Very true about the Noth East . Holiday in Beadnall Bay twenty years ago and not a cartel shirt in sight on the caravan park .
My experience also confirms this potential effect growing up in London in a household with no football fans . Fell in love with the game in 1966 and followed the only team presented to the wider public on the back of George Best glamour and Munich , yes , you've guessed it ....I was mad about the sport , devoured everything I could and played played played although , being a girl , no chance of anything serious . No live coverage of course except the FA Cup but lots of back pages and the teleprinter on Grandstand .
When I was old enough to go to games alone, at twelve, I did.... watching Spurs or Arsenal alternate Saturdays and the Rags where ever they played in London . Hurrah for paper rounds and the boys entrance . We moved to Wiltshire a couple of years later , a football desert so I used to travel back to London to watch the big teams .
Came to Manchester to study at eighteen . One match at The Swamp then the next Saturday at Maine Road . No contest . City, The Mighty Joe Corrigan and The Kippax grabbed my heart straight away . Never looked back . Now we are a family of die hard Blues in exile in West Yorkshire. And my siblings are all football mad too
( Tottenham , Luton , Bristol Rovers season ticket holders all )
Thinking on though, it was the days when going to a match was the only way to experience football and be a supporter . These days , with the 24 /7 coverage favouring the Red Cartel , with biggest
" supporters " making a living on the socials and never going to live games , with tickets being so expensive etc etc I wonder if I would have stuck with my childish , erroneous decision . What a terrible terrible thought . Time for a coffee and to feed the cat.