Stand Up if you love Leicester

[Phlashman]

It winds my up seeing the kids on the street all in "big 4" tops, but you've got to think about thier situation. The chance are they've only been to the walkers in the last few seasons, and there's not been anything there to iginite a life long passion is there?

Hopefully if we can have a good season, some of them might come along and get involved.

[Master Fox]

There really isn’t much point in supporting a club outside the top four. We only support Leicester because we’re all mentally insane.

Fair enough if kids would rather support United or Arsenal than some crappy 3rd division team. You’d get bullied turning up at some kid’s event wearing a Topps Tiles kit. I used to get rinsed by everyone at my football club for supporting Leicester.

[Dr The Singh]

There really isn’t much point in supporting a club outside the top four. We only support Leicester because we’re all mentally insane. Fair enough if kids would rather support United or Arsenal than some crappy 3rd division team. You’d get bullied turning up at some kid’s event wearing a Topps Tiles kit. I used to get rinsed by everyone at my football club for supporting Leicester.

To be honest anyone wearing a tops tile shirt looks like a cooont!!!!

[Babylon]

And the size of profile achieved by top clubs and brought about by the way they play and the stars they parade.

The above all connects to results but only emphasises how wrong people are to say it's only the result that counts and that the entertainment provided doesn't matter.

Leicester pay lip serice to loving their fans but have, for so long, not made any effort to provide 90 minutes of decent entertainment when matchday comes around.

Nonsense... kids choose winners pure and simple. Doesn't matter how attractive you are, if you are languishing in mid table you'll be overlooked for a Man U or Chelsea who are winning trophies.

Kids want to look good at school and have bragging rights... losing 4-3 but looking good means nothing to them, because the other kids supporting winners will still rip into them.

Nice to see you keeping up you 'campaign' against Pearson though.

[Babylon]

Yeah, it's not just kids is it? There are two blokes in their sixties at my work who have become Man Utd 'fans' in the last few years. They both use the argument that it's 'because they're so entertaining' or some such bollocks.

People like that should just be discounted as idiots and their opinions placed firmly in the bin. They will never have the kind of passion about these teams as they would do for their local club. Even when Man U won the champions league, these part time fans wouldn't have felt anything like we did in beating Palace in the play offs or Boro in the League Cup.... they will pretend they did, but without the local pride they will always be missing something.

[Dr The Singh]

Nonsense... kids choose winners pure and simple. Doesn't matter how attractive you are, if you are languishing in mid table you'll be overlooked for a Man U or Chelsea who are winning trophies.

Kids want to look good at school and have bragging rights... losing 4-3 but looking good means nothing to them, because the other kids supporting winners will still rip into them.

Nice to see you keeping up you 'campaign' against Pearson though.

Agreed, having young kids myself, it's a uphill struggle to keep my kids interested in Leicester. My kids are influenced by the there counterpart chelsea, man u and liverpool fans.

Worse still is the boredom they have at the ground, Filber Fox does a pathetic job of keeping them interested!!! The club need to do more and they have been told!!!

[eye666]

I've lived in Oxford my whole life, but my dad made sure to keep supporting City in the family. I know what it's like to get teased for the club you support but fook them. Football is about ups and downs, not just a constant and endless string of wins. How boring would it be to be a Man Utd fan winning all the time and not knowing what it's like to lose an important relegation six-pointer? Current Man Utd fan anyways, as after reading that Mercury article my dad recalled to me how gash Man Utd were when he was growing up. At uni last year the most annoying twats were those who popped on a Man Utd shirt when the game was on in the bar, and if they lost, went back to change so they don't look like a tool. But when they won, on the shirt stayed and they're chanting that they're the best etc. etc. Most of them can't accept the downs.

It's ridiculous the number of glory hunting bell-ends you see around - most shocking i saw was at a service station when there were two brothers about 10 years old, one wearing a Man Utd shirt, the other Chelsea. I think the obvious solution is to begin the mass genocide of all Man Utd fans not born in Salford, or whose family came from there. After eradicating several million people from the population (probably that many of the cvnts), on to the Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool scummers. Perhaps a rather extreme solution, but would anyone really miss them?

[Stig the Lawnmower]

its definately the parents Fault!! when my son was about nine he supprted man u and liverpool, cos all his freinds did and they were always in the media. I'd supported city in the sixties (old fart) and seventies, but then stopped going cos of work, wife, house and kids- still followed them though.

so i told him i'd take him to see a real team. we played west ham, crap game but ally mauchlen scored in the 90th minute to make it 1-0. well, the atmosphere obviously got to him and he talked about nothing else all week. the man u and liverpool posters came down and he stuck pages from the programme on his bedroom wall. with a tear in my eye i thought thats my boy!!!. we've been going ever since and he has LCFC tatooed on his arm.

you have to guide them!!!!

