So who do you support, then?

The other day my girlfriend asked me how fans decide which teams to support, and why a person supports certain teams over others. What a (double) question! But worse was to come. Can a fan support more than one team?

I used to travel between the north-west and my native north-east quite a lot, and I remember that my favourite part of the whole journey, apart from the approach to Durham, was the view from the station at Stalybridge. The train would sit in the station for a couple of minutes and for that time you could see right across the valley. It was a fabulous view on a fantastic cross-Pennine journey, and ever since then my fondness for that view has manifested itself in the only way a football fan can express himself – I have followed (from a distance) the local team. Obviously.

I was born in Sunderland and I have always fervently supported the team, through thin and thin. Not having been around at the end of the nineteenth century, I have never really seen a successful side, but that makes no difference to the true fan. However, like most fans there are other teams whose results I follow, and the reasons why I follow certain teams –again, like most fans – range from the obvious to the downright obscure.

The obvious, for example, includes the fact that I always have a look at the teams from my native north-east, like Darlington, Hartlepool, Blyth Spartans and Durham City. I watch Southport’s results because I lived there for years when I was a child and I often went to see them at Haig Avenue when I was a teenager. Slightly less obvious is the fact that I check up on Macclesfield because I once went to see them mid-week with Southport. I have a look at Accrington Stanley because thirty years ago one of my neighbours, Frank Whittaker, was a massive fan and had been since his childhood.

Garforth Town appeared in a football magazine, and articles about Truro and Team Bath prompted me to watch their rise, although I can’t really remember when or where those articles were published. I do remember that I was given a football encyclopaedia one Christmas when I was a kid (foolish Father Christmas – my parents couldn’t get any sense out of me for weeks afterwards) and was attracted to the early success and hooped jerseys of Queen’s Park. I also now have a look at Annan Athletic every week simply because they’re the new boys. A friend of mine at university was from Doncaster (and they have a “nice kit”), so that’s Donny Rovers explained.

Then there’s the clubs that have suffered woeful decisions from the FA or the Football League or criminally bad management at board level, so that’s Scarborough, Luton, Bournemouth, Rotherham and Lancaster City explained. I must admit though, you have to be careful with this argument. It had me following Leeds’ results all last season.

A small comment here – I reckon most neutral fans will have been knocked sideways by the unfairness of the treatment of Luton, Bournemouth and Rotherham, and will have been delighted when they reached positive points. Good luck to Luton in the run-in.

I have been following Burnley’s fortunes recently, not just because they have been having a good season but also because I came across some fans who were pretty sound people. And I have to include a special mention for Portsmouth. I was taken to see them beat Spurs on Boxing Day a couple of years ago, and I have great memories of a fantastic atmosphere and top-class fans. Respect.

Even foreign teams have a look-in. I remember when I was a kid my mother used to allow me to take the radio to bed if there were random European matches which would finish past my bedtime, and I remember listening to exotic names like Besiktas and Real Madrid and imagining what those far-off, flood-lit places were like. I remember watching highlights programmes from half-empty grounds where you could see their frozen breath and all the fans looked like heavy metal Viking guitarists, and I still attribute my wanderlust partly to these images.

Not much else to say, really. Perhaps I should write an article about which teams I can’t stand and why!