy. Love finding new teams based on places that mean so much to me personally
See that's how I feel. I wanted to have a team that there was some personal connection to, even though I've never been there.
@@vthextra I'm doing the same for Germany, didn't get to go because of Covid. Struggling to choose because there's so many 😂
good to have you as a baggie! hope you can make it to the hawthorns some day
Boing boing
Albion season ticket holder here, it is great to have you on board, although you didn't half pick a bad time to join the rollercoaster that is being a West Brom fan, it is a hard watch right now! Might be a while, but we will be back...hopefully! I don't know how much you know about the history of the club, but I recommend you look up history to fully understand the culture of the club through books, dvds etc. Keep up the good work!
And now look where we are
Welcome fellow BAGGIE! Love that you support us for the right reasons..
I'm a Liverpool supporter since 2010 and my first Liverpool game I watch was Liverpool vs WBA 😅 Remember that Torres volley goal very well. Don't like WBA too much because they are such a bogey team to Liverpool, but I'd love them to do well (except against Liverpool of course). Good luck for the promotion!
WBA is abbreviation of West Bromwich Albion
Living and growing up in the city of Reutlingen which is about half an hour away from Stuttgart, I basically grew up with supporting Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. My father would have basically never let anything else happen, as he thinks regional patriotism is the most important thing in football (I do as well).
The main reason why many people don't want to root for Hoffenheim is because it is said, that Hoffenheim isn't a "Traditionsverein" which means "traditional club" (a club with long and rich culture and history), but was brought up into the Bundesliga because one of the richest men in Germany invested so much into that club.
When your ancestors come from, what today is known as Baden-Württemberg, you should also know if it was former Baden or former Württemberg. We Württembergers and Badeners have some kind of mostly friendly but sometimes pretty nasty rivalry and you should make sure that if you are from Baden you should root for a club from Baden, but if you are from Württemberg, you root for a württembergian club.
That's basically true all over Germany, as many Germans (as well as Americans I think) identify strongly with their original state.
Not wanting to push you into becoming a fan of any specific club, just wanted to give some insights. Loving this new channel btw!
Thank you for the insight! That's exactly what I need.
I too am an American fan of Westbrom. My mom's original last name was Pillsbury. My family tree traces back to the Pillsbury family originating from Warwickshire England area. I started as a Westbrom fan by looking for Premier and Championship teams from that area. I randomly picked Westbrom and once I become a fan, that is the team I stick with. It's a loyalty thing.
I'm a west brom from Warwickshire. Much better season for the Baggies this year
Villa fan here but happy for you! Good story here! Wish you all the best and hopefully West Brom will end up back in the Premier League down the line. Hope you do well, just not against us aha. Keep the content coming!
10:20 just to add to your comment about how close rival stadiums are in the UK; in Scotland, Dundee FC and Dundee Utd have their stadiums not even a 1 minute walk from one another.
My family is from Franconia in southern Germany and most of my relatives who are football fans support 1.FC Nuremberg, the biggest club in the region and also vice record champion of Germany (providing you do not count GDR championships) but for almost 60 years now they were always struggling, winning just one cup and not a single championship. Anyways, by birth I was supposed to become a supporter of them but, after watching the Euros over the summer, my father presented a table to hang on your wall to my five year old self and asked for my favorite team. I of course did not have one and so picked at random and landed on Werder Bremen. He probably did not expect a five year old to stick to his word and just wanted to spark my interest for the league and forge me into a Nuremberg fan later but that would not happen, Werder Bremen is my team.
Luckily they have not faced off in any big matches since, although it nearly happened in 2016, when Nuremberg played in the relegation play off (similar to the play offs in England but it is one team from the 1st tier and one from the 2nd tier playing for the last spot in the 1st tier next season) but Bremen narrowly escaped in the 88th minute or so on the last game day. A close call for the family peace 😅
What I love about the past 20 years or so of Americans taking to the sport, is exactly what I often hear and heard in this video. A sense of understanding and warmth toward the culture and traditions. Its different to you guys, but different isn't bad. And what you guys seem to take better than we do in the UK is an acceptance to different cultures without mocking it.
What really annoys me is how much we look down upon Americans who have got on board with the sport we love. You say "Premiere" instead of "Premier"... is it really such a big deal that pronunciation is different in different parts of the world? Calling it soccer, is it really that deep? You waych the sport, who cares what you call it. I love the fact you're on board with a club like WBA. I've got really into MLS the past few years because I like that the format is different so the season feels different in its objective but ultimately, its the same sport.
Keep supporting in your way my man
Everton is the team I choose to follow. I'm from California so it was American football and baseball growing up. When I was in high school I made friends with our school teams goalkeeper. He got me playing fifa, and in the fall of 05 I bought the game myself in those days they used to have a video recap to music of the top 5 euro leagues. And the big point of the England recap was the sale of Rooney and then Everton still qualifying for the Champions League. Ever since then I've been a huge fan of Everton and Bloc Party (their song was used in the England recap).
I'm an American that is a Liverpool supporter. I'm half Korean half Slovakian so I don't have any English roots, but when I was doing research into what team I wanted to root for I did want to avoid being a "glory hunter" but I fell in love with the Liverpool history, the story of it's founding, the songs, the traditions etc. This was pre Klopp so they definitely weren't winning much in that time, but I've been happy since lol.
If you wanted to avoid being a glory hunter, I'm not sure picking one of historic big clubs in England was exactly the way to go... 😁
DyA
@@plkrtn theyre where in a low period for quite a while, and he add "but" i fell in love with the history of liverpool..... dont blame him YNWA
You wanted to avoid being a glory hunter so you chose the English club with the most trophies. 😂
@@Dayrahl Low period? It's Liverpool, not Stockport County!
