Have You Ever Changed Your Opinion?

[Goku de la Boca]

Stupid thread title, but I'll go with the main ones for me. These are non-time sensitive opinions mind you. So say if a player declines in standard, that doesn't count because its a natural opinion change.

- Went from anti-VAR to a neutral.

- The Championship is a top 10 league in the world. I used to not have it in the top 15.

- The Bundesliga and Serie A are equal (although thanks to Juve's downfall I'd say the Bundesliga retakes the lead now).

[Cicero]

Biggest one was believing Ronaldo was superior to Messi. 

[Goku de la Boca]

15 hours ago, Cicero said:

Biggest one was believing Ronaldo was superior to Messi. 

I had this one too back in 2014, though I think it was just the moment he was having.

[Pyfish+]

A few years ago, I really did not like 'tourist fans' coming to games but then I've started to visit more stadiums without an affiliation to either team and really enjoyed it.

[CaaC (John)+]

Believing middle-east/ American billionaires people buying EPL clubs was a good thing with all their dosh and making the clubs better and buying top-class players, after the bloody Glazers buying United I have changed my opinion on that one, bring back the good old days.

[Whiskey]

Used to think Egypt wasn't in Africa.

[CaaC (John)+]

10 minutes ago, Whiskey said:

Used to think Egypt wasn't in Africa.

Same, silly really how they worked than one out.

Is Egypt in Africa or Asia or both?

About Egypt. The map shows Egypt, a country situated mainly in the northeastern corner of the African continent bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Red Sea in the east. The eastern portion of Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, is situated in Western Asia (Middle East).

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42570861

 

[Goku de la Boca]

3 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

Same, silly really how they worked than one out.

Is Egypt in Africa or Asia or both?

About Egypt. The map shows Egypt, a country situated mainly in the northeastern corner of the African continent bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Red Sea in the east. The eastern portion of Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, is situated in Western Asia (Middle East).

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42570861

 

Egypt is actually a dual-continental country. Not many people ever mention this. Most of it is in Africa, but the Sinai Peninsula is a part of Asia.

[Goku de la Boca]

Oh lmao I really have to read the whole post ffs

[Dr. Gonzo]

Yeah, hasn't everyone?

Oh you mean just with football? Yeah. I can't think of any specific examples off the top of my head.

People who can't change their opinions, about football or otherwise, are a bit weird (to put it politely).

[Asura]

17 hours ago, Cicero said:

Biggest one was believing Ronaldo was superior to Messi. 

This. For me too is the biggest one.

When I was younger about 12-14 years ago and new to football I used to think Ronaldo was superior to everyone else. Makes sense why he has so much social media following now if I think about it. But as I learnt more about football and also started to play with a group where I live, I realised Messi is an absolute greatest ever.

 

 

[Cicero]

Just now, Asura said:

This. For me too is the biggest one.

When I was younger about 12-14 years ago and new to football I used to think Ronaldo was superior to everyone else. Makes sense why he has so much social media following now if I think about it. But as I learnt more about football and also started to play with a group where I live, I realised Messi is an absolute greatest ever.

 

 

I mean Ronaldo circa 2007-2009 I'd wager was as close to Messi as he ever could've been. Still adamant Ronaldo was a better footballer during that period vs when he transitioned to an outright goal scorer 2011 onwards. 

[Asura]

5 minutes ago, Cicero said:

I mean Ronaldo circa 2007-2009 I'd wager was as close to Messi as he ever could've been. Still adamant Ronaldo was a better footballer during that period vs when he transitioned to an outright goal scorer 2011 onwards. 

probably thats the time when he realised he can "beat" messi only by scoring as many goals as he could and transitioned. All the 20+ stepovers he used to do to beat one defender during his man utd days got eclipsed by messi's one shoulder drop... So he went the american way to be in the discussion, the stats way.

[Dan+]

2 hours ago, Pyfish said:

A few years ago, I really did not like 'tourist fans' coming to games but then I've started to visit more stadiums without an affiliation to either team and really enjoyed it.

I have no issue with it to be honest providing the sport still caters for the majority of the fans. I find it hard to get angry at say an American coming to watch Leicester though.

[Goku de la Boca]

1 minute ago, Dan said:

I have no issue with it to be honest providing the sport still caters for the majority of the fans. I find it hard to get angry at say an American coming to watch Leicester though.

To be honest, I think the British are a bit spoiled on that matter thanks to the superior football culture of the country. I would love for Peruvian stadiums to all fill every matchday, but only the big teams here can do that.

[Dan+]

3 minutes ago, Goku de la Boca said:

To be honest, I think the British are a bit spoiled on that matter thanks to the superior football culture of the country. I would love for Peruvian stadiums to all fill every matchday, but only the big teams here can do that.

I'm more saying there've been a couple of instances, particularly in the FA Cup where a kick off time has been played to suit a crowd thousands of miles away. There was a Premier League game moved to early Sunday, was something like Brighton v Everton (which is a long journey) to suit Asian TV audience or something.

Stuff like that needs resisting. Tourists though I've grown to just not really have an issue with. We've all been to a neutral game so there's a degree of hypocrisy in it.

[Goku de la Boca]

1 minute ago, Dan said:

I'm more saying there've been a couple of instances, particularly in the FA Cup where a kick off time has been played to suit a crowd thousands of miles away. There was a Premier League game moved to early Sunday, was something like Brighton v Everton (which is a long journey) to suit Asian TV audience or something.

