English soccer teams' diverse players

[mtbc]

On the one hand many soccer fans seem fiercely loyal to some local team. On the other hand, teams seem to have managers and players drawn from all over the continent, even the world, rather than their being of largely local origin in any sense. I wonder why fans so identify themselves with a team whose main link with them is just that their current players happen to play together locally.

Comments

[damerell]

I dunno how widespread the appeal is; I gather there are few other football teams with heckles like "Best of seventeen, then?"...