New York Red Bulls v Toronto FC
24/10/09

Toronto’s season came to an abrupt end on Saturday night when they got completely stuffed by the last placed New York Red Bulls 5-0 in a game that had they won they’d have secured a playoff spot. Nothing like a bit of pressure to sort the men out from the boys.

That poor showing brought to an end my first full season as a fan of TFC and it’ll be a season that’ll live long in my memory, not because there was anything spectacular that happened on the field … maybe aside from the big comeback win against Montreal that I watched on my living room sofa, but because it was my first.

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Unless you were a United fan in the Premier League you never really liked Ronaldo and the cry baby, pouting mouth, diving antics that came with him, and now that he is gone, even the United fans don’t like him. It isn’t just his attitude on the pitch, but his attitude and distaste off the field towards those that make him what is is – the fans. You keep that up and very soon the world sees you for who you are and this week in Toronto quite a few Ronaldo fans found it out.

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Montreal Impact v Toronto FC
18/6/09

My plan was to sit down last night while watching the impossible game against Montreal and write about last Saturday’s victory over New York. I attended the game against New York so it would be the one worth writing about. I mean Toronto had to beat Montreal by four goals to qualify for the North American Champions League and while Montreal were already eliminated and were fielding a weakened team it still looked like an impossible hurdle to overcome. I had some faith that something could happen, I know all to well that Football is a funny old game and two goals by half-time and anything is possible, but when Toronto fell behind 1-0 to an early penalty even the most positive of fans must have considered opening a beer to what might have been.

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Toronto FC v Los Angeles Galaxy
6/6/09

I got hold of another ticket for the Saturday afternoon game and got down to the stadium good and early to not only take in the atmosphere but to take in a few burgers at the tail-gate party. The team had lost a couple of away games since my last visit but I was still optimistic they could turn it around in front of their own support. It was Los Angeles Galaxy in town minus David Beckham — he was still over in Europe having just finished his season with Milan and now playing World Cup qualifiers with England so without the big draw of ‘Golden Balls’ it probably made it easier for me to acquire a ticket. I didn’t mind whether he played or not and him not playing probably gave Toronto a better chance of winning.

Unfortunately they went behind early and never really recovered. Danny Dichio the fans favourite levelled the score but Los Angeles were the better team throughout and inevitably grabbed their winner.

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Toronto FC v New England Revolution
23/5/09

I am sorry to say it took another eight and a half months for me to get back to BMO Field. The 2008 season came to a quiet end and with only a handful of home games following my only visit I never got round to going back though I did say I would make a greater effort the following year. So suddenly April was upon me and the MLS season was kicking off. I had no tickets booked and again all reports suggested that every game would be a sellout. Was scalping a rip-off ticket outside my only option?

It took me another two months before I got myself in gear to find out. I was assuming I had little chance and so put off getting a ticket. I followed the fortunes of the team in the newspaper and online but I rarely sat down to watch the games on TV as I was completely immersed in the fortunes of Liverpool’s title run-in. By the time I did get to the game against New England Liverpool’s season had come to a disappointing end and I was looking for my footballing season to continue.

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Toronto FC v Chivas USA
6/9/08

Of course I knew who Toronto FC were, I knew who Mo Johnson was from his Rangers days and I knew all about Danny Dichio from his Premier League seasons. I had also spent a number of weeks every summer since the turn of the century in Toronto so I knew the Toronto sporting scene and when at home I followed hockey and baseball through Canadian websites with great interest. So when it was announced that Toronto were to get an MLS team for the 2007 season I knew about it as soon as anyone else and I knew right then that if I was ever going to follow the MLS with more than a passing — “look at who is top of the league this season” — kind of interest, then Toronto would be my team.

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Two weeks ago I went to my first Toronto FC game of the season, my second ever game and this weekend I will be going back for more. As you can tell I clearly enjoyed myself which should come as no suprise given the obsessive football fan that I am. Toronto FC are now my local football team of choice and I intend to get right into the thick of the club, it’s support and find myself being carried away by the beautiful game in the style that only a local football team that you go see every-other-week can deliver.

Coming up are the opening extracts of my relationship with Toronto FC, how it came about and how I intend it to go forward. If you read this blog often you will likely see a lot of summer writing about TFC, especially now that the Premier League has shut down.

Football players have their out of season breaks … fans like myself make the sport a year round habit.