shoddycollins
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2015
- Messages
- 11,512
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- Location
- In the managerless wonderland
- Supports
- Carlisle United
There's been almost zero posts by Carlisle fans in the last couple of weeks, so might as well get a start on the summer shitposting (before a certain Cambridge fan uses up the board's entire quota of shitposts in a week).
Fashionable and unfashionable are two words bandied about a lot in football, and most clubs find themselves described as either one or the other. You almost never see Carlisle United mentioned in the national press without the words 'unfashionable' and 'outpost' and 'Jimmy Glass' in close proximity, and we complain about it a lot whenever we fail to attract investment or a potential signing turns us down or manager quits in favour of a struggling non-league club.
When a club is described as unfashionable though, it could mean one of two things. Some clubs are so 'unfashionable' that they're actually fashionable, kind of like wearing a shellsuit to a 90's theme party. The likes of Luton and Grimsby I think fit that mold quite well, fashionable in a sort of 'football factories' kind of way. Millwall, the club who probably bore on the most about how 'unfashionable' they are, are conversely one of the most fashionable clubs in the country because of this, and you can see this in the disproportionate amount of coverage they get as a perennial 2nd/3rd tier yoyo club compared to, say, Doncaster. I think only Bury, Rochdale, Macclesfield and (to an extent, as they do have Jeff Stelling) Hartlepool understand our degree of unfashionable.
So bored, nothing really football related to post about, I had a go at ranking all the clubs in League Two in order of how fashionable they are. Debate away.
Forest Green Rovers - Don't really need to justify this, it should be obvious.
Notts County - People will never not be interested in what Notts are up to. Even if they go down and lose their oldest league club status, they'll still be seen as the granddaddy of English football for a while yet.
Grimsby Town - The Millwall of the North. Also fish... people don't know much about fish but they know they eat it and that it probably comes from Grimsby.
Tranmere Rovers - Always a colourful outfit. People have strong memories of their attempts to get into the Premier League with Aldo, of Ronnie Moore, and feel they deserve more respect as the third Merseyside club (even if their fans have to constantly tell people they aren't Scousers).
Newport County - Being Welsh, and playing on a rugby pitch probably helps draw curiosity, as does association with Aldo (who must be football fashion's Armani) and the fact they always manage to do something eyecatching every season.
MK Dons - Everyone loves to hate them, but certainly take a sort of morbid interest in what they're up to and the media are neutral towards them to the point of seeming to favour them.
Exeter City - The only club I know that actively tries to be fashionable... for shame, though I guess they're making the most of being remotely positioned.
Crewe Alexandra - A real football factory, and not in the metaphorical sense. Admittedly better known as an academy than a club but also having a girl's name gets people wondering.
Cheltenham Town - People like horses, they also like spas and the Cotswolds and Regency architecture. The club themselves have always been a bit of an afterthought, but since horsing is a sport, sports reporters will never run out of puns when they need to talk Cheltenham Town.
Northampton Town - Cobblers! Everyone loves saying that right? Southern enough to be genuinely fashionable, Midlands enough to be fashionably unfashionable, look good and come from a town featured in Kinky Boots.
Swindon Town - Once played in the Premier League, guaranteeing them pub-quiz immortality, also... magic roundabout. There's certainly a level of being fashionably unfashionable since Swindon is just about everyone's favourite place to knock.
Yeovil Town - Doing the whole rags to riches to rags thing before it became cool. Probably less fashionable now than they were though when they were that non-league team who kept knocking league teams out of the FA Cup, maybe their plan all along has been to go back to doing that.
Lincoln City - Currently enjoying status as one of the country's most fashionable clubs, thanks to a cup run and the Cowleys, however unsure whether this will last and so have put them closer to their 'natural' position. Don't think they were much ahead of the likes of Cambridge before they became bigtime.
Oldham Athletic - Once played in the Premier League, like a northern Swindon, that and their size means they're just big enough to avoid the fate of Bury and Rochdale.
Morecambe - Impressively low-profile for one of the football league's smallest clubs and longest serving L2 club and manager. Kind of a poor man's Accrington Stanley.
Port Vale - Could be fashionably unfashionable if Stoke City weren't even more fashionably unfashionable, Robbie Williams though.
Cambridge United - I feel for them. One of the most fashionable cities there is, but the football club are rather neglected and only really seen in terms of being a club from a university town.
Stevenage - Trying really hard to be fashionably unfashionable, a bit too hard perhaps, and don't have enough history or fans to be the next Wimbledon.
Colchester United - Hard for anyone in the media to mention them without adding that Layer Road was a really good stadium with lots of character while the new out of town stadium is soulless and miles from anywhere.
Mansfield Town - Bless them, they do a good job of looking like they should be interesting but just can't get the attention for it. Probably the biggest 'tinpot' outfit in football and that counts for something at least.
Crawley Town - About as unfashionable as it is possible for a club so close to London to get. Don't really play up the tinpot angle in the way other clubs do.
Bury - Near Manchester right? Name is over too fast when you reel off a list of lower league clubs.
Carlisle United - Jimmy Glass, all most people know about us, I still regularly bump into non lower-league fans who think we're a non-league club.
