Changed Allegiances

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Northyorksblade said:
Grew up in Rainham, Kent and my parents were Gills ST holders. As a young teen I sold programmes there and got in free, but was never really a fan. First went to a Blades game away at Bradford in the cup 1990 and was immediately hooked. Don't know what it is about the Blades, they just get to you.
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That’s exactly my point. It didn’t feel like I was cheating on Boro, watching and supporting United. If I were to stray now (not going to happen), I think I would feel dirty.
 
SouthStandGBlock said:
My theory is you follow;

1. Where you live or lived; or
2. Who your Dad/Mum followed

So Middle aged Blade and his wife are fine IMO.

Most Man Utd, Liverpool are plastic fans and pothunters.

I live in Leicestershire, born in Sheffield, and my lad (born in Leicestershire) have ST at BDTBL, so I fit my own criteria nicely 😉😉😉😉😉
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This is exactly my football supporting philosophy. I’ve got friends and relatives who can’t understand why you’d support anyone outside the big six. They don’t know what they’re missing. You’re spot on. They’re glory hunting plastics with no sense of loyalty or tradition.

Similarly to south stand I’ve not lived in Sheffield since 1987 the majority of which time has been in Solihull. My son was born in 1994 and has been brought up an avid and yes, a willing Blade. No brainwashing needed. We’re both ardent season ticket holders and try to get to as many away games as possible.

In our spare time we watch Solihull Moors as our second team. It’s good fun. But….nothing compares to the strange allure of the red and white wizards.
 
I moved to Hull or fairly close in 1987. In all honesty I would like to be able to support them as a sort of 2nd team, but I cant. They have become my Wednesday, I sympathise when they loose and congratulate when they win to friends but secretly nothing gives me more pleasure when they get hammered. It certainly didn't help when they were in the Premier and we were in div 2, suddenly the wife who's from Hull became a massive Tigers fan, she's never been to a game in her life. So no, could never switch allegiance.
 
After living in Sheffield from 71-77 I have lived 100 miles away for 44 years, but have never had another team - until now.

I have to admit that I have fallen for another! I now drive up to the Home of Football to watch all Club matches (Sheffield FC) as well.

Riding the Bladercoaster for 50 years, and now combining it with the emotional drain of the World’s First must make me some sort of masochist!

But for me New Year’s Day, with a game at both, will make the perfect start to 2022 - weather and Covid permitting.

Magic Comes in Many Colours - (as long as one of them is red!)
 
Born in Sheffield to Irish parents in 1959, pulled both ways at school and where I lived in Batemoor. Went to Hillsborough and the Lane however 1970 derby match at bdtbl that was it 3-2 to the Red and white wizards. Even though Hillsborough had the stadium, Bramall lane felt warm and inviting that was it. Lived in Cork now since 1972 travel over when I can, last game I was at against Brighton ,Enda with goal of the season. Surrounded here by manure, Liverpool, Arsenal, Celtic bandwagoners etc. I support Cork City locally because it's what you do, support your local team, live football and all that, but my heart will always belong at Bdtbl and it makes me so proud to see John Egan captaining my beloved Blades when Billy isn't playing. Merry Christmas to all Blade's fan's wherever you are 🎄👍
 
I was quite late getting into football compared to many others. The main reason being both my parents and all my grandparents are Pigs! Fortunately for me none of them were going to games in the mid 70's as they were languishing at the wrong end of Division 3. I started playing when I was 7 or 8 and my first team were Liverpool, even had an awful replica kit with Hitachi on it.

However, I was nearly 9 when a friend of the family offered to take me to my first game at BDTBL to see the mighty (ahem!) Blades draw 1-1 with Hull in January 1980. That was it for me and always will be wherever I go.
 
Solihull Blade said:
This is exactly my football supporting philosophy. I’ve got friends and relatives who can’t understand why you’d support anyone outside the big six. They don’t know what they’re missing. You’re spot on. They’re glory hunting plastics with no sense of loyalty or tradition.

Similarly to south stand I’ve not lived in Sheffield since 1987 the majority of which time has been in Solihull. My son was born in 1994 and has been brought up an avid and yes, a willing Blade. No brainwashing needed. We’re both ardent season ticket holders and try to get to as many away games as possible.

In our spare time we watch Solihull Moors as our second team. It’s good fun. But….nothing compares to the strange allure of the red and white wizards.
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I lived in Solihull for 30 years and my lad still lives there.

Earlier this year, I met a Pig fan from Solihull who takes his son to the Sty but, like you, goes to the Moors with his son as well. The great thing was that he is really pissed off because his lad insists on describing the Pigs as his second team, after the Moors!!