I am loving the football content. I made it to this video after watching the EPL reaction video. I am a Spurs fan living in Virginia. Moved cities years ago and a new friend sensed my love of sports and invited me to a Spurs Supporter Club (bar). There is nothing like drinking a Guinness at 10am on a Saturday morning and screaming songs with 40 other fans to get you addicted fast. It really is like getting bitten by a bug and just taking over. I follow my local small team, DC United, and Spurs and I can’t get enough.
I love this! I’m American and live in Scotland so I’ve gotten big into soccer at uni here. I’m a Chelsea fan though because I always pick the teams my dad likes. Rangers in the Europa knockouts this year have been massive too.
I’ve never been to a professional game before, but playing (and going out) with the boys here has been like nothing else and those are some of the best memories I have from the sport.
I'm an American Burnley fan, a fact that unsurprisingly bewilders people. I knew I wanted to pick a team in the Premier League (at that time), and I knew I wasn't going to pick any of the big teams like Man City or Chelsea. I had 3 criteria for the team I was going to pick. 1) Underdogs 2) Small market 3) Family connection. Growing up in Tampa, a small market, and rooting for teams that had been underdogs for a good portion of their existences, I knew I wanted a team that would match that. Burnley already checked off two of those boxes as they were consistently underdogs during their stay in the Premier League and the town they play in is obviously a small market. When I found out a good number of my ancestors were based in Lancashire, which is the area that the town of Burnley is based in, that sealed it for me. But beyond those reasons, the most personal reason I root for Burnley (and this reason didn't even develop until later) is because of my dad. He passed away a couple years ago and while he did not like the sport, there is a sweet connection between him and the club. Burnley last won the English championship in 1960. That was the year my dad was born, so that gives me a sweet reminder of him.
Getting relegated sucked, but man I am absolutely LOVING the culture change that was implemented at Burnley. All the respect to Sean Dyche but Vincent Kompany has been a breath of fresh air. I'm very excited to see how we'll fare when we go back up.
Laughs in Eastleigh fan from Oregon.
Fun fact: The Hawthorns is the highest altitude football stadium in the top four tiers of English football.
Wow, didn't know this. Thanks for the fun fact!
Only because of how far inland it is, It ay on a hill or nothing, If Dudley which is nearby had any League sides they would trump us it is full of hills
I am a Port Vale fan, Port Vale is the only English Football league club not named after a geographical place.
However my grandad is a Stoke City fan (our rivals), but my dad is a Port Vale fan like me. My dad ended up becoming a Port Vale because he ended up being a Ballboy at the games, he took me when I was young and Ive never looked back.
I have Cerebral Palsy and I play for West Bromwich Albion, even though we (vale) in the modern day loosely have a rivalry with West Brom, (it’s not as fiesty as we haven’t played each other in a while) I now always look out for the West Brom results and dare I say it, I am slowly developing a soft spot for West Brom.
What a fascinating story of how you became a West Brom fan, Boing Boing.
Up The Baggies!
Will never forgive West Brom for the 1954 FA Cup semi final
My parents were raised in Dudley which is basically split down the middle between Wolves and Albion. My Mom picked Albion because she liked Blue AND white better than Gold and Black. I was raised near Wolverhampton so suffered from being one of the handful of West Brom supporters. Glad you picked the Albion because we need all the support we can get being sandwiched between Wolves and Villa. We will come good again soon. Being an Albion supporter is a curse needing faith to persevere. Hence the Lord is our shepherd. I have been in the States since 91 and hope to visit the Hawthorns again this year. I have not been back this century. The Hawthorns is just as good as all the other grounds with regards to atmosphere if you support that club. By the way Villa associated people started Glasgow Rangers. Hence the same club emblem. Albion guys started Brighton hence the name Albion and similar crest.
Dudley is mainly Albion tbf buy there are plenty of Wolves fans about
@@dperson9212 all my cousins were brought up in Dudley are West Brom so I'll take your word for it.
@@iangoodwin4275 good taste our kid. They chose the right team. The only Black Country team.
My grandparents both came from the West Brom/ Birmingham area in 1919 and 1920. I, too, love my family history and genealogy. After talking to some of my English relatives, I finally found out that they are Baggies fans. One of my grandfather’s brothers may have played for Aston Villa. They may start playing well, as they sacked Steve Bruce and just beat Reading. Keep the faith and start watching them on WBA tv. I live in Alplaus, New York in upstate NY. Come on you Baggies!
Hi, I don't know if you know the history of WBA. From the late sixties to the early eighties they had some great players. Jeff Astle, Tony Brown, Bobby Hope, Len Cantello, Derek Statham, Cyril Regis, Willie Johnston, Laurie Cunningham. Some of my favourites. I think the motto then was just to score more goals than the opposition. Great times.
I know how you feel with your team, i am Werder Bremen fan and we play in the 2. Bundesliga, although we've played in the 1. Bundesliga forever, except one year. But it looks like we will rise back to the 1. Bundesliga this season.
I’m from PA and I wanted to start watching the Premier league. So me and my dad turned on the TV and Arsenal was playing Sunderland and they won so that’s why I’m a Arsenal fun. Ever since then I’ve watched almost every game. The culture and vibe of English football is amazing.
