i was posting my thought on "a real fan" topic this morning and stated that for national football team, i supported Malaysia. and then claycwls asked me how do i get to like them (Malaysia national team). and it's occurred to me that we can use a topic where we can share a story of how we start to support our team, what make you decide that the club will be part of your life. personally i don't think it's matter how you get to support your team, be it by choosing the winning team at that moment of time, loving the underdog club or even it run in the family as long as you stick by your team. but still, it's good to know each other story

so come2 share the story on how you start to support you club. or clubs for people who have more than 1 favourite team

I used to watch a lot english football...  basically thanks to Dunhill... and since i was born in 1980, my early exposure to english football was during the season where United merely lost to Leeds in 1992. I was in standard 6... Basically I was rooting for them and reason why is because of my hero, Peter Schmeichel. He signed for United in 1991-1992 season where United were not successful yet!

What an amazing goallie he was. He was 6 foot 4 inches or 193 cm and he was huge... wore XXXL and sometimes XXXXL sized goalkeeper kits... and he had hands that are as wide as shovels. He was massive with a big figure and yet he could still do those acrobatic saves.. I'm still not impressed with his son Kasper because he hasn't got the same big frame like his dad and he has big boots (and goallie shirt) to fill in.

United lost to leeds.. So nevermind.... then the next season Eric the King arrived and lightened up the place at Old Trafford with his charisma and character on and off the pitch. He loves poetry, very artistic loving person and he loves to play with beauty and grace (football is an art to him)... After retirement, he went into acting and latest news I heard is that he is recording a song and album. What a character.. with his chest puffed, collars turned up.. no one beats his charisma and character... Skill wise.. well... of course he is damn talented.. but what a character..

Then we won and won and won... and we had our ups and downs. Sometimes I do appreciate the downtimes we have (not winning the league on some seasons), especially the worst felt was when we lost to Blackburn in the EPL race and Everton in the FA Cup final during season 1994-1995. Losing Eric thanks to his suspension was one of the reasons to it... But that was the most bitter defeat I ever tasted as a fan. But I do sometimes appreciate it because this is where we can see who are genuine fans or just merely glory hunters. I see a trend here where there are some fans who claim to support club A, then suddenly say they support club B and recently opened up a new thread cheering another club who were temporarily on top of the league this season.. Typical fan.. ask him about the history of the latest club he roots for and I would think he would know nothing much.

Later once I began to fall in love with my club, I learned about the Munich tragedy.. which makes me root them even more. The amazing feat done by Sir Matt.. almost being killed himself and winning back the European Cup after 10 years from the accident.. impresses me a lot. The spirit of 68 lives on today. Emphasis on youth talent.... the youth system... producing home grown talents... the Fergie's class of 92... latest crop.. all this makes me love my club more..

Every one has their own reason on how they started supporting their club. I'd bet majority is because of them being successful... just imagine that most of the fans in Malaysia are the fans of the top 4 clubs in EPL just shows it... But honestly, I didn't support my club because of that initially. It is more to being caused by certain players (in my case, Peter and Eric).

That is why, my nickname is schmeichel7. Schmeichel + 7.

Then you have much to learn still... 

Go ask uncle google. I am not old enough to have seen most of the legends play either. Of the true 'greats' I think i've only seen Shilton play in real life...
Well, we could perhaps include Seaman and Grobbelaar in there

Schmeichel Sr. was great, no doubt but like most of the older guys here would say, his popularity and 'feats' were more 'evident' due to the fact that footie, especially English football is receiving more media attention nowadays. Which is why you seldom see the older stars winning internet or whatever sorta polls nowadays. Did Man Utd fans not vote cantona as no.1 as opposed to george best?

And in ten years time you lot will be trying your best to convince the younger fans that Cantona was greater than C.Ronaldo 

Which is why one should never say best ever. You corrected yourself.

As for them not facing the same challenges, did they ever have the benefits of technology and modern training or even modern medical treatment? 

We hijacked his thread, no?

I think we tend to support the winning team...whichever team that on top will be our first choice of course...who want to support a team which is losing...that's probably the reasons many ppl support man utd..

Funny that no one mention Gordan Banks yet...

I started supporting the team last week only. 

On a serious note, i have forgotten when did I started the team, one thing for sure though, is that the term Liverpool is one that got utter a lot in the family, as most of me uncles and father supports the team. I guess one day I just decided to stay upo and watch the weekly highlights and got hooked on since. Back then as mentioned by many here, there's no such thing as internet or Astro or forums. All we have to rely on are books, newspaper and what nots. We find out who the club signed after seeing it in the paper, which could be a couple of days late.

What makes me proud is that despite the lack of resources our generation is managed to learn a lot about the club / team and we certainly appreciate the advancement of technology in this regards where we can discuss, learn as well as gossip about our club 24 hours a day. Compare that to the "newer" fans who had all these when they started supporting yet choose not to do anything about it, which is why I was seething about these glory hunters.