Here’s a great article that went up on Supporters not customers’ homepage yesterday. It’s about the match between Trafford FC and FC United of Manchester and about how a non-league day out could give more joy than a visit to a giant showdown such as Manchester United – Chelsea. It also sums up a lot of the great things that FC brings to life.
Here are some highlights:
“watching FC is roughly 10 million times more fun than joining the iPad wielding tourists at Old Trafford.”
“Trafford FC vs. FCUM may not be the biggest Manchester derby of the season, but you’d have struggled to have a better football experience even if the likes of Robin Van Persie, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Wayne Rooney had been on show. I’ve watched Bayern Munich, Galatasaray, AC Milan and Manchester City already this season, but this was unquestionably the most enjoyable 90 minutes of 2013/14 so far.”
“the atmosphere is better before the players have even emerged than at any stage during the majority of Premier League games.”
“The FC Utd fans celebrating in their usual style, with scarves twirling around their heads and the obligatory pyrotechnics.”
“The reds have an extensive songbook, but perhaps my favourite (and the one which gives this article its name) is to the tune of The Carpenters hit ‘On top of the world’. I have yet to hear a song which better sums up the mentality at this football club, they’ve won just by existing and the actual result on the field is very much a secondary concern.”
“Such is the charm of non-league football that Greaves had been supposed to start the game, but was instead relegated to the bench after getting stuck in traffic on the way to the stadium! Somehow you can’t imagine Robin Van Persie stuck behind a tractor on the way to Old Trafford as he frantically thinks of an excuse for David Moyes, but stories like this are all part of what makes FCUM and non-league football in general so endearing.”
“This is a club which is truly united, where the fans still matter and aren’t simply financial commodities to be milked for all they’re worth. If you’re all a bit disillusioned with the state of football in England, embracing FC United may just be the best thing you ever do. Put your doubts to one side and forget who the fans used to support, this isn’t Manchester United. It’s much, much better than that.
Hundreds of teams may be above them in the league structure, but I doubt any fan base has more fun than this lot every week. As the song which remains stuck in my head days after the full time whistle had blown, FCUM is a fan base at the top of the world looking down at a pretty fantastic creation. And in England, it may just be the closest thing to Heaven that you’ll find…”