First of all I would like to let you all know who I am. My name is Sindre Eliassen and I'm a 17-year-old Norwegian bloke with a burning desire for Ipswich Town. I have been a true and hardcore fan since I was about six, when my dad succeeded with turning me into a fan like himself.

It was at an early age when I started to pick up on names like David Johnson, Matt Holland, Marcus Stewart, Martijn Reuser and Richard Wright. I somehow knew so much more about the English game than my mates and was soon called The Encyclopaedia, just because I knew names from a team that no one had ever heard about.

At the age of nine (2003) I participated in a football school at Portman Road and was mascot for the mighty Blues when we went to Sunderland on 30th September, that chilly midweek night in 2003. I was realising that my life was almost all about this football team from Suffolk that no one had heard about.

Now when Facebook became a part of my life, I started getting in touch with English Town fans, and I thought that was great. Each day I wrote this wallpost where I let my opinion be heard, but it didn't last for long.

It was only about a year ago when I got very weird and personal feedback regarding my name and the fact I'm a Norwegian. I used to come out with comments like, "We should start Scotland more, I think he has a lot to offer to our team!". But I didn't have to wait long until I heard, "Armchair fan you don't know anything go and support your local team instead".

Hopefully, not all of the Town fans are like that (I know they aren't) but I need to know where these comments come from, why are foreign fans not wanted by certain people, what have we done wrong?

I hate to say it but I often feel like a few of my Norwegian mates are perhaps the best fans I've ever seen or experienced.

One of Norway's best fans was sleeping at the floor on the Norwegian airport Torp on Friday, before he travelled to England early doors on Saturday just so he could go and watch Town meet Hull in the third round of the FA Cup, before travelling back shortly afterwards.

I know three or four people in Norway about the same age as me who support Ipswich, imagine that, three or four out of 5 million!

There aren't many of us, but we are so proud to support this mediocre club in the Championship. Teams like Man Utd, Liverpool, and so on have 30 or 40 thousand fans in their supporters clubs, while we have about 500 very dedicated and loyal fans.

As a 17-year-old I'm travelling by myself to Ipswich in April to watch us play Birmingham and Palace, and I've saved money for one whole year just to watch us play two decent teams. Ask yourself, would you do that?

I think we deserve a lot of respect for spending so much time, money and effort into something a lot of people take for granted.

I just wonder, is it something wrong on supporting Ipswich, do you 'local' fans feel afraid of different cultures in the club, or is it great that we have a fanbase on a global basis? I hope 100% of you prefer the second option.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who respect us and give us the appreciation we deserve, we really admire you too for supporting a team that seems to be stuck in the Championship. Thanks, and have a nice day, COYB.

NewcyBlue added 08:46 - Jan 17 I can understand your point mate, I work at sea, I spend 8 months of the year on what is essentially a floating prison, and my 4 month off on leave might not always occur during the football season. So getting to games is something pretty damned special to me! In fact, being a Town fan is something pretty damned special, so special in fact that whenever I am flying out to join my ship I am normally wearing my Town Shirt. And do you know what? I ALWAYS get people coming up to talking about Town. Usually friendly airport staff, happens in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, USA, everywhere I fly. When I do get to go to a match it's a 600 Mile round trip for me because I now live near Sunderland. I've even got my soon to be wife supporting ITFC and she comes from a family that is divided by supporters of Newcastle and Sunderland! All supporters should be made welcome! By the way to the supporter in Singers, my ship will be there in March sometime and I'll be due a run ashore!

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C_Thomsen added 20:30 - Jan 20 I wouldn't worry about not being appreciated, because we are! I moved to England from Denmark in 2005 and have got to know loads of local fans. I wouldn't exactly say it was a culture shock, but as a Scandinavian you just got to appreciate the English mentality some times :)
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