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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think people should support their local football teams, rather than premier league ones?

171 replies

HuwEdwardsBottom · 07/10/2023 21:18

Is it wrong that I silently judge people I see in a Man City/Liverpool/Man United etc shirt when they have a local team on their doorstep? Might not be premier league but still doing good things.

My local football team were absolutely dire for a very long time. They were also very badly run and suffered dreadful financial problems but they’ve also always had a very strong and loyal following both at home and away. Things have changed a lot in the last few years and we now have good owners and are doing well but you still see the glory hunters out and about in their premier league kits and I’m like why when you have all of this happening on your doorstep? We are literally miles away from all premier league clubs. I can’t fathom it out at all.

OP posts:
Summerbay23 · 09/10/2023 08:04

DH supports both. Premier League team where he grew up (lifelong family interest in that team). The games are often on TV so easy to watch.

He also supports the very low league team in our town and goes to plenty of the games.

NoNoHellaNoNoHellaNoNo · 09/10/2023 11:24

It’s a double edged sword. A few decades ago my team were promoted to the Premier League. Suddenly the attendances of 5,000 and 6,000 that weren’t uncommon on cold weekday nights suddenly rocketed to 20,000+ full houses.

You can castigate the newcomers as “plastic” and “glory hunters” and, to some extent, they are, but I’d rather have a full house and a stonking atmosphere if we’re going to play Premier League football. It’d be an embarrassment to be getting low crowds.

Roughashouses · 09/10/2023 11:35

My dad arrived in England when he was a toddler - just him and my nan. He went to every London club when he was 14 to find the team that worked for him. We lived very close when I was growing up but he had to travel a little at times (only central to west London). I've had a season ticket for 45 years now. Moved 90 miles away, still go. We've had a couple of stints in the premier league but our ground isn't big enough to hold too many more than we get in the championship.

billyt · 09/10/2023 11:48

PandaExpress · 07/10/2023 21:35

Neither. I'm a Liverpool fan, not Man Utd 😆

OP should have realised that, as MU aren't a top four team anymore Grin

PandaExpress · 09/10/2023 12:04

billyt · 09/10/2023 11:48

OP should have realised that, as MU aren't a top four team anymore Grin

🤣🤣 very true!

sadaboutmycat · 09/10/2023 12:21

50lessfat · 07/10/2023 21:23

I go to every Royston Vasey match.

😂😂😂

RipsInJeans · 09/10/2023 12:35

I support my local team, but totally get the appeal of the premier league teams. Their players are, let's face it, far more skilled - as a pp said, its the difference between a local band in a pub vs watching U2. DS far prefers watching the bigger teams and the big name players.
My local team though, a league 2 team, is SO expensive. It costs us around £50 to go as a family of 3 to watch. I'm not going to do that regularly (especially when it ends up being a boring 0-0 draw... or worse, they get absolutely slaughtered). If they made it a bit cheaper, they'd get far more people going. I know they need to make money blah blah, but if they're only half filling the ground, they'd make more if they dropped the ticket prices and made it a affordable way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Badbadbunny · 09/10/2023 19:19

@RipsInJeans

If they made it a bit cheaper, they'd get far more people going. I know they need to make money blah blah, but if they're only half filling the ground, they'd make more if they dropped the ticket prices and made it a affordable way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

No they wouldn't. Lots of clubs have tried it, with cheaper prices, even free entry for some games (i.e. Friday evening in the depths of Winter against another crap side who won't bring more than 50 fans), and they still don't make more money, because if you open more stands, you need more turnstile operators, more stewards, more security, etc., all of whom need paying their wages! If it worked, more clubs would do it.

You also have the problem of season ticket holders who, rightfully, become aggrieved when they've paid what's expected of them and have to look at the stand opposite with people who've paid nothing, or heavily discounted ticket prices. They then expect some kind of compensation. Our local club appeased them by offering a free drink and pie voucher, further reducing income and increasing costs.

Our local club also have one "community" day with free entry one game per year, where free tickets are given to their academy and junior players, handed out to local primary schools and other local children's sports clubs, etc. Exceptionally popular, obviously, stand nearly full, but despite the costs of doing it in terms of security, stewards, etc., the drinks/food revenue doesn't cover it, so it's loss making, and, no, there's no sign that it creates "life long" fans - statistics show a few people become long term fans for a few seasons, but the thing with youngsters is that they develop other interests in their teens, and then go away to Uni, so very few stay for the long term.

Do you really think smaller clubs havn't thought through all the options? We're lucky, despite successive ownership problems, there's a small number of directors who are consistent, and have been directors for 2 or 3 decades, who actually operate the club on a day to day basis. They've seen it all and done it all and know what works and what doesn't.

Longleggedgiraffe · 09/10/2023 20:01

YABU. How would you like to be told you can't go to see a London show but have to support your local AM DRAM? It's not for you to decide who supports which football team. It doesn't matter if its a local one or a Premier League. It's an individual's choice who they support and no one else's.

