THE fan phenomenon is fascinating. The fan of yesteryear was a supporter.

One who followed his team through thick and thin. If your team lost, you shared the players disappointment and encouraged them to do better next time.

When I was young, my local team was relegated to the then second division, but not one of my friends ever suggested for a second that we should desert them. In fact, the general consensus was that they needed us more. The team was Manchester United.

I am sorry that I now have to share my lifetime's allegiance with people in Sumatra, Ecuador and Beijing and incur the sneers of those who don't know my origins and see only a southerner following a fashionable team.

I have lived in Wycombe for 18 years and now also support Wycombe Wanderers. My wife and four daughters have been to every home match and some aways. I have been to as many matches as I could, given my work commitments.

I have used this column before to express my surprise at the comparatively undemonstrative nature of the Adams Park regulars. I am also amazed at the number of (presumably) unemployed footballers and football managers who populate the stands. As it is so blindingly obvious how the team should be deployed and how they should play, I am amazed that they are all free to watch the Wanderers rather than hurtling up the wing or sitting on a lonely bench themselves.

My family attended the fan's forum. My wife managed to tread on Stuart Roberts' foot to her dismay but to no apparent ill effect to him, thank goodness.

The majority of those who attended were supportive but some fans seemed to care more about what Mr Sanchez had said about them, rather than recent form. Lawrie has in the past expressed his frustration, (which I understand and share), that fans don't truly get behind the team on a regular basis.

Remarkably he promised that night never to criticise the fans again if that was what mattered to them. So I suppose I'll have to do it for him, starting as I always do with those who leave before the match ends. I'm glad that is a rarity in the theatre, although it seems endemic in football.

The news that Glenn Roeder the manager of West Ham is currently hospitalised suffering from an enlarged blood vessel in his brain will, I hope, serve as a timely humanity alert to all those fans (and the word "fan" jars slightly in this context) that howled abuse at Glenn before the game at the weekend, and the beleaguered Hammers actually won.

Cardiff City lose three games at the end of the season and despite the fact that they are in contention for promotion still, the fans bay for the blood of the manager.

Whenever the Blues go out on the field there is another team there, with another manager who will be criticised by their fans if they don't deliver. Not everyone can win. And players who get no encouragement from their supporters are less likely to do so.

A second division side with no millionaire patron shouldn't have a hope of getting to the FA semis. We did.

We now have several talented young players coming through. Let's see them develop and start another winning streak.

We'll be renewing our season tickets and cheering the boys on next season.