Supporting yer local

[stevoraith]

I think for the purposes of this thread, your ‘local’ team means anyone who isn’t the old firm.

It’s a certain mentality of person who supports a team because they win more often than not, regardless of any personal connection.
And our friend with a profile pic of Gazza playing the flute is a prime example of that mentality so thanks for popping in to remind us why we hate the OF and love our Diddy teams.

For me, my old man was a Raith fan but he and his mates had got out of the habit of going.
My grandad and uncle on my mums side were big Dundee United fans so he started going to games with them in the late 70s and then through their successful times in the early/mid 80s.

When I started asking to go to games in the mid-80s he took me to Starks a couple of times but all I really remember is standing in the north terracing and Cammy Fraser being stretchered off.

He then took me to Tannadice and we started going regularly from about 88 until 91.
I have some great memories of European games, swapping scarves with Glentoran fans in a supporters club is a particular stand-out.

But travelling from kirkcaldy to Dundee for a game was getting a bit much and he was quite excited about this new manager Raith had who used to play for Man United.....

So through the ‘91/‘92 season we did a handful of United games and the odd Raith game.

Come the first game of the ‘92/‘93 season we decided to go to Starks and saw us cuff St Mirren 7-0.
We went to every home game that season and my first away games too.

Been Rovers through and through ever since.

My only regret is that as a 15yr old I didn’t appreciate that winning leagues and cups and playing in Europe was not a common occurrence for the mighty Raith!

After having a season ticket for a good few years and following them home and away during my uni years, work and family have taken over and I’m lucky if I get to a couple of games a season now.

But my son is now 4 so in a couple of years he’ll start wanting to watch football, and there’s only one place I’ll be taking him!

[AyrTroopMajor]

I think I was pretty fortunate growing up that my closest pals at school were nearly all Ayr fans. We went on the bus to away games together, watched Jerome Vareille blowing out his arse in a 4-0 reverse to East Fife, and then got the bus home ready to do it all again the next week. The sole Rangers fan in my group of pals had no such experience. He spent his Saturday afternoons alone guiding Rangers to the Champions League final on Football Manager.

He was in the home end at Ibrox when we played Rangers away a few years ago, and after the game, he referred to Ayr as 'yous'. For whatever reason, it riled me. Who was he calling 'yous', he'd lived in Ayr his whole life and this was the team that represents his hometown, yet here he was creaming himself over Bilel Moshni scoring against his local team. If that is being a Rangers fan, then he is welcome to it. Wouldn't trade the memories I have as an Ayr fan for anything. Was incredibly glad when they got pumped in the UEFA Cup Final because frankly, that would have been a reward that Rangers 'fans' like my pal would not have deserved.

[maz1974]

Big Marv has had a cameo at a lot of clubs! 

 

 

As another 3rd Generation Celtic supporter (thanks to whoever coined that phrase earlier), I used to go on the supporters club from Grangemouth to Celtic matches with my Dad. It gave me experience at 8 years old plus of visiting new places and feeling like a part of something. With the benefit of hindsight it's a bigoted and toxic environment at times but when you're in it, it's different. (Definitely more toxic on the blue side!)

Anyway, that sparked a love of football which never left me. 

Fast forward a lot of years and I'm setting up home as a single parent working south of Aberdeen, the only place I can afford to rent is in Montrose, where there is bugger all to do on the weekend! A colleague who was involved at Links Park gave me a child season ticket with which every kid in the town got thru the turnstiles (with a paying adult of course, not daft!) so we went to the home games. Within a month or two you become a known face, especially as two females. (Montrose has still never helped me find a husband mind you!) 

It was the Steven Tweed era, and crowds were low, people were very disillusioned in the town but we watched and enjoyed the experience. My daughter played football, and we used to use it as tactics, "watch that big defender and see what he does. That's your role." (Big Alan Campbell!)

Eventually we went to some away games too. Been to some far flung places I'd never have seen otherwise. Been in a crowd of 6 away support many times. At Cliftonhill we were the ONLY non team bus away supporters there. Dark times!

Getting beat at Fraserburgh on a soaking wet saturday was an all time low point for me, standing ankle deep in mud and crying! Travelling to Brora for the play offs, altho we missed the home leg as we were on holiday. I always consult the fixtures before agreeing to anything on a saturday, but hadn't accounted for playoffs! 

My job has a box at Pittodrie and I am obliged to go sometimes (but only ever to midweek and sunday games!) People I have met before remember me because of my wee club, and it's always a conversation starter. They appreciate that you must love football and that gains respect. 

 

 

We go as a gang of 3 now, my mum, my daughter who is now almost 18, and me. Nana is still a Brendan Rodgers fan, but couldn't name the Celtic squad but she knows every Montrose player, and they know her!

