EaglesandSpiders

What a beautiful Sunday! So that's how it feels

I scoured the annals of Turkish football league but couldn't find an equivalent team that signed a convicted rapist, mate. Sorry! Edit: Oh hang on! I've just remembered and so I have been presented with an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone here. Başakşehir did sign Robinho (yes, that Robinho) after he was convicted of rape and was running away from Brazilian & Italian authorities. So here you go! I've found an equivalent for Clyde FC and refuted @DiegoDiego's comparison

So here's what I think. I'm gonna start with the ones I agree, although I'm not entirely sure we're basing our comparisons on the same criteria. 1) Ankaragücü & Gençlerbirliği = Hearts & Hibs Fair enough. Both teams from the capital, completely outclassed by Istanbul teams, with no particular success on the field, casually dropping down and coming back up, but mostly First tier regulars. Ankaragücü fans are one of the worst (their chairman punched a referee after a game, which made the evening news even here). Gençlerbirliği fans are fewer in numbers but more political (leftist). There is a long-standing feud between Beşiktaş and Ankaragücü fans, originating from the last match of the 1992-93 season when Galatasaray beat them 8-0 away and stole the title from us by goal difference. Many still believe that the game was fixed. So yeah f**k Ankaragücü. 2) Aberdeen= Trabzon I think this is also spot on. Both teams have strong local support and have won league titles, breaking the monopoly of the Istanbul/Glasgow teams from time to time. 3) Airdrie = Bursaspor I can see where you're coming from with this one and as a Beşiktaş & Queen's Park fan, I completely agree. Racist p***ks the both of them. Thankfully, Bursaspor have recently fucked themselves into oblivion and are competing in the 4th tier. They barely avoided complete financial collapse this season. So yeah, f**k Bursaspor, too. Now, you being a Thistle fan, I can totally understand why you sympathise with Kasımpaşa as being the small underdog Istanbul district team with a history of strong and loyal local support and I respect that. I'm also happy that you enjoyed watching matches in the You-Know-Who stadium but they are owned by a corrupt businessman who is in bed with You-Know-Who himself and as I said before, I hate the b*****ds simply because of that connection. Now, as for the colourful sisters Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray... Honestly, I don't disagree with your criteria & comparison but we need to address the huge sectarian elephant in the room here. The rivalry between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray has never been fuelled by the poison that fuels the Old Firm in Scottish football. Galatasaray IS the most successful football team in the history of Turkish football if you go by the amount of silverware they keep in their museum but Fenerbahçe is a better sports club, always competing at the highest level in all branches. Their basketball team is a final four regular in Euro league, their volleyball teams are probably among the best in the world, and they constantly train and sponsor star athletes in other amateur sports, something which I have always envied as a Beşiktaş fan. Galatasaray don't have that, either. There is also almost nothing that separates their fans politically or culturally, apart from the fact that Galatasaray has a more aristocratic history and background due their historical connection to Lycee De Galatasaray, a highly elite school founded by the French Government in the late Ottoman Era. Other than that the only thing that separates the two is the beautiful Bosphorus I can't comment on Falkirk=Eskişehirspor but again I think I can see where you're coming from. Both teams, despite their strong and respectable fan base have suffered severe economic hardship and are competing in divisions that they don't deserve to be in. I think they also have the same colours. I'm going to write a separate post on Başakşehir= Queen's Park, and your experience with & observations on Beşiktaş fans. Let me know what you think so far

Fantastic result today. Couple more signings this week and the Pars will be shitting themselves. Back in business baby!

Spong on the bench . Well at least we can't complain we lack quality on the bench this time Man, I hope we get a decent result today.

I'm moving this discussion to your league comparison post before @Spider Ricothreatens to delete this thread again

Interesting list but before I give you my two pennies worth, let me start by asking why Beşiktaş didn't make this list.

Top marks if you're in a bit of a good old trolling mate The b*****ds got us 3-1 last weekend just before we signed Santos as manager. Kasımpaşa is the district of Istanbul where the president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan grew up in and because of his open support, they are possibly the most hated team in the Turkish Super League.

Queen's Park and Beşiktaş both signing new managers on the same day after having a shite season so far I hope both my teams can improve fast.

That's like the worst excuse I have heard. Utterly shameful! How can we expect to attract talent (men & women) when we don't offer them, and the fans who want to watch them perform, a decent place to play in? Unbelievable!

Yes please!

Is that Keith cursing the linesman?

I really hope McKenna signs for Man Utd not just because of the potential money involved but also because of the message it sends to other young talents out there: Come and join Queen's Park. We'll offer you a chance to play & gain experience in a very hard, competition, develop your talents, and in two year's time, you'll be signed by an English Premier League team.

If you guys want the Saints fans to leave this thread, I'm happy to start another on the use of pejorative language on Internet forums. That should do the trick.

I knew Man Utd are desperate to sign a goalkeeper after sending Onana to AFCON (their second goalkeeper, Altay Bayındır, is a dud) but I didn't know they were that desperate

Aye I think you're right and he'll miss the Raith game. Btw, he may also be injured as he was absolutely spent and limping in the last minutes of the Pars game. Unless we sign a proper fit striker in the next couple of days, I have no idea who's gonna play up front.

Those attending the AGM next week, can you please ask if the women's team can keep playing at Lesser and if so, can season tickets for the men's team be valid for those matches as well?

Massive results in Dundee Utd & Raith games today. The Championship is delivering once again. I hope we can stay up.

I can't believe we won! I can say we deserved it because for the first time in months we showed some teeth. Very happy for the lads. I spoke to Savoury and Fox at half time. Grant looked very positive and said he should be fit enough to play in two months. Charlie said he would be out for a month and looked very disappointed. They said they were "staying strong for each other"

That linesman who called this offside should never be allowed inside a stadium.

Ruari's disallowed goal. Cammy is on side by miles. The state of refereeing in this match was horrendous.

Just let us score first in the first half and the game is yours

I was screaming offside at the stadium for the second goal but now I can't even bother watching the highlights to see if it was. Even if it had been offside, we would have found another excuse to concede the second.

Two shots on target today (apart from the penalty). We deserve to be relegated.