Changing your football team

wilkos_perm said:
I'd honestly say not. In poor times you get fed up, but my position as a Boro fan hasn't ever wavered. Obviously Bournemouth have been mucvh lower down the pyramid, so it's not been tested to that extent.
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I'd say its more to do with other things you have going on in your life, relationships, family etc. sometimes u have to question if your afternoon is the best think u could be doing with your afternoon/day (incl. boozing)! I missed a key promotion away game once for a great afternoon with a new girlfriend once ;-)

I'm not really arguing about changing teams tho, I've gone off on a tangent!

If/when we move to boro, then I'll have choices to make.....
 
I changed my team from South Bank United to Middlesbrough - A very difficult decision and not one taken lightly. ;)

On a serious note, when I was younger I would go to watch Sunderland and Newcastle if they had a big game and the Boro were away from home. I never supported either of them and was just happy to see a good game of football.
 
I would guess it makes more sense these days to follow multiple teams as it is so easy to see football at all levels. When I first moved away I only saw Boro matches if they were on TV or MotD and I couldn't even listen on the radio (still can't which is simply ridiculous). If I had been a fan of a lower league team then there would have been almost no coverage available so if you aren't living locally and able to go in person there was no way to follow them. Maybe that's why people now have multiple club. They want to follow the PL and thy are no longer abandoning the smaller clubs.
 
Grew up with two lads who were Boro season ticket holders for years. One of them now supports Man United (although there was always an inkling they were glory supporter).

The other is suddenly a die hard Everton fan, I’m sure he’s even developing a scouse twang! Well that’s turned out well for him hasn’t it.
 
I'll never get changing teams, how can you feel any excitement during the good times if you just keep switching to the latest club winning everything. They'll never get the feeling we got when we won the league cup or those UEFA quarter and semi finals.

The only fans I'll accept switching are Wimbledon fans when they became MK Dons 🤮
 
in the seventies, people down here used to go and watch bormuff at home one week, then southampton at home the next - that never happens now. I spose thats a bit like boro fans going to watch hartlepool, does/did that happen much?
 
Frozen Horse said:
I think if you make a conscious decision to support a particular team, you don't really support them.

It's more a case of waking up one morning and thinking "oh s***, I'm a Boro fan, and I love them".
Real support is in spite of rational decision-making, not because of it.
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I think that's true. Back in 1990 when I was a young child I went through a spell of Spurs being my 'first division' team (Gazza/Lineker and my uncle supported them) and Boro being my 'second division' team (Dad's team). But after Gazza did his cruciate in the cup final the following season I remember not even looking out for Spurs results and only caring about Boro who were of course getting promoted. When we went up in 92 we hammered Spurs at Ayresome and I remember being there feeling nothing at all for Spurs and wondering why I ever felt anything for them in the first place, it was purely the Gazza/Italia 90 effect. I was 9 and since then the idea of even having a 'second team' is completely lost on me.
 
afcb_acklam said:
in the seventies, people down here used to go and watch bormuff at home one week, then southampton at home the next - that never happens now. I spose thats a bit like boro fans going to watch hartlepool, does/did that happen much?
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My Grandad (from CLS) would watch both Newcastle and Sunderland as a boy, it was just about watching Jackie Milburn and Charlie Hurley etc. I think he watched Pools sometimes too. In the early 70s he started watching Boro as a season ticket holder and in truth he sort of supported all north east teams, I get the feeling it was a bit different back then certainly pre-hooliganism etc. His favourite footballer of all time was Tom Finney though - go figure.
 
With instances like this, "glory supporters" at some point make a "choice" to support a top team.
That can NEVER, EVER, be the same as someone who is a fan because they are born into it.
I couldn't tell you for example when I started supporting Boro, there was never a choice, it simply happened before my earliest memory and its deeply embedded into my psyche. The same as my kids and I'm sure their kids after them etc, etc.
Changing a team to fans of that nature is incomprehensible as they have a deep emotional attachment.
 
Wonder if there would be some split loyalties for some on here if Stockton Town ended up playing Boro in the future in a competitive game?
 
Is it even feasible these days to go and watch Bournemouth one week and Southampton the next? The cheapest Bournemouth ticket is £32, Southampton’s is £40. So you’re £72 in before you’ve even thought about twice getting the train or paying for petrol.

It’s ludicrous, let’s be honest. I don’t want to derail this thread and turn it into something it probably wasn’t intended to be but one of the reasons I see less of Boro now and see much more National League football is because of the insane costs.

Maybe this is another factor with people drifting to other matches.
 
