What A Strange Brain I Have

I have this affliction where two random ideas or thoughts come together in my head at moments when they really shouldn't. I was listening to one of the numerous football phone-ins when a caller from Bristol came on and he was so pleased that he supported a new football team virtually every year, he'd been through Newcastle under Keegan, Liverpool, Leeds Utd, Arsenal, Man.Utd, Chelsea, Spuds (shurely shome mishtake) and he couldn't see anything wrong with it. When you think about it, those of us who have invested a big emotional amount in our teams, history, players etc, was he wrong?

I can't think of any reason why I would ever stop supporting West Ham, in fact I haven't even got the mental energy to spend time thinking about reasons why I would think of a reason, if you follow. But this guy was the football equivalent of a fashion editor changing his club with the seasons, "Oh Arsenal are so passe, it must be Chelsea dahling."

Thing is, a lot of people, who came to football after Italia 90 and Sky paying big bucks to underwrite the Premiership, don't have allegiances caused by family ties, birthplace or other more obscure reasons. I remember the morning at school after Chelsea beat Leeds in the 1970 FA Cup Final replay there were suddenly an awful lot of Chelsea supporters whereas before that game I didn't know any.

Football magazines are fully of stories, some of them apocryphal, about people watching games in pubs not knowing which colour shirts 'their' teams were wearing. My favourite is the guy who went to Bangkok and bought a number 7 replica shirt with Beckham on the back, it was only when he got home that a more enlightened friend pointed out that he was wearing a Man.City shirt. There was a story of an ex-pat in Canada watching Liverpool v Leeds in a pub and cheering for Scholesy!

We've been told for years by T.V and Radio that football is a sport and entertainment, most ex-players hate this. To them it was a job, a business, if you want entertainment go to the cinema they say. So perhaps the caller is a sign of the times, somebody who regards football as a commodity, something where allegiances can be changed in the same way shoppers move between Tesco and Asda for special offers.

Oh, the second part of the random connection:

"All over people changing their votes
Along with their overcoats"

Who said politics and sport don't mix?