Maybe people think football fans only expressing opinions about the clubs they support, and no one else, would make football more wonderful.

“How dare you have an opinion about the team I support? It’s MY club. You have no right to say anything about us. Focus on yours ALONE.”

I’m saying this because I get told this type of shit a lot. It’s genuinely confusing. Before I became a fan of my club, I was a fan of football first. I talk about football because I always loved it. That’s why I watch stuff about it, and read all I can about it.

To suggest that I should limit my enjoyment of the sport to the club I support alone, and not talk about other issues around the sport that interest me, is so weird. Literally nobody that loves football does that. Everyone talks about other teams based on what interests them.

I understand if you say I’m not informed enough to talk about certain things (because only fans have that extra bit) or I don’t have the full context. I get it.

But one thing I always try to do is look for context and all possible perspectives before having an opinion on others.

Which is why I invest a lot of time into listening to available interviews with club execs that, reading club-focused articles, listening to club-focused pods, watching fan interviews, reading through lengthy fan conversations here, etc. I always seek to be grounded on an issue.

Fans of over 10 different fanbases across leagues have called me a voyeur. They’ve called me obsessed with their clubs. They’ve called me a fan of their clubs in disguise who pretends to be a Valencia fan for attention and favours. They’ve said many awful things to me too.