[Bellend Sebastian]

People like that should just be discounted as idiots and their opinions placed firmly in the bin. They will never have the kind of passion about these teams as they would do for their local club. Even when Man U won the champions league, these part time fans wouldn't have felt anything like we did in beating Palace in the play offs or Boro in the League Cup.... they will pretend they did, but without the local pride they will always be missing something.

It's alright, one of them went to the Community Shield yesterday with his grandson and was alarmed to discover that a lot of Man U fans are boorish pissed up wankers who swear a lot, much like every other club. He's vowed not to go again. I told him to take the lad down to the Walkers, where no one swears at all <ahem>

[Koke]

I got home one day and told my step father I wanted to support Man Utd - He said that was perfectly fine, and he asked me where I was gonna live.

I blame him for the person I am today.

[Corky]

Perhaps a rather extreme solution, but would anyone really miss them?

No. Apart from the fact very few of them know anything about football or supporting a team through thick and thin, you can't have banter with them. Proper banter. It's always turned around to "how many trophies have you won" or "your team is shit".

If they are happy with that let them have their meaningless glory. Let them stay in their deluded mind-set that they are proper fans, we'll just laugh at them.

[MC Prussian]

I am in the fortunate position that I'm surrounded by glory hunters wherever I look. Manchester, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool... Boring.

Last time I went to a local football match, there was even a Scot/Scouser (?) with a Celtic top on.

People like the first group mentioned only make themselves look ridiculous, trying to show off how much their top cost them - but they have no money to spare on a trip to the Emirates, Old Trafford et al.

Their loss is my gain, as I suppose hardly anyone in Switzerland could point out Leicester on a world map.

Which makes me unique and proud.

[Corky]

I am in the fortunate position that I'm surrounded by glory hunters wherever I look. Manchester, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool... Boring.

Last time I went to a local football match, there was even a Scot/Scouser (?) with a Celtic top on.

People like the first group mentioned only make themselves look ridiculous, trying to show off how much their top cost them - but they have no money to spare on a trip to the Emirates, Old Trafford et al.

Their loss is my gain, as I suppose hardly anyone in Switzerland could point out Leicester on a world map.

Which makes me unique and proud.

Yes, you stand out, you have an identity. I love the fact people notice me as the Leicester fan than just a Man U fan, one of many.

[Lovejoy]

Yes, you stand out, you have an identity. I love the fact people notice me as the Leicester fan than just a Man U fan, one of many.

Same!

The best feeling is when you do things like turn up at the train station on a saturday and there's all the people there with their Premiership tops on, and when the Leicester fan rolls up, people's jaws drop and most of them look stunned.

To be fair though, the Arsenal/Chelsea/Spurs fans etc that actually watch their team tend to be impressed and appreciate a fellow supporter.

What does make me laugh is the people in Yanited shirts, and you ask them who they've got and are they going, and they just look awkward and admit they don't know, before proceeding to take the mick out of the League 1 fan :laugh: .

[Fox in a Box]

Ban the family stand then, get it as a all standing stand see it fill up.

Ban anyone under 30 going to see Man Utd/Arse/Chelscum/Liverpool when the appear at the walkers in the future.

Quite easy.

[shiv]

when man utd fans ask me who i support and i say leicester, they start to laugh... so i just remind them that i have probably been to more man utd games than they have

[izzetafox?]

From the Merc:

RED LEICESTER FOLLOW THE FOXES? MAN U MUST BE JOKING! WHY YOUNG FANS SNUB CITY

10:30 - 09 August 2008

The kids are United. Manchester United, that is, as young local fans turn their backs on beleaguered Leicester City and pledge their allegiance to the Red Devils. On the day when City kick off in English football's third flight for the first time, a major new Mercury survey of Leicestershire schoolchildren sees the club tumbling to another all-time low.

Premier League not so long ago, City are no longer even the premier club in their own city.

Ask a classroom full of kids to "Stand up if they love Leicester", and most bums will stay resolutely glued to seats.

Just one in six local youngsters now support their home-town team - that's the shock headline figure from our research carried out in conjunction with the University of Leicester.

Their dads and granddads might have been blue through and through, but a crucial new generation of fans is overwhelmingly more likely to follow the likes of United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Only 17 per cent of the 11 to 13-year-olds who took part in our study support Leicester as their top team - way behind the 43 per cent who cheer on Man United.

Pete Jones, Leicester City's supporter relations manager, calls the results "disappointing".

"It's not good to discover Leicester are not the first team in their own city," says Pete.

Soccer sociologist John Williams, director of the university's Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, confesses his surprise at City's "incredibly low" number of young fans.

