Whilst in my luxurious mountain chalet earlier this year I found myself sat on a table with two drunken English blokes. Three men on a table; what did we talk about? Football, of course.

The usual pleasantries passed amongst us, “who do you support”, “where are you from” etc. So it was as follows; there was a County fan, a Villa fan, and a Manchester United fan. The beer was flowing, as was the sound of avid (or not as avid as I would find out) football fans. ‘Could be interesting’, I thought to myself. All three of us were completely different sorts of supporters.

Me (County): If I am truthful only a proper fan since around 2001. Before that I went to games as my dad took me, but I didn’t really know what was going on. I don’t know much of the history of the club, and am hard pushed to remember any of the players from our promotion season. I still find it hard to work out how we are owned by CS etc. Not a season ticket holder, although I go to almost every home game, and occasionally away games. SCFC items owned by me: a 1998 scarf, a 2001 hat, about the last four home shirts and the official autograph book. Born and bred in Buxton so no real tie to Stockport bar my dad was born their. In my mind I will support SCFC till the day I die, through the thick and thin.

David (Aston Villa): Born in Birmingham and has lived there all his life. As soon as I met him I could tell by the accent, so automatically asked him if he was a Birmingham fan. His immediate reply: “You spit at me.” Well then, obviously a real supporter I thought. Not as clear cut. 10 years ago he had a season ticket for 6 years in a row. He now hasn’t been to an Aston Villa match for 3 years. He does have children and a job, but he isn’t committed on a Saturday. The only tie I knew of him to have money wise with AV at the minute is the club mobile text service.

Chris (Man United): Chris was born in Sussex and has lived there all his life. He claimed he was a United fan. I asked him what the last game he went to was. He has never been. What products does he own? None. Why the fuck does he support MUFC? Because they were good a few years back and he supported no-one else. Now Chris wasn’t a pauper, he bought developed and sold property. Flashy git actually.

Now then this is what the conversation boiled down to; what makes a supporter? At the immediate time I create revenue for SCFC and also support vocally at the game. That was my first thought. The AV fan used to create revenue, but not anymore. Is he still a supporter? Is the money he used to give to the club good enough to make him worthy still? The MUFC fan has never given money or vocal support, so how does he bear any relationship with MUFC at all? I deemed him to be a follower.

We could all be claimed to be followers of Manchester United as we know about them, and who there current players are etc. So how is someone who says they support them, but are in the same situation as Chris, a supporter? IMO they are not. David used to be a supporter, but does nothing for AV anymore. I still create revenue.

I think me and Chris are pretty clear cut. He is obviously a glory supporter, actually a glory follower. What about David? Can he live off his past help? He is a follower now, but was a supporter once, how do we categorise him? In his current state he is just as worthless to AV as Chris is to SCFC.

What if Chris started to support Manchester United for the reason they were good, but then became actively involved and went to every game? Is he transformed into a supporter or does the original bad deed of supporting them because they were good deny him the privilege?

How do you define a supporter? It’s a complicated world we live in.