[Albion] Reasons why Palace winning is fantastic news!

oldboyroy said:

Most don't but a few do View attachment 202140

Click to expand...

US Seagull said:

Boo!

Click to expand...

hart's shirt said:

This is football. We react how we do in the moment. It's individual. Bring rivalry into the equation and reactions are likely to be more wide-ranging.

What you've referred to as a "quite disturbing outpouring of bitterness, even grief" is what others might see as a perfectly natural and reasonable reaction to our rivals winning the world's greatest domestic cup competition for the first time and beating us to it. It's significant.

After the 7-0 defeat to Forest, some were angry. Some shrugged it off or explained it away. And there were even a few that laughed.

Don't be concerned. Without getting into so-called superfan status, one could be equally concerned about those who don't appear to care as much.

It's not "voluntary submission to those emotions". Enough of the psychobabble already. I'm not a bigger man if I appear phlegmatic or 'rise above it'.

It's how rival fans react and is a part of the beautiful game. And I'm still bitterly disappointed that Palace won the Cup.

For me, it's not "nothing more than a minor irritant".

It never would be. And for me, it never should be.

Click to expand...

Eeyore said:

The problem with Eze is he that he is such a decent chap it's hard to do anything but wish him well.

Click to expand...

Uh_huh_him said:

I've been predicting their imminent demise for 15 years now.
It aint going to happen.

They are a much better run club than we want them to be.

Probably more likely to get another yank investor to "take them to the next level" now.


it's f***ing shit all over.

Click to expand...

hart's shirt said:

This is football. We react how we do in the moment. It's individual. Bring rivalry into the equation and reactions are likely to be more wide-ranging.

What you've referred to as a "quite disturbing outpouring of bitterness, even grief" is what others might see as a perfectly natural and reasonable reaction to our rivals winning the world's greatest domestic cup competition for the first time and beating us to it. It's significant.

After the 7-0 defeat to Forest, some were angry. Some shrugged it off or explained it away. And there were even a few that laughed.

Don't be concerned. Without getting into so-called superfan status, one could be equally concerned about those who don't appear to care as much.

It's not "voluntary submission to those emotions". Enough of the psychobabble already. I'm not a bigger man if I appear phlegmatic or 'rise above it'.

It's how rival fans react and is a part of the beautiful game. And I'm still bitterly disappointed that Palace won the Cup.

For me, it's not "nothing more than a minor irritant".

It never would be. And for me, it never should be.

Click to expand...

hart's shirt said:

This is football. We react how we do in the moment. It's individual. Bring rivalry into the equation and reactions are likely to be more wide-ranging.

What you've referred to as a "quite disturbing outpouring of bitterness, even grief" is what others might see as a perfectly natural and reasonable reaction to our rivals winning the world's greatest domestic cup competition for the first time and beating us to it. It's significant.

After the 7-0 defeat to Forest, some were angry. Some shrugged it off or explained it away. And there were even a few that laughed.

Don't be concerned. Without getting into so-called superfan status, one could be equally concerned about those who don't appear to care as much.

It's not "voluntary submission to those emotions". Enough of the psychobabble already. I'm not a bigger man if I appear phlegmatic or 'rise above it'.

It's how rival fans react and is a part of the beautiful game. And I'm still bitterly disappointed that Palace won the Cup.

For me, it's not "nothing more than a minor irritant".

It never would be. And for me, it never should be.

Click to expand...

BN41Albion said:

Good post.

Ultimately, it comes down to two things: how seriously you take football, and how seriously you take the rivalry.

I absolutely love the highs in football - football's so special in that respect - but luckily I'm good at quickly rationalising the lows as a fan and distracting myself with other interests etc, especially as I've got older.

In terms of the rivalry, I accept many on here won't agree but I've always seen it a little bit in the way the wider world sees our rivalry. I've got mates who are palace fans, very decent guys, and we enjoy the banter around and after match days, but we all recognise that, really, both clubs are pretty similar - including fanbases (some of the palace fanatics aside). Ultimately I have more in common with them football wise on the whole than mates of mine who follow the big clubs. They've chosen to follow a smaller local club over a big club they'll watch live once in a blue moon, if ever, and as a result much more down to earth about football and respectful of other smaller clubs, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather they'd not won yesterday and have had my fair share of stick from mates, but as good mates it's also hard not to feel chuffed for them as I can recognise what it means to them, especially as fans of relatively smaller clubs. I am very glad it wasn't us they beat in the final, though. The playoff semi was hard enough to rationalise quickly!

Click to expand...

hart's shirt said:

Appreciate the considered response.

For balance, my Grandfather was a Palace season ticket holder and my Mum grew up in Norbury. If my parents hadn't moved 2 roads away from the Goldstone before I arrived at the RSCH, there's every chance I could've easily been red and blue rather than blue and white. I like to think I'd have supported my local team regardless - it wouldn't have been a big side purely for reflected glory. And earlier on Sunday, I even congratulated a Palace supporting mate with the opening words of "Let's get this over and done with quickly..." before getting into a friendly argument about why Henderson should've been off. Him admitting that they'd dodged a bullet was good enough for me.

As someone who's started watching England again after Southgate's departure, I had the pleasure of watching Eze crack in a goal (albeit with a deflection) at Wembley directly in front of me. I'll be hoping for more of the same from him against Andorra in Barcelona in 3 weeks time. Guehi's had some solid performances for the national side and Wharton could bring some much needed creativity into unlocking low block defences. So no problem for me supporting Palace players in the England national side. Country over club. The best and most in-form players regardless of who they happen to play for at that time.

But that's at national level. When it comes to club, they're rivals and will always remain so. Not enemies, but rivals. Bitter rivals. I want them to lose every single game that they play in. The idea of them achieving success, let alone winning such a prestigious tournament like the FA Cup, is beyond the pale for this Albion fan. And I'm very happy that it's like that. They'd probably prefer it that way rather than me not caring. It's personal. And it should be so. Just because a few fans from both sides occasionally step over the line doesn't mean that the whole rivalry should be sanitized beyond all recognition. Even with all the fundraising and goodwill surrounding them, the REMF games (I played in the first) were so good because of what Palace represent to Albion fans, and vice versa. It couldn't really have been anyone else.

What I particularly objected to was the prescriptive way in which another poster (whom, I should add, I do respect and usually enjoy reading his posts) repeatedly made comments about some fans not taking the defeat in a way that he was comfortable with. Whilst he was quite entitled to his opinion, I think I was equally entitled to my reply. We don't need to labour the point here, but fans have every right to react how they naturally do when their rivals triumph. As I said before, it's going to be different for everyone. I'm not going to tell someone that they should be wearing sackcloth and ashes for the whole of the 2025-2026 season, but equally I didn't like seeing the natural and completely understandable reactions of some Albion fans being criticized by other Albion fans on an Albion board within hours of Palace beating us to domestic silverware.

Click to expand...

Official Old Man said:

With 9 clubs in Europe, MOTD could end up with just 1 or 2 games to feature, and they would be us v Brentford and B'muff v Fulham. And still we'd be last.

Click to expand...