Your fan career

[Psaw2]

I have moved around a bit, and as im getting older I have begun thinking about the past. As a young man I moved to Sheffield, then Birmingham , back to Cambridge, then Stoke, then back to Brum, now finally back to Ely.

In all that time, this is a list of clubs I have watched. As a lad, uncounted Cambridge United and City games, in Sheffield Wednesday and United, I loved my time there, Wednesday fans are a breed apart. I loved watching them as well as United.

In Brum in two spells, Birmingham City far more than Villa, I don't know why, I think it was because it was easier to get too. Indifferent about them really. I watched Bromsgrove Rovers for several seasons, almost all home games, a grand club now with a different name now, Redditch, Halesowen, Stourbridge, Alvechurch for a couple of seasons, all of them I racked up a lot of games. In Stoke, City and Vale, don't care about either really, just went to watch a game.

Now im back home so to speak, im indifferent about United, Ely are rubbish, and im now a Wisbech fan. Who would have thought that. Kings Lynn are a regular visit, a lovely club and town. I go to Soham occasionally. Where has your fan career taken you.? In a big list, I rate Wednesday as the best of the lot, a big club that will go nowhere, a tragedy.

A ground hopper before it was invented. Floella Jackson Rimbaugh DSE.

[Moreton_Pie]

You're right about Wedneday fans being a breed apart. The massive (my arse) are truly deluded

[MagpieMike]

My fan career is very simple. First live game I ever watched was at the Lane, been following them ever since. Even managed 4 home games in a season when I was living in Spain.... I've seen the neighbours about 3 times when they weren't playing us, and I went to watch Norwich at home when visiting family in Norfolk. Apart from that, I must have seen several hundred games featuring the ***y stylish Pies. I've been to a few outposts over the years, Wigan and Colchester's old grounds away, Southend, Rotherham at Millmoor, and when they were at that aweful ground in Sheffield. Also seen us at Wolves, Tottenham, Brentford, Florest when we used to play them in the league, Mansfailed, and Chessy.

[upthemaggies]

Only ever attended two games that didn't involve Notts, a Wembley cup final and a local non-league side in the 4th Qualifying round of the FA Cup.

I did support Liverpool however before I was able to persuade my dad to take me to a match and that was always going to be at Notts because I hated Fword and wouldn't have wanted to have risked seeing them win.

[i961pie]

I used to watch Leeds now and again, wife is from there and watched a few Forest games when I was about 10 or 11.
Couldn't see to well in the crowd of 30,000. I was at the Spurs v ManUtd. game in the earlier sixties at White Hart Lane, Spurs won 5-1.
I remember watching Hately play his first game for Villa at the City ground and scoring in a 1-0 win.

[irishpete]

I have moved around a bit, and as im getting older I have begun thinking about the past. As a young man I moved to Sheffield, then Birmingham , back to Cambridge, then Stoke, then back to Brum, now finally back to Ely.

In all that time, this is a list of clubs I have watched. As a lad, uncounted Cambridge United and City games, in Sheffield Wednesday and United, I loved my time there, Wednesday fans are a breed apart. I loved watching them as well as United.

In Brum in two spells, Birmingham City far more than Villa, I don't know why, I think it was because it was easier to get too. Indifferent about them really. I watched Bromsgrove Rovers for several seasons, almost all home games, a grand club now with a different name now, Redditch, Halesowen, Stourbridge, Alvechurch for a couple of seasons, all of them I racked up a lot of games. In Stoke, City and Vale, don't care about either really, just went to watch a game.

Now im back home so to speak, im indifferent about United, Ely are rubbish, and im now a Wisbech fan. Who would have thought that. Kings Lynn are a regular visit, a lovely club and town. I go to Soham occasionally. Where has your fan career taken you.? In a big list, I rate Wednesday as the best of the lot, a big club that will go nowhere, a tragedy.

A ground hopper before it was invented. Floella Jackson Rimbaugh DSE.

From Ely then. Some of my relations are from that neck of the woods. Believe my Nanas' parents owned the Mill years ago

[slack_pie]

I've been a Notts fan since I first went in the early 90s, but this season is the first time in my life that I've attempted to support another club. I have a season ticket at Bohemians 1905 in Prague. It's a cracking little club with amazing fans.

Apart from that, the live games I've been to that haven't involved Notts have been at Forest (forgive me), Hertha Berlin, Wisla Krakow, and a host of Prague-based club (Slavia, Sparta, Viktoria Zizkov).