Magic
 
Middle Aged Blade said:
During this period of ‘mid-season break’, I got thinking of watching football as a kid and now.

I was brought up in Teeside and I followed Boro, watching them on a Saturday at Ayresome Park. Those were the days of Graeme Souness, Tony Mowbray, Gary Pallister through to Bryan Robson, Juninho and Ravanelli.

In the late nineties, I moved to Sheffield with my wife, had kids and have been here ever since. We thankfully came to live in the right red) side of Sheffield and the kids started to support United.

We went to games with them and became hooked, through the trials of promotion to the Premier League to the downward spiral to League 1 and back up again.

Our kids no longer go, but the lovely Mrs Middle Aged Blade and I relish our season ticket.
It seems that I have spent half my life here and now consider myself a Blade.

I always keep one eye on how Boro are doing. New Year’s Day will be a strange one, for many reasons other than what I’ve already said. I’m sure there will be another thread about that!

Has anyone else been on a similar journey?
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Out of interest, why don't your kids go any more? Have they changed allegiance or just got fed up with the general tripe served up?
 
Until I was 10 I supported Everton. That was the team my mums then boyfriend supported, and when I started supporting them, they were the best team in the land.

First game I ever went to a was a 4-0 league win over Sheffield Wednesday at Goodison Park. The second game I went to was a FA Cup 3rd round 3rd replay (remember them?) at Hillsborough and Everton battered them 5-0.

So when the time came to support a local team, Wednesday weren't an option, plus they were my dads team, and even at that tender age I knew he was a cunt.

I don’t keep an eye out for Evertons results anymore.
 
Grey Blade said:
I was brought up in the Harrogate area at the time when Leeds were coming good in the early 60s so it was only natural to follow Leeds. When I moved to Sheffield Uni in 1971 I was on the same corridor as a United fan and I went to Bramall Lane on many occasions when I couldn't get to Leeds games. The only time I was hit by anything was when the Leeds (increasingly yobbish) fans took over the back of the kop in an early 70s game. Fortunately it was only a can which was empty by the time it hit me!

I continued watching Leeds until December 79 when I moved away to live in Orkney. I had been getting increasingly fed up of the hostile atmosphere at Elland Road (between home fans) and when I came back to South Yorkshire in 1986 and went to the first game of the season. the hostility was even worse and I never set foot inside the place again until the early 2000s when we beat them 4-0. It was pretty hostile after that match as well and I remember walking through a gauntlet of hooligans on the way up to Beeston.

From 1986, I gradually started to watch United games and have had a season ticket since the mid 90s. I still go to games with the friend who introduced me to Bramall Lane in the first place!
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Well I never you dark horse 🐴
 
singaporeblade said:
Out of interest, why don't your kids go any more? Have they changed allegiance or just got fed up with the general tripe served up?
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They just drifted away from football. My son started playing cricket and rugby and enjoys them more. Thinks footballers are overpaid wusses, who fall over too easily. Can’t argue with that really!
My daughter still asks on match day “Did we win?”, although now more interested in how her false nails and eyelashes look 😩
 
Middle Aged Blade said:
They just drifted away from football. My son started playing cricket and rugby and enjoys them more. Thinks footballers are overpaid wusses, who fall over too easily. Can’t argue with that really!
My daughter still asks on match day “Did we win?”, although now more interested in how her false nails and eyelashes look 😩
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I know how you feel

My lads the same
 

Bell4 said:
I know how you feel

My lads the same
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i have 2 daughters and i have done my level best to make sure neither of them are interested in football! To be fair my youngest has been a couple of times when she was younger but i really don't want either going through the wasted money, time and heartache i have suffered.
I have finally lost interest to a large degree and probably won't bother going again. Football has lost it's appeal with the ridiculous money involved and the players seem to think they are superior to us mere mortals with their attitude to life.
Christ, all they are skilled at is kicking a bloody ball around a field!
Well that is a load off my chest....Merry Christmas all 😄
 
The only one I know in my family was my nephew who was a young piglet but then when he got to around 6 realised they were shite and asked to go to Bramall Lane instead.
 