Fun story for my first favorite team -- Bournemouth! Fellow American here with no allegiances or connection to England. In the video game FIFA, I did a career mode as the manager of Bournemouth and off a whim began to follow the team loosely. Later that summer, I was at a Chicago Cubs baseball game and ran into the entire Bournemouth team (kitted in their tracksuits) walking to their seats and had a chance to stop and talk to a few of the players. They were doing preseason training in Chicago, as well as scrims with local U.S. MLS teams. Really cool moment and have felt a true connection to the club ever since then.
Recently adopted another red and black team in AC Milan as I am currently studying abroad here in Milan. They've taken over most of my fandom considering the stakes of the games are much larger and since I have been able to see the team play in-person. Witnessing Giroud score 2 goals to overcome a 0-1 deficit in the Milano Derby against Inter in-person was a magical moment and something I'll never forget.
In Italy, you have the teams Inter Milan and AC Milan that play both in San Siro. Also Roma and Lázio play on the same stadium, its fascinating
My best memory of west brom is back in 2012/13 season when it was sir Alex Fergusons last game in charge as manager. We, the baggies were getting absolutely pummeled. Then came the big fight back. The game ended 5 probably one of the best games all time
i needed this video! dark times for the baggies at the moment but a fantastic club! going to the hawthorns this saturday! BOING BOING!
Very historic team West Brom, so much so that Pulis, allarrdyce, Bruce etc use tactics from the 40s! Hoping one day West Brom get someone vaguely innovative
Get stuffed
Great presentation! And one of our greatest players for WBA is from Glasgow Rangers in the '70's- Willie Johnstone on the wing!
Welcome to the Albion family, you should definitely visit the Hawthorns, meet the supporters and then you'll be hooked. I studied in Glasgow and lived near Ibrox so it's also good to go out in the west end and visit some Rangers pubs or a match. Visit the vine before the Albion game. That's a great pre-match experience.
Always been a Celtic\Partick fan, from Glasgow myself so, my best memory was probably in 2012 when we beat Barça 2-1, was a night that I will remember for the rest of my life! I've also had a soft spot for Liverpool and a few other teams but I'm always gonna be Celtic through and through, but class video mate! Always respect Americans who know about football, should give rugby a watch sometime mate absolutely classy sport not as popular as football but a close second in Scotland and the UK, bet you didn't enjoy that game last Sunday as a rangers fan, I had a brilliant time 🙌🍀😉
I've been watching your main channel for a while, but I didn't realize that you were an Albion fan! As an American of Filipino descent, I have ZERO ties to the West Midlands/Black Country unlike you who have ancestral roots there. But I have been a West Brom supporter for more than two decades, since just before their first Premier League promotion under Gary Megson.
(Exactly HOW I became one is a long story... I had been a Man United fan for a few years before that)
I've been to the Hawthorns several times, and have even been to see the Baggies away at Manchester City and Watford. It's been a while since I've been over there, but I definitely plan to go back sometime in the next few years.
I'm from.smethwick which is close to west Bromwich. My home town is smethwick. I was born on Brasshouse lane which is walking distance from.where I was born.ive followed the baggies all life. I can remember the highs and lows winning the fa cup in 1968.i now live in new Zealand and still follow Albion
Hello Chris,
I've been wanting to say this but this video of yours is the inspiration for me to support a football club that's connected to my roots somehow. Growing up in Vietnam there isn't really a lot of top-tier clubs whose games I can feel excited from watching. Therefore I switched my attention to Europe and started supporting Liverpool a year ago. However, the more I tried to be a Liverpool fan, the more I realized that I cannot bear supporting popular and big football clubs since I don't want to become any ordinary gloryhunting fan from Asia. That's when I realized I should find a team to whose history I'm really connected to.
Digging back into my family tree, I found out in 2023 that my paternal 4th greatgrandpa was a Vietnamese soldier (corporal rank) who travelled to France for a diplomatic mission. Even though he was just a rank and file soldier, I'm still very proud of him for being one of the few Vietnamese to have travelled to Europe at the time (He even got photographed!). The first city where he came to in Europe was Marseille (September 10th, 1863), so I have recently decided to support Olympique de Marseille as a result. Finding my lifelong club through genealogy research was straight up the best way for me personally. And you inspired me to do so.
Thank you Chris, wish you, your family and West Brom all the best!
Allez L'OM! 🔵⚪
If you were amazed by how close Chelsea are to Fulham etc, you should check out how close my local team, Dundee United are to their rivals Dundee (Tannadice Park and Dens Park) they’re literally on the same street! Enjoyed the history channel and now enjoying your extra channel. Keep up the good work!
As an Albion fan, welcome to the family! West Brom is a fantastic, historic club, with a diverse set of fans who possess a great sense of humour. Do visit sometime, stay in Birmingham, it’s a great city, easy to get a team to The Hawthorns, and you can then fly to Glasgow from Birmingham Airport to see Rangers!
I live in Walsall and in 20 mins I could get to West Brom, Villa, Wolves, Walsall and maybe to Birmingham City in 30 mins… great video!
That is so cool that you found your root and know who and where they lived to find your support for The Sport. I am an Arsenal fan because I knew nothing of the world of soccer and watched them back in middle school destroy Aston Villa 5-1 and it made me love my team due to their style.
i have been a wolves fan literally since the day i was born, my dad made sure of it, i have always been around football and liked football but i really fell in love with the sport after the 2017/18 season, the year our saviour Nuno gained us promotion, i have so many memories from this year such as one of my first away days, my first derby day and best of all, seeing wolves lift a trophy, since then i have been to even more incredible games like, wolves vs man united in the fa cup quarter final, wolves vs watford fa cup semi final, which was more about the experience rather than the result, wolves vs espanyol was another great one because it was my birthday and we hammered them 4-0 and for the first time i saw Neves score, and it was one of the best in his career, basically what im saying is football is a beautiful sport but in my case also an emotional rollercoaster, that will no matter what give you memories that you will cherish until they day you die
Spurs fan here. Been a fan since the Lineker days. Next time you're in London would love to see a video on the new Spurs stadium if you can get to a game. Awesome video. COYS!!!