I love having a home-from-home team, but of course nothing ever compares to watching Notts. I'm looking forward to going to my first game this season in November. Barrow, I think.

[TSANHO]

My first Notts game was a boxing day match against Chelsea which we won 2-0...it was the late 80's I think and I was pretty young. I've no idea what division that was.

I didn't start going regularly to watch Notts until the 94/95 season when we got relegated from what is now the Championship...and it has been pretty much down hill ever since, I've tried not caring about Notts a few times but it never works!

[SwalePie]

1973 - Present

Notts County.

[queenslandpie]

1973 - present.

Also Notts County.

[nw6pie]

Other than the mighty Notts, I saw Arnold Town occasionally as a kid. I spent a few years watching Plymouth Argyle (including their promotion season in the mid-80s); a season watching Arsenal mainly but also a few lower-league clubs in London (Brentford, Orient); three years watching Portsmouth; and two years watching Brighton. I also watch Hapoel Haifa occasionally out here in Israel, but generally follow Notts via Radio Nottingham commentaries. Looking forward to eventually returning to Nottingham and seeing Notts every week again - something I’ve not done since the 1991-92 season.

[uysapie]

1973 - Present

Notts County.

!952 till now, The Pies!

[51Magpie]

When I was very young, my old man used to take me along Mapperley Plains to watch Gedling Colliery at the Miners' Welfare. That was before he thought I was old enough to take to watch Notts at the Lane. I had just turned seven at the time of the Munich air disaster, and like a lot of people at that time I became a Man U fan out of sympathy. I remember going to watch them play Forest in the late Fifties, but I stopped following them while I was growing up. Before that I'd become a Notts fan, like my Dad and his friends. I went to Dundee University in the late 60s and used to go to watch the Tannadice Terriers (Dundee Utd) with my digs landlord. I was kept in touch with Notts by my mother, who used to send me cigarettes wrapped in the Saturday pink edition of the Post (or was it the News in those days - can't remember). When I started work it was not far from Norwich, but whenever I could I would come back to watch Notts, sometimes dragging neutral workmates along in the hope of converting them to the black and white stripes. This was in the era of Sirrel, Masson, Needham, Bradd, Hateley et al. My career never brought me back to Nottingham, seemingly taking me ever further away. For that reason, I reckon I've seen Notts more away than at home. When I do go to a home match I tend to take family and make an occasion of it with a booking of Notts hospitality. When my son was growing up, I took him to watch Southampton regularly for a few years, and Southampton is my #2 side. My son still supports Notts and comes with me to away games whenever he can, but now he lives in Chelsea he keeps wasting money on going to Stamford Bridge. He dragged me along to watch Chelsea v Liverpool which was hard for me as I reflexively dislike London clubs.

[Psaw2]

Bromsgrove amazingly finished second in the conference one year, and shows that anything can happen. Less so these days as money has polarised everything. There was a lot of cracking games in there. There are a lot of non league teams in this area, less so in Nottingham, so it seems.

Highlights included Villas spells in Europe, Jim Smiths team at Brum, some of those players should have been jailed, both Sheffield teams, Jack Charlton at Wednesday, and Harry Haslam at United, he almost signed Diego Maradonna, Bromsgroves success, as well as Alvechurch flying high in the southern league. You might find that surprising, but Alvechurch are a club one step away from being a pub team.

One memory sticks in my mind when Alvechurch played Chelmsford. Chelmsford had a tricky winger, and he ran rings around the defence. The problem was that he would never cross the ball. Not only that he would take the ball backwards, and do it again, and still not cross the ball, while his team mates screamed at him. He did that three times once when in uninterrupted possession.

Having watched and played in the south, midlands, and the north there is a distinct difference in mentality. That winger had a southern mentality, "im brilliant, watch this", southerners abuse, shout, threaten, but rarely do it. Up north, hard play is just accepted as the norm, if you squeal your a pu ssy. The midlands is a mixture, they play proper football but if you cross someone they say nothing, just look at you, then do you later.

Next on my list is Peterboro sports, a club from no where doing extremely well. And Yaxley a village team in the southern league.

[the_anticlough]

Nice thread.
My football following history is long and complicated. I left Nottingham 35 years ago and despite coming back regularly watching Notts has had to be on and off when you're living in another city or country.
To keep it short, all I'll say is it started as a Derby County nut. My Notts family only put up with this til I got to 8 then leaned on me big time and it's been the magpies ever since.
Confession time, with Notts going out of the league I asked myself if I might be better off going to the league club nearest my home now - Derby! But my heart just wasn't in it. Having a skinful in the Harrogate club bar and seeing a 0-2 win convinced me I that there was never any choice to make.