Anyway times changed and there have been some great times recently thanks to great work at the club and management, but every now and then fate reminds you that you are who you are.  We've all had those moments where we think "aye, it wouldnae be us if we didn't f**k it up" 

[Guest bernardblack]

11 hours ago, AFC1878 said:

All the guys I work with that are interested in football support Rangers and Celtic and have season tickets so can’t hold that against them. What gets me though is the fact that to them it seems implausible that a group of supporters could mix with the opposition supporters in a pub before the game without there being any trouble. And when you tell them that there is no segregation in some of the grounds... mind blown!

 

Exactly! Can't say i've ever been away to a team and had any bother whatsoever in pubs etc before the game. Usually both sets of fans relishing in describing how they won't win that day! 

[velo army]

This is a stunning thread. Thanks to Tony for starting it.

I've especially loved hearing the stories of the Lichties and Loons as I've had a lot of affection for both clubs for different reasons; we won promotion at Forfar, their kit is lovely; that same year we were promoted we didn't beat Arbroath once, and Andy Cargill was my favourite non-jags player. 

The Jags weren't my local team, but my da grew up in Springburn and my Granny still lived in Maryhill, a 10 min walk from Firhill. Dad was a Thistle fan, and like most young boys, if my dad had been a passionate fan of watching paint dry,I'd have done that with him too. Actually, sometimes I reckon I'd have preferred that.

Being a catholic in Lanarkshire, there was only one team to support, so the fact that I didn't made me something of an outlier, a status I actually revelled in. I think being a Jags fan from my particular background defied expectation and taught me from an early age about assumptions based on this. As others have alluded to, I also got a huge thrill (still do) when meeting fans of non OF clubs, and especially the less fashionable clubs. 

When I was younger I felt I was more of a football supporter than my pals who were Celtic and Rangers supporters because I actually went to games. It wasn't a feeling of superiority (although as a wean I would have said it was), it was a feeling of being more fully involved and connected with the club. I went to games, I had been a mascot (twice) and had met my favourite player, the great Chic,  a couple of times. It was, and still is, a feeling of unique connection that still baffles my Celtic pals I grew up with. 

There have been crushing moments. The Save the Jags season was horrid. We were relegated to the third tier for the first time in our history on the same day Celtic won their first title for a decade. It was VE day in my high school and I was the only one on his way to a funeral. Awful.

The back to back promotions we had were the best of times. Nothing since has matched it. A special team formed and guided by a man who will be forever associated with us (sorry Falkirk fans), the great Lambini. The first division championship win was just surreal, There were some really fine teams that year (2001); Airdrie with Coyle, Ayr Utd's galacticos (Grady, Annand, McLaughlin etc) and a newly relegated St Mirren. The winter period of that season was utterly magical. Last minute goals by Hardie in consecutive games, Lambie in full highland dress in the dug-out v St Mirren, a cup win against a hyper-inflated Dundee team who would reach the final the following year. I'm getting emotional again writing this.

I fuckin love Scottish football. 

P.S. Tulloch Gorum is right, the Airdrie strip is objectively beautiful. I always grudgingly admired it. Hurry back up the leagues please.

 

[tamthebam]

14 hours ago, Chapelhall chap said:

I know what replaced Broomfield/Douglas park/Muirton /Brockville ( Supermarkets I think ) but what happened to the others? The view at Meadowbank was dire , especially when Alan Lawrence scored to beat us!   The cold wind at the new Peterhead ground two years ago was the worst experience ever. Loved Brockville under the noisy enclosure. The bench seats at Clydebank?  The mountain climb at the modernised Love street. Greasy pies at Bayview. I did like the terracing at Boghead. Am I the only one to have seen Airdrie play at the sadly lost Cathkin park- a marvellous bowl shaped amphitheatre? Nostalgia indeed

Shawfield is still there and is a crumbling dug track.

Firs Park is wasteground now- Alan Mackin being prevented from profiting from his dastardly deeds by some kind of covenant on the land and Falkirk Council preventing planning permission.

Annfield is a housing estate- Annfield House itself is an old people's home. I took a trip to the site of the old Annfield last year and Annfield House is useful for getting your bearings as to where the old ground was.

 

[DA Baracus]

On 1/9/2019 at 19:41, Tartantony said:

Apologies for the length of this post, did not expect it to go to that length at all but couldn't stop once i got going.

Love the thread so far.