Bath Blade said:
Living down south these days, with young kids, I can see how it would happen. Thankfully though, this isn't a hotbed of football down here so the kids won't be asking to go to any local matches. The only risk is that schoolmates try to persuade them to support Chelsea or Liverpool, and as I won't let that happen, I'll be forcing the kids to support United, even though it means we won't make it to as many matches as I'd like.
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11 years in Maidenhead and the 9 hrs I spent with my son travelling to BDTBL and back every other Saturday as he grew up have created an unbreakable bond between the three of us ;)

(me, him and The Blades)
 
Grey Blade said:
I was brought up in the Harrogate area at the time when Leeds were coming good in the early 60s so it was only natural to follow Leeds. When I moved to Sheffield Uni in 1971 I was on the same corridor as a United fan and I went to Bramall Lane on many occasions when I couldn't get to Leeds games. The only time I was hit by anything was when the Leeds (increasingly yobbish) fans took over the back of the kop in an early 70s game. Fortunately it was only a can which was empty by the time it hit me!

I continued watching Leeds until December 79 when I moved away to live in Orkney. I had been getting increasingly fed up of the hostile atmosphere at Elland Road (between home fans) and when I came back to South Yorkshire in 1986 and went to the first game of the season. the hostility was even worse and I never set foot inside the place again until the early 2000s when we beat them 4-0. It was pretty hostile after that match as well and I remember walking through a gauntlet of hooligans on the way up to Beeston.

From 1986, I gradually started to watch United games and have had a season ticket since the mid 90s. I still go to games with the friend who introduced me to Bramall Lane in the first place!
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I have a mate from Leeds that used to follow Leeds United, but is now a dyed in the wool Blade.

He went to Paris in 1975 and was so sickened by the behaviour of the Leeds "fans" there that he vowed never to return to ER and began watching United up and down the country with me, just as we became really crap.

He got his first big reward with me at Darlington.

Despite coming from Leeds I never got into them so I definitely have no changed allegiance, although I do keep a close eye on Maidenhead United these days.
 
Lived in Sunderland approx half my life now (in my fifties), and although I want them to do well, and have been to a few matches at the SOL, my 1st love is, and always will be, The Mighty Blades. My Lads are are also 💯% Blades. I have a photo somewhere, of when Sunderland got promoted to the Premiership in the Kevin Phillips Nial Quinn era. His school had a Red & White day to celebrate. All the kids are there queuing up for dinner in their Sunderland shirt's, and my son is standing there proud as anything in his Sheff Utd kit. Priceless
 
1066blade said:
I moved darn sarf in 1974. I've supported the Blades since 1958. I have 4 sons all born in Hastings. One supports Spurs, one Liverpool, one Chelsea and one (the youngest) is a blade. I never forced it on him, I took them all to the lane every time I visited Sheffield (about 2 or 3 times a year) only the young 'un took up the chalice. They say you should never have a favourite child, and I don't. It's just that every time the Blades win, we have a moment of joy together, that the other three will just never understand, or enjoy, and I feel sorry for them because of that.
UTB
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Passing the blades baton onto your kid, watching them run with it and then sharing the pride and the passion together is one of life‘s little gems.
Going to the lane with my 11 year old son…..priceless.
I was a bit slow to put on the Fulham game the other night and got a phone call from him to say we were winning.
”Dad we’ve scored we are winning!….I’m so happy“ he shouted down the phone…………brought a tear to my eye it did.
 
OttBlade said:
I moved to Hull or fairly close in 1987. In all honesty I would like to be able to support them as a sort of 2nd team, but I cant. They have become my Wednesday, I sympathise when they loose and congratulate when they win to friends but secretly nothing gives me more pleasure when they get hammered. It certainly didn't help when they were in the Premier and we were in div 2, suddenly the wife who's from Hull became a massive Tigers fan, she's never been to a game in her life. So no, could never switch allegiance.
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I could have written this. Lived in Cave since 99 when Dull City were still at Boothferry Park. Not a City Shirt to be seen, they were all Leeds Fans.

I have been to a few City games over the years but there is not emotional involvement.
When the KC and the prem happened it was amazing to watch them all coming out of the woodwork thumping the badge on their chests muttering about home town club blah blah. They hate it when you ask why they don't support Leeds anymore!

My partner invited her sister and friends round to watch the FA Cup final when they got there, I went out on my bike. Non of them had shown any interest before.

They are my Wednesday. They feckin hate us for some reason. My next door neighbor cannot get over Paddy Kenny's antics. I love winding them up from driving down the A63 with my Blades scarf out the window on a match day to religiously wearing a Blades shirt every time I go for a run. Bitter bitter fans who have the ownership they deserve.

My absolute highlight was sitting in the wrong end as we beat them 3 nil in our promotion season. Hearing our fans owning the KC whilst I sat amongst them with a massive grin on my face.

UTB's.
 
