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Post by Bestie on Sept 11, 2014 9:25:44 GMT
You see, I get this. I completely and utterly disagree with it, but I get it. I've talked before on here about how I 'have' three teams. It's two and a half, really, but there's United, Linfield, and Rangers and it's a similar sort of question. Linfield is our family club, and if you supported Linfield when you were a kid, you supported Rangers. That's just how it was. United comes from my dad, he was the first proper United supporter in our family. My granda, who was with every fibre a football man as much a Linfield devout, admired United but did not 'support' them as such. George Best went to Manchester United and became the best player the world had ever seen and my dad went with him. A lot of Northern Ireland went with Bestie!
So then there's me, a '3 club man'. When I was born, apparently my dad said he couldn't be certain of anything about my life except I was going to know and support Manchester United. I was born right on the crest of a wave that was about to crash down upon the rest of English football as unprecedented Manchester United success. All I've known is winning. By theory stakes, I am the glory-hunter. Not from Manchester, not even from England; record-breaking success. But I also follow my local-local club and a bunch of foreign clubs like Ajax and a couple of Italian teams because I watched them on T. V. growing up as I fell in love with the game. But ask anyone on here: You'll search for a long time before you meet someone with the same sort of idealistic passion for Manchester United Football Club. I've lost myself in this club's history, and romance, and tragedy and success. I spend more money every season travelling to Manchester just to be in Old Trafford and see them play than anything else, including rent. I could cry just thinking about how much I adore this club. It's my love, my religion, my vice.
I'm not from Manchester and I'll probably never live in Manchester. I'm not from Glasgow, and certainly will never be living there either. Belfast, well both sides of my family come from Belfast but my dad's side had moved long before I was born and my mum's side are originally from the country and aren't into football that much anyway. Does that mean I should feel anything less about my support for any of my three teams? Hell no!
You have a kid, so either you're married, partnered, or hopefully at least you were in love with someone once. Maybe you met your partner in your hometown, and that's great. Maybe she's from two streets away, also great. But if you had fallen in love with a girl who was only in town visiting, or if you had been visiting somewhere and fallen in love with someone from that place, not your hometown, would you feel 'uncomfortable'? Without being presumptive, I highly doubt it. Maybe not everyone sees it this way but to me when you're on the inside of football, supporting a club, it's just like falling in love. It doesn't matter a damn where you come from.
I have three clubs - or two and a half. Linfield is like loving a sister or a brother. Rangers is like the affection you'd have for a favourite aunt or uncle, some more satellite member of the wider family circle. But Manchester United Football Club, that's the one true love. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone make me feel ashamed, less comfortable, unhappy, or traitorous to local football just because I wasn't born in the shadow of Old Trafford. I'll be damned to let anyone else think that they should feel lessened by supporting Manchester United if they weren't either.
In short, cheer the f*ck up! We're Man United, we'll support where we want!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2014 9:29:15 GMT
You see, I get this. I completely and utterly disagree with it, but I get it. I've talked before on here about how I 'have' three teams. It's two and a half, really, but there's United, Linfield, and Rangers and it's a similar sort of question. Linfield is our family club, and if you supported Linfield when you were a kid, you supported Rangers. That's just how it was. United comes from my dad, he was the first proper United supporter in our family. My granda, who was with every fibre a football man as much a Linfield devout, admired United but did not 'support' them as such. George Best went to Manchester United and became the best player the world had ever seen and my dad went with him. A lot of Northern Ireland went with Bestie! So then there's me, a '3 club man'. When I was born, apparently my dad said he couldn't be certain of anything about my life except I was going to know and support Manchester United. I was born right on the crest of a wave that was about to crash down upon the rest of English football as unprecedented Manchester United success. All I've known is winning. By theory stakes, I am the glory-hunter. Not from Manchester, not even from England; record-breaking success. But I also follow my local-local club and a bunch of foreign clubs like Ajax and a couple of Italian teams because I watched them on T. V. growing up as I fell in love with the game. But ask anyone on here: You'll search for a long time before you meet someone with the same sort of idealistic passion for Manchester United Football Club. I've lost myself in this club's history, and romance, and tragedy and success. I spend more money every season travelling to Manchester just to be in Old Trafford and see them play than anything else, including rent. I could cry just thinking about how much I adore this club. It's my love, my religion, my vice. I'm not from Manchester and I'll probably never live in Manchester. I'm not from Glasgow, and certainly will never be living there either. Belfast, well both sides of my family come from Belfast but my dad's side had moved long before I was born and my mum's side are originally from the country and aren't into football that much anyway. Does that mean I should feel anything less about my support for any of my three teams? Hell no! You have a kid, so either you're married, partnered, or at least you were in love with someone once. Maybe you met your partner in your hometown, and that's great. Maybe she's from two streets away, also great. But if you had fallen in love with a girl who was only in town visiting, or if you had been visiting somewhere and fallen in love with someone from that place, not your hometown, would you feel 'uncomfortable'? Without being presumptive, I highly doubt it. Maybe not everyone sees it this way but to me when you're on the inside of football, supporting a club, it's just like falling in love. It doesn't matter a damn where you come from. I have three clubs - or two and a half. Linfield is like loving a sister or a brother. Rangers is like the affection you'd have for a favourite aunt or uncle, some more satellite member of the wider family circle. But Manchester United Football Club, that's the one true love. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone make me feel ashamed, less comfortable, unhappy, or traitorous to local football just because I wasn't born in the shadow of Old Trafford. I'll be damned to let anyone else think that they should feel lessened by supporting Manchester United if they weren't either. In short, cheer the f*ck up! We're Man United, we'll support where we want! Very nicely put. I'm from Manchester, met a girl in Spain (from London), and Moved to London 8 months later. Not Uncomfortable at all, other than the first time I met her Dad.
