Oliver Lowe

Completely agree Pete about enjoying the rivalry. Every football fan would. Of course they would. That’s part of football. What I don’t understand, as a match-going fan myself, is the sheer hatred, pile-ons and obsession directed at fellow supporters because of the club they happen to support. These are ordinary people. City fans aren’t responsible for what has or hasn’t gone on behind the scenes at Manchester City. They’re supporters of their football club, and naturally they’re going to defend it. They’re going to cling to any bit of hope or reassurance they hear, and when prominent City supporters such as Noel Gallagher speak about it, of course some fans are going to listen. And we are hurting. It’s difficult watching the club you’ve supported all your life being attacked from every direction and feeling there’s very little you can do or say in response. The reality is that most of us don’t know the full truth. We live in an age of headlines, clips and social media posts, where plenty of people form an absolute opinion without ever looking beyond the headline. But whatever anyone thinks about Manchester City, I don’t understand the hatred towards ordinary supporters. We’re football fans. We follow different clubs, we have rivalries, we take the mickey and we argue about football. That’s always been part of it. But some of the stuff I’ve seen directed at fellow supporters goes way beyond rivalry. Grown men and women abusing and ridiculing people over something completely outside those supporters’ control. Some of it has been absolutely disgusting. I also think City could do more to defend their own supporters. The club today can sometimes feel a world away from the Manchester City many of us grew up with, but it’s still our club. And we’ll defend it, just as supporters of Liverpool, United, Arsenal, Everton or anybody else would defend theirs. Supporting a football club is a bit like having that best mate who occasionally drives you mad and makes himself look a complete dick at a party. You might give him a bollocking on the way home. But he’s still your mate — and when everyone else starts piling into him, you’ll still have his back. That’s football support. It always has been.