Macclesfield - Sol could give them a temporary image boost but generally most people don't know where or what Macclesfield is.
Fashionable and unfashionable are two words bandied about a lot in football, and most clubs find themselves described as either one or the other. You almost never see Carlisle United mentioned in the national press without the words 'unfashionable' and 'outpost' and 'Jimmy Glass' in close proximity, and we complain about it a lot whenever we fail to attract investment or a potential signing turns us down or manager quits in favour of a struggling non-league club.
When a club is described as unfashionable though, it could mean one of two things. Some clubs are so 'unfashionable' that they're actually fashionable, kind of like wearing a shellsuit to a 90's theme party. The likes of Luton and Grimsby I think fit that mold quite well, fashionable in a sort of 'football factories' kind of way. Millwall, the club who probably bore on the most about how 'unfashionable' they are, are conversely one of the most fashionable clubs in the country because of this, and you can see this in the disproportionate amount of coverage they get as a perennial 2nd/3rd tier yoyo club compared to, say, Doncaster. I think only Bury, Rochdale, Macclesfield and (to an extent, as they do have Jeff Stelling) Hartlepool understand our degree of unfashionable.
So bored, nothing really football related to post about, I had a go at ranking all the clubs in League Two in order of how fashionable they are. Debate away.
Forest Green Rovers - Don't really need to justify this, it should be obvious.
Notts County - People will never not be interested in what Notts are up to. Even if they go down and lose their oldest league club status, they'll still be seen as the granddaddy of English football for a while yet.
Grimsby Town - The Millwall of the North. Also fish... people don't know much about fish but they know they eat it and that it probably comes from Grimsby.
Tranmere Rovers - Always a colourful outfit. People have strong memories of their attempts to get into the Premier League with Aldo, of Ronnie Moore, and feel they deserve more respect as the third Merseyside club (even if their fans have to constantly tell people they aren't Scousers).
Newport County - Being Welsh, and playing on a rugby pitch probably helps draw curiosity, as does association with Aldo (who must be football fashion's Armani) and the fact they always manage to do something eyecatching every season.
MK Dons - Everyone loves to hate them, but certainly take a sort of morbid interest in what they're up to and the media are neutral towards them to the point of seeming to favour them.
Exeter City - The only club I know that actively tries to be fashionable... for shame, though I guess they're making the most of being remotely positioned.
Crewe Alexandra - A real football factory, and not in the metaphorical sense. Admittedly better known as an academy than a club but also having a girl's name gets people wondering.
Cheltenham Town - People like horses, they also like spas and the Cotswolds and Regency architecture. The club themselves have always been a bit of an afterthought, but since horsing is a sport, sports reporters will never run out of puns when they need to talk Cheltenham Town.
Northampton Town - Cobblers! Everyone loves saying that right? Southern enough to be genuinely fashionable, Midlands enough to be fashionably unfashionable, look good and come from a town featured in Kinky Boots.
Swindon Town - Once played in the Premier League, guaranteeing them pub-quiz immortality, also... magic roundabout. There's certainly a level of being fashionably unfashionable since Swindon is just about everyone's favourite place to knock.
Yeovil Town - Doing the whole rags to riches to rags thing before it became cool. Probably less fashionable now than they were though when they were that non-league team who kept knocking league teams out of the FA Cup, maybe their plan all along has been to go back to doing that.
Lincoln City - Currently enjoying status as one of the country's most fashionable clubs, thanks to a cup run and the Cowleys, however unsure whether this will last and so have put them closer to their 'natural' position. Don't think they were much ahead of the likes of Cambridge before they became bigtime.
Oldham Athletic - Once played in the Premier League, like a northern Swindon, that and their size means they're just big enough to avoid the fate of Bury and Rochdale.
Morecambe - Impressively low-profile for one of the football league's smallest clubs and longest serving L2 club and manager. Kind of a poor man's Accrington Stanley.
Port Vale - Could be fashionably unfashionable if Stoke City weren't even more fashionably unfashionable, Robbie Williams though.
Cambridge United - I feel for them. One of the most fashionable cities there is, but the football club are rather neglected and only really seen in terms of being a club from a university town.
Stevenage - Trying really hard to be fashionably unfashionable, a bit too hard perhaps, and don't have enough history or fans to be the next Wimbledon.
Colchester United - Hard for anyone in the media to mention them without adding that Layer Road was a really good stadium with lots of character while the new out of town stadium is soulless and miles from anywhere.
Mansfield Town - Bless them, they do a good job of looking like they should be interesting but just can't get the attention for it. Probably the biggest 'tinpot' outfit in football and that counts for something at least.
Crawley Town - About as unfashionable as it is possible for a club so close to London to get. Don't really play up the tinpot angle in the way other clubs do.
Bury - Near Manchester right? Name is over too fast when you reel off a list of lower league clubs.
Carlisle United - Jimmy Glass, all most people know about us, I still regularly bump into non lower-league fans who think we're a non-league club.
Macclesfield - Sol could give them a temporary image boost but generally most people don't know where or what Macclesfield is.
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