I was born in West Brom but my parents moved to Australia when I was 3.5yo. When time came to select an Australian Rules Football side (not Rugby - ‘Aussie Rules’) the choice was very clear - Hawthorn Football Club who are based in Melbourne. Luckily for the now 3 generations of my family who support Hawthorn they are the most successful team having won 11 AFL Premierships since we arrived here in 1974. I love Hawthorn and the lads from The Hawthorns….it is all about family history! Thanks for sharing 👍
I'm from Birmingham and although I support chelsea, I have a strong affinity for west brom as they're my local team. Tickets are fairly cheap and affordable tbh, especially as they're back in the championship. One little recommendation if you ever go to a match, go to the vine. It's a pub near the ground but its got a tandoori grill which is the perfect pre match meal before a game. Me and my dad had a season ticket a few years back and we used to go there a few times before matches.
Thanks! I’ll remember that when I go.
I left my comments on your other site about being an Albion fan for 70 years.
Two amusing incindent's amongst hundreds.
During a visit to Milan to see the Milan Derby between Inter and AC Milan, my friend and I were discussing the game with our waiter on the evening before the match.
The waiter asked my friend "who you support"? "Sunderland" says he. "You also Sunderland" the waiter asked me. "No No" says I West Bromwich Albion. "Oooo" says he, "My Sububteo team is West Brom.
There was a very famous Albion player who in the 60's was absolutely fantastic and was called the King. Jeff Astle is still revered in song to this day. When I was a young man I used to joke about wanting to marry Jeff.
The stag party for my second marriage was organised by my two kids at the Hawthorns.
About 9.00pm the doors to the "Bomber Brown" bar opened and this person entered with full bridle gown and veil, knelt before me and raised the veil. Believe it or not my kids had contacted Astle and convinced him to propose to me.
Great video. My father grew up in Ipswich but was never a huge football fan. I saw a lot of the Tractor Boys when visiting the family as a youngster. Personally been a West Ham season ticket holder for around 40 years and supported them for 60. Growing up in Kent everyone followed the local side (Gillingham) but had a “London” team. Most of my friends were Arsenal or Spurs. I wanted to be different and West Ham were it, having the likes of Bobby Moore certainly helped.
In reverse as a kid I managed to find US forces radio. Trying to work out American football without the benefits of things like the internet was a challenge but it was the time of Broadway Joe and for my sins I have followed the Jets ever since, at least like West Ham winning things is a luxury.
PS for Germany look into the backstory of St Pauli, something different about them as a club even given the German models. Great book called Pirates, Punks and Politics. Another perennially “unsuccessful” team, mostly Bundesliga 2, but even as they have become more mainstream still unconventional.
I've only seen this video a year on. Im a Westbrom fan, im from a small town called Walsall, 15 minutes away from the hawthorns. It's been a manic season for us, but you are guaranteed loads of highs and lows that all come with football.
I became a westbrom fan because of my dad who is also a westbrom fan. Both season ticket holders at the hawthorns, and even though westbrom stress me out, I love going to all the games home and away.
good to have you in our fan base. always been a baggie all my family are from way back
A Singaporean watching too. My dad was a Manchester United fan and as a result, I was a fan as well.
I became a fanatic because of Cantona. He had a spell over 7 or 8 year old me.. Became a fanatic ever since.
Hey VTH, I am 22 and an Arsenal fan from Pennsylvania. The origin of this is pretty funny but simple. I started playing the game FIFA 13 10 years ago and the fastest player on the game was Theo Walcott. I loved using him for that and he played for Arsenal and I’ve supported them ever since 😂. I now have Arsenal kits bags and a wallet and been watching their games for years
Lol, I am from China, and live in Pennsylvania, I sorta had the same story, basically this player, Randal Kolo Muani, was absolutely insane on FIFA 23, banging in top bin goals from every angle, he played for Eintracht Frankfurt and thats why I am a fan of him and Eintracht Frankfurt 😂
Pretty awesome to hear you're a baggies fan, my grandfather played for them in the 50s. BOING!
It was a no brainier to me being a Baggies fan. I went to school opposite the ground, (Halfords Lane). When my school team won the local league Cyril Regis handed me my winners medal in front of the whole school! The school has since been knocked down and replaced by a new school but my tie is still there even though I live in Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Welcome to the Baggies family.
English West Brom fan here . No idea how I managed to find this channel. Great story about why you follow the club . Such a shame started following us while in bad times . Anyway If you are interested in stadiums being close to each other check out the two Dundee clubs . Believe me it's mad 😂
Re Scottish football, growing up the only time they showed the league was usually when smtg unsavoury occurred e.g. Hampden Park. We were told that if you were Catholic you followed Celtic and Protestants followed Rangers. That was what i held to till 2002 when living in Newcastle, my gf and I went on a drive all around Scotland. I visited a whole range of clubs, inc, Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, both Dundees, Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Raith, Queen of the South and the 2 Glasgow clubs. But my favourite ground was actually Inverness-Cali-thistle, Just a surreal experience to be watching a game in such a beautiful part of the world.
