How I became a Leicester fan and what to expect

[BountyHunter]

I'm a rather new fan of soccer.  For most of my 63 years I've looked at soccer as a sport that was boring.  I could not, for the life of me, understand why anyone would want to watch men kick a ball from one end of the field to another with out any result. for seemingly hours at a time only to see the occasional goal. ( this comes from a guy that will watch cars go in a circle for hours on end with no complaints)  And to make things worse, many times it would end in no winner or loser at all.  A tie??? Play overtime you morons!!!

When my grandson started playing soccer at the age of 4 I went to every game.  Still boys (andgirls) chasing a ball around trying to put the ball into an elusive goal.  This time it was more interesting to me 1. I was watching it live and 2.  It was my grandson on the field.  I was becoming tolerant of the low scoring enjoying watching my grandson become pretty good at the sport.

A year or so later i was transfered to a store whos manager was a diehard fan of Manchester City.  this is the first person that Ive ever known that was a bigger fan of soccer than they were of football or basketball.  When we talked sports they always centered around the EPL, Champions League, and all the other leagues in Europe.  I could casually talk about the USMNT ( I knew who Landon Donovan was)  But that was all.  Over Time i started watching the EPL in 2015 especially when Man City was on so we could carry on a conversation.  

I realized that if I was going to continue watch this sport that I still didnt fully understand I needed a team to call my own.  Easy thing would be to adopt the team my manager liked.  I didnt like that idea so i decided to look around for a team of my own.  Over time as Leicester was making waves at the top of the EPL I became more interested in them. Jamie Vardy was the name that I was hearing and started to follow his and the team's progress.  

As the season wore on I realized I had hooked myself to something special.  I became a fan of everything Leicester.  I watched when i could and got to know the names Drinkwater, Fuchs, Mahrez, Kante, Schmeichel.  They didnt dissapoint as they made the impossible run to the Championship.

AS the 2016-17 season started I had high expectations for my new found team.  but they didnt live up to expectations.  I learned a valuable lesson about how the teams do buisness.  this isnt like sports in the US where they always try have parity among all the teams.  There is a pecking order in the EPL that basically keeps certain teams at the top.  That order is determined by money that the owners are willing(or able) to spend to keep there teams at the top.  Teams like Man U, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenam dominate the league year after year.  Other teams are left with making there money by selling there up and coming players to those teams at a profit to stay solvent.  A team like Leicester comes along once in a life time.

With all that being said where do I go as a fan of a team that seems to be a mid to lower tier in the Premier League.  I reall like the players on the Leicester team.  I hate to moving around that the sport is known for but i know that is just part of it.  

I think Leicester has done a good job of bringing in new young players in Harry McGuire and  Iheanacho .  I'm excited about those players and what they can bring to the club.  Worried about Marez and his wanting to leave. 

 

In the end is this what its going to be like to be a fan of a team like this?  Should always expect a mid league finish?  If so as long as I can see them play here in the states several times a season it may be enough to keep my interest.  

 

 

 

 

TL;DR

Is Leicester City going be worth my time to follow now that they aren't on top anymore?

 

[rodeo]

well they're currently beating Arsensal so lol. lot of time left though

[Ja Rhule]

22 minutes ago, rodeo said:

well they're currently beating Arsensal so lol. lot of time left though

Yea, Arsenal is playing 3rd string D.  Leicester have 3 shots and 3 goals.  100% chance conversion rate, pretty amazing.  Doubt Leicester will keep this up against better Ds.

[rodeo]

9 minutes ago, ARSEN said:

Yea, Arsenal is playing 3rd string D.  Leicester have 3 shots and 3 goals.  100% chance conversion rate, pretty amazing.  Doubt Leicester will keep this up against better Ds.

They didn't keep it up against Aresenal either hahaha

[BountyHunter]

Fun to watch but that sit back and  counter attack style just leaves the opponent with too many opportunities.

[rodeo]

2 hours ago, BountyHunter said:

Is Leicester City going be worth my time to follow now that they aren't on top anymore?

 

to answer this question though yes, of course it is. the main team i follow is in the German 2nd league and hasn't won anything since 2010. it'll make it that much more rewarding when they get it together some day and win the league. following shitty teams is as fun as following top teams, just in a different way.

