AFC BOURNEMOUTH

In many ways AFC Bournemouth is responsible for Harry Redknapp.

STEVENAGE FC

Stevenage is a very new, fresh football club founded in 1976.

SHEFFIELD UNITED

The Blades are the ugly kid brother of Sheffield Wednesday.  They possess a reputation of being scrappers and have from time to time over the years proved quite the obstacle and competition.

DONCASTER ROVERS

Doncaster Rovers is a mysterious football club from up north.

BARNSLEY FC

Barnsley is another Yorkshire club.  They’ve never really amounted to much more than a nuisance in the grand scheme of things.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST

Nottingham Forest is one of those clubs that once had a bit of life, a bit of gusto.  Their most famous moments came at the hands of their most famous personality: Brian Clough.  This is a team that once won the European Cup.  This will never happen again.  Unfortunately once the rot set in with Clough, the club never recovered and eventually slipped down into the lower leagues.  It’s appropriate though, Nottingham is a rotten place.

BLACKPOOL FC

Blackpool is a club that plays in orange.  Fail.

COVENTRY CITY

When I first got into football something weird happened: Coventry City won the FA Cup by beating Tottenham Hotspur.  Now this was not a club that should be achieving such feats and realistically they aren’t likely to ever do it again.  It was a freak moment and an exciting one all the same.  The victory even prompted one of my best friends at school to support them.  It was also around this time that their goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic became the first keeper I had ever heard of to score.  How awesome was this team?

Away from that, there only other claim to fame is their association with Jimmy Hill.

HULL CITY

Hull City is an odd football club.  Their nickname is The Tigers and for years they bounced about the lower leagues much like a harmless little brother.  Then suddenly they wound up in the top flight and they grew something of a head.

At one point Jan Molby was their manager.

BRISTOL CITY

Bristol City is one of those clubs stuck in the sticks that have a strange rivalry with close neighbours (Bristol Rovers) that no one else in the country gives a flying fuck about.

PORT VALE

Port Vale is a club based in Staffordshire and have a curious rivalry with Stoke City.  When I first got into football they had a Welsh striker called Andy Jones that would seemingly score for fun (like Steve Bull without the longevity).  Strangely no one ever seems to remember him.

Robbie Williams claims to be a supporter.

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

Sheffield Wednesday is a club that oozes tradition.  It is based in Yorkshire has a unique rivalry with its neighbours Sheffield United when really you would think they’d be more concerned with topping Leeds United.

For me they are the club that featured in Ripping Yarns.

TRANMERE ROVERS

Tranmere Rovers is the other club (the third club) from Liverpool.  They really are poor cousins of the big two but occasionally they do have spurts and flurries of exciting activity.  At times they can be an exciting proposition.

YEOVIL TOWN

Yeovil Town has only been in the football league since 2003 and prior to that they were best known as being FA Cup giant killers.  Many believed the secret to their success be in the sloping pitch of their Huish Park ground.

SWANSEA CITY

Swansea City is another Welsh football club that plays in the English leagues.  Does nobody see anything wrong with that?

CARDIFF CITY

Cardiff City is a Welsh football club that plays in the English league.  Surely their homeland should have disowned them as turncoats.  Alas the club is just too successful (in Welsh terms).

They have a notorious football firm named the Soul Crew.

STOCKPORT COUNTY

Situated in Greater Manchester (and thus in the shadows of United and City), Stockport have always felt like one of those clubs that is just around making up the numbers.

George Best played for them very briefly.

WATFORD FC

It is a sad and sorry state of affairs when your club has a main rival that is Luton Town, is notorious for having Elton John as a chairman and you are known for being the club that gave birth to Graham “do I not like that” Taylor.

And yet the club has the nickname The Hornets.  They should be better than this.

WALSALL FC

Walsall are like the lost team of the Midlands.  I have seen some fine games with them involved.  They have never played in the top flight of football.

BOLTON WANDERERS

Much like Preston North End, Bolton are one of the traditional clubs, a team that was great in the golden era of football but at the point I took interest in the game (circa 1986 onwards) they had long since fallen down the leagues.

In recent years (the Sky era) Bolton have clawed their way back into the top flight, which, while being no mean feat in itself, has hardly seen them set the league on fire.

Personally I can’t imagine supporting a club such as Bolton.  They may have tradition but I suffer to sense the excitement or personality in the club.  Perhaps the key is in the community aspect.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

Situated in the Midlands Wolves are a strange team.  They have a dog on their badge for starters.  Do not allow them to convince you that this is actually a wolf because it is just not.

For years Wolves languished as a club of former glories but then suddenly their place in my generation (the pre-Sky era) was solidified by the partnership of Steve Bull and Andy Mutch.  Bull was an incredible player with a lower league scoring rate that felt next to none that saw him from the third division (old) rub up against the England first team squad and scoring four goals in the process.  And Mutch wasn’t bad either.

PRESTON NORTH END

Preston are one of those clubs with a huge legacy built when football was broadcast by Pathe News instead of Sky and was in black and white. Better times. However in the modern era the team has taken something of a tumble down the leagues.

They were the first club to accomplish the “The Double” in 1888-89, back when it meant something.

Their most famous player ever is Tom Finney.

STOKE CITY

Stoke City is an odd little club in Staffordshire that have subtly snuck up the leagues. They are no frills and nondescript.

Their nickname is The Potters, which is not taken from the wizard of the same name.

READING FC

The first ever pitch invasion I saw at a football match was when Ipswich drew 1-1 with Reading in 1987 and made to the play offs as a result.

DERBY COUNTY

Derby County was the club Brian Clough built before Nottingham Forest. There ground was called The Baseball Ground. They were mixed up with Robert Maxwell. The only person I ever met from Derby was called Gez and was a bit of a dickhead.