What season would you enjoy more?

Pogue Mahone said:
A. Liverpool 2013/14?
B. Manchester United 2023/24?

Liverpool won feck well. But got 84 points and scored 101 goals.

Manchester United won an FA Cup.

For me, the answer is A.

Discuss.

@Mods. A poll would be interesting, right?
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Can you clarify - do you mean would we prefer United to have a season like Liverpool did in A, or you just enjoyed Liverpool’s failure in A more than United’s success in B?
 
A, but under two conditions:

1. No "this does not fecking slip" moment. I just can't deal with that.
2. We don't automatically turn to shit immediately after (Liverpool finished 6th and 8th the next two seasons)
 
I'd rather win the FA Cup than go through all that just to watch the best midfielder in the world ever slip and end up losing the title.
 
I would say an easy A on the face of it,

but, if we're getting more into the specifics. Gerrard making a massive hilarious idiot of himself, and our title charge being based off our best player being an active racist, means that actually, it's an easy B
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Question is would you enjoy it more if <club you support> had a season like Liverpool in 2013/14 or United in 2023/24?
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Oh definitely B. Actually winning something is the point of football. It’s why I will argue til I’m blue in my face that ten Hag was more successful than Ole. More detrimental too, but how much of that was Murtough et al
 
B, because despite the fact Liverpool had their best season in decades at the time its seen largely as a joke by everyone because everyone associates the season with Gerrard slipping and Crystanbul.

Us winning the FA Cup (and the QF) was pretty much the only highlight so definitley B.
 
Pexbo said:
Oh definitely B. Actually winning something is the point of football. It’s why I will argue til I’m blue in my face that ten Hag was more successful than Ole. More detrimental too, but how much of that was Murtough et al
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Yeah, I’m not sure about that. Actually winning is definitely the point of football but I’m ok with doing that on a game by game basis. It’s been painfully long but my most enjoyable periods of being a fan have been when we go on a winning run and look like we can beat anyone. That feeling of spending the week confident the team will play well at the weekend and believing you can win every game is incredible.

For me the growing sense of positivity and belief we had in the first few months of Ole’s time have been my most enjoyable period as a fan since Fergie retired. Even though the bubble was burst before Christmas. For those good vibes to last a whole season would be incredible.
 
Aggregate enjoyment is higher for A, but peak enjoyment is higher for B.

Our 2023/2024 season was brutal. Terrible football, big losses, long stretches of barely scoring goals and barely winning. It is a lot of “pain” throughout the season and very little enjoyment, but the day we won the FA cup exceeds any single day in Liverpool’s season.

There are good studies in scientific literature on something a bit similar but more serious, which is pain and pleasure scoring, especially pain. The tl,dr; is that we remember less frequent but more intense pleasure, and we remember less frequent and more intense pain, than more frequent but less intense of both. Our brains also focus on end events disproportionately. The example is you’d walk away from a procedure that had you consistently at 5/10 on the pain scale feeling better than one that had you at 2/10 but ended with one spike of pain that is 8/10. Similar takeaway for pleasure.

Our psychology will always mean we look a lot more fondly at a season with weekly low level misery and a peak high, especially when the high is at the end, compared to weekly low level pleasures and no satisfying peak event or a bad/painful peak even at the end of the season.

B will stay with you a lot longer, even if A is objectively a better season to build on.
 
I'm pretty sure I enjoyed our 11/12 season much more than that nightmare of last season, even though we lost the league in the last minute and had bad exits in all the other competitions. But actually winning league games on a regular basis is something I really like. Or losing just 5 of them instead of 14.
 
SilentWitness said:
You'd enjoy the season of A more and the moment of B more.
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Agreed.

Football is so much about the journey and not just the moment. Liverpool hadn’t won the title in over two decades. Something unexpected becoming increasingly likely game after game. The momentum built every week. That would have been a hell of a wave to ride all the way through to the end of the season.
 
in which season do i get most blowjibbers?
 
Gio said:
Agreed.

Football is so much about the journey and not just the moment. Liverpool hadn’t won the title in over two decades. Something unexpected becoming increasingly likely game after game. The momentum built every week. That would have been a hell of a wave to ride all the way through to the end of the season.
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Yeah, exactly my take. I’ve never understood the notion that being a football fan is about watching your team tick off trophies, with a load of filler in between.
 
"A" as your question is what I would enjoy more... in totality, a season filled with strong performances and great results is always be more 'enjoyable' to experience during that time

However if I was looking back in let's say 10 years time, I would view "B" as a more successful season and it'd matter more historically because we actually won something

I've thought about this a lot in the past year or two. Arsenal for instance has a fantastic season but ended up empty handed. If I support them I would have so many positive moments during the season and have quite a bit optimism for the future... but if that potential is never realized and trophies are never won... I wonder if just experiencing the joys of certain moments is more 'memorable' than a shite season with much less highlights but those special moments lead to trophies?
 
I'd much rather be Liverpool in that scenario

good team and improving as opposed to a shit team that fluked a cup
 
A

Being in a title race and battering teams week in week out is what it's all about. The great memories I have throughout the Ferguson years aren't limited to the final whistle in the finals we won. It's the journey through the season that made so much of that time special. It's disappointing finishing 2nd, but feck me I wouldn't switch that for a midtable battle and a jammy FA cup win. That's just ridiculous and shows all you care about is gloating about trophy wins like some glory hunting weirdo
 
The confidence and optimism gained from regularly winning games is something many are overlooking. People still fondly reminisce about a 4 game winning run we had in April 2015.

There's a lot of confidence going in to the next season too when you finish with a high points total. Was anyone confident going into this season after winning the FA Cup? No.

Last season was BRTUAL. Easily my least favourite since I started following in 2003. The final was a great day but didn't make up for the apathy and low morale I felt the previous 9 months.
 
AndySmith1990 said:
A

Being in a title race and battering teams week in week out is what it's all about. The great memories I have throughout the Ferguson years aren't limited to the final whistle in the finals we won. It's the journey through the season that made so much of that time special. It's disappointing finishing 2nd, but feck me I wouldn't switch that for a midtable battle and a jammy FA cup win. That's just ridiculous and shows all you care about is gloating about trophy wins like some glory hunting weirdo
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Yeah. On those Ferguson years, 1994/95 would be a good comparison. A - would you rather be in a gripping title race with Blackburn and fall just short? Or, B - would you rather Everton's season where they finished mid-table-ish but won the FA Cup?

Obviously the expectations of Everton's fans are different, but I can't imagine any United fan wanting to swap the rollercoaster title race for mid-table mediocrity plus a cup win.
 
AndySmith1990 said:
A

Being in a title race and battering teams week in week out is what it's all about. The great memories I have throughout the Ferguson years aren't limited to the final whistle in the finals we won. It's the journey through the season that made so much of that time special. It's disappointing finishing 2nd, but feck me I wouldn't switch that for a midtable battle and a jammy FA cup win. That's just ridiculous and shows all you care about is gloating about trophy wins like some glory hunting weirdo
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Completely agree.
While the FA cup win was a great moment last season, the rest of the season was an utterly unpleasant experience and that one win didnt make up for it in any way for me.
 
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