Stuff like that needs resisting. Tourists though I've grown to just not really have an issue with. We've all been to a neutral game so there's a degree of hypocrisy in it.

In England I feel the games fill without tourists anyways, but I find it an extra bonus and the ticket money goes straight to the clubs. So having that demand is important. The Premier League is the best, most commercial and most international league in the world after all/

[Spike]

9 minutes ago, Dan said:

I'm more saying there've been a couple of instances, particularly in the FA Cup where a kick off time has been played to suit a crowd thousands of miles away. There was a Premier League game moved to early Sunday, was something like Brighton v Everton (which is a long journey) to suit Asian TV audience or something.

Stuff like that needs resisting. Tourists though I've grown to just not really have an issue with. We've all been to a neutral game so there's a degree of hypocrisy in it.

For another perspective, the five hours from Liverpool to Brighton is very short. Sydney to Melbourne is further than  Southampton to Edinburgh.  The away fan culture in the UK is very rich.

[Goku de la Boca]

6 minutes ago, Spike said:

For another perspective, the five hours from Liverpool to Brighton is very short. Sydney to Melbourne is further than  Southampton to Edinburgh.  The away fan culture in the UK is very rich.

Keep in mind the away fan culture is growing everywhere. I remember when it used to be very limited to the UK. Now Peruvian football fans travel to the outer parts of the country to follow their team. Actually I'm included, I went to support FBC Melgar to Quito, Ecuador last year for the Sudamericana semi-final. They brought more than 1000 fans. Not a ton but they aren't a huge club, so it's a good amount.

Argentina has a lot of away fans too, though to differentiate from Peru, their football culture is top 2 in the world, competing with England. Just in a bigger landmass.

[Stan]

37 minutes ago, Dan said:

something like Brighton v Everton (which is a long journey) to suit Asian TV audience or something.

Was that the official reason? 

[LFCMike]

I used to be highly critical of FSG (probably more than @Rickand @Dr. Gonzoare now) before Klopp was appointed and up until Liverpool made real progress on the pitch under Klopp and they got things like the stadium sorted. I recall some pretty heated debates with @LFCMadLadover it!  

I'd probably be called an 'FSG apologist' by those freaks on LFC Twitter now! I'm far from it, I just tend to give more benefit of doubt now after seeing the club get so much right in the last few years.

[Azeem]

Winning the World Cup or having a significant international career was necessary for being a great. Maybe it was at some point but now I don't think it's a big miss on a player's C.V

It was different for Messi with his comparison to Maradona and all that. 

[Dan+]

On 16/02/2023 at 20:23, Stan said:

Was that the official reason? 

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/brighton-v-everton-moved-to-1-30pm-kick-off-to-suit-indian-tv-1.3253835

I knew I hadn't just made this up. That's admittedly the only time I can specifically remember it happening in this league but I think a lot of the FA Cup games are played at funny times for this reason, which is odd.

I've never got a problem with foreign fans coming along providing it's still being played to ultimately suit the English crowds. Likewise if I went abroad somewhere I wouldn't expect it to be done to suit me.

[Dan+]

The obvious two I can think of, funnily enough, are Vardy and Iheanacho.

Vardy when he first came here from Fleetwood I was genuinely excited by, which sounds mad because it's a bloody non-league player, but you know when somebody was so blatantly far too good for their level, I was excited at the prospect that we had got our hands on a bit of a gem. Only in his first season up in the Championship he did look quite out of his depth. I was sad it didn't look like it had worked, but he really struggled. I do remember though in the summer of 2013 after his first full season, he'd been linked with a loan move to Sheffield Wednesday, but he was playing pre-season games which I happened to go to quite a few of that year, and he looked fantastic. He was then instrumental in our promotion. There were similar vibes in 2014/15 for large parts, he took a lot of time to adapt to the Premier League, but again once he did there was just no stopping him.

Iheanacho - for somebody who I've been slaughtering the poor treatment of for a while, I was largely of the opinion for his first two years here that we'd bought a real dud. He was bad. He really struggled and took time to get to grips with the team. To be honest, he still has the odd game where he's pretty terrible, but he's got the flair for the unexpected and for a team that's often a little flat I think we've needed that. He was massive for us in the 2020/21 season, he hadn't scored a league goal as we entered February yet he finished the season our top scorer, carried us through the end of that season and scored winning goals in the 5th round, quarter finals and semi finals of the FA Cup which we did eventually win. I'll always have respect for him as a player for it and I think his lack of opportunity since has been a real shame, we've really wasted an admittedly enigmatic, but undeniable talent.

It also makes me want to persist with Daka, who has struggled as well here. He scored loads for Salzburg so I'm convinced there's a good finisher there, but I do think he's a victim of our side that doesn't create a great deal. These examples don't mean I'll blindly support anybody but both of those players took a while to properly win me over, although with Vardy especially I always really hoped he could.

Another one off the top of my head, me and a mate were talking about this the other day but we were being really underwhelmed when we first appointed Nigel Pearson. Maybe it was delusions of grandeur, maybe it was that he hadn't really done a great deal in management and we hadn't really accepted we were a League One side, but I do remember being really underwhelmed by it. I didn't think that 15 years later I'd be looking out for Bristol City's results because of him.

[Cicero]

Mbappe was all pace.