For us non-brit, non city-dwelling supporters, following your club can be a strangely solitary experience.
I watch most of the matches from home, and probably about 1/3 at my local Irish pub. I do have Reds-supporting friends, but if I'm honest, in public I feel a bit like a fish out of water if I wear anything associated with a football club; I'll likely have to explain my reason for supporting LFC, and that's a story neither unique nor very interesting. I just love my club. Love it so.
American fans who come in dripping with kit and scarves and hats send me looking the other way. It's probably got something to do with the fact that - I can't help it - every time I see someone walk through the door with a united shirt, I think: "global marketing triumphs again". This is unfair perhaps but there's little doubt that MU are the default club when someone here decides they like watching soccer. Also, they tend to be the most raucous and the most loud-mouthed, even though they're from Schenectady, New York, have never been to England, don't know anything about their club's history, and pronounce Scholes with a soft "ch".
A bit of a roundabout way of making a point here, but on the rare occasion I meet another American who supports Everton, I give them the benefit of the doubt. Everton are firmly outside of the modern marketing wonders of Arsenal, MU, City, Chelsea and to a lesser extent Spuds, and even though their supporters' behavior makes me sick at times, it is generally worth hearing out one of their American fans because they tend to have a more thorough appreciation for the game.
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