"We support our local team", we shout at Arsenal fans, and others (usually if we're losing... one of the reasons i've always hated that chant, it smells of failure & envy)
Well, do we?
Well I don't, because I haven't lived in SE London for many years. But I did (Greenwich) when I first started supporting Charlton, late 60s, so obviously no argument there.
My kids? Two of the three are Charlton fans (the other one is not bothered about football), so again we'd say fair enough, would we, it's in their blood? And ignore the moans of (in my case) Wimbledon, or Fulham or (hardly) Chelsea fans as we head into Waterloo on a Saturday...
But, these things aren't black & white are they? I'm as peed off as the next man about south Londoners supporting Arsenal or Spurs (let alone teams 200 miles away). But what if you live in Welling, or Dartford? Are you being a traitor if you support Charlton?! What if one of those teams get promoted...? And back to my kids - am i supposed to discourage them bringing any mates along, because it would be 'wrong' for us to recruit fans in leafy Surrey?
Sometimes I feel we want it both ways - we rightly sneer at the arrogance of 'big clubs', but want to be big (or at least bigger) ourselves. Actually my main wish is that the old order got shaken up a bit more, the biggest frustration is the lack of variety at the top of the tree (& the resulting baggage that brings). C'mon Saints!
"We support our local team", we shout at Arsenal fans, and others (usually if we're losing... one of the reasons i've always hated that chant, it smells of failure & envy)
Well, do we?
Well I don't, because I haven't lived in SE London for many years. But I did (Greenwich) when I first started supporting Charlton, late 60s, so obviously no argument there.
My kids? Two of the three are Charlton fans (the other one is not bothered about football), so again we'd say fair enough, would we, it's in their blood? And ignore the moans of (in my case) Wimbledon, or Fulham or (hardly) Chelsea fans as we head into Waterloo on a Saturday...
But, these things aren't black & white are they? I'm as peed off as the next man about south Londoners supporting Arsenal or Spurs (let alone teams 200 miles away). But what if you live in Welling, or Dartford? Are you being a traitor if you support Charlton?! What if one of those teams get promoted...? And back to my kids - am i supposed to discourage them bringing any mates along, because it would be 'wrong' for us to recruit fans in leafy Surrey?
Sometimes I feel we want it both ways - we rightly sneer at the arrogance of 'big clubs', but want to be big (or at least bigger) ourselves. Actually my main wish is that the old order got shaken up a bit more, the biggest frustration is the lack of variety at the top of the tree (& the resulting baggage that brings). C'mon Saints!
"We support our local team", we shout at Arsenal fans, and others (usually if we're losing... one of the reasons i've always hated that chant, it smells of failure & envy)
Well, do we?
Well I don't, because I haven't lived in SE London for many years. But I did (Greenwich) when I first started supporting Charlton, late 60s, so obviously no argument there.
My kids? Two of the three are Charlton fans (the other one is not bothered about football), so again we'd say fair enough, would we, it's in their blood? And ignore the moans of (in my case) Wimbledon, or Fulham or (hardly) Chelsea fans as we head into Waterloo on a Saturday...
But, these things aren't black & white are they? I'm as peed off as the next man about south Londoners supporting Arsenal or Spurs (let alone teams 200 miles away). But what if you live in Welling, or Dartford? Are you being a traitor if you support Charlton?! What if one of those teams get promoted...? And back to my kids - am i supposed to discourage them bringing any mates along, because it would be 'wrong' for us to recruit fans in leafy Surrey?
Sometimes I feel we want it both ways - we rightly sneer at the arrogance of 'big clubs', but want to be big (or at least bigger) ourselves. Actually my main wish is that the old order got shaken up a bit more, the biggest frustration is the lack of variety at the top of the tree (& the resulting baggage that brings). C'mon Saints!
Bit of a dilemma for me this one - no probs for me, I support the local team to where I was brought up - my two youngest born and bred local to Brentford, they support Charlton because of me and their big bro
"We support our local team", we shout at Arsenal fans, and others (usually if we're losing... one of the reasons i've always hated that chant, it smells of failure & envy)
Well, do we?
Well I don't, because I haven't lived in SE London for many years. But I did (Greenwich) when I first started supporting Charlton, late 60s, so obviously no argument there.
My kids? Two of the three are Charlton fans (the other one is not bothered about football), so again we'd say fair enough, would we, it's in their blood? And ignore the moans of (in my case) Wimbledon, or Fulham or (hardly) Chelsea fans as we head into Waterloo on a Saturday...
But, these things aren't black & white are they? I'm as peed off as the next man about south Londoners supporting Arsenal or Spurs (let alone teams 200 miles away). But what if you live in Welling, or Dartford? Are you being a traitor if you support Charlton?! What if one of those teams get promoted...? And back to my kids - am i supposed to discourage them bringing any mates along, because it would be 'wrong' for us to recruit fans in leafy Surrey?
Sometimes I feel we want it both ways - we rightly sneer at the arrogance of 'big clubs', but want to be big (or at least bigger) ourselves. Actually my main wish is that the old order got shaken up a bit more, the biggest frustration is the lack of variety at the top of the tree (& the resulting baggage that brings). C'mon Saints!
I totally get what you are saying Redlanered, and just happen to disagree with it for the following reasons - which are probably not in the least bit logical, and are just personal to me...
Firstly I separate league clubs from non league in my little world, otherwise where do you draw the line? If you live in the same street as the Dog and Duck should you support their Sunday league team rather than say, Meridian Sports, who play at the field up the road on a Saturday afternoon, or Danson Wanderers who might be your local level eight non-league side, or Welling Utd as that might be what people write on envelopes when they send you a letter...
