Such as, quite possibly, having a glass of something red while watching the telly. Sometimes, I must admit I wonder if many City followers even want the club to get bigger. They are the blokes who complain on the online message boards about the fairweather fans who turn up only for the more attractive games, and ask where they were when City were playing Mansfield on grim Tuesday nights in November in Division Four. Well, I must qualify as a semi-fairweather fan myself, because, just like thousands of other sensible folk, I often found something better to do in those days.
These “ultras” don’t seem to realise that the only way we will ever be anything approaching a big club is by attracting the fairweather fans. They exercise rational consumer choice by preferring to watch attractive teams playing decent football. It only takes a little success to bring fairweathers back. And when they do return, I’m convinced that fans of clubs like ours get infinitely more pleasure out of days like this than your Man United and Chelsea hordes ever will. They expect to pick up cups every season. At best, we hope to avoid relegation, maybe have a push at promotion, or a victory over local rivals. They can keep their Premierships and their Champions Leagues.
