The Goat Pen

Susie.

I might be moving to London. I need to figure out which team to follow. It's got to be a careful balance between not obviously jumping on a bandwagon but still a decent enough team that it will keep my son's interest and proximity to wherever we live so we can go to some games. I guess I've got to figure out that last part and I have zero idea where we'd live if this happens. But, I want to be prepared so when we tell the kids I can have some teams ready for him. Getting this right could be a big part of selling this to him. So, what are the London teams that I should consider?

Exciting. I love London. Great city.

My advice would be to wait until you have housing and to support the club closest and popular in the neighborhood you're in and concentrate on educating him on the history of all the big teams in greater London right now.

The big clubs in London are Arsenal (north side), Tottenham Hotspur (north), Chelsea (west), Fulham (west), Queens Park Rangers (west), West Ham (east), Milwall (south east), Crystal Palace (south), Charlton (east)

Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea are all big enough that they are at the top of the premier league. Fulham, West Ham, Crystal Palace, QPR, are basically yo-yo clubs at the moment balancing between the EPL and dropping down to the League Championship division (QPR is currently down, Fulham is almost certainly going down this year, Crystal Palace just came up and is close to dropping back down again). Millwall and Charlton are down in the Championship as well, but they haven't been in the EPL for a long time now. Most of the other clubs in London are smaller clubs that may get up to the 2nd level but stay around in the 3rd and 4th levels.

Arsenal and Chelsea are the London teams that have a huge international following.

I like Tottenham just becasue I like to say Tottenham.

There's also a phoenix club (AFC Wimbledon) which is trying to come back up through all the levels that is currently in the 4th division after their team was moved from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes. The old club Wimbledon was a solid club that was in the top division in the late 80's through the 90's, but the new club I don't think has a deal to get a real stadium built or anything like that yet.

Spurs was my first thought. Seems like they are reliable, could qualify for some European stuff, but isn't like picking one of the really big boys. I think our location will be key. But, first things first, I need to actually finalize this move before I pick a team. In the meantime, my son and I will be watching a lot more Saturday morning EPL.

Very nice. I'm in London at least twice a year. It's a city I never tire of. It will be quite an education for the kid(s).

I'd get access to as many cable stations as I could

It will be great for them once they get past the adjustment period. The possibility of moving to Hong Kong was briefly discussed a few months ago and everyone freaked out. This is nothing compared to that. My daughter will be sold by the existence of real life princesses and my son by soccer and hopefully some sort of ex-pat little league team. My wife will be harder. She's not yet convinced that there are lots of families over there just like us - American expat, staying for 4-5 years, and trying to figure out how to make it work. Once we find that group, she'll be fine.

I would start with alumni groups. I have watched a Bama game at a pub with the London Chapter of the UA group.

Yeah, for sure. I'm sure GU and Kellogg both have good sized groups over there. Plus, the school we end up at will be a natural community. It won't be easy for my wife but she knows that, if this job thing comes together, we have no choice in the matter. It's a no brainer.

Hotspur is the best name, plus there's a Shakespearean connection, so you could get your kid to read Henry IV to learn about the historical Hotspur (I doubt there's any connection with the team, but still). Hotspur was a rebel and was defeated (even worse than Words defeated me), but he's still a good character. London is the bomb...

I feel pretty certain that the team had to have originally been named after the same historical figure that Shakespeare wrote about. The team was originally Hotspur FC and I think they changed to Tottenham Hotspur because a lot of other teams were calling themselves Hotspur too (Tottenham is the part of town the club is in, so they added that to the name to distinguish it).

I would love living in London for a few years - unless I had to live in some shit town on the outskirts and commute

Cletus,

I'm jealous. Years ago I turned down a job in London. Couldn't get the money right. I've regretted that since. Maybe we can organize a Goat Pen trip (ala the Vegas trip) to see you in The Big Smoke.

I hear Tottenham is not the best part of town.

I hope it works out. Still plenty of things that can go wrong so I need to temper my excitement a bit. But this would be huge - something I've always wanted to do, great for my kids, and great for my career. We'll see how it turns out.

sardis wrote:I hear Tottenham is not the best part of town.

That is accurate.