Anyway, on my way from there to Glasgow, smoke started coming out of my engine. I pulled over the side of the highway in pitch darkness and 2 mins later a minivan full of Celtic fans pulled over to help us out. Not only did they fix my car, they invited my gf and I to the pub to watch the game with them. Since that day, I've been Celtic all the way and I love how welcoming the fans are to foreigners(esp east Asians), and I love what the club stands for and the causes they support. I gotta admit, it was def boring after winning 9 in a row(only 2 teams with a chance of winning is not much better), but now with Big Ange involved I can see the potential for success in Europe.
While ill always support Celtic, I do wish the league became more open tho I dont know how any other club can compete with the resources of the big 2. Still feel its best to try and make this happen or not I just cant see the league attracting younger ppl and keeping them interested.
I was a history major in college and never stopped learning. I love your channel. Now I find out we both love Premier League Football? Ok, I’m a Man City supporter. But here’s why. I played soccer my whole childhood and was good at it. I was on a serious travel team club. But I grew up with baseball in our bones and I’m a third generation yankeee fan (I’m 50). When we started getting the Premier league games here easily I watched and was a fan but had not connected with any particular team. Then, City Football Group partnered with the Yankees to bring an expansion MLS team to NY - New York City Football Club (NYCFC). They are part of Man City’s family and so I fell into being a Man City supporter as a result. It had nothing to do with being a front runner. That said, it hasn’t sucked being a Man City fan. But even better, I go to a lot of NYCFC games and they won the MLS cup last year. That was awesome. MLS is inferior to Europe’s big leagues for sure, but it is growing in quality and popularity. Ohio’s team is the Columbus Crew. Do you follow them? Oh, and NYCFC just lost one of their homegrown talents to Scotland’s Rangers FC this past off season. His name is James Sands.
Love the Crew here! Man City has our former keeper, Zack Steffen. My family and I have been to quite a few games.
Love your main, your reaction and this channel!!!
Grew up in Ireland so there was a lot of Liverpool and Man Utd fans around, but I actually grew up a Chelsea fan. I was 4 when Abromovich came in with his money so it's not my fault I only grew up with the club being successful lol... but yeah, I had family that grew up 10 mins from Stamford Bridge, and my first in-person football game when I was maybe 5 was Chelsea vs Fulham, so a big rivalry game -- been in love with the Blues ever since!!!
Dont watch an awful lot of Bundesliga myself, and I doubt there's much of a family connection tying you to this team, but Union Berlin seem like a cool enough team to root for. They're competitive but not to the level of Dortmund or Bayern, and they're a proper rags-to-riches story -- their stadium is one of the smallest in the bundesliga because they haven't been around the big money for too long. They don't have a massive grandios affair for pre or post-game antics or anything, their whole thing is respect for the game itself: football is the attraction, not the lightshows or blaring music...
as a sidenote, since 11 i've been following the NFL and playing here in Ireland (actually the QB for the first team from Ireland to defeat a touring American club!), and the geography of the US still baffles me: I've been a Bengals fan since I started watching (back in the Carson Palmer dark days) and the fact that Cincy and Cleveland are in the same state, yet Cleveland-to-Cincy is nearly double the drive of Cleveland-to-Pittsburgh, is bonkers lol
Yeah, in fact from Cleveland there are 3 teams closer than Cincy - Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Detroit.
The coolest thing for football for me is how a club can define the type of person you are.
I'm a Manchester United fan (yeah ik) through my family. Do we have any ties? No. But it's about what the club stands for. Hardworking. Working class mentality. But, also the idea of expressing yourself. Enjoying the game. Wanting to excite people etc. The ethics are the club are the ethics I stand by. Built from foundations from managers and players over the years.
I’m a Newcastle fan because my dad is from there all my brothers and dads side of the family support them I live in west London so my closest teams are Chelsea and Brentford. My first game was against benfica in the europa league quarter finals in 2013 where we got knocked out and haven’t been in European football since 😭. Im looking forward to the future with the new ownership and their ambition
I was born and grew uo in a town called Flensburg right at the german-danish border, and as long as i can remember, none of the clubs from this region played higher than 4th league. As i started getting interested in football, the nearest Bundesliga(1st League)-Club was "Hamburger SV (HSV)",around 100 miles from my hometown, so i had to be a fan of them and it was their most succesful time winning three championships (1979, 1982, 1983), European Cupwinners-Cup 1977 and European Champions-Cup 1983.
In 1995, i was 13 years old, i heard from a club called FC St. Pauli, also from Hamburg, and their fans were waving Jolly-Roger-Flags, and they were the underdogs, what i like. You know, it´s easy to be a fan of Bayern Munich, but it needs real passion being a fan of an underdog. The club went up and down between 1st and 2nd league at this time. From 2000 to 2003 i lived in and around Hamburg and got Season-Tickets from St. Pauli and it was a very intense time beeing their fan.
In 2000 they were in 2nd League and were save staying in this league almost at the last second. In 2001 at the last game they had to win against 1. FC Nürnberg, who were placed 1st, to go up to 1st league, and they made it. In the following season they finished 18th (last place) and had to go back down to 2nd league but have won against Bayern Munich 2:1, the 2nd victory against Bayern in history! In 2003 St. Pauli finished 17th and had to go down to 3rd league.
At his time i didn´t buy a Season-Ticket, i would have but i moved back to my Hometown because of loosing my job and it was too expensive to travel 100 miles to Hamburg and 100 miles back every 2 weeks. But i stayed beeing a fan.
