French are completely apathetic and critical about our team. The assumption is we will be terrible and it’s only in the knockout rounds that people get particularly excited.
So just about the opposite.
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So just about the opposite.
Totally agree (I’m English). Went to the friendly in Amsterdam pre 2018 euros, was an absolute embarrassment. A lot of England fans abroad make themselves easy to hate, no wonder we are a laughing stock on the mainland. It’s even the same on a normal holiday.
There are shit loads of England fans who are the exact same as this. Most people on this forum fall in to that category.
You’re basing your assessment of England fans on a) some people in the media and b) a minority of fans like me.
Maybe times have changed or it was the cause of being host nation.. I spent the the entirety of France 98 and the weeks leading up to the tournament in France. They were singing "We are the champions" karaoke from the group stages onwards.
A smug expectation for a side that had never won it before. Then that whole Ronaldo saga for the final which I remember more about than the game itself!
People were singing a Queen song? Not sure that’s comparable with the media frenzy and outward patriotism you see in England.
I do remember the English and the Russians causing mayhem in 2016. Not too many other countries routinely blasted with water cannons wherever they go.
Edit: for balance I went to a few euro1996 games and you put on a great tournament. Well done !!
The example just represented the feeling. Conversations I had with French fans confirmed the feeling of expectation. There have been accusations of Fifa corruption around the tournament itself, which I can't disregard when it's Fifa.
Regarding Euro 16, I think you may have been deliberately selective. French 'ultra fans' played a big part in the shambles that went on. The French police are also not blameless.
I seem to remember Russian, English, French, Spanish, Croatian, Northern Irish, Ukrainian, German and other nations fans being involved in disturbing situations in France. I wasn't there and am not sure why, but the whole tournament was tarnished with trouble.
What I have witnessed first hand is that French police don't mess about. Their opening hand is often a firm one, which English fans at least won't be used to. I'm fine with that, but there's no need to pretend it was one or 2 sets of fans causing trouble in 2016.
It's like being surrounded by the shirtless, fetid clone spawn of that spam-brained pot noodle fucker, Tommy Robinson. Everyone assumes that you're one of them if you're in an England shirt and having a beer. It's pissed me off for years. I'm not saying we should morris dance our way to games, rolling cheese and trying to take off on flying penny farthings in an amiable display of English eccentricity, although maybe I'd prefer it now I think about it.
Our memory is very different of the events of 98 and 16.
French policing is a lot tougher and less tolerant than British policing and I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I tend to think not. But the English reputation is well-earned and the scenes we saw from English and Russian fans was a lot worse than the Spanish or Irish fans. Both countries have a long history of going abroad and fighting and causing damage that doesn’t apply to other countries. I guess you can deny that or say it’s unfair but that’s the perception.
As for hubris… there’ll always be fans of both sides who get overexcited. But I was in London in 2002 and cars everywhere had flags with St George’s cross and the talk was of the amazing midfield … the hype was unbelievable. It really stood out compared to anything I had experienced in France… beyond even the 98 World Cup which was a home tournament. It was clear to anyone else that the England team were nowhere near favourites but even then people were talking about the PL being the best league in the world, long before it was.
So basically, « don’t judge my countrymen off a few dickheads like me ».
Yeah I’m a prick, you can’t judge anyone based on me. In fairness I find a lot of Europeans fucking pathetic the way they cry about shit like ‘it’s coming home’ songs so I feed further in to it.
The rep of English fans being violent is also overstated. Feels like every time we have fans going to Italy etc one of ours ends up stabbed and they’re not hooligans either. Ultras in a lot of these countries are worse but the 80’s English hooligan spectre looms large. Continental fans are as violent or more violent now.
If England play like they did in the 2nd half I think they will challenge Man City next season
In the Spanish media, press and TV, the word "hooligan" is used as a synonym for "fan", it has been as long as I've lived here (34 years).
It's so ubiquitous that people you chat to regularly say "Oh, so you're a hooligan?" when, in a friendly conversation, it comes out that you're a level above the sort of person who might watch a game on the telly now and then if there's nothing else on.
Was Kane’s friend surprised that he played and scored yesterday?
Assume so, no idea when he last spoke with him and got that update
That’s a big change from out of the euros, to playing and scoring two weeks before the first game.
A reasonable person would be suspicious.
Suspicious of what? That he said it?
That he said it or that he knows Kane. Someone, somewhere is charring a lot of shit.
Haha 100% knows him
Maybe Kane gave a throwaway comment about the injury and he took it literally
Either way, you need to calm down
Kane said something along the lines of, it was more precaution wanting to stay fit for the summer that he missed games for Bayern.
Nice of them to allow that when their season was over, but it doesn't sound like he was actually injured at all in the first place.
Nice of them to allow that when their season was over, but it doesn't sound like he was actually injured at all in the first place.