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Article: Humility and integrity | Gillingham FC, Football

Discussion in 'Gillingham' started by brb, Mar 31, 2014.

  1. brb

    brb Guest

    An article I wrote over three years ago and I thought I would share a massively edited version of it again after all this time and would be interested in reading your views on the topic.

    I have been a passionate football supporter of the game and in particular Gillingham FC for near on 40 years.

    I'm sure its well known that I have concerns for today's game but this is not about the usual views of supporters and terracing, this is about the other side that forms part of my passionate condemnation of the modern game. Now the daily malice is probably one of my most hated tabloids, however, back in May 2010 they published an article that i for once agreed with, have a read;

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ict-worst-todays-millionaire-footballers.html

    When the Premier League was first introduced, it brought about a massive change in football and its television broadcasts.

    No more relying on the highlights such as The Big Match and Match of the Day - now the introduction of live broadcasts by the major channels at that time ITV and SKY.

    Although I support a relatively small club in comparison to this subject, it used to be good to sit down on a Sunday afternoon in front of the screen to watch a big game. Who remembers the days of Bob Stokoe lifting the FA Cup with Sunderland in all his passion. The moments of Keegan v Bremner. Arsenal doing only the third ever double. Man Utd in the old League Two, now the Championship. Chelsea v Leeds cup replay in conditions that these days a ref let alone most Plastics wouldn't even get out of bed for.

    So now to the Premier League surely it only has to be a matter of time before it implodes on itself with a bigger fall-out than the collapse of ITV Digital...http://www.itsroundanditswhite.co.u...tv-digital-collapse-on-lower-league-football/

    With the influx of mega bucks that came about, has it now turned to pure greed and success at any cost. You only have to look at Moyes as an example, signed a seven year contract but listening to some so called Manchester United fans it would appear it holds no value in their eyes and sounds like it has about as much significance as a piece of bog paper. That fly pass was embarrassing. But as was said by one United supporter, those in the fly pass do they actually turn up for games, because they clearly were not there that day at the ground and why could they not have just done a large banner protest outside the ground. Instead of being an embarrassment to the club, in front of World eyes. (The latter sentence is my words).

    I no longer can even be bothered to sit down and watch a Premier League game on a Sunday afternoon but actually prefer just to watch my team on a Saturday for my football fix of the week.

    Now I want some genuine views, regardless of who you support...

    How do you feel about how the Premier League is today and what affect it is having on your club and the future of the game?

    Do supporters who actually attend these Premier League games, recognise what some lower league supporters see as pure greed in the PL and the belief that the real passion of football is in the lower leagues or do you think it is just pure jealousy?

    We have seen many clubs fall, in the attempt to reach the heights of the elite, however, I would always prefer to have an actual football club, than one that will eventually fall for glory at all cost or maybe just being a club for the money men to market to cover non footballing means. As stated in the article, 'Leeds should have been the warning about chasing dreams and not looking at the bills.'

    But I'll leave the last words with Chris Powell and especially as I have heard this morning that Nike are to charge £90 for England World Cup 2014 shirt;

    'It's the game in the world. Not a brand but a game. Nobody ever heard a crowd chanting "We're the greatest brand the world has ever seen" and they never will.

    'People who call football a brand don't understand what it's all about.'
     
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  2. sensiblegreeny

    sensiblegreeny Well-Known Member Forum Moderator

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    Plymouth supporter here.

    I don't and have not taken any real interest in the Premier League for a very long time. I to used to enjoy the odd game from the top league and watched MOTD every Saturday night. For me it has become too much about money and less about the football and supporters who have followed some of these clubs for a lifetime. The fact now is that these clubs don't care about supporters and indeed a lot of them could function without anyone coming through their turnstiles. The money contributed by other sources far outways that of the in the street. Not at all clubs but at too many for it to be healthy.

    The question of does this filter downwards to the other divisions has to be answered of course it does. The rewards for getting to the top league are now so vast that even failure in that league gives a club a huge advantage over other sides financially. Chairmen will risk it all for a sniff of the trough. The owners of these clubs are often not from this Country and their purchase of a club is not out of any love for it but for their ego and a crack at the top. Bit like a Gentleman's Club for bragging rights. Gone are the days when a lot of the owners were also fans of the club they supported financially. The only people with affiliation to a club now are the supporters and they, as said above, are being marginalised by them.

