Why Rams fans reign supreme

There is a certain art to being an underdog. It demands skills that successful people can only dream about ever attaining.
It is in the very blood of Derby County fans and manifests itself superbly in the face of the biggest challenges.
For those of you who couldn’t be there, let me take you to Old Trafford on Tuesday night, a football stadium modestly called the Theatre of Dreams.
Lit up like Las Vegas, bright red neon signs shout out the club’s name, lest we should forget. Chance would be a fine thing.
Outside, a mass of burger bars and merchandise stalls, give the appearance of a tinkers’ fairground. A bit down market, I summised, for a club ranked the richest in any sport, with an estimated value of £897m.
It all makes me feel faintly queasy. You can almost smell the arrogance. In case you haven’t guessed, I am one of the many people who cannot stand Manchester United.
For every fan they have in Japan – because that’s where most of them live, I gather – there is a sane and sensible person over here who thinks that for one sports club to have so much is hopelessly unfair, destabilising and unhealthy.
And what does it get you? Fans all over the world who have never set foot in Manchester, hapless UK-born glory-hunters who latch on to the Red Devils because it’s easy to support a winning team and corporate boxes full of hangers on more interested in knocking back the vino than watching the game.
“Have you ever been to Manchester?” is the chant Rams fans love to yell at away supporters when Utd come to Pride Park.
“We support our local team,” was the key message they sent out to the massed ranks of Reds at a quiet Old Trafford. For a stadium that holds 76,000 you could have heard a pin drop at times. Well, you might have done if the black and white army hadn’t been so noisy. Fans didn’t even use their seats, standing up throughout the game, scarves held aloft or swirling wildly.
Home supporters, a tad irritated and clearly bemused by the exuberance of people supporting a struggling team in a lower division – who were losing – did have a feeble effort to bring us down. About half a dozen managed to muster: “You’re going down with a fiver in the bank,” to which our lot swiftly retorted. “We beat you with a fiver in the bank.”
Childish, I know, but it makes you feel better.
Love or hate football, everyone should respect the ceaseless devotion of Rams fans, their wit, repartee and stoical loyalty. They are easily among the best supporters in the land.
It was heartwarming to be among them, people like Adie Prince, 23, who reckoned he’d been a Rams fan so long “it probably started when I was a foetus”. He’d travelled from his home near London to be at the game – but was swift to point out that he hails from Kilburn. “I support my local team!”
Then there was 64-year-old Maureen Howorth who went to watch the Rams for the first time at the age of nine 55 years ago. She was at Old Trafford with her son, Ian, 40, having taken him to his first game when he was a boy.
The myth that women don’t like football is hopelessly out-of-tune with reality.
Among many Ramettes on the road were identical twin sisters, Ann and Beverly Green, 43, from West Hallam, supporters since the age of 10. They booked time off work to go to Old Trafford, as did thousands of others. More than 9,000 made the journey, from tots to pensioners, a family of fans.
Among older supporters was Spondon’s Richard Piggott, 62, a fan since 1957. “People sing ‘We’re Derby ‘til we die’ and they mean it,” he said.
It said it all for me on Tuesday night when many Man Utd’ fans left the stadium before the end of a game. No wild celebrations because they had clinched a trip to Wembley. I am so glad I support my local team.