Is it ever okay to change teams?

As an American fan of Manchester United for going on 11 years, honestly man, do whatever you want to do. People judge and always will, but their opinion doesn't change you. These past 4+ years have been utterly abhorrent, and I myself have contemplated leaving United. Not due to lack of winning/trophies, but because the organization itself is in the toilet. The controlling family, the administration, and management are simply pathetic, not to mention the dysfunction and lack of effort from the prima-donna players. It all boils down to what makes you happy. If you want to stick it out, more power to you. If you want to switch teams, do it. If you want to switch to the team that's winning every year, if it makes you happy, do so. At the end of the day, do you watch sports because you enjoy them, or do you seek the approval of other fans?

I’m Aussie but I go for the Jaguars and I feel bad for not liking them since they are relocating and what’s the point for going for a team if they move somewhere else and overall I feel I will be called a bandwagon err because my second team Los Angeles Rams are doing great.

Because of the fluctuations of soccer in this country I hadn't really become attached to any team for a long period which I think also made it easier to jump around. Back in the NSL day I tried to find a team but couldn't bring myself to support any of the western sydney teams as I didn't identify with the ethnic nature of them. I jumped on board Parramatta Power when they came along but they didn't last long. When the A-League started then Sydney FC was for me, until the Wanderers started up.

In the end, you can do what you want for reasons that seem good to you. If you basically chose a club to follow because of certain things that attracted you there and now all those things are gone, then it's probably not unreasonable to not feel the connection and want to stay true to them. If you flip, flop around all over the place, continually changing teams, then you are going to have more "hard-core" fans looking down on you. But who cares. If that is how you enjoy following that sport, go for it. For most sports I've used whatever random method to choose a team when first following the sport (mostly years ago as a kid) and then stick with them. But there are a couple of exceptions. Eg, When it comes to NBA I'll often tend to more follow teams who have players I quite like in them. I loved watching Jordan as a teenager and so the Bulls was more or less my team, but with him gone I found no affinity to them, and if I watch NBA now it's more that I like to watch certain really good players rather than having a particular team that I support. If Simmons gets on court and starts doing really well, I might find myself sort of supporting the 76ers, but really it's just because of him, and if he leaves I won't have any attachment to the team anymore. It's about the only sport I follow in that way, but others may follow other sports in different ways. The standard way is to "join a tribe" and then follow the tribal, us v them, feeling of following that team. And while that's the most common way to follow sports, especially the various football codes, it doesn't have to be the only way. No reason you couldn't be someone who follows a favourite player from team to team, or even a manager who you respect and like his system and way of play or any number of reasons. Don't let anyone tell you that aren't allowed to switch your allegiance to a different team. If there's nothing about that team that makes you want to keep following them and you really want to switch to another team, then do it. In the end it's just sport. You have your own reasons for following the team you follow and it's not anyone else's business. There are people here who'll say you aren't a "real" fan unless you have a membership to the active support section and spend the whole game standing and singing. The fact that your not that type of person doesn't make your way of following sport any less legitimate.

I'm the same. Although, it also happened at a time when a lot in my life changed so while I had memberships for a couple of seasons there for SFC I haven't actually got to a live Wanderers game yet. Maybe when the kids are a bit older we might try. I'm generally fiercely loyal, so it was a tough decision, but in the end it came down to logic. If SFC and the Wanderers both came into existence at the same time, would I have gone with SFC or the Wanderers, and the answer was almost certainly the Wanderers. The other was simple logistics. If I'm ever going to go to live games again, the Wanderers home games are much, much closer to get to than SFC home games. But, like you, I'll move across still having affection for SFC as my second team, as opposed to many others who see them as the mortal enemy.

I wrote a piece last year regarding this subject. At the time my club, Sunderland, were embroiled in the Adam Johnson scandal, and potentially guilty of continuing to select him for the first team squad, even though he'd admitted his guilt to the club's chief executive prior to his court case. It can be found here: http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/03/10/dark-times-stadium-light/ Since then the media has gone cold on the issue (apart from an exposé in a tabloid regarding Johnson bragging about his crimes in prison), but there's still a nagging doubt in my mind about the club's culpability in this sordid tale, even though the majority of the coaching team and boardroom personnel that were present at the time are no longer at Sunderland. This has led to my affections for the club cooling somewhat, and I can't deny that Sunderland's continued on-field malaise isn't a factor too. The truth is, the current squad are probably the worst I've ever seen in my life. Even when we were regularly struggling at the foot of England's second tier, or during our sole relegation to the third tier, the players seemed to have a little more pride in pulling on the shirt (perhaps because, back then, many of them were local lads who'd come up through the youth team ranks). The current mob though? They're dire & overpaid. Lately though I've been finding that my home town's non-league team, South Shields FC, have been catching my eye, in the manner of the Distracted Boyfriend meme. They've recently returned to their home ground after years in the wilderness ground-sharing with other teams, have won two promotions in a row, and the FA Vase last season, and currently sit top of the Northern Premier League Division One North, England's 8th tier, with crowds that match teams that play in leagues way above them. While I doubt that I'll ever truly stop being a Sunderland fan, I'm spending more time & effort following Shields online and have been wearing my team shirt with pride whilst out & about in Melbourne.