    My fix is the same as the writer of this article. I follow my team and go to home games every fortnight throughout the season and listen to radio commentary most other times they are away. If somebody came in with a stack of wedge and waved it at Argyle would I be happy. There in lies the rub. We ALL want our clubs to rise to the heights and sadly most of us would take a Billionaire if it was on offer. Sad isn't it. On one hand I condemn the modern owner elsewhere and the other am saying would almost welcome one of our own. The Daily Mail article is quite right though. This kind of football madness will implode one day and god help football then. So far most clubs have remained in existence after hitting the wall, mine amongst them, but it is only a matter of time before the first one goes and then another matter of time before the deck of cards comes tumbling down. I wanted to live long enough to see my club make the premiership at least once in my lifetime and that was always my goal. I hope I don't live long enough to see my prediction above come true.
     
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  3. Ron

    Ron Well-Known Member Forum Moderator

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    Being one of the oldest on this site, if not the oldest, and having spent all my childhood and beyond supporting an amateur football club, I'm probably not the best to comment on this subject as my views are without doubt, and without shame, old fashioned. I have been a dedicated supporter of just one team all my life. I was born just outside High Wycombe, lived in High Wycombe, just a few minutes walk from my team's football ground Loakes Park, from the age of 5 to 22 and lived near to High Wycombe until moving to France 8 years ago. Every home game there would be swarms of fans descending on Loakes park (more than we could hope to get these days as a League side). All the players were from High Wycombe and surrounding areas and I never once saw a match where the players didn't "turn up". Football was a passion, with all players proud to wear a Wycombe shirt and never gave up. There were so many proud moments: holding Middlesborough to a 0-0 draw before losing the replay 1-0 in the 90th minute with all the players getting a standing ovation from the Middlesborough fans, lots of giant killings in the FA Cup, Isthmian League champions many times etc. When we reached the Amateur Cup Final at Wembley the attendance was 90,00, 30,000 of which were from Wycombe. TV cameras were there too with Kenneth Wolstenholme commentating. Although they lost, when the team returned home there was a crowd of 10,000 to greet them in the town. These were the GREAT days.

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    Leaping from those memorable days to the present time we see players in the Premier earning millions and driving flash cars and probably having little or no roots in the area of the team for which they play. Now, it's a job and a ridiculously highly paid job at that. Young football fans, instead of supporting their local team, choose instead to get on a train and go to support a Premier Club. Consequently this leaves lower clubs with low attendances and struggling to make ends meet. As a League 2 side we are lucky to get 4,000 these days, yet when we were an amateur side we often got crowds of 7,000 or more for big matches and even attracted 16,000 at one game. The "glamour" of the Premiership has caused a drain on supporters of lower teams.

    My old fashion view is that the salaries paid to Premiership players is a disgrace. There should be a cap on how much players can receive and resulting profits of the club put to better use (eg reduce admission fees, charitable donations etc). Maybe a slice of all profits going into a pool which is spread across the leagues. There may be something like this in existence (I don't know) but clearly not enough. The thought of some young footballer becoming a multi-millionaire just for playing football while people who save lives or defend the country get relatively SFA, I find very distasteful.

    But, that aside, how can we ever hope to get football fans to support their local teams? Those days are gone forever. I mean, what is the average gate of an Isthmian League side these days? - 1,000 at most.

    I don't know what the answer is. There probably isn't one as there will always be European teams prepared to pay for top players. The problem is too widespread and I can't see it changing. There will, of course be losers with clubs going into administration but the ones that don't will be keen to progress to the greater heights.

    Bloody hell, I can't believe I've waffled on for this long. My apologies.
     
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  4. alwaysright

    alwaysright @ Very Angry Camel

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    Ron
    No apology needed. I think that, in principle, many people share your viewpoint....but

    In todays society people want greater value for money - or at least they are not satisfied to 'waste' smaller sums of cash on inferior 'goods'. There is a reasonably valid argument for watching (generally) higher grade football on the television -than trudging to your local (small) town club's stadium on a freezing Tuesday night - when there's Champion League fixtures on the telly. It takes hardened traditionalists to venture out in the cold.

    I don't think that any commute to a Premier League team is daunting for fans - when we, by and large, do not walk to the ground as in days of old.... so many are happy to make longer journies - primarily for the reasons I stated in the previous paragraph.