The thought of it gives me cold sweats. Having lived down south for the last 20 odd years it saddens me to see kids growing up and supporting whoever is at the top of the prem and teams like barca. Growing up in sheffield it was either blades or pigs with one or two soulless twats supporting liverpool despite having no family connections. My son is born and bred southerner, aged 21, and a proper blade. We have been going to games since he was 8. Its harder for us exiled blades, i was an ST holder and hardly missed an away game until life took me down south. Despite not being able to go to as many games as we like, he lives and breathes the blades. Thank the lord for iptv as well, allows us to watch the games we cannot get to.
 
OttBlade said:
I moved to Hull or fairly close in 1987. In all honesty I would like to be able to support them as a sort of 2nd team, but I cant. They have become my Wednesday, I sympathise when they loose and congratulate when they win to friends but secretly nothing gives me more pleasure when they get hammered. It certainly didn't help when they were in the Premier and we were in div 2, suddenly the wife who's from Hull became a massive Tigers fan, she's never been to a game in her life. So no, could never switch allegiance.
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Could always switch (ditch) the wife 🤔
 
Middle Aged Blade said:
During this period of ‘mid-season break’, I got thinking of watching football as a kid and now.

I was brought up in Teeside and I followed Boro, watching them on a Saturday at Ayresome Park. Those were the days of Graeme Souness, Tony Mowbray, Gary Pallister through to Bryan Robson, Juninho and Ravanelli.

In the late nineties, I moved to Sheffield with my wife, had kids and have been here ever since. We thankfully came to live in the right red) side of Sheffield and the kids started to support United.

We went to games with them and became hooked, through the trials of promotion to the Premier League to the downward spiral to League 1 and back up again.

Our kids no longer go, but the lovely Mrs Middle Aged Blade and I relish our season ticket.
It seems that I have spent half my life here and now consider myself a Blade.

I always keep one eye on how Boro are doing. New Year’s Day will be a strange one, for many reasons other than what I’ve already said. I’m sure there will be another thread about that!

Has anyone else been on a similar journey?
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Interesting story and I can relate to an extent. I was born in Sheffield but dad was transferred from the Royal General to the Memorial in Darlington in '75 when I was two, so between '79 & '85 we had season tickets at Ayresome Park, as they were the nearest club to where we lived - Northallerton.

They had some decent players - Craig Johnston, David Armstrong, Irving Nattrass, Jim Platt, David Hodgson, etc. and they played some decent games in that period. It was the height of football violence and my most vivid memories are big clashes with Pompey, Sunderland and Leeds, really nasty scenes. Neither dad nor me had an affinity with the club though, and dad especially yearned for United so gradually we got back to going to Sheffield at the weekends. A certain David Bassett was the man who sucked me into the joys of United.

I'm really disappointed that of all the clubs he could have chosen it's Boro Wilder went to. There's a certain inevitability he'll do well!!
 
1066blade said:
I moved darn sarf in 1974. I've supported the Blades since 1958. I have 4 sons all born in Hastings. One supports Spurs, one Liverpool, one Chelsea and one (the youngest) is a blade. I never forced it on him, I took them all to the lane every time I visited Sheffield (about 2 or 3 times a year) only the young 'un took up the chalice. They say you should never have a favourite child, and I don't. It's just that every time the Blades win, we have a moment of joy together, that the other three will just never understand, or enjoy, and I feel sorry for them because of that.
UTB
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Spurs , Liverpool & Chelsea eh ?
And do they live in Hastings ?
If so , it should be Brighton for them.
But TV allegiance is just a completely different life experience to the one I had from spending what now feels like my entire childhood & teenage years at the Lane , going with my Dad , then working as a tray-lad around the perimeter fence , then working in all the snack bars - setting up the bars from 11am and being able to roam all over the empty ground was just fantastic - my love of the Blades is inextricably linked to my love of the Lane.
Something so deep which TV fans who adopt a club + go to a few matches occasionally can never ever understand.
I haven't lived in Sheffield since 1980 and spent time all over the UK , but kept my ST - fortunately I'm in Manchester now so not too far away.
If the Blades ever moved from the Lane , I dunno what my link would be - I suppose it would be as tenuous as that of TV fan (apart from my decades of history).
But if I didn't have the Lane as a lifelong magnet , would I pop down the road to either OT or the Etihad or Moss Lane ?
I hope I never find out.
 

It's what I love to see. Proper fans supporting a team for the right reasons, rather than supporting a team from miles away despite having no connections or reason, other than they are currently, a 'top' team.
I wouldn't criticise 1066blades kids choices, though. I can understand them not wanting to support Brighton!
 
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