"I knew Leicester was not going to be the most popular club," he says. "What I didn't realise is how unpopular they were among this age group."

It gets even worse. A paltry three per cent of youngsters named someone in a City shirt as their favourite player.

Manchester United's Ronaldo got more than a third of that particular vote, while one-in-10 went for Liverpool's Fernando Torres.

Asked about the prospects for the new season, 38 per cent of kids gloomily predicted another relegation dogfight for Leicester, 32 per cent forecast mid-table mediocrity and only 13 per cent thought the club will go up as champions.

The cynicism is hardly surprising, according to John.

"We're at a particularly low point in Leicester's history," he says. "The club has never been lower than this. It is a long way from developing local heroes, never mind national heroes.

"The chairman has changed the manager a lot and the players have changed a lot. Adults and kids have found it difficult to identify with them because they change so frequently."

In Big Ron pundit-speak, the club has lost the dressing room.

Past generations might have been prepared to follow City through thick and thin, but today's fickle youngsters - seduced by the glamour and the glitz of the moneybags Premiership - are less easily pleased. They want Champions League runs and step-overs, not dummies who can't win two home games in a row.

A replica shirt used to be for life, now it's for Christmas - a time, of late, when Leicester's relegation worries begin.

Football glory hunters are nothing new - but this survey reveals a seismic shift in support to the "Big Four", who now can now count 76 per cent of Leicestershire's kids as fans.

"If you went back 20 or 30 years, maybe even more, people in Leicester had an interest in other clubs," says John. "Some supported other clubs too.

"Often, though, the likes of Liverpool would be people's second club. You would still go and watch Leicester City.

"Now that's been reversed. Now Liverpool and Manchester United are the first club for many, and Leicester second."

Leicester used to be known as a yo-yo club. Then the string snapped, leaving them adrift.

But that's not the whole story behind these figures, says John.

This poll - of 712 boys and girls - tells you as much about the changing face and multi-ethnic mix of Leicester as it does about the fading fortunes of the club.

Supporting City used to be buried in your family's DNA. It was like having curly hair or buck teeth - you might not always like them, but they were yours and if anyone from Nottingham or Derby had a go, they'd get a verbal volley.

New and recent arrivals to Leicester - including some families who have been here since the 1970s - do not have those deep roots or blind loyalty.

"If there's not that long history of support, you are almost certainly going to support a different club," says John.

"Frankly, the main way people connect with a club now is through the TV. Over the past few years, Leicester has not been on TV as much and are not a top-rank club any more.

"If you're picking a club from the TV, it's always going to be the ones who have the most success and the most glamour.

"Football's not just a sport any more, it's a brand - and these clubs have incredible marketing opportunities. They're not just taking over in Leicester - they are colonising the world."

The closer you get to the Walkers Stadium, the less likely you are to find a young Foxes fan, reckons John.

If 17 per cent of year seven youngsters in the six schools we surveyed across the city and county support Leicester, then the figure is much lower in the city itself because there are more ethnic minorities.

We surveyed 120 kids from Moat Community College in the predominantly Asian Highfields area of Leicester. Not a single one called themselves a City supporter.

Only three Moat youngsters even had Leicester as their second favourite club. One, perhaps ironically, ticked them as his preferred foreign team.

Leicester City are straining every sinew to bring young fans into the fold, insists Pete, the club's supporter relations boss.

They are going into schools, they are reaching out to junior sides, they put on entertainment for kids, and they let under-eights in free as long as they're accompanied by adults.

Just five per cent of youngsters who took part in our survey said they would not go to a Leicester game because they "would not feel safe" - a testament, Pete believes, to a commitment to fostering a family atmosphere.

"I don't think anyone is doing more than us," he says. "If kids get to 10 or 12 and support someone else, you've already lost them. We're trying to get them younger.

"I went to my first game in 1964. I'm a rabid City fan. I know how important it is to reach out to the grass roots. Kids are the future of this club. We are doing everything we can.

"It's not easy when football has become a TV spectacle. Even the computer games the kids love don't feature any City players. It's not easy to compete."

Getting families in is one thing, getting them to come back is another - particularly if dad, bored stiff by another limp defeat, decides the best view in the ground is the exit gate.

It's a criticism Pete takes on the chin.

"We've not had a great home record in the last two seasons," he says. "We've not scored enough goals or entertained the crowd as we would have wanted. I can understand it if kids say, 'Are we going to the match today, Dad?' and he says, 'Nah, I don't think we'll bother'.

"That malaise filters through to the kids. We have to perform off the pitch and on it."

It's not all doom and gloom. Far from it, reckons John.