    Television is probably to blame. It has been a wonderful invention - to bring much information of our World into our living rooms - and has provided some entertainment for the viewers ( not soaps or reality programs ) - but with football, it has brought us matches from higher leagues - which makes the dross from our local side not so appealing. The technology that television uses - all goals/attempts are replayed from every angle possible, making even goalless games on the telly seem entertaining.
    this situation will probably not go away. Regrettably more lower league clubs will suffer. I said a while ago that I think it won't be too long into the future when clubs may have to revert to being part time.

    To put a different analogy on the issue - how many of you are happy to drive to your 'out-of-town-centre' supermarket for your shop - when you have a corner store at the end of your road - your reasons for choice are the same as those of 'plastic' football fans.
     
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  5. Resurgam

    Resurgam Top Analyst Staff Member

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    I have to admit, being in the PL and seeing top players coming to play my team, is enjoyable.
    The money that we get for being in the PL has secured the future of my club for a good few years.

    What is not so good is that the standard of football has dropped. Not the skill levels, but the basics.
    When we were in league 1 a few seasons ago, the football was far more honest, the fans - both home and away - were far more real and honest.

    Now in the PL, the theatricals are everywhere. The fans all seem to think they have a divine right to be there. The teams seem to think they should be given respect just because they are there.

    I remember - I think - when MOTD was on, they would show highlights of other divisions in the 70s. Now it's all about highlighting mistakes, or simpering over some overpaid prima donna.
    Who the hell is worth over 300k a week?

    The reason we hear that they are paid so much is because it is a short career and they need something for the future.
    Bloody well wake up. Pay them a normal wage and let them pay into a pension fund for the future like anyone else does.

    I have to say that I think Sky has ruined football. If they went back to the old days of just showing highlights and having no live games, apart from the Cup Finals, maybe, just maybe some of the old traditions may start coming back.
    Crowded around a wireless to listen to the FA Cup draws on a Monday lunchtime, FA Cup day being a special day, Kids talking about other teams and having a knowledge of them etc

    Have a look at this link...

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26782112

    As brb mentioned in the last line of his OP.

    'It's the game in the world. Not a brand but a game. Nobody ever heard a crowd chanting "We're the greatest brand the world has ever seen" and they never will.

    'People who call football a brand don't understand what it's all about.'



    Apologies for going on.





    ps. Bloody good article brb <ok>
     
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  6. Old Timer in Cyprus

    Old Timer in Cyprus Active Member

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    in the 1970's I could name every member of every team in Div 1 (now Prem). Now, I would struggle to name one or two names, let alone pronounce them.
    I gave up watching England games many years ago, after falling asleep once too often watching Ray 'Master of the Sideways Pass' Wilkins.
    Does this say it all?
     
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  7. BSG

    BSG Well-Known Member

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    To play Devil's advocate for a moment but this thread is starting to sound like the luddites moaning against the cotton mills, or simply put a bunch of old men moaning about how much better it is in the past. The simple fact is that the game has invlolved from the 70s and 80s and is experiencing a boom time in popularity. Attendences are on the up from the PL thoroughout the FL, ok so some clubs may be witnessing a drop but that is because people have a wider choice, which is a good thing. Improved road/rail connections means that people can travel longer distances to see "their" team, this is freedom, this is good. So what if they choose a PL club over their local team, the way the world is with the social mobility people move all over the place. I live near Leeds but support Gillingham becasue that is where I am from, fair enough people would say, but if I was from Chelsea or Arsenal I would be a glory hunter despite having the same reason, utter nonsense,

    Sky has been good for football, making football available for all. When I was a nipper on the terraces at Priestfield there were average attendences of 2,000 if you were lucky at Division 4 level and all men or boys. Last season in the basement division we were getting 4,000ish and many were female. Sky has helped break the male orientated experience of going to football.

    The distribution of cash from the top to the bottom is the problem not Sky.
     
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  8. Resurgam

    Resurgam Top Analyst Staff Member

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    Not mentioning the money, but I do think Sky have taken over and said sod the fans.
    I know quite a few people that were season ticket holders at Norwich, because the games always were on the same days and kicked off at the times published at the beginning of the season (normally).
    Since Sky have taken over, games have been changed dates and times, and some people cannot commit to a season ticket because of this.
     