I am a 3rd generation Celtic fan and have a father who was a die hard home and away type when he was younger. Naturally, he started taking me along when i was about 5 (1989). My first 9 seasons going to Celtic just happened to coincide with Rangers winning 9 in a row and us finishing between 3rd and 5th for most of those years. While you hear the stories of the European Cup and our own 9 in a row, I genuinely didn't think we were a successful club and considered Rangers, Aberdeen and Dundee United to be bigger than us at that time. I still remember the first time walking out at the current stadium after it was built and my legs nearly buckling, my whole body shaking and just being blown away by how amazing it felt and how we might actually win the league one day.

It seems to be a common theme on here that OF fans can't possibly feel the same way you do and that is quite disappointing to me tbh. One of the downsides of being an OF fan is your unsuccessful periods coincide with the other side being successful which just makes the bad times even worse. I would be surprised if anyone felt as good as we did when we beat St Johnstone to stop 10 in a row, or Larsson scoring away to Boavista to make the UEFA Cup final in 2003 or any of the high profile European wins. Equally I'm almost certain no-one could have felt as devastated when we lost to Porto and lost the league by a single goal in the same week as well as Scott McDonald and helicopter Sunday. I was in tears at each of those.

I done the years of having a season ticket and in my teens and early 20s travelled all over Scotland for away games as well as the odd jaunt abroad for European away matches. The long journeys, the pissed up banter, feeling like everyone is a part of something and dare I say the odd tune here and there. To most people that know me from back then they would think of Tony and immediately think of Celtic.

I am going to admit something for the first time on here and this is by far the worst part of being an OF fan. I was a major "bigot" as a teen/ early 20s. I use quotation marks there as i use the term bigot loosely. While I loved the IRA songs and was obsessed by Bobby Sands and his fellow hunger strikers, I didn't actually hate anyone, it was just so easy to get swept up in it all at that age. You kinda just don't understand what impact it has.

Everything then changed for me on 14th February 2009, as I sat in the hospital holding my new born daughter, completely and utterly loving something other than a football club for the first time in my life and I just stopped going to Celtic. I suddenly felt disgust and shame at my actions for all those years and made a decision that day that my kids would never wear those colours. In the passing years I felt myself hating the fans more and more but still loving the club for footballing reasons.

In 2012, really missing football, I started going along to random games. Went to Thistle a few times, St Mirren, Clydebank, Yoker and just didn't feel anything other than enjoying the games. Then on 17th March 2012, I decided to take in the Dumbarton v East Fife match. Found myself sitting next to a few guys from Norway ( i think) who were over for the game and were singing away and just having the time of their lives. East Fife were 3 up within half an hour and ran out comfortable 4-0 winners. I felt something that day and enjoyed it immensely so starting going and was lucky enough to see Dumbarton promoted that season. I did have to sit in the Airdrie section for the home playoff game though which was eventful. Over the next few years I would pop down when i had a free Saturday and could afford it.

Stupidly allowed myself to be talked into going back to Celtic when Rodgers took over and spent 2 seasons with a season ticket. The second season I went to about 10 games in total and just couldn't handle being around the amount of utter fannies that attend there and quickly gave up the season ticket.

This is the first season where I've fully decided to follow Dumbarton. I still love Celtic as much as I did before and can't turn it off but i just cant bring myself to ever go back and especially don't want my kids anywhere near the whole thing.

I took my daughter along to Spartans earlier in the season and quickly noticed the difference supporting a wee club. Stevie Aitken said hello to her at the dugout during the game then when we went behind the goal for the second half, Jamie McGowan came over and spoke to her while he was warming up. She was so happy that the players wanted to talk to her and was slightly awestruck. I've since taken both my kids, daughter (9) and son (5) to see us lose 6-0 at St Mirren and have managed half a dozen home games so far this season. It's early days for us but im loving getting them involved in such a great wee club and looking forward to years of memories that we can share together.

As a wee final note, I'm starting to understand how it feels to support one of the wee teams, the importance of the communities and everyone pulling together to make sure the club survives, the fans volunteering their own time to get things done and just how much it feels like a big family pulling together. What i would say is that you can enjoy that without the need to compare it to supporting the OF. While it is different in some ways a lot of those fans love their clubs the same as you and do experience the highs and lows and all the emotions the same way you do.

Take that pish to f**k.

Why wouldn't we feel as good when experiencing our own teams' moments of glory?

Why wouldn't we feel as pish after a gutting loss?

 

However much respect for the latter stuff, especially about becoming a Dumbarton fan and ensuring your kids won't have anything to do with bigotry and other nonsense that comes with being a Celtic fan.

