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

[HuwEdwardsBottom]

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.

My (very) local team is Premier League. My only team is National League; I started going to games over 40 years ago as a child.

I have season ticket to my beloved National League club and travel to away games too. My team's my team. I don't do second teams 😚

But ...... it's fine to support whomsoever you choose, based on the colour of the shirts, the quality of the pies or the the eye candy factor of the centre forward 😳

Whoever it is, enjoy your footie ⚽⚽⚽

We're killing it this season 😍😍⚽⚽⚽

Has anyone bought a mystery football shirt box? You get all sorts of random shirts in them, always get them for birthdays and Christmas for the kids too. Its ok not to be a die hard supporter! You can just enjoy it all.

Them calves though 😍 🤣 🤣 I was never a huge football fan until I had my boys, got to enjoy a game somehow!

@Brefugee ive no issue with anyone watching any team they like, however they like.
If your only interest is reading the results in the paper, no problem. The way you watch your football sounds like great fun. I will be off to see the Owls at Christmas time.

why would you do that to yourself? 😂
Unfortunately due to my own football-watching my next trip home will be during the international break, so now Hillsbrough for me. (thus cementing my plastic fan status for some of the idiots on twitter)

My partner supports Southend United and it's been depressing as hell. Would definitely tell my kids to support a big team if they don't want to constantly be worried about their team going under or poor management etc.

but that doesn't teach your kids anything about how to accept not being fantastic, losing sometimes etc etc

The joy of the good is balanced by the despair of the bad. That is a lot of the fun of being a fan. (or I'd have switched to Sheffield Utd long ago). It's about belonging, the comradeship, the bovril, the pies, the chants. Dissecting the game on the way back to the bus, pointing out that the ref is a wanker and you know where their car is from the terraces.

Again: i won't tell anyone how to live their footballing fan life, but picking, say Man City or Bayern because they always win is, meh. Not really about the footbal, is it?

As we always say: it's the hope that kills you.

Your club is your club. It doesn't need to be the closest to where you live. I support a PL side, I have another PL side and a Championship side closer to me. One I DGAF about, one I hope goes bust. My whole family support the same club. My Dad tried to support a different one, but he was converted.

Jesus, that's like saying you should let your kids starve so they know what hungry is 🤣

I agree the beauty of supporting a smaller club is the lows are lower which makes the highs higher, but what Southend fans have been through makes me want to cry. That said, it's true that any success that comes their way now will feel much more amazing than Man City winning every week.

I really feel for Sheffield Wednesday fans right now. Such a massive high to get promoted, especially how it was done followed by such a big blow.

My hometown team is the one who recently appointed Darren Moore. I'm still unsure about him but we'll see, I really hope a new manager can turn it around for Sheffield Wednesday. Maybe Neil Warnock? 😂

I would love Neil Warnock at Gladbach - but i think he said that he'd manage Wednesday only to get them relagated back to League 1 (they're doing just fine at that without him 😂 )

Having said that - i wasn't keen on our owner when he took over 8 or 9 years ago and I'm even less keen now. Especially after he changed the logo back to that stupid owl instead of the cool 70s one (my tattoo)

I think you have to be wary, as a supporter, of someone coming in and fronting loads of money, they have a motive. Although Steve Gibson at Boro is a very good model for ownership

I lived in Islington for most of my childhood and used to sneak under the turnstile to sit on my season ticket holding parents laps until i got too big. I then got a season ticket of my own and it's now been transferred into my sons name. My whole family are confirmed Gooners.
I also buy a season ticket for my local non-league side. It costs me about £60 a season and I go to maybe 2 or 3 games a season, but it's just my little contribution towards them.

Football is like romantic attraction. You don't choose who you love / support.

Where you're from / live is a factor but it's not everything. It's also your family history, your childhood memories...

My cousin lives in Paris but grew up in the Arsenal postcode area and he'll always have something for Arsenal.
My partner lives in London, but grew up in Manchester, have family members who were supporters of United and United have always been part of his personal history. He will never not support United. He could live in Madrid, Amsterdam or Milan, he might softly support Atletico, Ajax or Inter in their respective national leagues, but he will always support United if one of those teams were up against them.

This is the beauty and depravity of football. It's unreasonable.

@FastFood so your partner is about 1% of Man U followers, having grown up in Manchester. When I went as a visiting supporter to Old Trafford many years ago (referee one of the 14 Man U players as usual), the only local accents I heard were the caterers.

I did. Started following the local team after a big win at Wembley (that i only attended because the rest of the family were). Became a season ticket holder last year but didn't really get into it until late in the season, and especially the play offs. Now attend every home match and when the away matches are not too far, will go to those too. Crossing fingers for the play offs again this year!

Your wasting yout time even thinking of it and let people do what they want.

At the end of the day people want to watch top professional sport whatever the sport maybe.

They want to see the best, and that's why the best get paid the most while they are top of their tree cos people want to see them.

meh to local accents though. I sound pure home counties (had my nascent Yorkshire accent kicked out of me as a kid) and grew up an Army brat moving round a lot, accents don't indicate where your home is. Having been a regular at Hillsbrough as a kid/teen I'd be MIGHTILY upset if i was accused of being a "glory hunter" (haha) or "plastic fan" if someone heard me speaking at a match.

OP what I think is worse is Irish people (I am Irish living in Ireland) going on about how they hate the British while wearing a premier league team football jersey!
Or fat blokes screaming at players if they make a mistake when THEY couldn't kick a ball out of their way or run 100 meters.

Chin up. Look at Luton and what they achieved. There are so many moronic pundits gunning for Luton now in the Premier League, furious they dare to sit at the top table, even though the whole of their playing spending since 1992 is at 30mil I.e. a third of a Mudryk, just over a quarter of a Caicedo. They are seriously punching and I think every real football fan is happy for them

@50lessfat I think that we should be best friends from that comment alone 😂 I seriously always think where are the League fans because I've never met another irl but here they are😂