2023 Champions League - Round of Two - The Final - Istanbul Beckons

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Well there is an inevitability to any final Spurs are in alright

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This is the third final in four that has been a total dead loss. It was only yesterday I even remembered it was on.

I’ll say this for “Manchester City” - they’re doing great work for the GAA because people are turning off club association football in their droves largely because of them.

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I actually think the Irish ‘love affair with English football’ and the thing about it being our national sport etc is really only true of Liverpool and man united. People don’t really give a bollox in any great numbers if those two aren’t involved. If either are involved you get all that teams fans invested in them winning and the other side invested in them losing. Just so people can slag each other. ‘slagging’ is more popular than gaa and the epl combined. Similar to the tree falling in the forest, If a final is played in Istanbul and there’s nobody to slag does it exist. It explains why most Liverpool Irish fans are probably for city tonight if they care at all for the treble slag factor.

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Absolutely not. Most Irish Liverpool fans despise Man City. I have a friend from college who’s a huge City fan so I’m expecting him to be crowing tonight. He believes they’ve broken the “cabal” and claims FFP was only created to protect the big teams. I’m not completely resigned to City winning though. I’d give Inter a 20-30% chance. Although in todays Indo they’re saying that Inter have no discernible style of play which makes them difficult to get a read on. They’re like a throwback to 25 years ago.

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Neither Liverpool not Manchester United supporters consider the “achievements” of “Manchester City” to be genuine, because they’re the tool of an unlimited wealth human rights abusing regime. Manchester United supporters were desperate for “Manchester City” to “win” the Premier League in recent years because these “wins” can be dismissed as being bought by financial doping, whereas Liverpool’s can’t.

A lot of Manchester United supporters are obviously keen to join “Manchester City” in being the tool of a human rights abusing petro state because football supporters in general are increasingly stupid.

Pretty much 100% of Liverpool supporters would be firmly behind Inter Milan as “Manchester City” are hated by Liverpool supporters in a culture war sense in a similar way to how Liverpool supporters hate/d Chelsea, ie. they’re a plastic, artificial club who only are where they are due to being bought out by a human rights abusing petro state. However at the same time the interest is very luke warm as very few believe Inter Milan have a chance, there’s a total predictability to the outcome. I wasn’t even aware there was a treble narrative until you mentioned it there.

Liverpool and Manchester United are obviously by far the two most supported clubs in English football but there would have been significant interest when Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Arsenal etc. reached European finals, even Chelsea because despite them having similar funding to “Manchester City” they at least had a hateful personality that made them interesting viewing. “Manchester City” simply do not attract that similar interest because of what they are and their utterly faceless nature. They aren’t an English football club, they’re a rotten, reputation laundering tool of Abu Dhabi foreign policy. They’re a uniquely grim and depressing entity.

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Every single Irish Liverpool fan was for city last week in the fa cup final. I’d say most will be secretly happy if they win tonight to sicken united fans over the treble. The whole thing exists to slag the others.
I agree on city though. They are so boring and faceless nobody even minds them winning

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I very much doubt most Irish Liverpool supporters even watched the FA Cup final.

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Do you genuinely think there’s a difference between Irish Liverpool and man united fans??

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A fair proportion of Oirish Man United fans went into hiding over the last 10 years. Their hunger had been sated by the consistent success under Fergie. By contrast most Oirish Liverpool fans under the age of about 45 never witnessed that sustained period of success and tended to be more engrossed in their teams fortunes during the barren periods. Certainly a far smaller proportion hide their true colours. Even on here.

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There’s a much greater dislike of “Manchester City” among Liverpool supporters in general than among Manchester United supporters and I think there’s a greater desire among Liverpool supporters than among Manchester United supporters to avoid being the tool of a petro state.

Obviously you’ll hit back by pointing to social media blowhards which certainly exist but my belief is that Liverpool supporters in general tend to more value the idea of a club being something that is important to the local community and the local community’s idea of itself, even in a globalised age, than Manchester United supporters do, which is why Klopp was such a good fit for Liverpool, he understood the club and he understood the city of Liverpool. Liverpool is different to other cities, the Tories are utterly hated there in a way that’s not the case anywhere else and that’s a core component of Liverpool’s identity as a club and city.

Personally I don’t really give a fuck about Manchester United either way but I’d respect them as a club a lot more than I would “Manchester City” or Chelsea. For what it’s worth I was mildly up for Manchester United in the 1999 and 2008 Champions League finals (but not 2009 and 2011), in the 2006/07 Premier League title race with Chelsea, and in the FA Cup final last week. I think deep down there’s a mutual respect (but not mutual liking) among Liverpool and Manchester United supporters, especially those who are interested in the history of how both clubs developed over the years, the histories of each club almost mirror each other.

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That’s a fair point. They probably are ‘better fans’ or ‘more ridiculous simpletons’ depending on your perspective

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I’d imagine if John W Henry’s and the Glaziers finances were thoroughly investigated their would be lots of dodgy dealings. John W Henry put Liverpool’s own office staff on furlough.

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But that’s people from Liverpool you are arguing about. Sure Irish fans of either just picked them randomly when they were kids. Aertels point about Irish Liverpool fabs caring more in general is definitely true though.

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**[quote=“Aertel220, post:27, topic:37713, full:true”]

Absolutely not. Most Irish Liverpool fans despise Man City. I have a friend from college who’s a huge City fan so I’m expecting him to be crowing tonight. He believes they’ve broken the “cabal” and claims FFP was only created to protect the big teams. I’m not completely resigned to City winning though. I’d give Inter a 20-30% chance. Although in todays Indo they’re saying that Inter have no discernible style of play which makes them difficult to get a read on. They’re like a throwback to 25 years ago.
[/quote]

He is right, financial fair play only exists to protect the cosy cartel. Real Madrid have been bankrolled by the Spanish government for years. Lads getting vexed because one billion pound club beats the other.

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Ffs they haven’t even won a CL yet.

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On every known metric I should have been for Liverpool over man city in recent years. I like klopp, the team was likeable, underdogs, exciting style but the Irish Liverpool fans are so annoying that I was for man city. Id say id be representative of most Irish non Liverpool fans too.

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I’d love to see Acerbi winning a CL medal to add to his European Championship medal. It would be an utterly glorious story.

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If you’re genuinely interested in a club, being interested in what they are, their history and what the local community is is important.

Liverpool have much more of a compelling story than Manchester United in recent decades in that Liverpool fell behind the game and retained elements of ye olde Football League club while Manchester United ruthlessly monetised themselves and it was mainly success all the way for them. Liverpool’s lack of consistent success but regular near misses is why Liverpool supporters remain fanatical. Liverpool is a much more interesting club to follow.

Liverpool’s story in recent decades has been one of huge underachievement pock marked by occasional glorious and unexpected successes, but has also been coloured irrevocably by Hillsborough, and that has irrevocably shaped the club and the city of Liverpool and how fans of the club should and do think in a general life sense. Overall, there’s a romance to Liverpool’s story which makes them more compelling than any other club in English football. Manchester United had that air of romance about them for a long time because of the Busby Babes but it has declined in recent decades.

There’s no romance at all attached to “Manchester City” and their petrodollars fuelled rise, they’re a horrific lab experiment of what happens when despotic state power buys something they have no connection to and transforms it into the death star. “Manchester City” is totally divorced from what Manchester City as a club used to be 20 or 30 years ago. Liverpool still remains largely the same club, even Manchester United does to a large extent.

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