bob sutton

A long read, but its the truth! I genuinely think we are watching football loyalty slowly die and I don't know what replaces it. I've followed Man United home and away for decades. Thousands and thousands of miles, trains, cars, coaches, hotels, stupid kick off times, days off work and an absolutely frightening amount of money. But forget the money for a minute because you can always earn more money. You can't get the time back. Weekends away from your wife and kids, family things you've missed, holidays planned around fixtures, getting home at stupid o'clock then getting up for work a few hours later. And none of us were forced to do it. We did it because we fucking loved it. When the fixtures came out you didn't think do I fancy that game? You thought right, how am I getting there? That's the difference. And lately I've noticed more and more people I've known through football for years saying the same thing. "They can have my ticket." That's not normal. These aren't people who started supporting United because they won a trophy last year. These are lads who've been everywhere following them. And before rival fans jump on with the glory hunter stuff, that doesn't really wash anymore either. Yes, Manchester United were ridiculously successful. We were spoilt for years and I'll never pretend otherwise. But we've been mediocre for the best part of 12 years now. There are kids going to Old Trafford today who've never seen Manchester United win the league. For some of them, United being bang average is basically all they've ever known. What glory are they hunting? They're still going. Their dads and mams are still taking them. They're still buying the shirts, travelling away and growing up supporting United. So this isn't about demanding we win the league every year. Football fans can handle losing. Fuck me, we've proved that. It's everything else. You can have a Saturday night kick off now where you're £100 for a train, £100 for a hotel, ticket, food, drink and you're basically writing off 24 hours of your life. Sometimes you're fucked for work the next day as well. And increasingly you sit there thinking... What am I actually getting back from this? Not trophies. I don't mean that. I mean from the relationship with the club. Because it doesn't feel like a relationship anymore. It feels like a transaction. You're a membership number. A ticket account. A customer. And if after 20, 30, 40 years you finally say fuck this, you can have my ticket, it doesn't really matter. Someone else will take it. Probably someone who'll spend more money while they're there. They'll buy the shirt, go in the Megastore, buy the experience, take the photos and maybe pay hundreds more for something that used to simply be part of going to the football. Financially that might make perfect sense. But I think football is playing a very dangerous game. Because the people you're slowly replacing aren't customers. They're supporters. They're the people who went when it was brilliant and went when it was shit. The people who knew everyone around their seat. The people whose dad took them and who now take their own kids. The people who didn't need a "matchday experience" because the fucking match WAS the experience. And I don't even think this is just Manchester United. I'm hearing supporters from other clubs saying exactly the same things. Maybe we're just further down the road than some. Football is becoming an event. A day out. A product. Something you experience once and stick on Instagram. And maybe that's just the future. Maybe old fuckers like me need to accept it 😂 But here's the bit I'd worry about if I ran a football club. People aren't as angry anymore. They're just losing interest. There's a massive difference. Angry supporters still care. They protest. They complain. They sing about the owners. They demand change. When someone who's arranged their entire life around football for 30 years suddenly says... "Know what? I can't be arsed going."