First Thoughts -Literally!- on Man Utd and the Rest of the Premier League!

A thought came over me last night in bed—not the thought that I think far too much about football as that bit is obvious—but what is the first thing which comes to my mind when any Barclays Premier League club is mentioned?

I did an experiment and in all honesty, many are stereotypical, stigmatic, subjective, and old impressions.

Some however, are modern and objective but neither necessarily shows my true feelings as everyone knows that anyone can shoot from the hip but it takes a good writer to think objectively.

But this piece is in no way objective as I decided to put myself to the test and write down the first three things which came into my mind when I thought about all 20 top flight English clubs.

Let the truth come out:

Arsenal: Fancy, Foreign, and Ineffective

Aston Villa: Posh, Young talent, and Overhyped

Birmingham City: Scottish, Yoyo, and Middle England

Blackburn Rovers: Small, Shearer, and The other team to have won the league

Bolton Wanderers: Direct, Hard-working, and Davies

Burnley: The new Hull City, Good young manager, and can Steven Fletcher cut it in England?

Chelsea: Rich, Terry and Lampard, and Fake fans

Everton: Underdogs, Injuries, and Heart

Fulham: Strong at home, Cheap, and Dilapidated old ground

Hull City: Tough, Eccentric, and Relegation beckons   

Liverpool: Lucky, Gerrard, and Never say Die

Manchester City: Mercenaries, Goater, and a*******s

Manchester United: Fletcher, Champions, and a recent soft spot (thanks mainly to the first mentioned)

Portsmouth: South, Harry’s toilet, and Out of place

Stoke City: Long Throws, Long Ball, and Long Odds

Sunderland: Relegation, Gordon, and Unlucky

Tottenham Hotspur: Failed Transfers, Average, and Capitulation

West Ham United: Kids, Dodgy deals, and Poor strikers

Wigan Athletic: Punching above their weight, Whelan, and McCarthy

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Wondering how many people call them that? History, and Chris Iwelumo

Some of these comments are obviously fair and some of them are not, some surprised me and some did not but it is true that first impressions last and some incidents are never forgotten.

I did not think of rugby league when I thought of Wigan, which is a first as far as I can remember and a good sign for the EPL’s constant overachievers.

Sadly, Manchester City have been affected by a certain fan and writer I know who constantly scrapes the barrel for his stories. But as I said, any objective look would obviously take me beyond such a silly squabble but that is not what this experiment was all about.

So you have heard what I have to say, now I want to hear some of your “first thoughts”...