That being the case, it is then down simply to supporting your local league team - kind of... Because I have no problem with anyone supporting any team for any reason except that when they were nine that team were successful. And that constitutes 99% of the non-local support of all the Sky 4 and a substantial number of Leeds and Everton fans who had their moment in the sun for a few years in the seventies and eighties and have a little generation of glory hunters of their own still floating about. No matter how much they might claim to have all kinds of extraordinary excuses as to why they follow a team they really have no connection with, it always boils down to that.
Manchester Utd fans will point to a year they spent in division 2 in the mid seventies as if that solitary season somehow proves they follow them through thick and thin, as I am sure Rangers fans will when referring to their current situation in years to come... Rubbish - they were always relatively successful. Likewise Arsenal and Liverpool, even Chelsea who did spend a few years in the doldrums were always a fashionable club to follow, when the trendy Kings Road thing died down they had their thuggish reputation for the impressionable nine year olds to look up to.
We are now into third generation glory hunters of course - so they will claim family ties, like my friend Ella whose entire family come from Cambridgeshire, but because her Dad decided to follow Man Utd that's her excuse - again, utter tosh, he was a glory hunter and so is she.
People who randomly pick an unsuccessful team are odd, but okay up here on my cloud, or who do it by accident (Pork Pie). And those - like yourself - who wish for their offspring to continue following the club they still go and watch are fine too, and why not encourage their mates whose glory hunting armchair Chelsea Dad cant be bothered/can't afford to go to footy with them?
One of our number on here now lives in Brighton, both he and his wife are Addicks, but they are bringing their boys up to support the Seagulls, which I also approve of. I get the impression that if they had moved to Merseyside they would have been taken to Prenton Park rather than Anfield or Goodison.
I always follow my local team, wherever I live, I just got stuck on Charlton when I moved to south London, because they are a fantastic club with fantastic supporters. Although I do go and watch my local team here in Portugal too.
Comments
Well, do we?
Well I don't, because I haven't lived in SE London for many years. But I did (Greenwich) when I first started supporting Charlton, late 60s, so obviously no argument there.
My kids? Two of the three are Charlton fans (the other one is not bothered about football), so again we'd say fair enough, would we, it's in their blood? And ignore the moans of (in my case) Wimbledon, or Fulham or (hardly) Chelsea fans as we head into Waterloo on a Saturday...
But, these things aren't black & white are they? I'm as peed off as the next man about south Londoners supporting Arsenal or Spurs (let alone teams 200 miles away). But what if you live in Welling, or Dartford? Are you being a traitor if you support Charlton?! What if one of those teams get promoted...? And back to my kids - am i supposed to discourage them bringing any mates along, because it would be 'wrong' for us to recruit fans in leafy Surrey?
Sometimes I feel we want it both ways - we rightly sneer at the arrogance of 'big clubs', but want to be big (or at least bigger) ourselves. Actually my main wish is that the old order got shaken up a bit more, the biggest frustration is the lack of variety at the top of the tree (& the resulting baggage that brings). C'mon Saints!
They have Southampton next, fail to win and sure there will be plenty of their fans moaning once again.
Firstly I separate league clubs from non league in my little world, otherwise where do you draw the line? If you live in the same street as the Dog and Duck should you support their Sunday league team rather than say, Meridian Sports, who play at the field up the road on a Saturday afternoon, or Danson Wanderers who might be your local level eight non-league side, or Welling Utd as that might be what people write on envelopes when they send you a letter...
That being the case, it is then down simply to supporting your local league team - kind of... Because I have no problem with anyone supporting any team for any reason except that when they were nine that team were successful. And that constitutes 99% of the non-local support of all the Sky 4 and a substantial number of Leeds and Everton fans who had their moment in the sun for a few years in the seventies and eighties and have a little generation of glory hunters of their own still floating about. No matter how much they might claim to have all kinds of extraordinary excuses as to why they follow a team they really have no connection with, it always boils down to that.
Manchester Utd fans will point to a year they spent in division 2 in the mid seventies as if that solitary season somehow proves they follow them through thick and thin, as I am sure Rangers fans will when referring to their current situation in years to come... Rubbish - they were always relatively successful. Likewise Arsenal and Liverpool, even Chelsea who did spend a few years in the doldrums were always a fashionable club to follow, when the trendy Kings Road thing died down they had their thuggish reputation for the impressionable nine year olds to look up to.
We are now into third generation glory hunters of course - so they will claim family ties, like my friend Ella whose entire family come from Cambridgeshire, but because her Dad decided to follow Man Utd that's her excuse - again, utter tosh, he was a glory hunter and so is she.
People who randomly pick an unsuccessful team are odd, but okay up here on my cloud, or who do it by accident (Pork Pie). And those - like yourself - who wish for their offspring to continue following the club they still go and watch are fine too, and why not encourage their mates whose glory hunting armchair Chelsea Dad cant be bothered/can't afford to go to footy with them?
One of our number on here now lives in Brighton, both he and his wife are Addicks, but they are bringing their boys up to support the Seagulls, which I also approve of. I get the impression that if they had moved to Merseyside they would have been taken to Prenton Park rather than Anfield or Goodison.
I always follow my local team, wherever I live, I just got stuck on Charlton when I moved to south London, because they are a fantastic club with fantastic supporters. Although I do go and watch my local team here in Portugal too.
(he is really)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arsenal-Black-FOR-Gilles-Cantuel/dp/B008FT0MP6/ref=sr_1_1559?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1384887899&sr=1-1559