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Post by busby3859 on Sept 11, 2014 9:43:55 GMT
It is all about opinions (to coin another cliche!) so no need to apologise! Phil's right, this tribal myth about United having to be 'ashamed' used to be peddled by the media and Bitters whining on the media, until that is they were brought by Arab petrodollars. Manchester United is Club that transcends North/South and international borders, the resonance echoing after the Munich tragedy. Oh by the way, I have met obnixious idiots everywhere! North, South, Midlands, South West.... But only those those with a hidden agenda try to gulit trip you for the team you support based on geopolitics, I am sure Phil would agree here. Totally Washy, love the geopolitics angle!! Also like the invisible USP's that still resonate especially in Europe. Good call mate. Yeah i know a lot of it is driven by the media, I was just interested on what fans from Manchester thought mostly.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2014 9:48:52 GMT
Butt on Becks: He is the boy who came up from London, the skinny little boy who loved Man United. He is still the same lad and we all just click when we are back together.
Good enough for him...
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Post by _ on Sept 11, 2014 10:16:01 GMT
Reds from Manchester do tend to get pissed off with the media suggesting all our fans are from south of the Watford Gap and only the Bitter's fans are truly from Manchester. Many of their fans come from London and that tracks back to the days of Donkey Doyle and Fanny Lee, when they tried to be a glamour club. When Chelski beat Leeds scum in an Old Trafford FA cup replay lots of Manc's began to support them.
The BBC has been a major cause of a lot of this doubting one's credentials. In the 90s Mellor on 606 had this thing about accents and local clubs. I met him at lunch in the main restaurant at Chelski with Master Bates. I was a guest of a client and a big Chelski fan who worked in the City. He told me Mellor never ventured into the stands and was at one with Bates' opinion of football. Mellor was a opportunist and a lot of people fell for his false fan fraternalism. Heard some of the same with Savage and Co, who frankly failed with us and still has a chip on his shoulder.
The demographics of fan base was already in the mix in the 1960s and by today its hard to tell the background of who supports what club with the notable exception of that victim culture near the Mersey. Success, incidents like the two goals in 1999, players like Best and Robbo, and our glorious failures, have all have all contributed to our legend. That's why people end up supporting a club like ours because in the end they identify with glory, success, and continuity. We have never revelled in misfortune and decline as is the want of the Mersey bog dwellers.
