TRUE BLUE STORIES

Penny Warburton

For as long as I can remember, on a regular basis, I've been asked "Why Blue?" I come from a red background, on both my mum and dad's side, apart from my granddad, although I never had the joy of visiting the Academy with him.

I had the usual attire of football mementos bought me, the scarf, bobble-hat, shirt, wooden rattle (remember them!), much to the disappointment of the rest of the family. They thought I would eventually grow out of it. NO CHANCE! It was in my blood - once a blue always a blue.

At the age of 11 (1979) I did the unthinkable - I had my first visit to the Academy. It was wondrous. I was so overwhelmed I actually missed most of the match - so many people there - and all for the same reason - being blue. So that's how it started. I was hooked. I feel so proud to be able to say I've watched the likes of Corrigan, Power, Tueart, etc.

I attended most home matches between 1979 - 1984 and then in 1984 I met the fella who was to be my future husband. One of the first things I asked him was, yes you've guessed, blue or red? Obviously, being a blue I've got good taste, it showed, he was blue. The rest is history as they say.

I could go on for another couple of pages and go through all my favourite players, best matches ever watched but I won't. We've all got our own favourites. What I will say is, I've taken a lot of stick coming from a red background (especially in the last two weeks) but never once have I ever doubted being a blue - and that's what makes us blues so extraordinary. We're proud of our colour and stick together through thick and thin and one day we will be there, where we belong, at the top.

So "Why Blue?" with the odds stacked against me from birth, because there's no finer feeling than knowing we are the greatest even in these depressed times. It's all part of being a blue, subjecting ourselves to the array of emotions we experience at the Academy every week.

Forever Blue - Penny Warburton