[PhuketBarmySeasideSquad]

Local team, thats where it gets confusing for me, having moved around a lot the past 25 years, taking in Scotland, Thailand, Denmark, Africa  etc etc.. Born in Montrose and i try get to as much Mo games as possible.. Was brought up an Aberdeen fan due to dad being an Aberdeen fan from Aberdeenshire, but would take me to the odd Montrose game as a kid, my first one being a cup game, Montrose v Celtic i think around 76 - 77 ??  remember both sets of fans battling beside where the pie stand is now  at Links park , and thought. "this is fun, maybe montrose is the club for me "  ;-)  Every week i would go to a game whether it was Montrose or Aberdeen,  but when i moved to just outside Brechin and played fitba for a Brechin team i often went to Glebe Park as it was closer for my addiction to football. (i can hear all the BOOOOOO  and traitor remarks ) lol.. . I moved away to Denmark for 16 years, followed the local team Esbjerg home and away , but also some Brondby games as i had many friends over in Copenhagen..With the odd stint in Holland and Germany i followed Utrecht, Feyenoord and Wolfsburg and Dynamo Berlin..  ... Fc Basel in Switzerland ..Then i moved to Thailand where i took in the FC Phuket games.. before returning to Montrose a year ago..  What a great time to return to see The MO winning the league... I now live in Forfar but havent changed my allegiance ;-)  Confused???  im also a west brom fan 

[PhuketBarmySeasideSquad]

30 minutes ago, bernardblack said:

Exactly! Can't say i've ever been away to a team and had any bother whatsoever in pubs etc before the game. Usually both sets of fans relishing in describing how they won't win that day! 

Forfar was actually the only place  i can remember , back in the 80's /90's that we went through there for  Montrose game and never had any hassel.. was a great day out, plenty decent bars and i was guilty of being stuck in Forfar after the bars shut and fell asleep on benches near the old Royal hotel disco..  wondering how on earth id get home..lol

[Tulloch Gorum]

1 hour ago, velo army said:

This is a stunning thread. Thanks to Tony for starting it.

 

The back to back promotions we had were the best of times. Nothing since has matched it. A special team formed and guided by a man who will be forever associated with us (sorry Falkirk fans), the great Lambini. The first division championship win was just surreal, There were some really fine teams that year (2001); Airdrie with Coyle, Ayr Utd's galacticos (Grady, Annand, McLaughlin etc) and a newly relegated St Mirren. The winter period of that season was utterly magical. Last minute goals by Hardie in consecutive games, Lambie in full highland dress in the dug-out v St Mirren, a cup win against a hyper-inflated Dundee team who would reach the final the following year. I'm getting emotional again writing this.

I fuckin love Scottish football. 

P.S. Tulloch Gorum is right, the Airdrie strip is objectively beautiful. I always grudgingly admired it. Hurry back up the leagues please.

 

 

I remember a game we had away to Thistle years ago.  We won 1-0 or drew 1-1 with a late equaliser, Coyle scoring of course.   Getting near Queen Street for the train, a Thistle fan who hadn't been at the game spotted my Airdrie top and came over to ask the score (no smartphones in those days!), and when I told him whatever the score was, he suddenly had this face like thunder, "It was that Owen fucking Coyle again, wasn't it?".  Coyle must have been about 62 at the time, or seemed it to me.  Still had it.

[Tony Stark(s Park)]

1 hour ago, velo army said:

This is a stunning thread. Thanks to Tony for starting it.

 

No problem my man, thoroughly enjoyed coming back to this everyday and seeing all the stories, hope everyone else is enjoying as much as me

[velo army]

12 minutes ago, Tulloch Gorum said:

 

I remember a game we had away to Thistle years ago.  We won 1-0 or drew 1-1 with a late equaliser, Coyle scoring of course.   Getting near Queen Street for the train, a Thistle fan who hadn't been at the game spotted my Airdrie top and came over to ask the score (no smartphones in those days!), and when I told him whatever the score was, he suddenly had this face like thunder, "It was that Owen fucking Coyle again, wasn't it?".  Coyle must have been about 62 at the time, or seemed it to me.  Still had it.

1-0 game at Firhill. Coyle loved a goal against the Jags and he scored in 3 of four games against us that season. I had a special hatred for him due to his goalscoring feats. More annoying as I hugely admired him for it too.

That game you speak of had a bit of a barney on Maryhill road after it. Some clowns from Wigan came up and attached themselves to your lot. 

 

[SilverWolfe]

Take that pish to f**k.
Why wouldn't we feel as good when experiencing our own teams' moments of glory?
Why wouldn't we feel as pish after a gutting loss?

I think you've missed the context of that particular point tbh.

[DA Baracus]

4 minutes ago, Tartantony said:

 

 

I think you've missed the context of that particular point tbh.

 

Perhaps I have

[DA Baracus]

Anyway, great thread. Some brilliant stuff in here. I’ll give it a shot.

