Carly Bishop

@sophielouisecc Find a group or club to join (Meetup.com) is a good one. When my parents moved to Botswana they took up bowls and when I moved to Lisbon alone I joined the local English church. It creates a support network to help you and make friends quickly.

Oooh the nerves of moving to the otherside of the world are setting in! Any one else done a semester abroad or live abroad alone before - any top tips!

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer ...League, survival is like reaching the play offs due to the quality of every team in the league. Very few teams are safe.

@d_roge @Sportycb @reformussoccer Except there is no drama because you know your team will NEVER succeed. Unless your team is one of the big 5. The NFL realized fans did not want superteams and set up a system to discourage that. It’s part of why they are so successful.

American soccer needs a third tier with stakes and consequences like this. #ProRelForUSA Sheffield Wednesday come back from 4 goals down to win promotion playoff semifinal.

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer Define succeed? I feel Forest have succeeded. For a team who have not been in the Premier League for over 20 years and spent many years even down in League 1, to survive is success. Look at Leicester, 7th last year and likely to go down this year. Like I said, in the Premier...

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer Oh I see. Define "successful", I see successful as who watches it. What other metric can you use to measure success of an internationally watched league. On a similar note, I do wish there were more Championship games shown. I likes watching the Championship as well.

@Sportycb @d_roge @reformussoccer I never said they were the most watched. I said they were the most successful by most metrics. Like TV money. Team value, that sort of thing.

@d_roge @MALGIS31 @reformussoccer ...so worried Arsenal would score an equaliser. As that 1 goal would be the difference between guaranteed safety and a very tight relegation battle next week. Drama you just can't write.

@Sportycb @MALGIS31 @reformussoccer Of course, and people will be attracted to it because there’s drama. It’s daily life made more exciting by something you can attend rather than just watching a TV drama where your favorite character gets written off the script.

@d_roge @MALGIS31 @reformussoccer Completely get that. I support Nottingham Forest and I have watched most of their games behind my pillow as there is no script and everything can change last minute. I watched the last 10 minutes of their game last night while at the restaurant for a friend's birthday. I was...

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer I think the NFL is too different for those of us who haven't grown up in the US. My friend loves the NFL and I have tried to like it but all the commercials and the stop-start nature and the ridiculously high scoring made me miss our version of football. Just so different.

@Sportycb @d_roge @reformussoccer No. I mean football/soccer. Like the EPL & MLS. And yes, the NFL, as successful as it is, has tried to force itself on the world but has failed every time. But they are still the most successful league on earth by most metrics. I’m sorry to say.

@d_roge @MALGIS31 @reformussoccer I get that. I live in Watford and they got relegated last year. Didn't stop the fans, they are more determined than ever. But most (looking at my colleagues) have supported the team their whole lives, as have their parents and grandparents. Relegation doesn't change that support.

@MALGIS31 @Sportycb @reformussoccer Are people just gonna stop liking soccer because of relegation? Tell these fans that: amp.bundesliga.com/en/2bundesliga…

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer Actually NFL is the most watched league in the US not the world. The Premier League is watched more universally. NFL is gaining a bit more popular here but not much and not to the British pallet due to the commercial break lol theblizzard.co.uk/battle-of-the-….

@Sportycb @d_roge @reformussoccer Association football is huge world wide. But the NFL (a sport I don’t care for) is the biggest and most successful league on earth. They know how to run a league. And all the community involvement happens here too for all teams including minor leagues.

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer I mean with football/soccer you don't. The culture of sport is so different between the US and Europe that getting the MLS to work with a European set up would be like introducing American football using the NFL in the UK. The latter definitely won't work.

@Sportycb @d_roge @reformussoccer No. The top teams are handed advantages. They only “earned” it by being popular and rich. It’s absolutely a given. In the US we have 150 years of infrastructure & culture to make the system work. Baseball created the minor league system that works great for everyone.

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer ...offs and the fight to stay up. Can't wait for next week. Now that Forest is safe, I want to see who will survive as it will go down to the wire next week with the last game. Can't wait to see Coventry v Luton as it will be nice to have a new team in the EPL.

@Sportycb @d_roge @reformussoccer It’s your country’s only sport, too. We have many. A number of fans also carry unhealthy attachments to teams. But hardly the majority. And I’d argue that’s a good thing.

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer ...hated in England and in Europe as while we know who are most likely to get in, nobody is a given, everyone has to earn their place every year. I get why it might not work in the US as there is a lack of infrastructure and culture built over the last 150 years to make it work.

@Sportycb @d_roge @reformussoccer It’s one example and the ONLY example. So just stop. No big 5 team will ever get relegated and you know it. The system is set to prevent it. Because of that the drama shifts from who’s the best to who’s the worst. That’s just bass-ackwards.

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer ...Newcastle in the Top 4, Chelsea won the Champions League last year and not in the Top 4 this year. Pro/rel just makes different challenges, some want to win or get a Champions League spot, some just hope to stay up. This is why the so called "Super League" failed and was...

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer Nottingham Forest and Leeds United have won the Premier League multiple time and gone up and down. I think the difference is staying in the Premier League is like reaching the play offs in the US as it is so competitive. Top teams are often the same but not always, with...

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer ...a country where the spot is like a religion. However, gained a big following in a very saturated market. As they are a London club and one of 7 London teams in the Premier League at the moment. There are literally 10-12 other professional teams in a 10 mile radius.

@d_roge @reformussoccer They kinda do. It’s not good for teams to swap facilities year after year. No one knows where they are. They are minor league teams. It’s hard enough already. And not many have that kind of option anyway.

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer Interesting reasoning, I would look up Brentford. They still have a tiny stadium of 16,000 but their promotion up 3 leagues up to the Premier League is what increased interest in the club, even if they couldn't big big enough stadiums in time. Slightly different as this is in...

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer ...Wrexham whose support has not changed massively despite being related 4 times and out of the EFL completely. You just have to watch the documentary "Welcome to Wrexham" to see that. It is an entirely different culture here to what you are describing and clearly not experienced

@d_roge @reformussoccer Not a lot of fans want this. Only people who follow overseas leagues and like pro/rel do. Relegated teams will lose fans. Revenue. Value. TV, like in Eng, will not allow the big clubs to get relegated. Ever. The table will lean in their favor. None of this is good.

@MALGIS31 @d_roge @reformussoccer Just reading through tweets on this subject area and starting to realise you have no experience of Pro/Rel leagues. Teams do go up and down still. Leicester City went from promotion to the Championship to winning the Premier League in one year. Last year they were 7th, this...