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Post by busby3859 on Sept 11, 2014 13:45:32 GMT
You see, I get this. I completely and utterly disagree with it, but I get it. I've talked before on here about how I 'have' three teams. It's two and a half, really, but there's United, Linfield, and Rangers and it's a similar sort of question. Linfield is our family club, and if you supported Linfield when you were a kid, you supported Rangers. That's just how it was. United comes from my dad, he was the first proper United supporter in our family. My granda, who was with every fibre a football man as much a Linfield devout, admired United but did not 'support' them as such. George Best went to Manchester United and became the best player the world had ever seen and my dad went with him. A lot of Northern Ireland went with Bestie! So then there's me, a '3 club man'. When I was born, apparently my dad said he couldn't be certain of anything about my life except I was going to know and support Manchester United. I was born right on the crest of a wave that was about to crash down upon the rest of English football as unprecedented Manchester United success. All I've known is winning. By theory stakes, I am the glory-hunter. Not from Manchester, not even from England; record-breaking success. But I also follow my local-local club and a bunch of foreign clubs like Ajax and a couple of Italian teams because I watched them on T. V. growing up as I fell in love with the game. But ask anyone on here: You'll search for a long time before you meet someone with the same sort of idealistic passion for Manchester United Football Club. I've lost myself in this club's history, and romance, and tragedy and success. I spend more money every season travelling to Manchester just to be in Old Trafford and see them play than anything else, including rent. I could cry just thinking about how much I adore this club. It's my love, my religion, my vice. I'm not from Manchester and I'll probably never live in Manchester. I'm not from Glasgow, and certainly will never be living there either. Belfast, well both sides of my family come from Belfast but my dad's side had moved long before I was born and my mum's side are originally from the country and aren't into football that much anyway. Does that mean I should feel anything less about my support for any of my three teams? Hell no! You have a kid, so either you're married, partnered, or hopefully at least you were in love with someone once. Maybe you met your partner in your hometown, and that's great. Maybe she's from two streets away, also great. But if you had fallen in love with a girl who was only in town visiting, or if you had been visiting somewhere and fallen in love with someone from that place, not your hometown, would you feel 'uncomfortable'? Without being presumptive, I highly doubt it. Maybe not everyone sees it this way but to me when you're on the inside of football, supporting a club, it's just like falling in love. It doesn't matter a damn where you come from. I have three clubs - or two and a half. Linfield is like loving a sister or a brother. Rangers is like the affection you'd have for a favourite aunt or uncle, some more satellite member of the wider family circle. But Manchester United Football Club, that's the one true love. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone make me feel ashamed, less comfortable, unhappy, or traitorous to local football just because I wasn't born in the shadow of Old Trafford. I'll be damned to let anyone else think that they should feel lessened by supporting Manchester United if they weren't either. In short, cheer the f*ck up! We're Man United, we'll support where we want! Thanks for your view, brilliant response and my fiancé comes from France so I that analogy worked well
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Post by Tatty on Sept 11, 2014 15:38:06 GMT
I live in Manchester and rarely, if ever go to Old Trafford to watch games, so I dunno WTF half of you are on about.
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Post by washyourhands on Sept 11, 2014 16:00:51 GMT
I live in Manchester and rarely, if ever go to Old Trafford to watch games, so I dunno WTF half of you are on about. That's it, call for the dogs, hang tatty!
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Post by busby3859 on Sept 11, 2014 16:04:21 GMT
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Post by king nothing on Sept 11, 2014 18:01:56 GMT
I live in Manchester and rarely, if ever go to Old Trafford to watch games, so I dunno WTF half of you are on about. Brilliant! Nice one tatty.
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Post by Pixel on Sept 11, 2014 18:08:11 GMT
This is probably a bit of a strange thing to feel, maybe to say, or even purely to admit, but, I don't actually feel comfortable being a fan of Manchester United. I love the football club, i care very deeply for it on and off the pitch. It's future stability and the way its run always at the very top of my concerns. It has given me some of the happiest times of my life for which I've been extremely lucky to have seen in the grand scheme of football fans in this country. My issue is that I have absolutely no connection with Manchester whatsoever. Nothing at all. I'm 200 miles away from the city! On paper I'm the typical 30 something "glory hunter" with a cliche reason as to why I follow them. Following United felt normal when i was growing up, i didn't think twice about it, it's natural for a child to follow his Dad's team. It wasn't till I got older that I started to question why i followed them, why my Dad did, considering he or the family had no links with Manchester, so i asked. His initial answer only consisted of two words, George Best. The greatest player he has ever seen. His big brother took him to Highbury to watch Arsenal v United and from that moment he fell in love with Best and United. His brother's intentions to get him to follow Arsenal obviously backfired. So I found out why, but I didn't particularly agree with the reason. As I grew up it became clear to me that a football fan should follow and support their local side. Its the logical decision, it keeps the game alive. Im a fan of a football team that I hardly ever see. Apart from a few matches over different campaigns , a season ticket and a handful of away matches It's a shameful attempt of support really. So whilst not being happy with the amount of football I watch, I'm also not feeling comfortable as to why. Feeling