 

 

My old man was not a Pars fan. He grew up in Glasgow and said that when he was younger he went to the odd Clydebank and Partick games, mainly because his mates did. If pushed he used to say he was probably a Partick fan. He wasn’t really in to football that much more, as he was/is more a rugby guy.

 

He was in the navy, so was based in Rosyth when I was born (in the old maternity hospital in Dunfermline, which is no longer there, meaning Dunfermline kids have to be born in Kirkcaldy).

 

He used to play rugby as an amateur (for Dalgety Bay) and I’d follow him around, watching him on the sidelines and getting free pie, chips and beans at whatever clubhouse after the games. A bad knee injury retired him though, circa 1992/93 I think.

 

Apparently my first Pars game was in 1990, and I only went because my older brother was being taken to the game by my old man. It was seemingly a winter midweek cup tie, but I have no memory of it all (I was only 5!). I went to a couple more games in 1992, but can’t really remember them.

 

What I do remember however is another midweek game, this time in 1993. Once more I went because my older brother did, as I recall being jealous of him getting to go and pestered my dad to take me along. We sat in the main stand and as I looked across at the old terrace behind the goal (now the Norrie stand) with the old floodlights beaming down on what seemed to me like absolutely thousands of folk (was probably no more than 1000!) making a load of noise I was fucking stunned. It was mesmerising and I was hooked. I remember then chanting ‘IIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVOOOOOOOOOOO!’ as the great Den Bieman was warming up in front of them, but thought they were chanting ‘EVIL!’.

 

After that we started going to quite a few more home games on Saturday, and my older brother stopped going (he got quite in to rugby as well, especially since he’s over 6 foot and used to be quite built) save for the odd game. The following season, 94/95, we started going regularly, and got to most home games. It was fucking magic. My dad would often get us lunch from Olivers (an old bakery type place in the high street, in the unit where Barclays or Specsavers is now), which would be a big hoor of a cheese sandwich (seriously, the think was like a fucking doorstop to the 9/10 year old me!) that came with a very generous side of crisps. We would stop in the public park en route to the ground (the one with the bandstand and the train station at the bottom; I don’t actually know what it’s called!) and eat them. Beforehand we would have fired in to John Menzies, as my dad always let me get a chocolate bar and a packet of mints for the game, which was almost always a Snickers and either Murray Mints or Trebor Extra Strong Mints. This is because the food at the ground was too dear usually, although I didn’t realise this at the time. My old man always took a Capri Sun for me as well. I’d have the chocolate in the first half and the mints in the second.

 

These were fucking brilliant times. My dad became a Pars fan and we became really close and he was definitely my favourite person. I did one time choose not to go to a game though, because one my friends had the Tazmania game on the Megadrive and wanted to play it. We pumped St Johnstone 3-0 and were apparently excellent, and I vividly recall my dad saying he was disappointed he missed it. Looking back I’m sure that’s true but he also meant he missed the time we would have spent together. I think it must have hurt him and I feel like a right dick now thinking back on it. I’ll have to speak to him some day about it.

 

We moved from Rosyth to Saline in 1995, but still got to most home games. We never went to away games. I thought it was because I was too young but really it would be because we couldn’t afford it. My dad was made redundant from the navy a couple of years before and had to take various jobs, one of which was working security at Marks and Spencer in Stirling, which is one of the reasons we moved to Saline (to be closer to his work). He was studying at nights and would soon qualify as a Health and Safety inspector and is now a manager in that field for a Perth firm. But at the time he wouldn’t have been making much, and had to support me and my two brothers, and my mum’s income as a nursery nurse wouldn’t have been massive either. He still though found the time and money to take me to as many Pars games at East End as he could.

 

This was a great time to be a Pars fan as the legendary Bert Paton (assisted by Dick Campbell) was in charge, and the team was massively entertaining but full of fight and passion. We all felt gutted as on the last day of season 94/95 we lost out winning the league and had to settle for the playoff, which we lost to Aberdeen (didn’t get to either leg sadly). Season 95/96 is of course deeply special for all Pars fans, and we went to most home games that season. We missed THE Clydebank game in January 96 (my old man saying something about the occasion, but most likely as it was just after Christmas we couldn’t afford it) and also missed the Hamilton debacle near the end of the season. There were a few others but those are the two I recall missing.

