To know the game, you have to love the game.

To know the game, you have to love the game.

Jeff Riley, Love The Game Jeff Riley, July 2018

 

 

 

I’m not sure which one of us came up with this phrase originally but it nothing says it better. 

I thought about calling our first blog post ‘o jogo bonito’ (‘the beautiful game’ in Portugese), but we’re not just about CR7 and his perfectly groomed hair. I loved the original Ronaldo, R9 and THAT haircut in 2002! 


Ronaldo Bad haircut

I remember jumpers for goalposts and getting lifted over the turnstiles for 3pm kick offs. Full of Bovril, steak pies and chants that would get you arrested these days. And European trophies that anyone had a chance of winning.  But like many, my jumper just keeps me warm at the game. The beautiful game.

Aberdeen Cup Winners Cup Winners 1983, Neil Simpson, Willie Miller

I love that we wear the same shirt numbers as our idols on the back of our replica shirts but I always knew that’s as far as the likeness went. We may share the same theatre of dreams where only one a few lift the trophy but we were always there to see it. I know our place and I know my formations. 4-4-2 works, and 3-5-2 has its critics but I loved Barca’s 4-2-4 with Henry and Messi through the middle. 

Messi Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Thierry Henry

Football means so many things to so many people.  At LTG we always wanted to know what goes on beneath the surface, what makes us so passionate about a cheering on a bunch of millionaires kicking a sheep’s bladder across a field or going out in the pouring rain to watch your kids swarm like bees chasing that elusive moment of glory. 

Football in the rain

Who hasn’t copied Alan Shearer’s finger raised high above the head, always in celebration. The Newcastle and England star once summed it up for him “Football's not just about scoring goals - it's about winning.”

Alan Shearer Goal Celebration

Our first collection at Love The Game was 12 shirts featuring the cities that gave birth to legends, some of the most gifted exponents of the game who names reverberated across the bars, the streets and on the terraces as they became stars on the world’s greatest stages. They’ve gone down so well we’ve expanded to nearly 80.  We know from speaking to you that you get what we are trying to do with Love The Game and we want you to share your passion with us. So let’s find out exactly what the game means to you; the fan, the player, the coach, the statistician, the antagonist and the eternal pessimist!

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