The like's of us...

There many things that piss me off about football,far too many to mention here...However my real bet noir---apart from bloggers using pretentious foreign terms in an effort to appear intellectual---is the phrase "Team's like..." These simply deceptive two little words hide a multitude of sins.Most notably arrogance,willful disrespect and massive delusions of grandeur...

This short phrase is only usually used in a pejorative sense, most commonly "We should be beating teams like xxxx." or "We should'nt be losing to teams like xxxx." to the less often used but equally reprehensible "We should'nt even be playing teams like xxxx"This attitude pre-supposes the inherent superiority of one club over another by nothing more than the dint of...Well frankly i don't have a clue to be honest...

I noticed it reared it's ugly head again this week on Twitter where a few---a minority thankfully---Wolves fans were tweeting that "Wolves should'nt be losing to a team like Walsall" However we did,and there's the rub.No matter how much this jaundiced hoary old trite is trotted out it keeps slapping those who believe it in the chops...

Before i get howls of protest from Wolves fans this is not a slight on my fellow fans,This happens at many,if not all,clubs.Not only that, i have heard it uttered by players and professional commentators on the game(who really should know better) indeed only three season's ago Wolves were one of those teams others should'nt have been losing to,most notably Man Utd,Man City,Chelsea,Spurs & Liverpool.Boy it was great to give them a bloody nose and send them packing.The likes of us beat all of the likes of them and we loved it...

Ok you could argue that those clubs are of such a high standing---well four of them are...ok then, three---that they had every right to feel they should not be losing to the like's of us.But i also saw comments from Everton,Newcastle,Sunderland & Villa fans on the now defunct BBC 606 website pushing out the very same nonsense.These are four clubs that have spent more time fighting relegation these last ten years than bothering the scorers at the top of,or even the middle, of the table...

This conceit is'nt just restricted to domestic football either.After their loss to Luxemburg some of the good denizens of Northern Ireland were coming out with this rubbish too...Northern Ireland if you please! There are'nt many international teams lower in the FIFA rankings but still they find someone to lord it over and still they lose to them...

Maybe it's a size thing---Like kids having a pissing competition---Some people find it hard to take being beaten by a so called "Smaller" club.As if having a higher wage bill,bigger fan base or more illustrious history counts on the field of play.It does'nt.What matters on the field of play is hard work,skill,confidence,healthy respect for the opposition & determination to succeed.What does'nt matter is a team taking to the pitch thinking they already have the game won because they should'nt lose to a team like this...

What of the teams others should'nt be losing too? Well mostly they'd be pretty pumped up for the game anyway but in these Twitterish days all the boss has to do is print off a few ill advised comments and pin them to the dressing room wall and hey presto! Team talk sorted...

The ironic thing is that i imagine many of those who say such things love nothing more than a good old fashioned giant killing except when it happens to their team as.you've guessed it, "We should'nt be losing to the likes of them..."

Wolves next game is another local derby at Shrewsbury...Now really we should'nt be losing to the likes of THEM!