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How do you pick a team to support? was the question my Great Nephew asked me yesterday i mean where do you begin? he is 12 football mad and loves playing the game as well but still yet to make that big decision.
I told him you will no when you no it is something you cannot really put your finger on it is just a feeling you get like yes this is my club....of course their is the whole family support a club so that should be your team but i no many families like that but their always seems to be one who goes against the grain.
So i asked him which teams do his friends support? maybe that will help and his answer to that did not surprise me as the obvious names were trundled out like Citeh Manure Bindippers and one mate now follows the Gooners because they won the league and he was fed up with Fulham!...of course i made it clear that you can never change the club you support once the decision is made they are your club for life...trophies are fine but being a supporter is so much more and yes its easy when you win things and do well but true support comes when your club is going through harsh times.
So i finally asked who was he leaning towards supporting and his answer made me think their is hope..i had thought all of the obvious ones but nope he has 3 clubs he likes and it is just about making that final step....Brighton Norwich & Brentford...No logic in why but then again is their ever i mean i'm no Cockerneee i was born in the Burbs of Surrey and yet i support our mob and it was never going to be anyone else so i just said to the Lad follow your heart and what feels the best fit for you because he probably already knows it is just making that final big decision.
Must be a weird situation to
Must be a weird situation to find yourself in as a young kid. Mine was made for me. Now I come from a very small family. No siblings, Dad never interested in football, although he went to watch Chelsea a few times. Dad from Wandsworth, Grandad from Battersea, Mum from Paddington. By rights I should have been a Chelsea, Fulham or Palace fan.
My Grandad who was always there for me was a Fulham fan. He bought me a football kit in 1968. They came in a box back then. It was a West Ham kit, I think he bought it on the back of the World Cup win in 1966. Moore, Peters, Hurst. I think we must have been quite popular then. Fast forward to 1975 there we were watching the FA Cup final West Ham v Fulham and do you know what? He wanted us to win for me, what a man..
Special Memories Boogers
And they matter as much if not more than winning a league or a trophy....and my Dad was not into football but my older brother was and like you i could of been a Palace fan as they are reasonably close to me and i was taken to see them on many an occasion but nope it did not click but i do look for their results....so despite the long journey it was West Ham for me and been cursed ever since!!over the years the long journey on the tube from Victoria to Upton park filled with optimism and then the long journey back when your thinking how did we lose to Plymouth! why do i bother lol nothing much changes now does it.
Used to do the same Tube
Used to do the same Tube journey Bikey, although train from Crawley. 16 0r 17 stops on the tube. Reckon our paths will have crossed many a time..
Its a difficult question McB
I think it should be a club that you can obviously connect with.
Typically that means "local" or a strong Family connection.
That said I have a lot of WH mates with neither and they are full on died in the wool Hammers.
I ask fellow Hammers a lot why WH... quite often its the colours!
Dartford
It can be something as simple as that or the badge....my best mate i think most no now is a Sunderland fan and never been North of Watford but he chose Sunderland in the 73 cup final and he says the saves Montgomery made that day just embedded the club into his soul.
I get that Mc
It was a brilliant game, Sunderland were worthy winners and it was David V Goliath and he chose a non glamour team.. Good on him!!
No Choice!
Likely, my experience would've been one of the most recent site, given that I'm the youngling at 21.
I had no choice in the decision. Dear old Nev went to West Ham when he was younger by one of the closer family members, and ever since he fell in love with West Ham, he then began to run the Org and then the decision was inevitably made for me once born!
I wasn't born a cockney either, Nev grew up in the sticks of Shenley and I was raised in West London my whole life so the location of being 'east' never happened in my journey.
I grew up surrounded by Arsenal and Chelsea fans but it never crossed my mind to support anything else simply due to the fact that my dad was my dad.
Football is a funny ol' game
Colours for me
Back at primary school when my total knowledge of football was kicking a ball in the school playground I had a Wolves kit. Cannot for the life of me remember where I saw that lovely gold and black in the first place but I remember loving the colours, still do as it happens but nowadays their gold is not so vibrant.
Many years later when I got more into football, I was round a mates house, watching the tellly, die hard Utd fan and they were playing West Ham who lost 1-6 and I've stuck with the Hammers ever since. Nothing to do with colours either because the telly was black and white.
Could have been worse, it wasn't til a bit later i found out my dad was Millwall and mum was Tottenham
Now that explains a lot
!