 

We didn’t go away games for reasons explained, so on the day we played United at Tannadice, in the penultimate game of the season, me and my older brother were too nervous to listen to it (it was the main commentary game, and was also the main game on Sportscene that night; quite a lot of our games and others from the First Division that season were the main game on Sportscene on Saturday nights!) so we went swimming instead. We got home and found out the score and went mental. The next week was the big one, and the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen inside East End. It was against filthy, dirty, horrible Airdrie, and a win would see us as champions. The kick off was delayed to let the crowd in. We’d arrived at half 2ish, our usual time, so got our usual seats, or as close to them (very few folk had season tickets back then, despite the size of the crowds we got) in the main stand. One of my pals came along as well. This game is my favourite Pars game. The atmosphere was incredible and the sea of people was amazing. We won 2-1 and were the champions! The helicopter was dispatched with the trophy and landed at Rosyth then the trophy was driven up to the ground. Driving home we passed Bert Paton’s house (he used to live just off the road at Gowkhall) and the driveway had black, white and red balloons tied to the fence posts.

 

Unfortunately our promotion to the Premier League saw an increase in prices, and that put an end to me and my dad going to the games. It was just too much for him to take us both now. I think he saw what football was becoming as well, how it was changing, and it definitely turned him off to it a bit. He ceased being a Pars fan then. I did not though. They were really special times and I don’t think I appreciated just how much they meant to me and my dad. I’ll definitely need to chat with him at some point about it.

 

I’d listen to the radio every Saturday, and every time we scored I’d burst through the living room or out to the garden to tell my dad that we’d scored, and who had got it. I got Pars tops for my birthday often. I didn’t get to the games much at all though, making only a few each season at most. My support never wavered a bit though.

 

In 1999 my friend got a job as a programme seller at East End, and managed to get me one too. This was glorious, as for 90 minutes of work (standing at a select spot with a bag of programmes from 13.30 before each home match) I got in to the games for free, a free programme and about £5. I was ecstatic. The £5 was frankly a bonus, as I would have done it just to get in to the games. I had this job for a couple of seasons, up until the end of 01/02, and never missed a single home game in that time. Pretty sure I once saw Hamish French put on the Sammy costume.

 

In 2002 I went to Dundee for uni and so was not able to go to Pars games, due to not having the cash to fund it. I spunked all of my first student loan payment on getting pished. I did however make the Boxing Day game, as I was back home for it. As it was my 18^th, loads of folk brought me pints before the game (including a friend I made at uni in Dundee who was a Pars fan from Alloa) and I was fucking smashed, spending most of our 0-2 loss to Kilmarnock at East End queuing up for bridies and sausage rolls.

 

At the start of 2003, still in Dundee, I joined the Pars supporters team, Parscelona. We would play the supporters team of whichever club the Pars were playing that day. Due to banks being rather lax those days, I got two overdrafts and had a bit of cash. My life was crumbling at this points so the Pars and Parscelona became my main focus. I went to my first away games and we had a good laugh, even though we were quite shit (due to crippling social shyness/anxiety I didn’t play anything close to what I could). The games were in the mornings and we’d then go to a pub where the home team put on food and had some beers, before going to whichever ground to see the actual teams play. We once went to a tournament in Leeds where I was nearly arrested after emerging from the toilets with a toilet seat around my neck, drunk on rum I had pilfered from my old man’s stash.

 

I only went to games when with Parscelona though, as I didn’t really have anyone to go with at other times. I had to quit uni and moved back home in 2003. I got a crappy telesales job then a job at the Sky call centre. This was my shit life, but the Pars remained a constant.

 

In 2004 we went a cup run that would end with us in the final. I had friends who lived in Glasgow so me and a pal from school met them for the quarter final at Firhill (a smashing 3 nil win in front a a huge Pars support). I went with the same pal to the semi final at Hampden where circa 8k Pars fans saw us disappoint in a 1-1 draw with Inverness. My job at Sky was 17.00-22.00 Mon-Fri, with 1 in 4 Saturdays. The night of the semi replay I couldn’t get off work, so had to sit in work and watch it (when you work at Sky you obviously have access to the Sky channels). I vowed then to never let work get in the way of me seeing the Pars. More on that later.

 

For the final me and the same friend I went to the quarter and semi with met the same friends who were at the semi. We even had a Rovers fan come along with us. Some day, and although we lost it was absolutely immense. The feeling of seeing your team run out at a national final was exceptional, spine tingling stuff. What a day.

 

One of my childhood friends had started playing for Parscelona now as well. We went to the first game of season 04/05 (that morning we had played the Dundee United supporters team in a smashing 4-2 win in which I scored) and there I met my soon to be girlfriend, also a big Pars fan. Within a few weeks we were seeing each other and I thought it was serious stuff. It was for me. I got my first ever season ticket (I was now working full time at the Bank of Scotland call centre) right beside her, and we went to most of the home games together, with her old man, also a big Pars fan. I loved the three of us going, as I was madly in love with this lassie, and really got on with her old man. I got a Pars tattoo, although it’s dreadfully done and I really need to get a new one sorted. Me and her moved in together very quickly (and very foolishly). I met a load of folk through her that I would become great friends with, all Pars fans, and guys I’d eventually go to games with. Anyway, turns out she was a cuntress and we split up (she dumped me via letter posted through our own letterbox). I was gutted and moved back in with my parents. I no longer sat in the seat my season ticket was for, but shortly soon started going to games with some of the guys who were now my mates. I can’t even remember how it happened! We started going to away games on the supporters bus now as well. Everyone has to do their time on the supporters bus! I still her old man every so often at games and he’s still sound.

