Gazza, family ties & grandad’s kiss from Clough – why we love our clubs

Why do we tie our fates to a particular football club?

It may be we were born close to the club’s stadium, that a parent passed the torch on, or perhaps because we became enamoured with a certain player as a child.

Or it could simply be that we were delighted when Brian Clough kissed our grandad’s head.

As part of a campaign called ‘My Club, My Passion’, Premier League fans have been sending stories to BBC Sport about how and why they fell in love with their team.

The story about Clough is just one example.

Danielle Sarver Coombs, researcher and co-writer of the Routledge Handbook of Sport Fans and Fandom, says the teams we support provide us with a shared identity.

“It becomes a way to find a kinship, a community that no matter where you are, you could find a pub with other fans of your team,” she said.

“In a world that’s increasingly lonely, this provides one way that we can have connection and the feeling that we’re part of something bigger.”

My first Forest game was at Hillsborough with my grandad, a staunch Wednesday fan. Back in 1991 he turned up, said he used to work at the ground and asked if we could have a look around pre-match.

Then Forest turned up. Mr Clough jumped off the bus and I asked for his autograph.

He told me to come into the dressing room where I met all the players, then he posed for pictures and kissed my grandad on his bald head.

In our house, Everton means football. My son is selectively mute and autistic so it’s his safe space. No matter if we win, lose or draw Harry still calls the players his superheroes.

We sing all the Everton songs for seven hours on our way up to Liverpool and sometimes will be bouncing all the way back. Sometimes the car is very quiet on the way home.

As an eight-year-old after Italia ’90 and the heroics of Lineker and Gazza, there was only one team for me.

That was cemented in 1991 by that Gazza semi-final [when he scored in a 3-1 win against Arsenal] and, sadly, the last time we won the FA Cup.

Despite all the lows and those ‘Spursy’ moments, my heart has never wavered. Banishing years of torment in May [by winning the Europa League] was pure joy.

Liverpool FC is in the blood – my DNA is in the ground.

Bill Shankly often spoke of there being one casket buried under the Kop – many ashes were scattered but only one casket buried. The ashes of my grandad, about a foot down in the goal in the Kop. Shankly would say the man under the Kop would head goals in and head them out, he referred to him as the invisible menace.

It’s something I’ve been hugely proud of, to know my DNA is in that ground. My roots are part of one of the things that makes Liverpool special and unique.

My dad was a lifelong supporter but died at the end of 1992, just before we won our first league title since 1967 (the year I was born). I was so gutted that he had waited so long and then missed it, but I started watching and taking an interest and basically got hooked.

Then my son got into football and he also supports Man Utd, which has been a great part of our bond over the years!

I first watched Brighton in the 1963-64 season, on the “chicken run” at the Goldstone Ground. My first professional game and my team forever.

What excites me is the maverick who gets you out of your seat and when possession-based football takes a rest for a split second and something magical happens.

The epitome of a maverick in Brighton colours is Julio Enciso and his goal of the season in 2022-23 against Manchester City was such a moment.

BBC reporters Jonathan Buchan, Nizaar Kinsella and Mike Taylor shared their own stories about what makes them proud to support their clubs.

‘A journey that links generations’ – Jonathan Buchan

BBC Radio Leeds sports editor Buchan says he forced his dad, who wasn’t a football fan, to take him and a friend on a half-mile walk from their home in Wortley to Elland Road:

“Personally, I owe a lot to that trip – a lifelong passion, friendships lasting decades… oh, and my entire career.

“Listening to the away games on BBC Radio Leeds ultimately resulted in me ending up in the role I find myself in today.”

Chelsea supporters ‘relentless and demanding’ – Nizaar Kinsella

BBC Sport football news reporter Kinsella spoke of the “relentless and demanding” fans he has come to be familiar with over a decade of covering Chelsea:

“Blues fans travel in great numbers.

“Some of the supporters I could highlight include Cathy, who has not missed an away match for 47 years, Terry, who relocated from Japan to London purely to be close to the club, and Basil, described as a Chelsea Women superfan on the club’s own website – and one you can hear chanting loudly at Kingsmeadow matches.

“It is these people that make a matchday and enrich my role covering the club.”

Wolves fans are ‘a community’ – Mike Taylor

BBC Radio WM reporter Taylor praised the collective spirit at Molineux.

“Listening on the concourses, you are reminded that football clubs are so much more than scores and numbers.

“They are a community, drawn apparently at random from all classes and generations, united by one devotion.