by Paul Nunn

Created on: September 17, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

It is the albatross I wear around my neck, it is my vice, my addiction and if I'm honest my badge of honour. I am a Tranmere Rovers Fan.

Over on the other side of the Mersey, in the shadows of the other two,' from Stanley Park, is the humble home of Wirral's finest at Prenton Park. For the last 18 years I've supported my team through thick, thin and a little more thin.

It's a strange relationship you have with a club like mine, it's so very different to that of a big club. There are times when you hate them - for putting you through the agony, the goals conceded in the last minute, the 4-0 stuffing's away from home on a wet Tuesday night in some god forsaken far flung corner of England in December. There are time when you loathe them, when you dumped out in the FA Cup 1st round, when the play-offs elude you by a goal conceded that went in off your goalkeepers backside. But like your family you can't stay mad for long and like a drug (probably?) you just know that no matter how much you mean it this time, and how much you swear that it's the last time you ever spend you hard earned on it again you'll be back, undoubtedly around 3pm next Saturday.

I think what ties you is the camaraderie, the feeling of belonging (and suffering) the hope that one day, one glorious day it will all be worth it. And you know what? Sometimes it is. I could actually put quite a list together of the wonderful times I've had with this small club, okay some are meaningless in terms of results but the experience, the away days, the banter, the smug satisfaction at knowing those Man Utd / Liverpool (etc etc delete as appropriate) fans you see watching their team on the box haven't got the foggiest about what actually being a football fan is all about.

Of course the lows are low, the defeats are hard, the seemingly unrelenting failure is difficult to take but the highs, well they are so amazingly high. Beating Everton 3-0 in their own back yard comeback finally, for years of ridicule and torment the day the poor relations' finally delivered and my god how we delivered. Tranmere fans still recall this day St Yates Day (in honour of our central defender scoring 2 beautifully stunning headers) in fact I bet we look back on this one day with more fondness than United do wining the prem in 1990 whatever. I also recall the remarkable achievement of little Tranmere reaching the League Cup final in 2000 European success for the premiership boys can't compare with how proud I felt that day.

The Premiership and what it stands for repulse me in many ways, don't get me wrong the football is superb and yes part of me dreams of heady premiership days for my club (I am after all a football fan and we all want success) but I detest the mentality and the fake football supporter.' If it meant my club would have 10,000 fans' who didn't really care coming through the gates every week and selling out to some jonnie foreigner who's there for nothing more than a big fat pay chequewell in that case you keep your Premiership state circus, I'm happy with God's acre at Prenton Park.

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