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  9. BSG

    BSG Well-Known Member

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    I would tend to agree but I am not sure of the actual numbers. As I mentioned the attendances seems to on the rise so it is not stopping fans turning up on average. However it would be interesting to see if clubs were getting significantly reduced crowds for the Monday night games
     
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  10. sensiblegreeny

    sensiblegreeny Well-Known Member Forum Moderator

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    I could not agree less with the proposition that Sky is good for football. It is good financially for a percentage of clubs in that they no longer have to bother about the punters maybe but in so many other ways it is bad. How can it be good to encourage people to sit on their arse in their front room on their own and watch football? Whatever happened to socialising with ones peers and getting out there on a Saturday and letting off a bit of steam. Football should be a social event and not an insular pastime. Apart from that it encourages a load of plastic supporters who half the time have never even been to the Town or City they declare their undying love for football wise. Nothing wrong with admiring a team from a distance but when the only allegience one has with it is TV images then there is something rather sad about it. I was born and bred in Plymouth, why then would I support Liverpool or Manchester? It just makes no sense other than to jump on a bandwagon.

    Football has been detatched from it's roots and that is almost the sole responsibility of TV. Players who get paid ridiculous amounts of money that the average working class person could only dream about. This is after all a working class game.
     
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  11. SirKeefy

    SirKeefy Member

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    Well said mate. Agree with absolutely everything you say there sensible. Except the last part.

    This WAS after all a working class game :(

    I used to love the heaven that was watching your own team on a Saturday afternoon, while around the country everyone else was watching their team on a Saturday afternoon. Followed up with watching some decent highlights of a few other games over the weekend so that you could marvel at the skills of the best teams.

    It was maybe even a tad better when they started picking 1 big game each weekend to televise live. You could now see and experience a whole top division game in all its glory. Not bad when I couldn't even afford to go to London to watch a game then.

    But as soon as pay tv came along and pumped squillions in and brought the game out along with its soul. That's when it died for me. I can no longer be ar$ed to watch any EPL game even though every single minute of every single game is televised. Therein lies the problem. Too much of it and it means nothing.

    Same up the next tier with the Euro games. Used to be one or two blockbuster games each season. Now the top 6 clubs in every Country all play each other umpteen times each season. Who cares?

    And how can they have the gall to call it the "Champions League"?. Maybe "Clubs-with-enough-money-and-clout-to-scrape-into-the-top-4-also-rans-every-season League" is more apt. Or is that too much of a mouthful?

    Rant over.

    btw - great topic brb, and love your original post. Agree 100%
     
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  12. Albert's Chip Shop

    Albert's Chip Shop Top Grafter Forum Moderator

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    Good article.
    I look back and some of my best memories in football are when I used to support, as a second team Scarborough.
    I got a free season ticket from the Scarborough evening news as a 14 year old lad and used to take £5 with me to cover train, drinks and food.
    Scarborough once played Chelsea in a cup game live on TV (in the fog) and won 3-2... now that was a giant killling exploit.
    Even supporting the Toon as I do, I've never had the bizz I did that night.
    the crowd must have only been 3000 (full house) but the atmosphere, standing was electric.
    That's what football shoud be about... the standing, the closeness to the pitch, the connection with the players, the hope, the uncertainty.
    Sadly Scarborough is now no more but the memories are still so vivid.
    It saddens me to see the trajectory the PL is taking as it distances itself from the fans.
    In my spare time I now go to watch Consett in the Ebac Northern Div 1 league. They have a new ground, new pitch and the people are coming to watch. It's not exactly Kevin Costners 'Field of Dreams' but as a middle aged bloke wanting to reconnect with the game I fell in love with as a young lad... it's a fix to my addiction and serves as a good counterbalance to the excesses of the PL.
    Who knows... maybe one day the lad who sang himself hoarse on a damp Scarborough night back in 1989 will again see something to really shout about on a football pitch.... I can but live in hope.....
     
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  13. BSG

    BSG Well-Known Member

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    What is the snobbery about supporting your local team, why if you support another team further away from you are you "plastic"? Case in point a friend of ours born and bred in Rochdale supports Gillingham. Up to her twenties she had never been to Priestfield, but she chose to support Gillingham because her old man does.... is she a plastic?

    Many fans have connections to teams many miles away and are still as passionate as regulars, I don't see why they keep getting victimised on this sorts of boards.

    One last thing, how many of us actually support the nearest team? By this reasoning I should have support Chatham Town, the nearest team to the hospital I was born in, a non league team. How many of us should be supporting a non league because they were technically the local team??
     