TrashedSofa · 09/10/2023 20:23

Longleggedgiraffe · 09/10/2023 20:01

YABU. How would you like to be told you can't go to see a London show but have to support your local AM DRAM? It's not for you to decide who supports which football team. It doesn't matter if its a local one or a Premier League. It's an individual's choice who they support and no one else's.

Yes, there's quite the double standard when it comes to these things. Some people who are spending money for their own entertainment can be moralised to about the geographic distance involved, but it's fine if you're spending it on a West End musical not a football match.

ForeveraBluebird · 09/10/2023 20:41

The point you’re missing is a lot of these people never ever go to an actual game of football.
They don’t watch the West end version or the local drama , they don’t actually go and support anyone at all .

sunglassesonthetable · 09/10/2023 21:10

They don’t watch the West end version or the local drama , they don’t actually go and support anyone at all .

That's also what the TV is for. And Sky and BT Sport. Those supporters are all putting money into the pot.

ForeveraBluebird · 09/10/2023 21:16

By the time you pay for sky and bt sport could go to an actual game.

User135644 · 09/10/2023 21:22

People move about more now. How many people as adults live in the town they were born in? A high percentage don't and you don't change your football team (if you like football).

There's a lot of glory hunters about as well of course.

Sigmama · 09/10/2023 21:25

It's all a bit tribal

PhantomUnicorn · 09/10/2023 21:28

my PL team is my local team from where i was born, and my parents, and grandparents were born... and my niece plays for their under 16s womens team.

why would i defect to the non-league team of the town i live in?

sunglassesonthetable · 09/10/2023 21:33

By the time you pay for sky and bt sport could go to an actual game.

There's lots and lots of reasons why you might not choose to go to a game.

Going to a match is obviously the first way of supporting a team but there's other ways.
And the TV pays the clubs the big money.

TrashedSofa · 09/10/2023 21:44

sunglassesonthetable · 09/10/2023 21:10

They don’t watch the West end version or the local drama , they don’t actually go and support anyone at all .

That's also what the TV is for. And Sky and BT Sport. Those supporters are all putting money into the pot.

Yep. Like it or not, many clubs get a lot of money from TV rights.

PandaExpress · 09/10/2023 21:47

ForeveraBluebird · 09/10/2023 21:16

By the time you pay for sky and bt sport could go to an actual game.

What about a family of three or four though? It costs a family hundreds to go to one match. That's if you can even get tickets together in the first place.

ForeveraBluebird · 09/10/2023 22:07

It certainly doesn’t cost hundreds to take a family to watch my team. It’s about £11 for an under 16 and there’s always ticket availability.
Come and join us over here, as the song goes.

Softnatural · 10/10/2023 07:15

PandaExpress · 09/10/2023 21:47

What about a family of three or four though? It costs a family hundreds to go to one match. That's if you can even get tickets together in the first place.

Not if you go to your local club! Tickets easily available for all but the biggest games, c. £21 and under 14s go free with an adult at my club. Season tickets £300 (23 games), again children free. It's cheaper than taking the family to the pictures.

Riverlee · 10/10/2023 07:17

Alot If people I know support both a premiership team and a local team.

Brefugee · 10/10/2023 07:22

ForeveraBluebird · 09/10/2023 21:16

By the time you pay for sky and bt sport could go to an actual game.

Moot point for me as I'm a season ticket holder but I get to see the Premier league, some of the CL & EL, all of the 2nd Bundesliga, and all the Saturday matches of the Bundesliga. On the weeks were I'm not at a match, i watch a LOT of football, all of which puts money into the (higher divisions, unfortunately) coffers.

As a club member, i get to see all our other teams for free, so i often watch our 2nd team (the under 23s) and the women's team who have just been promoted to the women's 2nd division.

For stress free footy i often go to the Düsseldorf vs St Pauli match. And when i worked for a year in a different city, adopted the local 2nd division team to watch if my weekends and a home match coincided.

That is how I enjoy football. Others enjoy it in different ways. You are no less of a fan or supporter of a club if your interaction is solely restricted to checking the weekend's results on a Monday morning.

Saschka · 10/10/2023 07:35

OP, when I worked in rural Tanzania with no TV and limited electricity there were still multiple Liverpool and Man U fans (interestingly no City fans). It’s a brand, not a team. Like Coca Cola. No point in fighting it.

Stressfordays · 10/10/2023 07:40

We go to local matches regularly (league one). We support them and love them! However, we like watching the footie and have our preferences on Premier league teams. We all have our own for our own reasons (man City for me, I love grealish). The kids have various kits from Derby County to inter-miami. They live in the things. They mostly get their kits abroad (apart from our local team kit which I buy every year) and choose based on their favourite players.

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