Today both, St. Pauli and HSV are in 2nd league, St. Pauli placed 3rd and HSV 7th, and maybe next season could be the first season in history, St. Pauli (founded 1910) playing one league higher than HSV (founded 1887).
I know, Chris, you might not have any ancestory in or around Hamburg, but i have to recommend being a fan of FC St. Pauli, the club with the Jolly Roger!
I became a true sports fan a little later in life than most people. I was a teenager when I really got into sports. This might be a little long to explain my fandom, sorry. My Dad is an Atlanta Braves fan so naturally I grew up as a Braves fan. My favorite player was Jeff Francoeur and in 2009 he got traded to the New York Mets. Me being very individualistic and always marching to the beat of my own drum decided to follow him and become a Mets fan. A year later he was traded to the Rangers but I stuck with the Mets as my favorite baseball team. I then became a Dallas Cowboys fan in the NFL because of my Dad being a Cowboys fan. I also became a Tennessee Titans fan because we started going to their games being close to Nashville. Around the same time in the NBA Lin-Sanity was going on and since I was already a Mets fan I adopted the New York Knicks to be my team, plays in New York and has the blue orange color scheme. Within a year or so I became a New York Rangers fan in the NHL because I saw that New York had a hockey team and they were in the playoffs, they were also called Rangers which was cool because I somewhat liked the Texas Rangers. I also pull for the Nashville Predators. About a year later I started to become interested in soccer and following it, so naturally I see that New York has a soccer team in MLS the New York Red Bulls and I become a fan. I also became a Manchester United fan because they were the only team from overseas that I had heard of so I became a fan, not a bandwagon fan they haven't won since I have been a fan, lol. I later on became a fan of BVB in the Bundesliga because they had the American Christian Pulisic. And I find myself pulling somewhat for Glasgow Celtic because of my Irish heritage and I liked the name. In college sports I am a huge Murray State fan. My Dad attended college there so I grew up going to basketball and football games at Murray. I then attended college there myself. Go Racers! Also, back in 2011 I filled out an NCAA bracket for the first time and had a school called Butler in the final, I had no idea what I was doing, I selected teams based on how the name sounded. Butler went all the way to the final and I have always pulled for Butler Bulldogs in basketball ever since. Lastly, in college football I do pull for Murray in FCS, but my main team in D-1 is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish because I loved their uniforms, the gold helmets, and because of my Irish heritage. I also pull for the Memphis Grizzlies because of Ja Morant who played at Murray State. Sorry I had to list off all my teams. I love sports and the my early fandom lead me to become a fan of the New York Red Bulls who are my favorite soccer team.
I'm from a tiny country called Bahrain in the middle east and football is huge but nearly no one supported local clubs, it's always Real Madrid or Barcelona or maybe Premier league teams. I was brought up as a Real Madrid fan but never had an eye for them, and little did my family know, i've already fallen in love with Bayern Munich way earlier, i mean one of my earliest memories as a child involve Bayern when i watched a Bayern legend, Oliver Kahn, play his farewell match which was in 2008, and so i was 5. If you want to root for a bundesliga team i'd be happy for you to choose anything but dortmund!!! but it won't matter what team you pick, Bayern will always be the champion of Germany and Europe :)
I can relate a bit to West Brom. Former player Jonas Olsson was brought up just down the street from my home. Great and hard central defender that played some years for Albions (9-10y I think).
Today he is an expert commentator on TV for Champion League.
My family on my dads side is Leeds born going back four generations. Went to my first game under bielsa, last minute penalty save, went absolutely mental.
ALAW 💙💛
I was born near the hawthorns home of West Bromwich albion FC. My first match was West Brom v Everton we won 2-0 Everton were unbeaten after 20 games I was 12 years old in 1969.
I'm an American who actually just got into the Premier League right on New Year's Day this year. I decided to root for Brentford. They are popular for using the Moneyball method to win, an idea conceived by the Oakland Athletics in baseball. It involves using advanced data to identify cheap but very good players who are often overlooked by bigger teams. As a person who's been into baseball all of his life, and who has been always interested in advanced data and sabermetrics, they really appealed to me. It's been an amazing season, even though we're in the bottom half of the Premier League. Seeing the 4-1 thrashing by Brentford over the defending European Champs in Chelsea was probably the greatest sports game I've ever seen, especially given the fact that that win keeps us safe now from relegation.
The first time I saw Arsenal play I fell in love with them. That was during the Bergkamp, Henry, Viera times. It was a joy to watch them play. I stopped watching football for a few years and I started following them again since Arteta took over the team. Youngest team in the prem, inexperienced young manager, and they are fighting for 4th place. These last few games are going to be very exciting.
Reasons why I personally love the promotion/relegation:
1. It really adds to the drama of the competition. Every season you will see:
a. Teams who are competing for the PL title.
b. Teams who are competing for the Champions League spot.
c. Teams who are competing for the other European spots (both for Europa League and the Conference League)
d. Teams who are competing to escape the relegation zone.
2. Because of it, there are big clubs in the lower tiers of the EFL such as Nottingham Forest and Derby County.
I’m an American and I became a Leeds United fan.
Growing up in malaysia during the 80s and early 90s the only teams we saw on the tv were, United, liverppol, Everton and spurs. I started following United coz i was attracted to the history(Munich in particular, I'm drawn to tragedies for some reason) and also bcos of Norman Whiteside.
Eventhough the first 15yrs i followed the club was a hugely successful time period, I never felt totally engrossed in the club due to never having been to a game.