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  14. SirKeefy

    SirKeefy Member

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    I'm not sure its the 'nearest team' thing BSG. Not sure anyone could be called a plastic for supporting Gills!!. Good on your friend for supporting a lower league team from that far.

    And i don't think anyone is plastic who has a good reason for following/supporting a particular team ie. dad supports them, went to Uni in that place, even just tossed a coin.

    To my mind, a plastic supporter is the one who has latched on to the succesful team at the top at that moment in time. So all those people in Medway or Canterbury or Aldershot who have grown up supporting Man U, Arsenal or now Chelski or Man City - they are the plastic fans. No affilliation to that club except they picked the winning team.
    Actually, not even sure i'd call them plastic if they then support that club home & away, but i think most of these type of supporters watch on telly, or go to just a couple of games.


    That's my view anyway.
     
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  15. Resurgam

    Resurgam Top Analyst Staff Member

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    A friend of mine didn't know what team to support as a kid, so he said that throw his observer football book in the air and whatever page it fell open at, that would be the team he would support.
    Give him his credit, he has supported Torquay for over 35 years now.
     
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  16. BSG

    BSG Well-Known Member

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    But would you feel the same if it had been Man Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal?
    It seems that it is ok to pick a non successful team to support at random but not a successful one, is that fair?
     
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  17. SirKeefy

    SirKeefy Member

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    Would be fair if he picked Man U or Arsenal if it was random or for a decent reason other than just "They're the best team now". I reckon the term 'glory hunter' defines a plastic quite well.

    My "2nd team" is Man U. Basically because my big bruv liked them and when I was a kid (60's - 70's) you either loved or loathed Man U. Having George Best in there swayed me. I'm a Man U 'fan' but I was always a Gills supporter.

    Love the story about your mate becoming a Torquay supporter. That to me, is everything that a plastic is not. He is certainly no 'glory hunter' :)
     
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  18. sensiblegreeny

    sensiblegreeny Well-Known Member Forum Moderator

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    I did say "no connection" with the other club when saying plastic. If one's dad is from a certain place and it is his home team then there is the connection. Funnily enough my middle son was born in.......Gillingham. You can guess what I was doing for a living at the time from that. However he was only there for the first 6 months of his life and is a supporter of Plymouth. He has been taken, I have to hold his hand still, since he was about 8 years old and is now 37. He went first with me because it is my home town team. How unlucky can you be to be born in Gillingham and spend most of your life living in Plymouth football wise. To me a plastic is somebody who picks a winning club because they are a winning club and only because of that at the time. They have no connection other than wanting to jump on a bandwagon and hardly ever, if ever, go to a match to see this club they wax lyrical about and shower undying love for. Armchair football is a good as it gets and TV has done that to them or at least in part.
     
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  19. BSG

    BSG Well-Known Member

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    Ok I can see that but surely the true measure of a fans support is when the team is on the downward spiral. So my brother in law is a Blackburn supporter, born and bred in Preston so it is not too far away but no family connection. Started really taking an interest in football around '92, when Blackburn were doing well. Plastic? But now many years on when Blackburn aren't doing so well he still goes to as many games as he can, but with a young family he has other constraints on time and money, and is as passionate as any other fan I can think of. Still a plastic?
     
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  20. sensiblegreeny

    sensiblegreeny Well-Known Member Forum Moderator

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    No BSG but then again I'm talking from a place with nothing much else football wise around. In Kent there is only Gillingham as a league team and as far as I know that is all there has ever been. In Devon there is nothing close enough to be a challenge. However, in Lancashire and Yorkshire there are umpteen different teams from different leagues to chose from. There is a local connection or at least reasonably local. Why would a person from Plymouth support a team from London, Liverpool or Manchester without picking it as a winning side and jumping on a bandwagon? It's more than 240 miles away minimum. It makes no sense apart from the winning bit and being able to say in the playground "my teams best". It's ok to think your local side is pants and not worth any effort but not to replace it with some random placed other team just so you can be a sad git and wear the replica shirt around town. It's ok to admire a good footballing side, I used to think the Leeds side of the early 70's was head and shoulders above the others and well worth a watch on MOTD. I never supported them though just liked the way they played. Whether anyone actually goes to football these days is a lot to do with finance and it is expensive even in the lower reaches of the leagues. I don't have a go at anyone who puts family first due to finances rather than the football team down the road. I do have a go when they gob off about a club hundreds of miles away and slag off the local one in a janner accent.
     
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