Football club loyalty

Originally Posted by Zorg

I'm feeling the same tbh, minus the HK league football bit.

imo being a laptop abroad red is pretty rubbish at the best of times, literally never going to actual matches, having to scramble around for a stream that works etc.. But now with VAR on top of that they've all but killed the remaining moments of excitement and I'm not sure I can be bothered.

I watch old clips like Lee Sharpe scoring at Elland Road and the United end going mental and it's just a bygone age. That kind of experience is dead, and what it's been replaced with is sanitised, stat-obsessed rubbish.

Agreed, the game at the top is really changing.

Love going to watch Chorley for the experience. The football is a bit shit, and ultimately there's not a lot to play for; if they somehow manage to have a wonder season and go up then, they'll just come straight back down anyway after getting @#%&!ted every week for a season.

But despite that more and more are going to the games in our group more often. Mainly a mix of United and Liverpool fans with some of them season ticket holders, and they get more of a buzz from going to Chorley games than they do at Premier League games now. Win or lose it always feels like a top day of football.

I have noticed a lot more younger lads going to Chorley and proper getting into it. When I started 20 odd years ago there'd be a few teenagers going down for the craic but not taking it too seriously. You'd get the piss ripped out of you if you said you were a Chorley fan at school. Now there's big groups that go and watch them regularly home and away, even made their own banners and coming up with their own chants. I reckon they're trying to create their own version of your Lee Sharpe memories which they can't get from top flight football currently.

Originally Posted by Patty_b

Agreed, the game at the top is really changing.

Love going to watch Chorley for the experience. The football is a bit shit, and ultimately there's not a lot to play for; if they somehow manage to have a wonder season and go up then, they'll just come straight back down anyway after getting @#%&!ted every week for a season.

But despite that more and more are going to the games in our group more often. Mainly a mix of United and Liverpool fans with some of them season ticket holders, and they get more of a buzz from going to Chorley games than they do at Premier League games now. Win or lose it always feels like a top day of football.

I have noticed a lot more younger lads going to Chorley and proper getting into it. When I started 20 odd years ago there'd be a few teenagers going down for the craic but not taking it too seriously. You'd get the piss ripped out of you if you said you were a Chorley fan at school. Now there's big groups that go and watch them regularly home and away, even made their own banners and coming up with their own chants. I reckon they're trying to create their own version of your Lee Sharpe memories which they can't get from top flight football currently.

That's interesting.

That last bit is exactly it, I reckon.

One of my best mates from childhood was a massive red, just as obsessed as I was. Iirc he was at the Nou Camp in 99 and went home and away for years. He now watches Stockport County with his lad. I've not asked him why but I imagine it'll be a similar story.

It’s all 90% hereditary

That why you see kids wearing Burnley shirts, admittedly in Burnley itself
but even they’ve got TV there now, so something keeps them tied to the
Shitkickers.

No other sporting team institution suffered the devastation United did.
I recently said Bobby was the greatest English sportsman’s story and it is a part of the wider club version

It’s why cITEH and the Verm despise us, try as they might they can never steal our clothes no matter what they win/buy. United are a fairy tail.

If you were given United you’ll get it. If you get United, you get it forever.
Whether it’s Matt, Wilf, the Doc, BFR, Fergie or the many chosen ones

Lot of dim witted, rose tinted bullshit being spouted. Chorley, given they’re the example being cited, have a lower avg attendance now than pre VAR. They’ll get 1k through the gates on a good day. Mix of Utd & Liverpool season ticket holders & big groups of school lads apparently. Not that big, though

The goon is still the goon. See reaction at Emirates for Garnacho. VAR comes after, but it’s not interrupting the celebrations for vast majority of goals in the grounds.

Avg league attendance above 40k for first time last season; biggest total attendance in history. 98% tickets sold. Sold out 70k tickets for Nicosia last season when capacity was, what, just north of 50k in 90s?

Popularity of The game at the highest level is going nowhere despite what the thickos think.

As for changing the team you support?

I’ve always been a United fan from the point I was aware of football (family indoctrination).

I did go to watch Bury regularly in the mid-80’s with mates from school…watching Craig Madden banging them in.

Originally Posted by VanHaaksbergen

The goon is still the goon. See reaction at Emirates for Garnacho. VAR comes after, but it’s not interrupting the celebrations for vast majority of goals in the grounds.

Originally Posted by VanHaaksbergen

despite what the thickos think.

Don’t even remember my first few games. Must’ve been about 6 or even 5. 15\20 minute walk to the ground from from home off Ordsall Lane. Walk past all the ships in dock. Grandad was a docker and a blue. Came from that side of NI but Gran was from south of the border and the dominant half of the two. Made sure we were all good catholics and reds. uncles and cousins etc. Don’t even recall any blues where we lived. Only became aware of them at school as we moved around M/c., and even then, only after they beat United at home in 68 and got their noses in front for the title. @#%&!s suddenly all came crawling out with scarves, like I’d never seen before.
As prev: funny how you go lukewarm on music heroes etc but never United. Even relegation - never even blinked. More pissed off now but that’s probably the game in general.