 

Parscelona unfortunately stopped in 05, but I had stopped going shortly before (fucking idiot). I still see some of the guys at games and always give a wee nod, occasionally stopping for a wee chat.

 

My life was turning rather dark by this point, and I was really succumbing to depression. All I had was the Pars. I lived for Saturdays, when I was a totally different person and me and my friends would travel the country seeing us play and getting pished. Great times. We graduated from the supporters bus and soon started getting the train. One memorable time we were on the way back from Dundee when we met a load of East Fife fans on the train (pretty sure they were in Angus that day) and it ended up with me toddling down the aisle with my jeans around my ankles. What a dickhead. At Parkhead one time I was nearly arrested for having one of those guns that when you pull the trigger has a flag with ‘BANG’ on it (some Celtic fans said we were terrorists). I once was ejected by the police from Tynecastle for daring to stand up, which was caught on camera, as there’s a cracker of a photo of me protesting my innocence (I can post if you want!). After losing to Kilmarnock on the last day of season 04/05 I was so angry that I threw my top in to a burn on the way back to the bus. In Inverness I was thrown out a nightclub for falling asleep. In Motherwell we stashed our unfinished box of beers behind some bins when getting off the train and were delighted when they were still there after (a great 2-3 win incidentally, with Tarachulski scoring his only goal for us, which some missed because they went to see Cowden winning the league for some reason). So many good trips and memories.

 

In 2007 I went to Aberdeen to uni, which curtailed my Pars exploits somewhat. I got to some games though. In 2008 we played Aberdeen at Pittodrie in the quarter final of the Scottish Cup. I had just started a job at Pizza Hut. Obviously I was told to come in on the night of the game to watch the crappy safety training videos (despite having done a couple of shifts already). I begged and pleaded and said I would go in at any other time to do it but they refused. So I quit, as I had promised previously that I would never miss another Pars game for the sake of work. Two days after, my voice still in tatters, I had an interview in Iceland and started two days later. That Aberdeen game was incredible. The game itself was pish but it’s one of the best atmospheres I’ve been in.

 

In 2010 we got Aberdeen in the cup again. I had 3 pals come up (two of which post on here) and an immensely enjoyable weekend was had by all. One of the posters however had a falling out and slept in his car (cough @Chicken Wing cough). It was winter and it was snowing. I made him some cheese rolls.

 

We were promoted that season, and I was working at a kids soft play centre. As I set the rotas I obviously abused it and made sure I was able to go to the Martin Hardie 10 yards Raith game and the title clincher at Morton. During the pitch invasion at full time at Morton I gave a poster on here an aeroplane spin on my shoulders and crashed at another poster’s place.

 

Me and @Stellaboz got a flat in Aberdeen in 2011, which was quality. As were now in the Premier League we played Aberdeen, so invited a bunch of mates up each time. Great fun. The first time we saw a Rovers fan walking along the street (he was wearing a Rovers top) and we of course gave him the usual array of songs. The day after we saw him at the crazy golf, and you could just see him spotting us and thinking ‘Oh for f**k sake!’. We let him off easier.

 

My personal issues meant I had to move home back to my parents in 2012. I was closer to the Pars so got along to more games, but being on the dole didn’t help. I did get a job at Fife College, so started going to more games. This of course was the period where we nearly went under though. I remember the dread of the meeting at Carnegie Hall. I recall the banners and protests outside East End. I made a banner for a game at Raith that I thought would be our last ever game (it said 1885-2013 Thanks for the memories). I remember being at work endlessly refreshing the page for the judgement by Lord Woolman, where a ‘No’ would have ended the club.

 

In 2014 I moved to Dundee, where I remain. I now only really go to away games, and maybe 1 or 2 home games a season. I tell folk it’s because away games are better as you get more fans singing, and that’s true, but another reason is is that at away games I don’t have to be alone for as long, as after a home game it’s often back up the road, whereas at many away games we travel together. I’ve even been to a few games by myself, something I’m doing a bit more, but hopefully will sort out and change.

 

Anyway, going tomorrow and looking forward to it. Another poster, not even a Pars fan, will be joining me, and I think I’ll see some other folk either before the match or at the game.

