Although I have supported Arsenal since 1965 when we moved down to the South from Oldham when I was ten years old, my first flirtation with football was with Oldham Athletic - The Latics.
This was primarily as they were my local team, and when I say local, from my house less than a mile across the field next to Fernhurst (cotton) Mill. My Dad worked for the supporters club as the Pools Promoter and also helped out at the Bingo evenings they ran. These were very vital earnings streams in the 50's and 60's.
I started to go with him and then with my Aunt Linda and Anne, a pal of hers. For a couple of years I had a season ticket and then we moved south to Surrey.
My Dad was an Arsenal supporter and many of the family were too.
Over many years as an "exile" I have tried to get to games when they are in the south and accessible.
Although I have been to games at Wimbledon before, in their original guise as a non-league side playing in the Southern League at their old ground at Plough Lane, and then latterly as they made their way to the Premier League and playing home games at Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park.
Then an owner took the club to another city and the new club was born from the angry supporters back in south London. They have worked their way through the pyramid as far as League One - the third tier in the English game.
They still share a ground before moving back to Plough Lane where they have taken over the land from the greyhound racing stadium.
I've not been to the current ground, although in the 70's friends and I from school did go often to watch the club they share with, Kingstonian, in the Isthmian League, the 7th tier in the pyramid.
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