Could you ever go an watch/support a different team?

I can divorce my wife, trade my kids and even change my underwear but my club...No way!

I can tolerate the train down from leicester

I love the tube over to seven sisters

The 30 mins walk up the high road

The beers in the vic and the elbow room

The kebab in siraz

Seeing whl rise like a beautiful beacon amongst the urban

The nights out in london as part of the wknd

I guess the experience varies from person to person but even though ive been to whl over 100 times i love the build up to a game and all the wknd shenanigans.

What disappoints me most these days is the lack of atmos in the ground. Pay all that money, the travel, the build up, and then silence.......price of success or changing fanbase im not 100% certain

But go elsewhere? Not a chance

Of course you can watch other teams. If you only ever watched the club you support you'd never have watched Messi or Zidane. You would, if you were really lucky, have seen Maradona, once.

Of course you can go to other grounds to watch other teams, if you're there. Ajax v PSV as I'm in Amsterdam?Moenchengladbach v Dortmund since I'm visiting relatives 20 miles away? Barcelona v Sociedad while I'm passing through? Old firm derby since my mate's brother has a spare ticket? Hell yes.

Of course you can go to your local team every other week if you live far away from London or can't get tickets for Spurs.

But you're there to watch, to enjoy the experience, it's a couple of hours at the football. It isn't anything like watching Spurs. With Spurs, you support, you invest, you care. Your club is part of your life, when its your club, and there is a lot more to that than just watching some blokes kick a ball around.

You can watch other teams. But there is only one that hurts you...and that one, that's your club.

You can change your house, your car and even your wife but you can never change your club

I think the past season or two we are all getting fed up one way or another. The fact that you dedicate hours upon hours of travel and still get to the games show you love them more than you think.

I went to a few West Ham games in my youth, but it just felt shamefully dirty........a bit like when you tug one off whilst listening to your sister getting ploughed in the next room.

If you can even contemplate changing the football team you support then you were never a fan in the first place.

Geyzer Soze said:

Well honestly I've watched & supported Brentford for a long time part-time, when I can

Will be a bit awkward if they carry on this rise & gain promotion

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I been watching brentford since 90s

When I had a season ticket at spurs I would go to brentford games when we were away unless I was on an away trip

I don't really support them though they're just local to me and I suppose I have a soft spot for them - not really but I wanted them to win promotion this year

And as for the op - with a name like hoops you're tailor made for the Loftus road match day experience

I frequently watch Maidstone United but only as I can't get tickets to many Spurs matches.

Sounds to me like you should stop going and see if you miss it... If you do, great if you don't, great (one less negative voice in the crowd).

Either way you'll get your answer and start to enjoy it again

I think people are being harsh on the op

Going to watch a local team play is very different from switching aligiance to another club

He can still support the club from a far - most posters on here seem to watch the team play exclusively via streams anyway so there's not a great deal of difference and he wouldn't be any less of a fan

Personally I'd sooner go spurs games than another teams matches even as a neutral even if the journey was a ball ache but different people get different things out of a match day experience and maybe the op is better suited to having a jolly with his mates at his local club and supporting spurs from a far

The original post did make you sound more like you were suggesting he consider stopping supporting spurs in favour of another team which is why you were met with negativity

If your op had asked do you think it's ok to watch your local team with your mates on a Saturday while still supporting spurs I doubt anyone would have anything negative to say about it

Go watch a different league. I watch a lot of Bundesliga, and while I'm a Schalke supporter my following isn't as ardent as it is with Spurs so I enjoy watching other teams as well (especially after he season that Schalke just had). It helps relieve a lot of the tension and it's actually helped me love Spurs even more.

Sweech said:

Go watch a different league. I watch a lot of Bundesliga, and while I'm a Schalke supporter my following isn't as ardent as it is with Spurs so I enjoy watching other teams as well (especially after he season that Schalke just had). It helps relieve a lot of the tension and it's actually helped me love Spurs even more.

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I doubt it's an option to travel to germany every other week to watch a team there play

He's expressed how getting to White Hart Lane is a long journey and part of the reason why he is considering going to watch his local team as a neutral observer with his friends for the sake of match day experience (pre/post drinks with his friends in a nicer area than tottenham etc while still being able to watch the sport he enjoys watching if not the team he holds most dear)

He could only watch the bundasleiga on tele or streams whatever and if he's gonna stay at home on a laptop he might as well just stream spurs games as you're not getting the match day experience either way

Watching on tv and the internet is fine for exposure you wouldn't normally have but it doesn't come close to replicating the enjoyment/experience of watching a game live in the stadium - that is what I suspect the OP wants, plus the pre/post drinks and interaction with his friends

I live near Brisbane where the Roar play. I have absolutely no interest in them whatsoever really.

I did watch a game once, when the team I coached played as half time entertainment, and got nothing from it as they weren't Spurs.

If you don't have that emotional connection, then you aren't really a fan, just a follower. If you no longer have that connection to Spurs, then it probably is best to move on. If you do, then watching another team will never provide the intense feelings you get when the team you love wins or loses. You'll either be back or lose much of your interest in Football.

There have been only two things that I've really missed from England, Spurs and a proper Curry. I will be returning to England soon, where I can assure you that I will be after a season ticket as soon as I can get it. Giving mine up to come over here was painful.

My point is that, whether you like the players, the Chairman, the owner or a myriad other things about the club or not, it is the club that we love. The love affair may have started with a player, a manager or any one of a hundred reasons, but players move on or grow old, as do managers and Chairmen. The club remains with its history, our memories and the prospect of adding to that glorious history.