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My cousin was a Sunderland fan from being a youngster, I used to go for a beer with him when he was in his 30s and 40s now and again. I hadn't seen him for a long time but bumped into him in 2006 at Teesside Airport waiting for a Rome flight with the rest of the Boro fans.

Myself, I rarely go to Boro matches, preferring to watch the Northern League. It's more like the football experience I got watching the Boro pre Riverside.
 
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TeaCider said:
I think if you chose to support a team which you had no prior connection with in the first place, it's probably easier.
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I have a mate who is a Spurs fan, from North London, who started going to WHL when he was about 5. He moved up to Manchester after University and started going to Man City (this was back in the early 90's) and even went so far as to get a season ticket. He basically went because his mates (Rob Gretton who was Joy Division / New Orders manager, and Mike Pickering the DJ and founder of M People) were city fans and he enjoyed going to the match with them. This was when City were bad, and so they called him "the cockney curse".

He moved back to London in the early 2000's and got a Spurs season ticket and still goes now with his daughter. He keeps his eye out for City, but has no conflict when they play each other.

That I find strange, having a ST for a club you don't really follow.....
 
There's no other team that I would dare to have the same affiliation to as I do 'Boro. Nothing comes close.

However, there's certain players/managers I always look out for and try to watch as frequently as possible when 'Boro aren't playing.

Messi & Pep spring to mind as I think Messi is the greatest footballer of all time - by an absolute clear distance. And Pep as I believe he has revolutionised football in how we all see it today. That Barca team between 2008-2012 was just on another level and I firmly believe no other team in history will come close to matching it. It was near on perfect football. And I also believe he will go down as the greatest manager of all time. It's just so fascinating to see the attention to detail and how he keeps changing and adapting to things.

So I will always have an interest in their careers and follow their 'teams' as such - more because of the said individuals than the team/club itself.

None of those two individuals come remotely close to what I feel for 'Boro mind.

I have no idea how anyone can change their support to a different club neither.
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
I would never change teams but I’ve been going to watch Maidstone United for the past couple of seasons, and Dulwich Hamlet. I see more of those two than I do Boro now. It’s a bit sad actually but one of the things that I noticed about going to games at that level was you can sort of see where your money is going. You know if you buy an extra round for your in-laws or everyone buys a pie and chips, it’s going into that till and it keeps them ticking along. They are very grateful for your pound coins.

At Boro’s level, it’s sort of hard to see it in that way. I mean I’m not saying they aren’t grateful but it just feels different. You see all the sports cars parked up and the squad players wearing Rolex watches and you just wonder about it. Or I do.

I never thought I’d be someone who would go and watch other teams at one point but have made a real habit of it now. And my best mate’s Dad has broken from watching his Stoke City team - had followed them home and away since the late 70s - to go to Man City, Stockport, Macclesfield, plus Newcastle Town and Hanley. He goes to Stoke as and when now.

I think it’s more common than we think it is. People drift. I would never proclaim to be anything other than a Boro supporter but can see how people change over time. Especially with what football has become, and what it costs to attend and watch on TV.
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I'll go and watch Hitchin Town if the Boro aren't playing, but I feel nowhere near the same emotion as I would watching Boro.
 
afcb_acklam said:
I'd say its more to do with other things you have going on in your life, relationships, family etc. sometimes u have to question if your afternoon is the best think u could be doing with your afternoon/day (incl. boozing)! I missed a key promotion away game once for a great afternoon with a new girlfriend once ;-)

I'm not really arguing about changing teams tho, I've gone off on a tangent!

If/when we move to boro, then I'll have choices to make.....
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I get that, I stopped going to away games and stuff when we had kids (although looking after your kids sends you down the Boro priority points system - that's Boro encouraging absent fathers ;)).

Not sure about the new girlfriend one though, especially not for a vital promotion game...
 
The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
I have a mate who is a Spurs fan, from North London, who started going to WHL when he was about 5. He moved up to Manchester after University and started going to Man City (this was back in the early 90's) and even went so far as to get a season ticket. He basically went because his mates (Rob Gretton who was Joy Division / New Orders manager, and Mike Pickering the DJ and founder of M People) were city fans and he enjoyed going to the match with them. This was when City were bad, and so they called him "the cockney curse".

He moved back to London in the early 2000's and got a Spurs season ticket and still goes now with his daughter. He keeps his eye out for City, but has no conflict when they play each other.

That I find strange, having a ST for a club you don't really follow.....
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I guess it was much cheaper in the early 90s and if it's done for the social side i sort of get it, Season ticket is probably a bit extreme but the odd game as a neutral i could understand.
 
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