Then in 2000/2001 I moved to Newcastle to study. I didn't have much care for the team b4 i got there, but the spirit of the locals and their love for the club was just so infectious. Also, at a time when racial tensions were pretty high, I was never made to feel unwelcome in that city.
In my 2 years there, I often made the drive down to Cardiff to visit my gf who was studying there at the time. I made it a point to try and visit as many football grounds as I could get to in the country. at the time i think there were 94 professional clubs in England, inc 3 from Wales, I got to visit 73 which was quite an adventure as well given there was still the hooligan element very present in a no of clubs. My fav clubs I visited in terms of ground, fans and the general vibes were Wrexham(it's wonderful to see what's happened to them), Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday, Preston and Darlington.
While id say Newcastle is my fav team, their new owners make it impossible for me to support them 100%. Still in happy for the locals that they're finally rid of mike ashley, the Geordies are the best ppl and they deserve to see some success.
I forgot port vale, those fans are pretty full on. hahaha the tribalism in English football while it does have a dark side is one of my fav aspects of the English football. Just so much character and history with every club unlike the manufactured nature of many American sports clubs, there's a certain charm in English football thst I haven't seen replicated except in Australian Rules football.
Not soccer but Australian rules football. My dad was a diehard Fitzroy Lions fan. He went to all their games in Melbourne, even when they were losing nearly every game they played. Over here, team support is inherited and I loved them until 1996 when they were forced by the AFL to move north to merge with the Brisbane Bears to compete as the Brisbane Lions in 1997. It happened as most clubs were in debt but because we were the worst team at the time (we won 2 consecutive 'wooden spoons' in '95 and' 96. Dad wasn't happy but I decided I would continue the lions tree
Being from Mexico, football its a big part of our culture, i grew up supporting one of my local teams, Tigres de la UANL, its located in San Nicolás de Los Garza in the state of Nuevo León, we have a big rival in the team of Monterrey which are basically in the same city, as mexican i grew up watching football and playing it, as in england i am a support a team called portsmouth poaying in the 3rd tier i like that team because as a football fan i play fifa, and this game you can be the coach of lots of teams and leading them into champions league, so naturally portsmouth was the first team i picked and i actually learned about them and became a supporter
I’m a Chelsea fan because in Australia they advertised a Chelsea Hull City game on tv once so I became a Chelsea fan because of that
American Palace supporter since 2016 here. I started playing football in junior high 2015-16 and was terrible, but I fell in love with the sport. I chose Palace because they had a cool/ unique name and you've got love those bubble gum jerseys. I can't wait for the 2026 world cup.
Second favorite club is probably FC Porto in Portugal.
Smaller clubs seem to represent the true spirit of football through generations, family, and culture far more than larger clubs, we almost saw the destruction of football with the idea of the Super League last year.
There are multiple teams in different leagues I root for
English: Liverpool , I was originally stuck between Chelsea, man United or Liverpool but ultimately chose Liverpool because of the passion of the fans and the song “you’ll never walk alone”
German: Borussia Dortmund, like Liverpool the passion of the yellow wall won me over and later I also found out klopp used to manage the team.
Italian: Genoa? I haven’t began seriously watching Italian football yet but from what I know currently I’ll probably choose Genoa. Was originally stuck on Milan or inter or juve or Napoli but I begin to feel like I probably should not root for a powerhouse for a change. And I chose Genoa because of it’s history and also because I found out about the friendship between Napoli and Genoa and also because I kinda see Genoa as a compromise between red and blue
And for the question will I still support them even if they get relegated . Of course I will keep supporting them as that’s what any good football fan should do
Liverpool and everton are literally across from each other and are seperated by stanley park. Goodison park and Anfielnare 5 mins away from each other. The merseyside derby is massive. I live in south africa and my brother introduced me to football and to support liverpool so since 2005 ive been a liverpool supporter
I’m from Northern Ireland but support Man United cause my grandad who raised me supported them. He supported Man U since he was a teenager since he was the same age and from the same place as George Best, arguably Man United’s greatest ever player. A lot of young lads from Northern Ireland were inspired to support that team in the 1960s as Best was a young, good looking lad who was voted the best player in the world the year Man United won their first ever European Cup.
I’m a Sunderland fan and as well known been through many ups and downs. Had some great moments usually against Newcastle haha. Jermaine defoe’s volley, relegating Newcastle by beating Everton 3-0 and getting to Wembley in League cup final. Wouldn’t change it for the world despite path we’re on now
I LOVED the Netflix series on Sunderland. Wish they would have continued it.
Be happy to have you at the Baggies sometime if you're ever over mate, Id be more than happy to show you around!
Hi, I've just fell onto this, I'm a Baggie too, first games in the early 80's (I'm in my 40's now), born and raised in the town, got the bug for knowledge and travelled the world with always an eye on the progress,worked for the club twice in a coaching role as well as recruitment and disability. Last few years since the chinese ownership the club have become unrecognisable sadly, no fight, no enthusiasm, no foresight. I will always love the team and still follow results but the club itself and the owner and the PC media guys can all spin the situation as much as they want as I will never spend another penny on them while they continue on the vein
You should have considered Walsall mate lol
I'm English and I'll be honest..not the biggest football fan (more into motorsports), I do support Newcastle United though because that's where my family is from. I loved hearing about your story and ancestry though!
I’m a West Bromwich Albion fan, born and bred in West Bromwich. Now I live in Iowa and I miss going to the Hawthorns so much. I try and follow soccer here but it’s not the same. I was baptized in All saints church and my mom and dad got married there. My Grandad is buried in the graveyard there!!!
