Traditionally football has been tribal, with rival factions roaring on their boys and wishing ill upon their rivals, the love of winning and hatred of losing overriding all else. And certainly that has its own thrill and attraction. But to purely appreciate football, wouldn’t it be better to watch as an abstract neutral, observing with detachment and disinterest?

Before I begin, I must admit this is more relevant to the ‘top’ sides, those that feature regularly on TV – and therefore more relevant to fans of those teams. Lower league fans largely enjoy the same impunity I do, and that’s why it’s better to support a shit team. You can enjoy watching the good ones. And before I make my case, I must confess a bias to my cause. Shrugging off my childhood glory supporting of Man United I am now a semi-serious supporter of the mighty Swindon Town – but on the whole, I am largely a neutral.

This allows me to watch Big Four clashes, local derbies, grudge matches, heated rivalries and so on without my emotions being influenced, without the potential for my day being ruined, without a visceral hatred toward eleven men on a pitch or other people in the bar. I can enjoy it for what it is, a sport. My ‘loyalties’ don’t turn me into a moody, abusive, blind acolyte.

Because I don’t support a football team, I can watch football and enjoy it. I am a football fan, not a fan of a footballing entity. Not a ‘team fan’.

I actually feel sorry for die-hard fans. They cannot watch and enjoy a game without it somehow influencing them – league position, transfer targets, cup qualification, impact on rival teams, etc. Super Sunday becomes an emotional rollercoaster rather than an enjoyable pastime.

Furthermore, following a team (literally) is pretty shit. Cost, travel, having to spend your time amongst football crowds (which in all honesty are pretty disgusting, both actually and as a reflection of humanity), the lows (as few teams actually enjoy many highs) the mis-management, the bad signings, the underperformances – a lot of it is suffering, bearable only for the occasional 1-0 away win at Bolton.

Of course, I exaggerate. It’s not all bad. But being a fan of a team is certainly worse than being a fan of the game.

In fact I would go so far as to say, if you support a team, you don’t really like football that much (bear with me). You don’t watch football to appreciate great games, great players, and great goals (how anyone who says they like football doesn’t enjoy watching Arsenal is beyond me), you watch football for the small minded neanderthal tribality of it, the sense of belonging, of being part of something. I know (many) people who won’t watch Man Utd because they can’t bear it, won’t watch Arsenal in case they win, etc. That’s not liking football. That’s liking a team – and therefore not liking another one (or more).

For many, football is just an outlet. An outlet for aggression and loyalty, an outlet to moan and suffer, a chance to feel part of something, something to give your life some meaning. These people don’t like watching the sport – they just like being in a gang. An excuse to hate.

You may find this polemic – I am not disbaraging every team’s every fan – merely saying that if you watch football to follow a team, you like the team and all it provides – not the sport.

But that’s just one point of view. Perhaps you enjoy football more because you support a team – it gives an extra angle/edge to the viewing pleasure. I’d love to hear from you. I’m open minded. Unlike your average ‘team fan’.