Well I have to confess that I have no blood ties at all to Lancashire (apart from marrying my wife who was born in Bury, and living for 10 years in Manchester).
I was born in London (Hammersmith - nearest team QPR) but at primary school, we all had to follow a football team. I didn't know many teams then - most of my mates liked Man Utd or Spurs (the usual cr*p), but I selected Aston Villa, because I liked the name !!!
I was never a Villa supporter of course, and have never seen them play - but my dad used to take me to matches at Fulham and Chelsea in the early 1960's - and my first ever match was at Craven Cottage in 1963 when West Brom beat Fulham 2-1. What a different atmosphere then to today's Premiership rubbish ! In those days, all the fans mixed, wore rosettes and waved rattles, and there was never any trouble at matches.
I do remember reading and hearing about Stanley at the time of their demise and thinking how sad it was - but from about 1970, I lost interest in football (when I was living in Shropshire) and the interest did not return till last season (after making moves to Manchester, Norfolk - 7 years there - and finally to Berkshire). I started supporting Stanley last season, thinking how brilliant it would be if they got back into the League, and was so excited when I came to the Crown ground for the first time - and also saw the old Peel Park after the match.That day at Woking last year is one I will never ever forget !!!
Since then, I have been hooked and take a lot of stick at work as well as on other clubs forums. I work in London and it is not easy to get to home games, but have seen Stanley this season at Alsager (charity match), Chester, Watford, Torquay, Bristol Rovers, Wycombe Wanderers, Barnet and Swindon Town. We sponsor Andy Tretton's home kit (looks as if it will be unworn this season too !
) and have joined the OSC, and I'm looking forward to the games at Walsall and MK Dons, where I hope to see Stanley pull off a couple of wins !
I do have a soft spot for Walsall and Torquay, and also go to games at Forest Green Rovers (very friendly club - like Stanley in many ways), but Stanley will always be my number one team, whatever league we play in and wherever we are living.
GO STANLEY GO !!!!