Well well

I have said it before and will repeat it again, “I AM NOT A FAN OF FOOTBALL!”

The reason I am telling you this is because whenever people ask us where we came from in England, we say the Wirral. The next question is always, “where is that”. We usually answer, “near Chester”. We are not being snobbish by citing Chester as the nearest city to us. Where we lived was 20 minutes away from the city centre. However many Spaniards don’t know of Chester so we have to tell them we were just ‘over the water’ (the river Mersey) from Liverpool.

Unfortunately, telling people we lived near to Liverpool always provokes the question, “so what team do you support?” It seems that everyone who lives within 20 miles of Liverpool is assumed to be either a “red” or “blue”, they either support Liverpool or Everton. People look dumbfounded when we tell them that we don’t support any team. How on earth could we live near Liverpool and not be a fan of football!

Our youngest daughter’s partner supports Manchester United. Actually supports is an understatement, he lives and breathes for Manchester United. Dave is more obsessive about his team than I am about my computer and that is saying a lot.

Dave has followed his team for years, travelling to away matches in the dead of winter and to far off places during their European forays. He was in Moscow to see them win the Champion’s League and in Rome to see them lose to Barcelona. I reckon Dave would rather go barefoot than forgo his season ticket.

Since the news broke, Dave has spoken very little about the impact that the loss of Ronaldo and Tévez will make to his team this year. He, like a lot of United fans, are hoping that other players will fill the gap and keep the momentum going. His hopes are pinned on the younger players who were perhaps overshadowed when Ronaldo was at Old Trafford.

Dave always argues that the League Championship is the most important competition to be in and adds that a loss or two on the way in that competition is not important. As Dave says, “the league is a marathon not a sprint” and adds, “It doesn’t matter who starts well, it is the is the team that finishes top that counts”. He is right – in football being a good second doesn’t count.

Nether the less, I would argue that it is good to set a marker at the start of the season and I don’t think Dave would argue against that. I imagine therefore that even he must be a little disappointed with his team’s performance at the start of this year’s campaign. After a mundane 1-0 victory over Birmingham on Sunday, they have been beaten by newly promoted Burnley 1-0. This must have come as a shock to even the most stoic United fan. To loose to Burnley must have been unthinkable. I feel for Dave because he must be beside himself with disbelief.

Always the master of understatement in these circumstances, Sir Alec Ferguson says, “We usually take our time to get going. Sometimes it’s October before we get into our best form. But we shouldn’t be losing these games. It was a bad performance and we should have done more with the chances and the possession we had.

“You have to give credit to Burnley. It’s a great night for them. You can’t deny them their victory. They worked their socks off and the fans were fantastic.”

All I can say is, the Manchester United mug that Dave left here may have to be confined to the back of the cupboard if things don’t improve. I don’t want people who visit our house to laugh at me thinking I am an ardent fan of a team who are falling so rapidly from grace.

PS I was only joking about hiding the mug. I'm not the sort of guy who ditches a team just because they have a couple of bad games!