 

 

I often try to act a bit cool about being a fan, trying to make out that I don’t get as emotional as others. It’s a bit of a façade, as I do, but just in different ways. The Pars mean the world to me and define my life. As you can see from the above, most of the periods of my life are framed in relation to the Pars. I’ve met so many friends through the Pars and they are my main social outlet. I speak shite about them every day on here and used to do the same on other websites. I’ve started building a collection of old Pars tops (very meagre as I’m poor!). I’ve been a fan now for 29 years and have seen countless shite and goings on. I’ve seen 15 managers come and go. I’ve seen the ground change in to something shit. I’ve been banned from Legends for singing Pars songs.

 

I’m still going though. I’m still a fan and will always be.

[Stellaboz]

I think we met first in the pub in Saline, where I'm sure there are a few memories of their own, I know I have a few!

[AyrTroopMajor]

23 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

I once was ejected by the police from Tynecastle for daring to stand up, which was caught on camera, as there’s a cracker of a photo of me protesting my innocence (I can post if you want!).

Great post.

Pic please sir.

[DA Baracus]

6 minutes ago, AyrTroopMajor said:

Great post.

Pic please sir.

[AyrTroopMajor]

Just now, DA Baracus said:

Standing up is a heinous crime tbf.

Enjoyed that story btw, I used to have the exact same experience in relation to the sweets. A chocolate bar in the first half and a pack of mints in the 2nd. I had to settle for a Tesco Value Orange Juice rather than a Capri-Sun though. 'Too sugary' apparently...

[Kejan]

I am one of those for the watching types or like yer ma, who often would say Scotland as my team, and I grew up without really "supporting" a team.

I lived in Arbroath until I was 10, and lived next door to Aberdeen fans - early 90s - and would watch Aberdeen on TV with them, and ended up being a fan without ever going to see them.  Dad is Glaswegian, and his side are all Celtic/Partick Thistle ; even went to more Thistle and Celtic games than Aberdeen and whilst I liked Celtic, and still do, to a certain extent when it comes to games against Rangers and Europe, but I could never say I was a supporter : both for the cringe  (living 100 odd miles away, typical OF pot-hunter) and I didn't go that much to the games either ; and the atmosphere at times can be toxic. We would go to Gayfield occasionally, and just remember the magnificent cup run under Danny McGrain and the beards, and certainly classed myself as a Lichtie, but then we  moved to outside Dundee. I was never taken to the football by my Dad - he's not really a fan - so sort of slipped away from Gayfield when I moved, and I probably was too young to travel through on my own.

I was then surrounded by mostly United and Dees fans, plus the Old Firm too (like most of Scotland). Out of my good pals :six of them had season tickets for Tannadice and one/two would go to Dens. I went to watch both teams play, but never really felt an affinity or dare I sound like a cliche/'calling'.  I enjoy seeing both teams in the same league though as the week's build up to the derby is, IMO, excellent and great fun as most families/pals/workplaces are mixed. Although I doubt many Arabs/Dees agree about them being in the same league. I would then go to the occasional game involving anyone really, but worked most Saturdays, so ended up really just being an armchair fan of 'football'. 

Came uni/work, and at 22, I decided to go traveling which turned into living abroad, returning home for a bit/further traveling, home for a bit/becoming a nomad in to now living abroad, but come home regularly to visit family and friends, and since about 2007, I will go and watch Arbroath if they are at home when I am back. My first game 'back' at Gayfield some moons on from the Bearder Army days and as adult was the playoff loss in May 2007 to Queen's Park, and something stuck since then.  The bittersweet defeat, probably!

I don't know if I would class myself as a fan, as you can see I have had more clubs than Ian Woosnam ; but living outwith the country, Arbroath are the first result I look for on a Saturday, and have began to plan trips/weekends back to Scotland to a certain extent around if I can fit in an Arbroath game. I have been to two games this season : the 3-1 victory over Airdrie in September and that loss to Raith (sorry, fellas) in December, but my overall recent record is pretty good  - Watched 10, Won 7, Lost 3  - yet to see a draw! I am currently planning to get back in March - hoping to see the East Fife game - and going to hospitality in April for the possible title-clincher against Raith?

Aye, sounds a bit like  I'm pot-hunting with Arbroath doing quite well of late (promotion/playoffs/title?) in the last few years, but I have seen albeit in certain circumstances from slightly afar, the heartache and the fun.  And I do feel a bit of a fraud, compared to the likes of Simon (fair fecken dues, that is SOME record) but I certainly strongly sympathise with Arbroath, and I'll let others decide if I am a fan or not.

Yet to do an away game, but if I ever return to the area or Scotland to live, and I hope to do at some point, a season ticket at Gayfield will be one of my priorities.