more like a trespasser, a day tripper, an out of town glory hunter. I'm sure this must annoy some genuine Mancunians who truly support their local club. It doesn't sit comfortably with me that when I go up to old trafford that I could be depriving a lad from manchester a seat that he lives 10 minutes away from when I've drove 5 hours. It wouldn't be a shock that some Mancunians despise the likes of me which I can completely understand. It's your city, its your football club. This dilemma literally gives me sleepless nights. It feels almost impossible to just cut ties with the club even if i wanted to. I even bought a season ticket at my local League 1 club a few years back to try and do the right and logical thing. I just didn't have a care for them, i felt nothing apart from being a football fan and enjoying watching matches. I had a zero emotional attachment whatever the result. I would choose to miss going to a live game to watch united on the TV if the kick offs clashed. It seems ludicrous to opt to watch a match on the tele rather than go to a live game which is a fantastic experience at any level. I know football has changed and "brand" Manchester United encourage worldwide support purely for financial gain but that certainly doesn't make it right. The club should look after their local community first and foremost. Gone are the days when men would work all week in the factories and go to the match on a Saturday, an escape for the working class. Now it's more important for United to have an official noodle supplier to sell shirts in Asia and associate themselves with Mr Potato head. Jeopardising season preparations by going on these ridiculous tours every single year to sell a few more shirts and get an irrelevant branded sponsor. I know this is the same with most top flight clubs these days, not just United. Football clubs have lost their purpose unfortunately and that Is sad. Anyhow, I was just hoping for some people's thoughts on the matter. I completely understand if I get abuse thrown at me. I feel i have made one rather significant personal decision though. Sadly for a general footballing tradition and for myself, I won't be encouraging my son to follow United. Which is difficult to accept. I will do everything in my power to get him to support his local team, which is where he should be, so he can watch live football all season and really support his team unlike myself. I'm almost in exactly the same boat as you except one small detail, I don't give a fuck. When i started supporting this wonderful club It was around 1982/83 and all my old primary school friends all supported Manchester United. Maybe the '83 FA cup had something to do with it, but that wasn't my reasons. My reasons were solely because my mates did and we would all rein-act our favorite players on the school playing field. Stop being to hard on your self mate. And don't deprive your son of the same footballing nostalgia that you have experienced supporting this great team
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Post by Bestie on Sept 11, 2014 18:56:35 GMT
I live in Manchester and rarely, if ever go to Old Trafford to watch games, so I dunno WTF half of you are on about. That's 'cause you're a miserable git though.
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Post by _ on Sept 11, 2014 19:25:32 GMT
IMO you can support whatever team you like regardless of where we live - I'm sure most of us have favourite clubs in most of the major leagus around the world - does it matter if we don't live in Munich, Madrid, Glasgow or Timbuktu? As long as you are not a plastic and keep switching to the most successful club every year - most of us pick a club when we are a kid and stick with them through thick and thin And there is certainly nothing wrong with being a fan of United AND your local club
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2014 20:39:18 GMT
I've had the same crap all my life. Not from Manchester, no longer live in England, but supported United ever since I first got into football when I was 6 or so. That was in the mid 80's.
Only question I've ever asked people when they've told me I'm a glory hunting fan is why, if all I seek is a team winning everything, did I choose Man United? Liverpool dominated not just England but Europe at the time. Everton won a couple of titles, as did Arsenal at the tail end of the decade. United had a couple of FA Cups to show for their efforts in the last 15 years. Hardly a sign that this is the club I should follow as they were gonna win the lot. No one has an answer to that funnily.
It's bloody annoying that you should be made to feel guilt just because the club you love is successful. I quite like American Football. Not massively into it or anything, but follow it to a degree. My team is the Seahawks, have been since I got into it, again back in the 80's when Channel 4 started showing it. And they were shit. Just so, so shite. Now they're the Superbowl Champions, finally, after 30 years they've delivered. I was at work the other day and they were showing NFL in the canteen. A guy I work with was watching it and I asked if he's into it. Said he loved it, big Cowboys fan, and asked about me. When I told him I liked it and followed the Seahawks he did the "Yeah, of course" thing. Seriously?! Fuck you pal! I'm not about to feel guilty because the parcel of shite I've followed for 3 decades have finally became the strongest team in the competition and won the big prize. Am I supposed to dump them and go back to following the worse team in the leagues?
Same in AFL (Aussie Rules). I support Richmond, and they've underachieved for years and years. Big club though, so a bit like Everton or Villa (won stuff back in the day but done nothing for a long time now). But made the finals 2 seasons in a row, and have a strong young team. I can see them maybe making a grand final over the next few years. And if they do, am I supposed to again hang my head when I tell people I support them because people will assume I'm a glory fan? Bollocks. Stand proud. I follow United, and I do so for my own reasons. Regardless of what the future brings I'll never stop. Could do a Portsmouth and I'll still support them with every fibre of my being. So no bloody way am I gonna feel like I've done/doing something wrong for following them when the goings good.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2014 21:50:28 GMT
I never had a local team. What was I supposed to do? Not watch football?
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