Faversham

[blade too long]

I went in a local bar here in Spain when man utd beat Swansea just over a week ago , there were 12 to 14 man utd fans sat in there, all clad in different era shirts , while watching and chatting it became apparent 3 were welsh 2 or 3 black country a couple from Somerset and the rest within an hours drive of Gatwick or Stansted
Not one of them originated from Greater Manchester , more than half had never been to Old Trafford

what is the appeal
Its like me claiming to be a Denver Broncos fan , despite never actually ever been near the place

Theres no emotional connection , no local pride no real feeling of belonging
should be like our prime minister a keen west ham , I mean Aston Vills fan

 

[judge]

I went in a local bar here in Spain when man utd beat Swansea just over a week ago , there were 12 to 14 man utd fans sat in there, all clad in different era shirts , while watching and chatting it became apparent 3 were welsh 2 or 3 black country a couple from Somerset and the rest within an hours drive of Gatwick or Stansted
Not one of them originated from Greater Manchester , more than half had never been to Old Trafford

what is the appeal
Its like me claiming to be a Denver Broncos fan , despite never actually ever been near the place

Theres no emotional connection , no local pride no real feeling of belonging

You should read the other teams you support thread

 

[HillmortonBlade]

I went in a local bar here in Spain when man utd beat Swansea just over a week ago , there were 12 to 14 man utd fans sat in there, all clad in different era shirts , while watching and chatting it became apparent 3 were welsh 2 or 3 black country a couple from Somerset and the rest within an hours drive of Gatwick or Stansted
Not one of them originated from Greater Manchester , more than half had never been to Old Trafford

what is the appeal
Its like me claiming to be a Denver Broncos fan , despite never actually ever been near the place

Theres no emotional connection , no local pride no real feeling of belonging

I agree with all your sentiment... but...

If you did find yourself following the Broncos, and found that you watched them on a Sunday on tv, followed the news and forums on interweb, and then heard a local pub showed the matches and you could pop along and sup ale while chatting with similar minded fans??

 

[blade too long]

You should read the other teams you support thread

I do occasionally go and watch Sheffield fc , and Hallam but thats more down to family mates playing with them

 

[blade too long]

I agree with all your sentiment... but...

If you did find yourself following the Broncos, and found that you watched them on a Sunday on tv, followed the news and forums on interweb, and then heard a local pub showed the matches and you could pop along and sup ale while chatting with similar minded fans??

thats watching tv
which ever way you look at it

fans attend games , , its how the connection works

you get the smells , the atmosphere
I loved coming back for the Coventry game , to truly feel like a fan again

 

[HillmortonBlade]

thats watching tv
which ever way you look at it

And enjoying sport and following a team, which ever way you look at it.

Not as good as going to see it live, absolutely.

 

[blade too long]

I go to games here in Spain as tv gives you a flat pictorial view of the game , unless youve got a curved scree tv
you miss the crowd around you cheering , moaning abusing and you choose how you follow the action , not some tv director

 

[shorehamview]

Hasn't anyone who supports us ever watched us on a telly in a foreign land?
Don't you wear a Blades shirt on holiday abroad at all?
Aren't there Blades all over the world who have never been to Bramall Lane for one reason or another?
Maybe their parents moved to another country before they were born but still brought them up as Blades. I know if I'd moved to sunnier climes I would still have brainwashed my daughter into the ways of being a Blade. I might have even gone to watch some other foreign club, but I'd still be a Blade. Perhaps some far flung supporters of Man Utd support them for similar reasons.

Just a thought....

 

[Oreyt]

Lovely coastal walk from Faversham to Whistable.

 

[WhiteHawk]

Lad I went to school with is a Man Utd fan, he says he started supporting them in 1992. I've been to Old Trafford more times than he has.

 

[Booker4]

I'm always annoyed when I listen to Talksport which often takes calls from fans of Man U and Liverpool and almost every time they're from down south or some small town which has no recognisable football team as far as their concerned. I always want the present er to say "so why not do you support Gillingham then"? Or whatever team is nearer, but they never do because they want callers in, irrespective of where their from or who they support. When I sing Sheffield, Sheffield Sheffield Sheffield etc it's because I'm born and bread here and love the city and the club, but if we ever got to be like Blackburn were, with a one season wonder, I'd think it hilarious to see young fans supporting us from London, but that said if I was a Man U fan, it would annoy me because so many local supporters can't get into watch them because of all their glory fans from all over the world who could and should support a local team.

At the end of the day, its the glory fans who miss out on the joy of watching their local team, but that's their choice.

 

[Tyler Durden]

I spent the day with two lads from Suffolk amongst our contingent. I thought they were just friends of friends and were travelling with us due to it being a big match. But after we got chatting I noticed them using the term "we" when referring to United and soon we were discussing things which happened 10-15 years ago in obscure detail.

There's also a fair few on this very forum who weren't born within these seven hills but for whatever bizarre reason they became part of the tribe and chose this difficult path. Which is something I'm very proud of.

Sure Man Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea/Man City have more than their fair share of utter plastic wankers and I have as much disdain for them as anyone else, but sometimes you just can't account for your allegiances.

 

[Snowman]

I watched yesterday's match in a pub in the market town of Faversham, Kent, South East of England. In that boozer sat pre match, were at least 4 people wearing this years Man U shirts, one had a club crest tattoo and one even had Man U track suit bottoms on, despite it being Saturday night in a pub. One mentioned his one trip to Old Trafford as a birthday present to the others, their reaction clearly showing they hadn't ever been there. They were talking in very Southern accents and as if they were sat in a pub in Manchester, actually as if they were about to go to the ground and actually as if they were true supporters.

I came to realise this is what being a Man U supporter is and for the record I bet if we were playing Liverpool, Man City etc then it would be exactly the same. I wondered why and asked myself the following questions.

Why when Gillingham is only 15 miles away and even the London teams are only 45 miles away, is it acceptable to support a team from over 200 miles away.?

Why is such plastic charlatan behaviour of claiming to be a fan of a team you've not seen and from a town you've not been to increasingly acceptable in the South?

Why is it not culturally embarrassing to dress up in Man U club shop tat, wear it in a pub in Kent and be seen as a football fan?

As I had more ale I did start to pass comment referring to United (to challenge their arrogant assumption that there is only one United), mentioning to my mate about how I will be travelling to Wigan on Tuesday (to show how people living in Kent can get to the North even in the dark) and recalling how Old Trafford has changed since my previous trips (in fact as an away fan I've probably been more times than they had as home fans).

If I'd stayed longer the comments would have got more barbed, so I have to ask myself why did this Man U behaviour wind me up?

Blades, I am this morning proud to support a team that may not have won yesterday, may not have much footballing success and can't buy multi million pound players, But they are MY team, the geographically closest team to where I grew up, from a ground where I know how rank the Gents toilets used to be and where I can, despite not going to every game, proudly say I support MY team.

Up the Blades.

Faversham eh? Great brewery there. Shepherd & Neame. Spend some time in Canterbury because my cousin is an estate agent there and a Pig, which sort of fits together as a couple of detestable entities you could be if you chose to be the ultimate blood sucking arrogant tosser. Anyway from my experience down there all the incomers from the North brought their allegiances with them and all the "natives" have picked one of the big four. I suppose it happens if you haven't got a local club and a tradition to follow.