[yoop_eyes]

Mine's a little more long winded. Growing up in Chesterfield my dad used to take me to Saltergate often. At school, it was always common place to support Chesterfield but also 'support' a Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal etc. as well. While supporting Chesterfield, I flitted between a few of the top 1st division teams (mid to late 80s) with no real purpose or affection.

Then in Feb 1989, Chesterfield played Notts County. Chesterfield had Steve Cherry on loan (from Plymouth?) in goal & Notts had Mick Leonard. If memory serves, Cherry played a blinder, Chesterfield won 3-0 (i have memories of a volleyed own goal from edge of box by Craig Short, but that may well have been over egged over the years, it may well not have even happened) but I fell in love with the black & white stripes.

Notts signed Cherry & Leonard went the other way. I followed Notts' results as best I could over the coming years & when they got promoted to 1st division, they just naturally became my 'big club' to support whilst still watching Chesterfield with my mates and/or my dad.

This seemed to serve me quite well until the time that Notts got relegated to level 3 and Chesterfield beat Bury (rip) to get promoted from to the same level. Realistically I had to make a choice. In October 95, they met in the Auto Windscreens Shield. I sat near the half way line at Saltergate and just watched. Chesterfield were 2-0 up and I didn't care. I was willing Notts to score (they did, Devon White) but they lost 2-1. From then on, it was a no brainer... I was a Notts fan.

I went to ML for the first time later that season (watched Notts beat Chesterfield 4-1 with beauties from Arkins & Nicol amongst them). I started going a bit more regularly in 2002+. Now a regular season ticket holder. I had lots of banter with dad & spireite friends over the years. Dad passed 5 years ago now (RIP) ... and a lot of my friends are apathetic to Chesterfield's plight, so this has stopped now. I still look forward to the games between us (and the beer obviously).

[ArabianNotts]

Two things happened to me in 1966, at the age of 11. The first was the World Cup which got me interested in soccer. The second was that we moved to Dublin, where I immediately took up the strange Irish habit of being a fan of an English club. I flirted for couple of years with Man U and Leeds. Then, one day I saw a snippet in a football magazine reporting that Jack Dunnett was taking over the oldest club in the world, Notts County who were on the brink of bankruptcy, with debts of £100,000. I fell in love, boarded the roller coaster and am still on board 50 odd years later.
Here in Ireland I occasionally go to the local team Shamrock Rovers with my son who is a season ticket holder. My other sporting love is the Wexford hurling team. If you have never seen hurling, look it up on youtube. its worth seeing.

[Lullapie]

From Ely then. Some of my relations are from that neck of the woods. Believe my Nanas' parents owned the Mill years ago

Didn’t Ely win the international ‘It’s a Knockout “ (Jeux sans Frontiers) in the 1970’s?

[Psaw2]

That brings some memories back. I used to watch that religiously, and it got very competitive. The Jerries used to train for it. When the British team lost, as usual, I used to feel devastated, mind you I was about ten. Cant remember if Ely ever won it. To expand a bit on remote football, my mothers family lived on the border of the old Yugoslavia and Italy.

I would drive around the mountains when I visited there, and came across a small stadium with floodlights and a small stand. It was overgrown and rusted etc, and hadn't been used for a very long time. This was in the middle of nowhere, it makes me wonder how it would have been in its heyday, playing games between the local villages, probably on an amateur basis, or for a few quid, drinking good booze, in a heavenly environment,...oh and warm.

[ManchesterMagpie]

Until I left Nottingham in 2007 the only club I ever watched was Notts (apart from the odd Arnold Town game when I lived there in the 90s).

Since moving to the North-West I've been to watch both City and United a few times, Liverpool and Everton (my old boss had an Exec box at Goodison) and Wigan Athletic (a company I worked for did some work for them so we went a few times when they were in the Premier League). It was great to be part of a big match atmosphere and being a 'neutral' is a lot less stressful than supporting you lifetime club. But it doesn't feel right. And besides I'm more at home when I occasionally go to watch Altrincham or Warrington Town (my 2 nearest non-league sides).

Anyway, best get a wriggle on. Meeting mates in the Navi in a couple of hours. See you at the Lane! :)