Today's match against MK Dons will draw a bumper crowd as optimism surges through the hard-core City support

Attendances at the Walkers held up despite the rubbish so often served up last year and 35 per cent of kids - twice the number of youngsters who ticked Leicester as their first choice club - own a City shirt.

Another 29 per cent nominated the Foxes as their second team.

Nearly half of our survey - 42 per cent of youngsters - did not support City because they were not "a very successful club".

Give them a bit of success, unearth another magician manager in the Martin O'Neill mould, get back in the Premiership and the tide can be turned.

"It all depends on how those kids define 'success'," says John. "Leicester are never going challenge Manchester United, but in five years' time they could be back in the Premier League.

"Look at what they achieved under Martin O'Neill. They were a top club. It's not impossible to do it again."

Pete sees only positives at the start of the new season.

"I'm not going to be downbeat," he says. "We might not have the most supporters, but we've got some of the best.

"Get a few wins under our belt, get on a bit of a roll and everybody will be smiling again."

Thanks to the Faculty of the Social Sciences at Leicester University, and the staff and year seven pupils of Moat Community College and the Lancaster School in Leicester, Gartree High in Oadby, Woodbrook Vale in Loughborough, Mount Grace, in Hinckley, and Castle Rock, in Coalville.

The pictures from that article were taken at a play scheme where i work, they had to make the kids come in leicester shirts specially, the girl in the leicester shirt isnt actually a city fan, she doent even like football!!, bad news!!! on a lighter note saturday was the first city game for my niece and nephew (7&4) years old, they wore their full city kits and loved it!! so its not all bad!!

[Corky]

The best thing is the excuses they come up with. "My Dad once went through Manchester/London on a day trip, so that's why I support Man Utd/Chelsea" or "My Nan bought me a keyring and it was made in Manchester"

I also find their "debates" hilarious.

[McFoxy]

I don't think anything has changed in the last 30 years.

There may have been a slight increase in kids that support Leicester during the MON years but when I was 6 everybody supported Liverpool or Man U.

My kid doesn't follow football, which is probably a good thing as when he does take an interest (and it will happen), he will no doubt be old enough to bypass all the glory hunting peer pressure shit. Also we'll be back in the prem by then anyway

[BlabyFox]

Its been this way for yonks though. i'm a 15 year old year 10 student and in my entire college, i know about 5 hardcore city fans including me.

through primary school, the city support grew less and less as we got older with about 75% supported man u 20% liverpool with the final 5% being made up of arsenal, chelsea, tottenham, leicester and west ham.

[Tevez]

The worst thing is getting your pissin' school mates tickets for Chelsea. Never again.

[Sods]

My towns full of the glory hunting scheme.

Everyone knows I support Leicester and go regulary.

But im told theyve been to watch their team in the Champions league 1st round, and theyve been to watch them at Wembley in the community shield final.

Their much better supporters then me.

[Babylon]

I think the fact FNF got stopped could affect numbers of kids supporting city, it was aimed at just youngsters with more entertainment than a normal game to try and keep them entertained.

[Guest]

Who aren't prepared to accept failure from time to time. Supporting Leicester is character-building, it makes you appreciative of the minimal success you have.

One child I know says the same thing. It also berates its classmates for being plastics, and happily tells them its Leicester City supporting Aunt has been to the football team of their choice more times than they have. It tells them they don't know how sweet the taste of victory is, because they've overused their tastebuds!!

Children now have to justify supporting a team that is in its lowest position ever. Can't be easy trying to argue with a United or Liverpool supporter about who supports the 'better' club when you're a 7-13 year old and City have lost again to a club that many kids won't ever have heard of. It'll be easier this season if we're doing well, no matter who the opposition is!

No. Nobody has to justify supporting a team like ours. We do it through love and pride, and not because we are plastics who want instant success, and prostitute their souls to whichever club happens to be top dog at the time.

[act smiley]

I think the fact FNF got stopped could affect numbers of kids supporting city, it was aimed at just youngsters with more entertainment than a normal game to try and keep them entertained.

Back in the day it seemed to get me thinking "oh, thats okay. Maybe we can go back and see a proper game". Maybe bringing it back and throwing loads of free tickets about for it would work.

Its been this way for yonks though. i'm a 15 year old year 10 student and in my entire college, i know about 5 hardcore city fans including me.

through primary school, the city support grew less and less as we got older with about 75% supported man u 20% liverpool with the final 5% being made up of arsenal, chelsea, tottenham, leicester and west ham.

Not really - its been that way since we were last in the Premiership. In 1995, age 8, the armies of Man Utd fans and the handful of Forest fans at school took the piss when I first went and decided I was a Leicester fan. A year later, suddenly all the Forest fans had disappeared and there were plenty of Leicester fans. There will always be gloryhunters, but the volume of those supporting their local side is by no means guaranteed to be a minority.