I lied. I do have a second team. However, as Rich alluded to - my second team is a non-league team.
Kingstonian FC play in the Isthmian Premier division. This is the 7th tier of the English football league structure.
The reason I don’t really class them as a ‘second team’ is that Kingstonian and MUFC are so far apart that the prospect of them ever meeting let alone competing for the same trophy is infinitesimal.
MUFC get crowds of 75,000 whereas Kingstonian get crowds of 250.
What I like about non league is:
- real life football
- ability to enjoy a pint while watching the game
- watch the coaches issuing (screaming) instructions
- no need to book or be a member. Just rock up.
- park for free close to ground.
- Originally I could walk when Kingstonian played at Kingsmeadow !
- Cheaper £10 versus £35-40
Yes, we certainly were. However, we were accused of negative tactics back then when we were successful (offside traps, rough tackles, boring football, etc). Some justified, a lot not.
I loved those days despite the critics, even if our footballing style has become more fluid over the years.
Did that period see the origin of the ‘One Nil to the Arsenal’ chant ?
Yes. We had a great, well organised defence - Adams, Dixon, Bold and Winterburn - which tended to stifle the opposition. So it was quite often that if Arsenal scored, they were quite likely to win. Obviously this didn’t happen all the time, but it was often enough for it to be noticed.
Indeed. Nostalgia just isn’t what it used to be :-)