When I first started supporting Stockport County, in the late 1970s, the idea of the club winning trophies never crossed my mind.
Avoiding having to apply for re-election to the old Fourth Division was all I cared about. I’m sorry to sound cliched but survival in the Football League was the only kind of prize I cared about.
That has changed over the decades and now that I am advancing in years, I have seen my club play at Wembley in four of the seven appearances they have made there.
I dragged my dad there to see Stockport lose to Peterborough in the Third Division play-off final in 1992.
I dragged my elder daughter there with me to see them beat Rochdale in the 2008 League Two play-off final when she was nine. That is the only time in seven visits to Wembley that Stockport have emerged victorious.
Both my daughters came with me to the EFL Trophy final against Luton Town on Sunday afternoon and saw Stockport lose again. Luton deserved their 3-1 win. They were the better team.
I would have loved to see Stockport win their first ever cup and I would have loved to see it with my daughters but the truth is that I loved the day anyway.
The idea of Stockport winning things is not as foreign as it used to be but there is still a huge part of supporting a lower league club that is about celebrating survival, too. That doesn’t go away.
It’s about survival and it’s about solidarity in the face of the greed of the Premier League. I was disappointed but I’d met my old boss, who’s one of the best men I know, before the match and he’s a Luton fan and so I was pleased for him, too.
And I loved the day out. I loved the riot of Luton orange on Olympic Way, I loved the fact that the clash had been christened El Hattico because it was a meeting of the two teams nicknamed The Hatters.
And I was pleased for the Luton boss, Jack Wilshere, too. He’s another good man. He was a sublime footballer who had rotten luck with injuries. I hope management is kinder to him.
So the day still felt like a celebration. Stockport still have the League One play-offs to aim for. The club is thriving. We have a brilliant benificent owner, at last, in Mark Stott. We have a fine manager in Dave Challinor. Our stadium, Edgeley Park, has improved markedly.
A trophy would be nice one day but I’m not worried about survival any more. That’s enough.