That is what keeps us coming back eagerly every single season, the prospect of glory that you only feel because of that emotional connection. You might go and follow Utd, because they're closer (just for arguments sake) but do you honestly think you'll feel the same sense of euphoria winning the league with them as you would with Spurs?

Remember, you only appreciate the good times when you have been through the bad times. I lived through the worst times in this clubs history, when we almost went under. The "dark ages" that followed watching all of our peers pull away from us.

When we win it again, yes WHEN, the feeling will be indescribable. So much so because of the timeframe and the heartache we
have experienced.

If you reckon you can get that elsewhere then time to move on really.

Edit: Just realised that I've missed the point of the thread somewhat. I don't think watching another team is wrong, I just don't see the point in it really, as you don't really have that emotional investment.

Hoops said:

Been thinking this for quite some time. Is it ever acceptable to change the team you go to see?

Ive supported Spurs for 30 years now. But for the last few seasons Im wondering why?

I don't have any affinity for 95% of our current players. Quite a few of them I can't stand.
Who could blame me when we buy and sell so many every year?
I dont agree with our transfer strategy.
I don't particularly like the chairman.
Our kits are a bit hit and miss. Childish maybe, but it would be nice to wear a good one now and then.
We sell our best players continuously.
We are boring to watch.
Our ticket prices are high considering the quality on show.
Its difficult to convince a neutral/friend/family to come to game because of the price puts them off
Tottenham itself is a bit of a shithole
There isn't any nice pubs near by.

But most of all, I hate the journey to and from the game. It takes up about 6 hours of my Saturday all said and done. A rush to get to white hart lane, always late lol. Never time for a beer and some relaxing. Is it really worth it if you don't enjoy it?

There is a club (no name) in a nice area close by that would take 20 minutes to get to. It has street upon street of lovely pubs to sit in pre and post game. Great places to eat (as much as I would miss tottenham jerk centre). The whole match day experience outside the stadium would be great. My friends have expressed they would be interested to come if I could get tickets.

Is it wrong to go to games of a club you don't support, just to have more enjoyment of your Saturday? I feel guilty lol.

I think a lot of the negative atmosphere at Spurs at the moment is because people feel obliged to go, because they always have done, rather than they want to be there. The Paxton for example, is near suicidal.

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My first wife was like you dude....which is why we divorced. And the Paxton has always been, you know, a little bit like that, they are an emotional bunch

The club choose me as much as I choose it. Destiny and a life long love affair through the good and the bad. Could never walk away, Its in the DNA now.

gp13tot said:

I can tolerate the train down from leicester

I love the tube over to seven sisters

The 30 mins walk up the high road

The beers in the vic and the elbow room

The kebab in siraz

Seeing whl rise like a beautiful beacon amongst the urban

The nights out in london as part of the wknd

I guess the experience varies from person to person but even though ive been to whl over 100 times i love the build up to a game and all the wknd shenanigans.

What disappoints me most these days is the lack of atmos in the ground. Pay all that money, the travel, the build up, and then silence.......price of success or changing fanbase im not 100% certain

But go elsewhere? Not a chance

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The Kop in the new stadium will be vital for atmos providing we are careful to put the noise makers in there.

The all seater stadium has allowed families to take the kids and mrs in safety but it has hurt the atmos.

The new Kop could lead the whole stadium in to being a cauldron.

BehindEnemyLines said:

I went to a few West Ham games in my youth, but it just felt shamefully dirty........a bit like when you tug one off whilst listening to your sister getting ploughed in the next room.

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What's your sisters name ?

Shea said:

I doubt it's an option to travel to germany every other week to watch a team there play

He's expressed how getting to White Hart Lane is a long journey and part of the reason why he is considering going to watch his local team as a neutral observer with his friends for the sake of match day experience (pre/post drinks with his friends in a nicer area than tottenham etc while still being able to watch the sport he enjoys watching if not the team he holds most dear)

He could only watch the bundasleiga on tele or streams whatever and if he's gonna stay at home on a laptop he might as well just stream spurs games as you're not getting the match day experience either way

Watching on tv and the internet is fine for exposure you wouldn't normally have but it doesn't come close to replicating the enjoyment/experience of watching a game live in the stadium - that is what I suspect the OP wants, plus the pre/post drinks and interaction with his friends

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Well then he's fucked. Sounds like a need for new friends, not a new club.

Nothing wrong with supporting your local team, or going to other games. How else are you going to appreciate the sport? And your local non-league/lower division club is what football is all about really; not your big shiny stadiums with over paid kids poncing about, and expensive beers and pies.

My Dad is from S****horpe and I'd regularly go see them with him and my Grandad. My first ever match was Scunny v Cambridge in 1987. I'll always follow them and how they get on. Even been to Wembley twice to see them in play offs.

As for local clubs, that used to be Brentford for a few years, nice little stadium with a great little boozer next to it, with very friendly fans. One of the coolest things I've done since moving to London was my mate and I going to a game at all the grounds in the city.

But WHL. It's home. The lack of atmos is common in a lot of grounds these days if you ask me.

My immediate reaction was WTF. You cannot change allegiance to the football team you support. It is in your DNA. That said playing and watching football has been such a major part of my life.

I then thought about the question a little deeper and thought any sympathy I had with sentiment of the post was in the change in football over my life in being involved with the game. So many things have changed and football is part of that. Many things have improved but some things are worse. Money as almost everyone says has changed the game. The tinkering with the laws of the game have influenced it as well

I have been able to see some very good foreign players at WHL on some very good playing surfaces and enjoyed some great matches

Conclusion is that it is a different game but my team remains constant throughout irrespective of the area the club is situated in

I agree with your post, but the auto-censoring of S****horpe did give me a giggle.