Is it possible to stop supporting your favorite football club?
TL;DR: You can’t.
It was in August 2020 that I decided to quit my decently well-paying job with a multi-national company, in order to help my dad who was struggling to manage his construction business. While this move cut my monthly income by more than 3/4th, I had 4x the peace of mind. I was glad that I could be of help to my father. However, as some of you who have worked with their dads would know, IT ISN’T EASY. You are your dad’s son after all, and a small construction firm is too small to contain two similar-sized egos.
I fell in love with Manchester United at a time when I didn’t particularly like watching the game of football. It was somewhere around 2001–2002. I was 10 or 11. There was this re-telecast of a United v Leeds match on TV. My older brother was watching the same and I asked him which team was good. He replied, “You support the team in white. I’ll support the team in red”. I thought, “That’s a weird response to the question I asked. I’m definitely supporting the team in red alright”. The cupid had struck. I had no idea who the players were, or who that man standing at the touchline was. But I knew that they had my heart. Add a few Beckham free-kicks, some Giggs dribbles, a few Scholes pings, some Ronaldo belters, and a handful of Rooney tackles, season it with a few PL titles, a Champions League title, and a few other cups, and you have an irresistible delicacy you can never say no to.
Now imagine completing your engineering education, and then an MBA before working for close to 8 years across multiple MNCs, only to be told by your dad that you don’t know anything and that most of your new ideas aren’t worth much cos he somehow has a sense for these kinds of things because he’s been working for close to 4 decades. You think, “why the hell did I even choose to leave all my comforts and do THIS? I wish I could drop this and go back”. But you can’t can you? Not because you can’t can’t. But because he’s your father, and there is only a handful of people you could possibly love more and you would do ANYTHING for him. You see, irrespective of what he says in his lowest moments, I know that nothing can take back the joys he has provided me in my life. Even if he doesn’t know it, I am proud of what he has achieved in life and can’t thank God enough for what he has done for my happiness in life.
When the self-professed Special One took charge of Chelsea for the first time and went on to win the PL title in his first season, I found myself questioning my love for the club. Then he went on to win it again the very next year. I was still a fickle boy in his mid-teens. Why wasn’t the mighty Manchester United not fighting for trophies anymore? There seemed to be no hope in sight. I thought I could “change clubs” IYKWIM and I decided that I would. But you know it doesn’t work like that, does it? You could change your friends, your favorite TV show, or your favorite food. You could change your lover. But there’s no way you’re changing your father or your favorite football club. You see, irrespective of how they perform in their lowest moments, you know that nothing can take back the joys that they have provided you in your life. Even if they don’t realize it, you are proud of what they have achieved and you can’t thank God enough for what they have done for your happiness in life.
Today I sit here witnessing Manchester United disintegrate week after week. It’s been close to a decade without a PL title. It’s four years since the last trophy. Any trophy. We have a new manager coming in, and we appear to have a good footballing structure being put in place, so there’s hope. But even if things don’t work out like how I hope it would, and we end up putting up shit-shows after shit-shows for the next 50 years, I’m going to be sitting here cheering those lads on every single week. Even if they get relegated, I’m going to find illegal streams on Ronaldo7.net every matchday and watch the match from the first minute to last. Because much like my father, my favorite football clubs has a permanent place in my heart.