The English magazine World Soccer was asked why they were called World Soccer instead of World Football. Their response was in some countries Football is a different sport but wherever you go Soccer means Soccer (Association Football).
I support League One (third tier) team Wigan Athletic and have done for around 10 years, despite being initially raised a United fan by my brother. I have no family connection to Wigan, although we have strong roots in other parts of Lancashire. I fell in love with Wigan during their last few seasons in the premier league, the constant battle for relegation and always just surviving was something I found really exciting. Winning the FA Cup in 2013 remains one of the highlights of my time supporting Wigan. Our journey also these last couple of years has been remarkable. Plunged into administration by dodgy owners (allegedly our owner bet on us to be relegated and when that looked like it wouldn’t happen he tried to make sure it did), we were relegated to League 1. Playing our youth team we just survived last season and now we’re currently sat top of the league after only having a 2-3 players at the start of last summer. Wigan Athletic continue to defy the odds, and that’s why I will always love them
I'm a West Brom fan, originally from West Brom but now in Edinburgh. My parents walk the dogs around the graveyard of All Saints. A West Brom legend in Billy Bassett is buried there.
West Brom fan of 50 years here. There's one thing you need plenty of to support the baggies, and that's resilience. Particularly when your older brother is a Villa fan.
If you do manage to get across to the UK, I'm sure there will be plenty of people willing to meet up with you and show you around the local area.
Family history is always an awesome thing to get into. Also nice to see a fellow American Gers fan. I’m just Polynesian. So don’t have any direct links to Britain. Got into soccer from my Mexican friends. My family are hardcore Laker fans. When I started getting into the European scene, I found out about Septic. Thought Celtic FC and Boston Celtics were connected. I hated Boston Celtics, so I hated Celtic. Celtic hated Rangers, so I ran with Rangers. I was like 8 or 9. It also helped they wore my favorite color. Also they had an Aussie, Craig Moore. I feel kinship to the Poly and Anglo-Pacific nations.
On the English side, I ran with Portsmouth. I found out their stadium, Fratton Park, was on an island and they wore blue. 2007-08 season was exciting for both. Pompey’s road to winning the FA Cup and Rangers on the verge of getting a quadruple. While Gers got the cup double, we dropped the ball on the league and UEFA Cup final. Then Pedro Mendes transfer from Pompey to Rangers the season after, cemented I made the right choice in clubs. I was in high school, during the 2011-12 season. Rangers’ liquidation and Pompey’s relegation to League 1. Then 2012-13 would begin the true decline of the Lakers. Took a while, but was glad to see Gers and Lakers get a ring. And don’t want to jinx it but Pompey is looking pretty good right now.
I'm American and support Sunderland A.F.C. I got into soccer after playing fifa, and through that, met a hard-core supporter from the UK. He became one of my best friends, and converted me lol
I'm a huge fan of the Netflix series on Sunderland. Wish they would have continued it.
I'm a Whittaker from the east (not west) Midlands in the UK. Don't know how you spell your name - one "t"; two "t"s; "acre" instead of "aker". As I'm sure you know it means "wheat field" or people who lived by a wheat field. Whittakers in the UK are generally from Lancashire (north west England) or Lincolnshire (east Midlands). My lot are from the east Midlands. Can't think many Whittakers are in the West Mids but we get places! My family supported Notts County (grampie), Nottingham Forest (Pop) and Leicester City (arch enemy, me) as we moved about. All east Mids clubs. I follow "Citeh" - the "Blue Armeh" - song Frank Sinatra's "When You're Smiling". Whoever you follow and for whatever reason, your club is special and part of your identity. Give your all to the Baggies in Ohio. Can't be many Wolves, Villa, Brum or other Midlands crews to have a pop at down your way. Enjoy!
Yeah all the different spellings go back to the same families from Lancashire and Yorkshire I believe.
Hello! I'm a fellow American who's very well interested in Eastleigh FC. It's because of their well unique style. The badge, nickname, kit, grew on me. To me, it's a symbol of pride. It stands out perfectly. Mind you, the badge was only here since 2020.
I support Newcastle since I was 8 , I support them cus it’s our local club . My best memory is when we where in the Europa league in the 2012/13 season and seeing us get to the quarter finals
I'm an Albion fan too. My dad's side are Albion fans, my mum's side are Villa and my stepdad's are Wolves. However, in the Midlands, some people do support those big 6 teams, but if you do, people will just disregard your opinion. So they have to search for some tenuous link to legitimise their fandom.
As i have said before when i was reading comics in the 50s in England one of the characters within my comic was "Roy of the Rovers" and the word soccer was used in the story . The word soccer was first used in England in order to differentiate between rugby football and association football so the word soccer has a long history in England.
Massively respect going for a team based on your family history rather than just going for a super successful one. As a Baggie I gotta say things could be better, but good on you for sticking with them.
Today was a good day!
@@vthextra Absolutely. Good to see Andy Carroll coming through. Hopefully we can try pull back some wins and get an alright result this season.
Grew up a United fan since I have two cousins who live in Ireland who introduced me to the sport, one is a United fan who I was closer to, the other is a Liverpool who my brother was closer to. I fell out of love with the game for a while, and when I came back I remember playing FIFA as Wolverhampton Wanderers a bunch, and so I decided to watch them. This was the season Nuno came in and they stormed the Championship, had me hooked after that. Maybe one day the Baggies will be able to play us in the Prem again
When I played fifa 09 for the first time, i chose chelsea for their defense with John Terry. Been a chelsea fan since.
Much more interesting story than me. I go for Liverpool because The Beatles are from there