Originally Posted by VanHaaksbergen

Popularity of The game at the highest level is going nowhere despite what the thickos think.

Popularity is not an indicator of quality.

The joy has been absolutely sucked out of the game big time.

Originally Posted by VanHaaksbergen

Lot of dim witted, rose tinted bullshit being spouted. Chorley, given they’re the example being cited, have a lower avg attendance now than pre VAR. They’ll get 1k through the gates on a good day. Mix of Utd & Liverpool season ticket holders & big groups of school lads apparently. Not that big, though

Strange lie. Other than the season in the National League after promotion which saw an increase in attendances from both home and away fans (at least for a period of time), the average home crowd has increased. So much so they had to build a new additional bar at the beginning of this season to take on the extra demand.

Originally Posted by VanHaaksbergen

Popularity of The game at the highest level is going nowhere despite what the thickos think.

Who mentioned popularity you thick #@&%!? We were talking about support. The global popularity of the game is going to keep increasing. The support won't be the same as it was though.

Originally Posted by VanHaaksbergen

Lot of dim witted, rose tinted bullshit being spouted. Chorley, given they’re the example being cited, have a lower avg attendance now than pre VAR. They’ll get 1k through the gates on a good day. Mix of Utd & Liverpool season ticket holders & big groups of school lads apparently. Not that big, though

Popularity of The game at the highest level is going nowhere despite what the thickos think.

Dog walk done so let's do this properly.

The games that have the highest attendances at non-league level will be weekend games, all of which take place at 3pm on Saturday, ignoring outliers such as televised FA Cup games or the possibility of a title decider that falls on a weekday. Weekday evening games always have a lower attendance than Saturday 3pm games, due to a mix of top flight european games being televised at the same time, travel times for away fans and work commitments.

A fixture against a 'big' team with a large away following taking place midweek would have a much lower attendance than the same fixture taking place on a Saturday at 3pm. You only need a few of those types of fixture timings over the course of a season to skew the average attendance over the course of the season. Even having an extra team or two with large away followings in the division can affect the season average even if the home support is constant.

Average league attendance will also be affected by a good cup run. In the 20/21 season Chorley reached the 4th round of the FA Cup proper, drawing both Derby and then Wolves at home in the 3rd and then 4th rounds respectively. Those two games were sell outs. If you include those attendances in the average figures then it'd skew the average by a couple of hundred, but even if you don't include those attendances then there's still a positive knock on effect in the league attendance. You'd see a sharp increase in League attendances around the FA Cup run, and then a gradual decline once the cup run ends. But you wont see this if you're just looking at the seasonal average. It's the difference between regular invested support and people that go to the game to 'see what it's all about' due to an increase in exposure.

The demand for non-league football is increasing. There's going to be many reasons for this; the Wrexham effect, the fact that you can drink while watching the games, and yes, people getting disillusioned and bored of top flight football. I know this because I speak to people at the actual £#%&!ing games who say it. The demand has increased so much for non-league football that The National League created their own streaming service at the beginning of the year, and then expanded their coverage from the National League to also include the National League north/south this season

This is the problem with football stat £#%&!ers like yourself, you type a few keywords into google, read a few numbers on your screen and suddenly think you gain more insight knowledge about something than someone who is there seeing and experiencing something first hand. I can tell you first hand from going to the games and speaking to people at the games that the active and dedicated support for Chorley has been getting better, and that one of the reasons is people are feeling put off from top flight football. I don't expect the popularity of non-league football to increase at the same level as top flight football, but that wasn't the point of the discussion.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyR6UMLRnpb/?igshid=MWVoZGVlN2Vzc2ZmcA==

United is not the owners, the manager, the players or the stadium.

United is the fans.

Everyone else comes and goes. We are constant.

I have made the best friends of my life through United.

When I was a kid and asked my cousin how I could 'become' a United fan, he said it was simple. You say you're United and you never change your mind.

True then. True now.

One love.

The Chorley Ultras should £#%&! off and argue on their own forum.

Originally Posted by suedeshoes

The Chorley Ultras should £#%&! off and argue on their own forum.

Any Chorley ultras reading this who want to arrange a straightener with sueders can pm me, I have his contact details

Rivington pike, 9pm

You don’t choose your football team. It’s defined at birth. I was born a red and can never be anything else. Yes you can fall in and out of love with football but you will always love utd.

David squires latest

https://www.theguardian.com/football...sportless-mind

David….do you lurk on here?

Give me a sign

Originally Posted by Whip Hubley

Popularity is not an indicator of quality.

Of course not, despite what the thickos think.

Originally Posted by no fun

David squires latest

https://www.theguardian.com/football...sportless-mind

David….do you lurk on here?

Give me a sign

No

Sapiens

Originally Posted by est.1878

Sapiens