NOT GOING OUT...TILL THE VOICES STOP

 

By Phil Robinson

Over the years I have witnessed  County play friendlies against teams from every corner of the globe.

Teams as diverse as Zambia (mad keeper who rolled around on the floor every time he caught the ball); Latvia (or was it Lithuania?); Sittingbourne (ground laughingly called ‘Central Park’ when it’s actually ‘central’ to an out-of-town Industrial Estate); Llandudno (Llandudno Junction to be more precise);Man City (on an all-weather pitch somewhere in Moss Side); G.M. Police (Free bar); Isle of Man XI, Linfield and U.C.D. (all three of course over the Irish Sea and all very different but enjoyable occasions); a pitch on Half-Moon Lane, Offerton (versus Hazel Grove Rovers if memory serves….and it usually doesn’t - and god knows how many more over the years.

I’m happy to shell out hard-earned cash for a pre-season kick-about.

It’s a  great chance to meet up with fellow sufferers and dream of future glory after a couple or three months doing normal stuff like D.I.Y. or gardening….rubbish like that.

After all, it’s the start of the season and we’re (technically) level-top with the insane optimism that grips the soul of County fans everywhere at it’s most fervent.

If I can afford it, I’ll attempt to go…..

But for the first time, I’m going to miss a game this pre-season because I’ve decided on a boycott.

The match that has had me arguing on Yellowboard with loads of fans is the friendly fixture with F.C. United of Manchester….or whatever they’re called.

To my mind, Manchester United F.C. were out of order in flogging the club like some ‘tuppence Ha’penny strumpet to anyone who’d have it….but such is the nature of the modern game….floated on the stock-market like an unwelcome turd in a swimming pool is apparently the way to go if you consider yourself a big club these days.

M.U.F.C. have one of the biggest fan-bases worldwide (that’s of course counting the armchair/fashion brigade). So if they were that pissed-off, why not stand together and have a serious go at making the club change their mind?

I am fully aware that some County fans have trouble sitting down in the same room together but our problems stem from a myriad of reasons. United’s problem was easy to pinpoint. We, on the other hand, don’t know who to have a go at first due to the fact there’s been so many complete errors of judgement stretching back to god-knows when.

I think I’m correct in saying that at one time County were the only club in Europe that was banned from applying for any kind of football grant.  And that’s small fry to what’s gone on since.

When the M.U. fans realised that wearing a Norwich scarf wasn’t going to make (a no-doubt bemused) Glazier go away, they hit on the idea of ‘starting again’.

If County fans formed a team every time we fell out with a Board or Chairman, there would be at least five Stockport Countys in the Borough.

They had the luxury of pointing,  (then giving) their collective finger to one problem. We didn’t. But we could argue that, as we have witnessed such a spectacular fall from grace, now would be the time for a phoenix club. Thankfully, in my opinion, that seems at the moment to be a minority view.

Once formed the United rebels had a ready-made fan base of mostly disillusioned United fans mixed in with curious band-wagon jumpers.

At first, due to the fact that high publicity meant they were easy to invest in, their bank account was a damn sight healthier than clubs supposedly on the same terms. Added to this the few quid charged above the league norm to see the 'real' reds and all was (and as far as I know, it still is) rosy in the garden. Use plenty of dung and watch em’ grow!

That said, I don’t hate them. I just think that they’re completely misguided.

And when the cracks began to show - moving kick-off times and trousering T.V. money when they said they wouldn’t…..twice; the Mother ship winning stuff; promotion not guaranteed EVERY season; novelty wearing off - some ‘believers’ lost faith and found that after they had danced on the supposed grave of MUFC and ripped up their season tickets. They had now sheepishly returned to the fold (all be it clutching opera glasses a hundred or so rows above their original seat).

Due to unforeseen circumstances such as Arsenal imploding and Chelsea becoming a comedy of errant managers, Glazier had somehow inadvertently circumnavigated his toy boat around the iceberg.

I know that I sound bitter and twisted, because I am. But I had to suffer F.C.U.M. fans waffling on about how they were the blueprint for all future football teams, banging on about how they were the ‘real deal’ and in some cases even becoming ‘anti-United’…..until of course, they won the Champions League again and some of them went back.

The others now proclaim ‘Two lungs, one heart!’ in a frankly hilarious u-turn.

But that’s just my experience of them. One particular supporter of theirs is a really nice bloke, tragically misguided in my view but, nevertheless, a decent chap.

Almost everyone I’ve  spoken to on the subject disagrees with me  - my wife will no doubt be attending the fixture as I’m sulking into my Pot Noodle at home. But I can’t change the way I feel.

I haven’t boycotted a County game before and I’m not advocating a boycott to anyone else. I even went to that ridiculous League Cup game versus Sheffield Wednesday at Maine Road.

But I can’t bring myself to go to this one.

I may well be completely wrong but, for what it’s worth, I think that the Rebels without a cause will evolve into Rebels without applause.

If you’ve got this far down my ramblings, thanks for reading.

I’m off now to lie down in a darkened room and await for the medication to kick-in. And, hopefully the voices will go away.