Preparing for the New Season: Lucky Pants and Other Superstitions

Last season Manchester City Football Club achieved 100 points in the Premier League making them the inaugural members of the Centurions Club. In doing this they amassed 50 points at home and 50 points away and scored 106 League goals in a thrilling campaign.

Whilst the sublime skills of Kevin De Bruyne and his immense vision and artistry contributed to that, as did the goals of Sergio Aguero, the speedy wing play of Leroy Sane and the one touch industry of David Silva – what all you other fans need to know and thank me for is the huge part I played in that success.

2017/18 Season was the season I wore my lucky shirt to every single game I went to.

I bought my lucky home shirt from the Man City Club Shop at the Etihad Stadium back in May 2017 and at the time it was new home shirt for the coming season. The shirt was brand new and at the point of purchase it was the very first time I had seen the shirt.

Like many of the Nike kits Manchester City fans have been subjected to throughout the duration of the contract it was another “template” kit design where various teams sport the same kits with differing shades of colour.

I’m not so keen on these kit designs because as a fan I tend to view the designs as lazy and not respecting the uniqueness of my club.

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However, I put those feelings to one side and made the purchase, thinking in part I was probably too old to wear a home shirt for many more years so maybe this would be my last year of buying one. Now I’m not saying there is an age cut off point for these replica football shirts but maybe there should be a certification system in place like there is for movies or computer games. You see these shirts tend to look fantastic when displayed on the bodies of 20 year old athletes but when worn by 50 year old men, they have the tendency to make everyone look like an oven ready turkey.

Modern replica football shirts can be unforgiving for the less athletically built older gentleman and as a consequence are unflattering.

Everyone can support their team however they want, even if you want to do it looking like an oven ready turkey. Each to their own. Live and let live. And I’m not being a fat fascist here – as a gentleman of advancing waistline I had extra reason to be cautious about buying that new home shirt. Still on balance I figured it may be my last season in a replica kit so I threw caution to the wind and bought it.

Of course its only the replica shirt not the full kit. That would be not right for anyone over the age of 12.

Anyway I decided at the outset it would be my lucky shirt. I would wear it to every game (not televised games as we all know you need a different lucky item for that).

I have had superstitions about football for as long as I can remember. Lucky trainers – Blue Adidas Gazelles if anyone is interested. A lucky scarf during the 1980’s (it worked infrequently). I spent a number of years only walking anticlockwise around Maine Road on my way to the ground, despite it being seriously inconvenient given where I lived.

I’m not alone in my superstitions. Most fans have some, although some people don’t take them to the same extremes. Clearly those people in my view aren’t doing enough to support a team. And thats the difference.

Being a fan is often a passive experience but being a supporter is different. That’s a greater thing which seems much more involved. Where you take every breath for your team, feel every blow and cry every tear. As a supporter its incumbent on us to do our bit. Get to the match, shout as loud as you can. Encourage the team on. Sometimes this means doing our bit involves wearing your lucky shirt or lucky pants or walking only anti clockwise around the ground.

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As a supporter its important to do those things because it makes the luck last longer and as we all know the luck in a lucky shirt has a limited lifespan; it runs out. When I made my purchase of a Man City home shirt I didn’t know the luck was going to last all the way to the Champions League home match against Liverpool. That was a bonus. I prolonged the luck by sticking to the same routine. Wearing the shirt to all the games. Not washing it. That is important because I can tell you from over 35 years experience that most well known brands of detergent are able to easily wash the luck out of a football shirt.

Its not just football fans who have mastered superstitious routines to bring them luck on the pitch. The World Cup winning England captain Bobby Moore famously was always the last player to put on his shorts before going out onto the pitch. Gary Lineker the England centre forward and ex Barcelona striker refused to practice shooting at goal during warm ups on the pitch believing he didn’t want to waste a goal in a practice. The ex Man City player and famous human chant subject, Kolo Toure, always wanted to be the last player to run onto a pitch – which once got him booked because he refused to step onto the field of play before a team mate had.

Superstitions, routines are important to all supporters and players but now its time to get your own.

Whilst I am clearly in large part to thank for the Record Breaking 2017/18 Champions Manchester City by wearing my lucky shirt I have as yet had no formal thanks from Pep Guardiola. If only he knew the effort I had made. How just prior to the Chelsea away match I retrieved the lucky shirt from the laundry basket with horror and issued instructions it was not to be touched until its luck had expired.

So my lucky shirt won the league. I’m still thinking what to do for next season but given Manchester City tend to be awful the season after winning the league I think we will need all your help. Time for you all to decide and build your own superstitious routine to bring us luck, It doesn’t matter if you plan to contribute by putting your socks on in the same order, by wearing your lucky pants or by keeping your fridge in alphabetical order – however you plan to help, please get it ready now. For all of us fans. For glory.