Anyone else who has not already "nailed their colours to the mast" like to do so.
I guess I'll go next. I've been an Evertonian since I had no idea of how football worked. When I was little I liked teams for various colours (the same reason my mother likes Celtic, to the invariable disappointment of Matt), and took a special liking to Everton among all the blue teams. The first season I paid any notice to football was 1997/98, when we went within literally a few goals - and a few minutes - of suffering the unthinkable but sadly overdue first relegation out of the top flight since the 1950s, and only our third to date.
Things went wrong the next year however because, being a bit on the naïve side, my brother coaxed me into having a soft spot for a certain bunch of overpaid actors in Manchester. And by the end of the season, with the Treble as a finale, I was admittedly impressed. But I was never really interested, with various seasons of nothing but the same Fergie drivel passing without importance.
Finally, the run was bucked roughly when David Moyes took charge at Goodison Park, and my waning interest in domestic football finally reached a worthwhile level. Before long, we reached 4th in the League (with a -1 goal difference
) and faced Villarreal for the right to play in the Champions' League. The referee on the day (I think it was one Mr Collina; ever heard of him?) let us down a bit though, and the Spanish team went on to reach the Semi-Finals at our expense.
Since then, it's been a bit hit-and-miss, with no real problems but no real success either, but also with one major Final in that time - and the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history as a result (my brother walked into my room after about 50 seconds of the game and was amazed to see the 1-0 scoreline), even if we did eventually lose 2-1. With the ongoing stadium problems and the fact that Bill Kenwright has pretty much taken the club as far as possible though, I can't see the glory days of the 80s returning any time soon.
Meanwhile, another club that was at the wrong end of the table in 1997/98 was Southend United - only, unlike the Toffees, they actually fell through the trap door. AGAIN. Gone were the days of the early 90s, sitting top of Division 2 after thrashing Newcastle 4-0, and being only four to five months from the promised land of the inaugural Premier League - now, Southend were to play in what we now called League Two. If only Big Neville Southall had been the force he was up at Goodison in the mid 80s...
Six years of nothing passed before the club finally won promotion through the Play-Offs in 2005 after what initially looked like a season of struggle to even stay in the League period. Then, after being among the favourites to finish bottom (never mind the drop), Southend stormed to the League One title after one of the strongest winters you will ever see in football, and thus came the division the town likes to call home - the Championship. This was soured by Colchester by joining as well, but having done the double over them in 2005/06 Southend were confident - and were even expected to survive comfortably.
Instead, things went badly wrong. The highlights of being 2nd after the first day, destroying QPR (with ex-Shrimper Simon Royce in goal) 5-0, and of course a certain evening in November (which was Fergie's first game after his 20th anniversary) aside though, it was a season of struggle. Contrary to the previous season, when the pre-season belief was that Southend would struggle, the team and the town both felt that the team was too good to be relegated (anyone explain the logic in that?) - and, of course, it happened. And soon, the team would be relegated again - back to League Two.
Now though, Southend have won 28 points from a possible 30 (my brother chose the one game they failed to win to watch in person... sucker!
) and, apparently as suggested by both readers of the Guardian and also experts at the Metro, Southend look like genine title contenders - but can they stop moneybags Crawley? Having said that though, unless the whole stadium soap opera is sorted, I can't see Championship football returning to my hometown any time soon. Fossetts Farm shuld have opened several years ago... instead, it's not even a construction site yet.
The other teams I follow to some degree or another are Bath City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Cardiff City, Chelmsford City, Ipswich Town, and AFC Wimbledon. Ipswich in particular hold a special place in my heart after the events that occurred in the days following the loss of Sir Bobby Robson - but that's another story.
Por favor...!
