Why do you support your team?

[MDK]

This is inspired partly by me insulting Man U fans >_>

So why do you support your team? Maybe its your local team, or maybe your local team isn't very good and you decided to support a team 100 miles away that are very, very good. Or maybe you were indoctrinated into supporting a team because your parent(s) supported them and you didn't have a choice.

Orient are my local team. Arsenal, Spurs and West Ham are my other closest teams but fuck them. I've always had a soft spot for the underdogs and smaller teams, plus when I was a kid they were giving away free season tickets for under 16's. It seems that not many people support Orient, a lot of the people that have season tickets go there because they can't get a season ticket for Arsenal, Spurs and West Ham but want to see some football.

So why do you support who you do?

[Jimmy]

Was always quite impartial with football; was far more interested in acting than I was with football. I used to follow Ipswich a bit when I was younger, but stopped caring about football, even though I'd play every saturday, until about 2008/09, then I started watching football again. I'd always liked Spurs when I was younger, but I started watching a few of their games because they played attractive football and they were available on TV, then I eventually started to care if they won or lost, and before I knew it I was watching every match. Not as credible as people who have supported teams since birth, but yeah, I'll be a Spurs fan for life now, especially as I enjoy, and miss playing, football more than I ever have.

[Lineker]

When I got into football as a kid, I lived a stone's throw away from Spurs Lodge and one of our neighbours was Chris Armstrong. Plus, big Jewish family

[Blue Rosler]

JohnnyPerfect supports Juventus, Man Utd and the others because they are his local team! He is a citizen of the world!

I support West Ham because my uncle did, so had me in a West Ham shirt at the earliest opportunity. And when I was younger, we had a fun team of plucky British youngsters! We're still terrible, but it's fun being the underdog. And every few years, we get to go to Wembley in the Play-off Final.

When I got into football as a kid, I lived a stone's throw away from Spurs Lodge and one of our neighbours was Chris Armstrong. Plus, big Jewish family

You couldn't throw a stone there. It's a really long road.

Unless you lived in the tip or Old Loughtonians.

[unitedツ]

Manchester United, due to my mum supporting them, my dad isn't into football but is a Tottenham fan. I also have a fondness for Newcastle United because my Uncle took me to games when he was alive, and Sunderland because my cousin played for them when I was a kid.

[Summers]

Villa fan because they're my local side, and my dad supported them and passed that onto me. It's in my blood.

Valencia fan by choice, due to loving the players they had and some great times on FM - many years ago. I definitely consider myself a fan now.

[Adam]

Doncaster are my local team, I grew up just a 10 minute walk away from the Old Belle Vue ground. I asked my dad on the opening day of the 1999/2000 season (I was 6) if I could go with him to the game, and he said yes. The rest is history!

I also follow Everton, my dad's second team. I'm not sure he has a particular reason for supporting them but he used to travel up and down the country following them in the 1980's and, despite me favouring Liverpool when it came to top sides as a kid (mainly due to Michael Owen and Robbi Fowler) I have also picked up his love for Everton somewhere along the way. They're a proper club, do things the right way and play the right way. Certainly a club I chose due to their style and means of operating rather than because of locality or anything like that.

My brother did try and get me to join him in supporting Arsenal when I was a little kid. He succeeded in getting me to like Dennis Bergkamp, but that was it when it came to the Gunners!

[METALMAN]

I like Kilmarnock because it is where I am from. It's more fun than supporting Celtic and Rangers. We've won two trophies in the last fifteen years but they are more meaningful when they come along!

But yeah, I have a connection to them that I don't have towards any other team. There's a few others that I like, but none that I would say I'm a fan of or support. Maybe Roma, because of my mum's family, but that's pushing it a bit.

[MDK]

I should have added 'and where do you live, hmm?' as an addendum, just so I can feel superior to all those who live in a different country to the team they support >_>

[Lineker]

JohnnyPerfect supports Juventus, Man Utd and the others because they are his local team! He is a citizen of the world!

I support West Ham because my uncle did, so had me in a West Ham shirt at the earliest opportunity. And when I was younger, we had a fun team of plucky British youngsters! We're still terrible, but it's fun being the underdog. And every few years, we get to go to Wembley in the Play-off Final.

When I got into football as a kid, I lived a stone's throw away from Spurs Lodge and one of our neighbours was Chris Armstrong. Plus, big Jewish family

You couldn't throw a stone there. It's a really long road.

Unless you lived in the tip or Old Loughtonians.

