Is the Premier League creating a lost generation of fans?

Premier League / Dan Fitch / 02 December 2008 / 1 Comments

The Premier League offers a highly seductive package of entertaining football and round the clock coverage. So is it any wonder that kids choose to support the top clubs rather than get behind their local teams? asks Dan Fitch.

One of my earliest memories is of my elder brother Mark forcing me to support Tottenham Hotspur.

I was about three-years-old at the time and only knew the names of two football teams; Tottenham and Liverpool, the latter of which my brother Greg supported. Mark would ask me which football team I supported and if I replied 'Tottenham', he would lift me up in the air and cheer. If I replied 'Liverpool', he would punch me on the arm. I should point out that when I was three-years-old, Mark would have been 19.

Thank God I was bullied into supporting Spurs though. Otherwise I might have ended up being one of those blokes you meet (normally aged between 30 and 40) who jumped on the glory-hunting bandwagon in the 70s and 80s and ended up supporting Liverpool, despite their only links to the city being the ownership of several Beatles records.

When you meet these blokes, they seem a bit shifty and apologetic or are quite aggressive about the issue. This is natural I suppose, as they will have gone their whole lives with people accusing them of being plastic fans. When you think about it, there are few decisions that you make in childhood which have more of an impact upon your later life, than what football team you support. I mean, I used to really like He-Man when I was a kid, but I'm not obliged to take that obsession with me into adulthood.

I was born in Essex. I can't really say that I choose to support my local team, but I'm pleased that I selected one within a 40 mile radius. Most people in Essex support London teams, which is apparent when you look at the attendances of Southend and Colchester.

When I was seven, my parents moved us to rural Norfolk. Our village was the type of place where people complained that the The Wicker Man wasn't realistic enough. I was one of only half a dozen Spurs fans at our school, which suited someone like me, who was intent on fashioning himself as a mysterious outsider.

You might assume that the locals would support Norwich, but the best supported club was actually Manchester United, followed by Liverpool. Bearing in mind that Norwich were actually a top-flight club during my schooldays, it's sad how little support they had. I can imagine these days the situation is even worse.

The Premier League, with it's 24-hour coverage, is such an attractive package, that most kids would want to feel involved. That means supporting one of the Premier League giants, regardless of whether they'll actually be a chance of seeing their heroes in the flesh.

I'd love to know what percentage of Manchester United supporters have ever attended a game. Actually going to a match is what football is all about. There's so many football fans who miss out on that because they've chosen to support a team that is located further away from their home than Paris.

Looking at the current Premier League odds is a stark reminder of how the 'big four' dominate. Only six teams have odds of less than 1000 to win the Premier League, with Chelsea the [2.34] favourites, Manchester United at [2.96] and Liverpool [5.6]. It's understandable that kids should want to back a winning team, but if we're not careful this will result in a lost generation of fans, who will never attend live football.

Glory hunting is normally thought of as a southern phenomenon, but this is only because historically the most successful teams were based in the north. When I was a student in Leeds, at a time when the local side were reaching Champions League semi finals, I was amazed at how many young kids I saw wearing Arsenal and Chelsea shirts.

Yes, if we're not careful, in 20 years time Chelsea will actually be a well supported club and I know that aside from Peter Kenyon, nobody wants that. So it's up to our generation to make sure that our children don't jump on the bandwagon to success. We need to eliminate the idea that a child can have a choice over which team to support, forcing them to accept the wisdom of their forefathers and actually taking them to games, so that they can fall in love with a bunch of misfits, as we once did.

The day that a child of mine wanders into the front room wearing an Arsenal shirt, will be the day that I call up the adoption agency.