In football, local rivalries are probably more important to most supporters than exactly where in the table you end up.

After all, if we beat the chaps in yellow and green from up the road home and away, we will have had a good season even if we don’t stand a chance of going up.

But why stop there? I, for one, am quite happy to harbour grudges against all sorts of teams or individual players for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they beat us once with an offside goal or got one of our lads sent off by pretending to be pole-axed when merely brushed against.

'Why the long face?' Ruud van Nistelrooy springs to mind for diving to get a penalty when we lost 0-1 to Manchester United and got relegated. Sometimes it’s just that I don’t like them because of their owner or their supporters’ arrogance. Or maybe they bought a player from us for next to nothing in the full knowledge we weren’t in a position to get a decent deal (remember Newcastle United and Darren Ambrose?)

But to show you how petty I am in this respect, for me this goes much further than players, managers or teams. It extends to not buying products and services because they are produced by a company that sponsors a team I don’t like. It makes life quite difficult for me because there are a lot of teams I don’t like.

So, I can’t insure my car with Aviva because of their connection with our trophy-less friends from Norfolk. Or buy a Samsung mobile phone because of their connection with Chelsea and their shady Russian money. Or take out any insurance policies with Aon because they sponsor Manchester United. Or ever consider flying with Etihad because they sponsor Manchester City and their limitless funding distorts football finance to the detriment of the game overall.

Also, I have no plans to go on holiday to Malta any time soon as the Maltese tourist board sponsors Sheffield United and that’s not a club I am very fond off.

But how can I be sure that when I do buy something, it isn’t connected to a club I don’t like? I don’t know who sponsors MK Dons but I don’t like them for their mercenary move from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes ignoring a football club’s sense of history and community in favour of money.

God forbid that the Kindle I have just bought from Amazon is somehow connected to the MK Dons franchise because they might be sponsored by Amazon who have massive distribution centre there. Maybe they aren’t but how can I be sure I haven’t just committed a terrible faux pas by buying something from a company on my personal blacklist?

So, here is my solution. Are there any IT experts out there who can put together a website which allows me (and other like-minded curmudgeons) to select all the clubs I don’t like to give me a list of sponsors whose products and services I need to avoid? I doubt if there is any GoCompare level commercial mileage in this but it certainly would give me peace of mind to not buy the wrong thing. Let’s call it clubsidontlikeandwhosesponsorsiwanttoavoid.com

dirtydingusmagee added 11:16 - Feb 23 bloody hell hailbeats,isnt life complicated enough!.
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bigdave_blue added 11:32 - Feb 23 I know where your coming from but there are limits!
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SideShow added 12:01 - Feb 23 Didn't they talk about this on last weeks 10 o'clock live?
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MVBlue added 13:28 - Feb 23 OK hailbeats, interesting idea. I have the skills to do this and needed a decent website idea
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blue_floyd added 14:41 - Feb 23 I hope you're not a musician, Hailbeats. MK Dons are sponsored by Marshall Amplification.
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carlynorm added 18:47 - Feb 23 ok. gd blog a bit complicated though :-)
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factual_blue added 19:49 - Feb 23 Shop at Tesco - that's the answer. The "TES" bit of Tesco refers to one of the original suppliers to the firm - a Mr STOCKWELL!
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bluesandbooze added 09:14 - Feb 24 So sad!!!!!!!!
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AJblue added 12:52 - Feb 24 Great blog, not for its in depth analysis of our beloved club, but 'cos it hasd me smiling and nodding in agreement! Get this I cancelled my insurance with Aviva, solely for the reason stated above! I am that petty too....and i wouldn't have it any other way.
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RegencyBlue added 19:44 - Feb 24 Have to admit I made my missus throw away all her Delia Smith cook books many years ago!
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sherborneblue added 01:20 - Feb 25 HAHA this is brilliant
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depressed added 08:10 - Feb 25 Excellent ! A friend of mine refuses to buy,"Colemans Mustard".. will try and avoid "Norwich Road" wherever possible...and a definate no no is, "Peas and Sweetcorn on the same plate".
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WeWereZombies added 19:12 - Feb 27 I was born in Ipswich but my grandmother was born in Norwich - I'm still trying to figure out which parts of myself to boycott.
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Calmingwind added 21:50 - Feb 28 never eat anything from a deilea smith cook book, never have colemans mustard, dont use yellow or green highlighters at work... the list can go on got given a norwich subbuteo team one xmas by a relative who didnt know any better, they didnt make it past boxing day. .....the team not the relative!
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