Hush with your Essex geography you

[Monkey D. Lars]

Feyenoord I love and die for is because of my father. He brought me with him to my first Feyenoord - Ajax game when I was 8, I was so impressed with everything over there. That's why I support them till the end. Even though I live near Amsterdam and everyone here supports Ajax.

Oklahoma well, just ilke I told in the like thread, I supported Seatlle because of Durant and they moved to Oklahoma. Will I still support OKC if Durant ever leaves? I don't want to think about it, but so far I do.

But I have to spread the Feyenoord love some more here.

[brenchill]

My dad use to follow Walsall and Villa when he was younger but my uncle was always a Villa fan. The first football game I went to was Villa vs. Bordeaux in the UEFA Cup. We won 1-0 thanks to Savo Milosevic in extra time.

I use to have Man Utd strips when I was a kid, but I was never a fan.

I always use to like Lazio when I was a kid. I use to have a few of their tops. And also supported Barca when they had Figo, Rivaldo, Kluivert, etc. Don't care for either team now, though.

[DavidMarrio]

Liverpool because they are my local team and because I was raised into being a Liverpool fan (pretty much most of my family are Liverpool fans). Used to love going the game with my dad when I was younger before he sadly passed away so I see it as a connection to him as well rather then just being a football team. The style of play and some of the players back when I was younger as well made me more interested in the team such as Redknapp, Owen and Fowler.

I follow Wigan slightly as well because my cousins are from the area and used to take me to the games back when they were in the old Division 2 when Roberto Martinez was a player for them so I've always kept an eye on how they are doing.

[METALMAN]

I should have added 'and where do you live, hmm?' as an addendum, just so I can feel superior to all those who live in a different country to the team they support >_>

People that don't a support a team from nearby and don't have an extremely good excuse for not doing so are always terrible. In my experience. :/

[EddieG]

JohnnyPerfect supports Juventus, Man Utd and the others because they are his local team! He is a citizen of the world!

Of course this is my real story, for most the teams I support/follow anyway

Malaga, Bolton, Donny, and Anzoategui if I gave a crap about Venezuelan football, and Toronto 'cause my stepfamily is from there.

Feyenoord I love and die for is because of my father. He brought me with him to my first Feyenoord - Ajax game when I was 8, I was so impressed with everything over there. That's why I support them till the end. Even though I live near Amsterdam and everyone here supports Ajax.

Oklahoma well, just ilke I told in the like thread, I supported Seatlle because of Durant and they moved to Oklahoma. Will I still support OKC if Durant ever leaves? I don't want to think about it, but so far I do.

But I have to spread the Feyenoord love some more here.

Of course my first love is Feyenoord, but for me they're actually local. Funnily enough I live a short bike ride away, yet have never been to a game.

And Liverpool, I don't know why really, I never really followed the prem, until Kuyt moved over I guess, although I watched the 2005 CL Final when it was dead in the restaurant I worked at, and I decided before the kickoff to at least root for em in that match, so they always had a special place for me since that game, but I still didn't care much for the prem.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I only got into football in the summer of 2004, and my mates were all glory supporting Arsenal fans who loved them after the Invincibles season, so I decided to pick their rivals to piss them off, but my favourite colour is blue, so picked Chelsea over Tottenham.

[brenchill]

Or, an alternative answer, because somebody has to .

[stokeriño]

For whatever reason, and this is presumably an indictment of my childhood psyche, I never thought "My dad supports QPR so that's our team". I immediately thought "My dad supports QPR, so who can I support against him?"

(This goes back to the first match he took me to where I was old enough to remember, which was QPR v Ipswich in October 1993, and I chose to support Ipswich without a second's thought. QPR won 3-0. I was quite upset.)

Chelsea follows logically from this criteria.

[Summers]

I should have added 'and where do you live, hmm?' as an addendum, just so I can feel superior to all those who live in a different country to the team they support >_>

People that don't a support a team from nearby and don't have an extremely good excuse for not doing so are always terrible. In my experience. :/

I understand if it's a family thing.. wherever I moved to, I'd be raising my kids at Villa fans. I'd still probably take them to see a local team, so they'd have both - but I'd definitely bring them up as Villa fans, even if I lived abroad.

[FLiam]

I support Arsenal purely because my Dad did, and took me to games when I was younger. He was taken to games as a kid by his Dad, so it's just always been in the family.

I always look out for Brighton results as well because they're only a half hour drive away, not a fan but like to see them doing alright.