Sat in the dentist yesterday where my daughter was getting some work done and my 9 year old son, out of the blue, turned to me and said I don't want to support Sunderland anymore I want to support Utd (Manchester). Now my immediate reaction was NO, tough **** (I was in the dentist room so my use of language was restricted). After having a go at him for a few minutes he eventually subsided but this was the first time he has shown any interest in another team. Obviously we live in the Manchester area and his school mates will support different teams. We are getting ****ter by the season and it must be embarrassing for the lad. I took him to two games though (v Manchester won 2-1 and v Chelsea won 3-2) and both atmospheres were amazing. Due to other stuff going on we cant get to the home games so he has lost interest. We have talked about going to some away games next season as we drove past Blackpool's ground the other week. Anyway, do I chuck him out?
My advice is to give him a good shake and tell him to support the other rich team based in Manchester.
Don't chuck him out mate. That would be cruel. Sell him to a chimney sweep instead. He must be worth a few quid for cheap labouring. Here to help, as always.
His argument was that he was born in Manchester (Stockport) actually so he can support a local team. If it comes to it he can go and watch Stockport or Hyde then.
Tell him when he’s 18 he can choose who he likes. By then we will have risen , be above Utd , and he won’t want to leave us
"Obviously we live in the Manchester area" sort of answers your question, Drum . . . . he doesn't live far enough away to be a United supporter You should suggest that, whichever team he picks, he could support both S.A.F.C. and them, so at least he'll be partially fulfilled and he won't have 'let go' of the pain and suffering that should be inevitable eventually Having said that, if you really loved him you would let him sever all ties, however thin they are at his age, with our club Happy to help p.s. don't chuck him out
I face a similar situation with my lad - I`m sure I`ve said before, the only Sunderland supporter in his school (still true despite moving to secondary school!) - he`s now started to express an interest in supporting Peterborough as wants to start going to games with his mates and on his own (how old is old enough - he`s only 11?)...in his mind that way he might still be supporting a **** team but at least one he can go and watch! It did make me laugh at the weekend though when he was at his football (the might Spalding United u/12`s!!) when he overheard one of the dads (West Brom fan)talking about how hard it is to get out of the Championship - quick as a flash he said "no it`s not - look how well Sunderland managed it"...got to love him!!
I was genuinely more annoyed with the team that he chose. If he wants to go to Stockport or Hyde I would probably go with him. Cheaper replica tops as well.
Well at least he didn't want to support N**C. My son is one of two Sunderland fans at his school, he gets the mick taken out of him on a regular basis and especially now that we are in League One. Most of his friends are glory hunters supporting Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or Tottenham rather than Reading. Before his first game I told him that it's up to him who he wants to support as it's not going to be an easy ride being a Sunderland fan. That was ten years ago and he's still a fan - not sure for how much longer though
Man, that is harsh. Hard to blame the lad though. I grew up in Hampshire, but none of my mates were Saints fans, they were all Liverpool & the like. Could never understand why. But now, would I want to relive those years...........oh hell yeah, just for that one game of the season when we beat one of the big boys and you felt ten feet tall! Support real football, support where you are from. (but don't force them, they might run away)
Feel for you mate, My daughter said the same she hated living in the caravan. doesn't support any body now so I sort of won.
For what it is worth I wouldn’t make my child support Newcastle. I’d be reported to the NSPCC if I did!
I've said before that I don't think I'll be talking my children into supporting Newcastle. If I lived in the area then yeah but I live near Liverpool, not really sure why my kids should support my team to be honest. My father was a Leeds fan (from Leeds in fairness) and whilst I enjoyed cheering them on when they won the title it never occurred to me to actually support them. My kids have a choice of Tranmere, Everton or Liverpool - in that order! Hell they could probably try to swing supporting Man City if they wanted to but I'd have some words if they went with Man Utd. It's simply too cliche. I wouldn't inflict Newcastle on them though and don't see why you would inflict Sunderland on yours. Don't you love them and want them to be happy?
To be fair to me when he first got interested we were an established premiership team. Forgot to tell him about the years of torture I had endured previously.
I swore my son would follow my footballing allegiance. He turns 4 this year and will be figuring this stuff out at school back in Blighty. It hasn’t been on his radar here At least I will be able to take him to games we stand a chance of winning, and hopefully he gets the bug. His initials are S.A. , partly in the hope we’d have a second child who’d have the initials F.C. Second child didn’t happen, so a couple of dogs will have to do the trick. Once he knows this, he’ll have no choice in the matter. Thankfully my wife doesn’t have a scoobie how I decide on names..
Yeah following Manchester Red (they never United two clubs, so it's redundant) isn't glory supporting anymore, I say support the decision You should remind him that it's a team that The Skunks have beaten a couple of times recently though!