 

[BountyHunter]

Just now, rodeo said:

to answer this question though yes, of course it is. the main team i follow is in the German 2nd league and hasn't won anything since 2010. it'll make it that much more rewarding when they get it together some day and win the league. following shitty teams is as fun as following top teams, just in a different way.

 

The problem is if they don't do well then I might not get  to see them as much in the states as I would like.

 

[rodeo]

15 minutes ago, BountyHunter said:

The problem is if they don't do well then I might not get  to see them as much in the states as I would like.

 

oh you gotta stream if you want to follow soccer

[Goondal]

I am not a Leicester fan but I was a fan of their's two years back when I realized in November that they were good but the casual fan thought they still sucked so they kept getting great odds every week.  It was very lucrative.  Only wished I had bet on them to win the title when the odds were amazing.

[pantherphan96]

I think it's hard to be a fan of a lower-to-mid table team from overseas as compared to growing up in that team's area. Most foreign fans tend to be a fan of bigger name teams for that reason (plus the exposure, you don't see Leicester or West Ham on ESPN as much as Madrid, Barca, etc). 

It's about tempering expectations though, only 5-6 teams have the chance to seriously compete in the PL/La Liga/CL each year but there are competitions like the FA Cup, League Cup, Euro League, etc that provide excitement for less prestigious teams.

I'd recommend watching more games and rooting for a team you can find a connection with or at least that you enjoy the style of soccer they play.

[Ja Rhule]

1 hour ago, pantherphan96 said:

I think it's hard to be a fan of a lower-to-mid table team from overseas as compared to growing up in that team's area. Most foreign fans tend to be a fan of bigger name teams for that reason (plus the exposure, you don't see Leicester or West Ham on ESPN as much as Madrid, Barca, etc). 

It's about tempering expectations though, only 5-6 teams have the chance to seriously compete in the PL/La Liga/CL each year but there are competitions like the FA Cup, League Cup, Euro League, etc that provide excitement for less prestigious teams.

I'd recommend watching more games and rooting for a team you can find a connection with or at least that you enjoy the style of soccer they play.

This.  Arsenal plays beautiful Spanish style soccer in EPL league.  It was one of the main reasons I follow in love with the club.  Sometimes watching Arsenal just make you say "wow" of their style of play

[pantherphan96]

3 hours ago, ARSEN said:

This.  Arsenal plays beautiful Spanish style soccer in EPL league.  It was one of the main reasons I follow in love with the club.  Sometimes watching Arsenal just make you say "wow" of their style of play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnh1O-TixbY

one of the best goals i've ever seen was this beauty from Arsenal.

[BountyHunter]

12 hours ago, ARSEN said:

This.  Arsenal plays beautiful Spanish style soccer in EPL league.  It was one of the main reasons I follow in love with the club.  Sometimes watching Arsenal just make you say "wow" of their style of play

I watched yesterday and was really impressed with Arsenal.  Of course I wasn't pulling for them but couldn't help but be impressed with there attack.  Haven't been keeping up with them enough to understand the fan's frustration with the manager but evidently its warranted with how the announcers were going on about it.  @ARSEN can you fill me in on what's going on?

[Ja Rhule]

49 minutes ago, BountyHunter said:

I watched yesterday and was really impressed with Arsenal.  Of course I wasn't pulling for them but couldn't help but be impressed with there attack.  Haven't been keeping up with them enough to understand the fan's frustration with the manager but evidently its warranted with how the announcers were going on about it.  @ARSEN can you fill me in on what's going on?

Arsenal majority shareholder is an American investor who doesn't care for soccer and uses Arsenal as a cash cow and does not care about winning EPL.  Arsenal 2nd largest shareholder is hardcore Arsenal fan and billionaire.  He attends almost every game and willing to pump Arsenal with cash to win EPL.  Arsenal fans been begging the American to sell his shares but he's refusing, instead he keeps milking Arsenal and refusing to spend on top talent, leaving Arsenal short from winning EPL.  It's the same thing every year...  Wenger always missing 2-3 players to compete on high level...  same thing every year for the past 10 years.  The American investor do not really comes to Arsenal games because he always get booed and verbally abused.  People who sold him shares called him a fraud and said they made a huge mistake.

When he purchased Arsenal, he used Arsenal money to pay off his debt...  so he basically purchased $2 billion team for free.