Well of course you can change... But your friends, family and colleagues may think less of you depending on why you changed. If you change to barrack for a team that is going to win the flag, pennant, cup, shield etc then I'd say people will look down on you. If you change because your significant other's family are fanatical supporters of one team and you want to be part of that community, most people would understand provided you kept up a sneaky support for the old team. But things like them signing a player or coach you hate, you can always just wait until that person(s) moves on.

We may change our jobs, our cities, our political allegiances, our spouses, at the drop of a hat if things don't go quite the way we want, but surely not our team. One must have some standards, after all.

Its my deep dark secret, but I once changed teams. To be fair, I was only 7 years old, and growing up in the East Midlands in the mid-70s everyone (family and friends) followed either Derby or Forest (because lets face it, Brian Clough was God). However, after watching Manchester Utd lose to Southampton in the 1976 FA Cup Final, I felt sorry for them and became a Utd fan. Does it count as a bandwagon if it took more than 20 years to arrive?

I followed Sydney FC until the Wanderers came along then jumped ship. Will always support teams from the west over the east. But I don't have any animosity towards SFC. They are like a second team I have less interest in.

Words that I never thought I'd read on The Roar: "For me that team is Exeter City." We're few and far between in the UK, let alone Down Under (most people here look blankly when I say who I support). I grew up 20 minutes out of Exeter, got into football in 1990 when we won the old 4th division - people ask me who my Premier League team is, expecting me to answer. I don't have one. I enjoy watching the Premier League but couldn't imagine watching them (although given Bournemouth and Swansea were both recently at our level, anything's possible). That said, I do have very soft spots for other teams. Living in London for 10 years meant that it wasn't feasible to watch Exeter week in week out, so a few of us used to watch Hampton & Richmond Borough in non-league quite regularly and I'd probably consider myself a semi-supporter (no split loyalties if we ever met each other). I think quite a few people who move to London end up picking a non-league team. I'd also quite regularly watch Tooting & Mitcham or Carshalton Athletic as they were close to where I live. I've been watching the A League since 2013, knowing I'd be moving to Sydney at some point, and quickly became a Sydney FC supporter through my in-laws. I wouldn't say I've switched sides - I still stay up late to watch Exeter City streams at midnight - but I think I'm safe in supporting both sides, as I can't ever conceive of a time these two would come into contact with each other. Incidentally, interesting choice of Swansea, as Exeter and Swansea have quite a history, albeit very friendly. It was between us and them on the final day of the 2003 season when we got relegated out of the League and Swansea survived. Our manager, Paul Tisdale came very close to joining Swansea in around 2012. And obviously City are Trust owned and Swansea's recent success to reach the Premier League was heavily built on their Supporters' Trust.

I, like many on this site follow many different sports and sometime the same sport but in different countries. I've followed St. George Dragons since my first memories, I've loved the Cincinnati Bengals and Reds in the NFL and MLB ever since the first time I saw them. A Boston Celtics fan since the days of Larry Bird and I started to follow Port Adelaide in the AFL since their inclusion. The only teams I have changed are my football teams. I grew up a Liverpool supporter mainly because it seemed like everyone from my generation was due to Craig Johnson. In the late 1990's I started to notice Charlton Athletic and had them as my second time. After a while I became more passionate about this underdog team. By 2000 they were my team and when I did a 2 year stout in London starting in 2002, I found myself immersed with Charlton. I would go to the Valley to watch them play ( even seeing Leeds defeat them 6-1 with Viduka scoring a hatrick and Kewell a brace) and wear their jersey with pride. Today they are still my team even though they are in League One. It is still the first result I check on Sunday Morning. The other team was when the Wanderers came into the A-League and I crossed from Sydney FC. I'm Mt.Druitt born and bred, and for the first time in my life I felt like a sporting team represented Westies. I'm 41 years old now and I love all my teams and I can't see me changing now

Apparently, sports fans in Straya only want to watch the best teams playing. This means the sports crazy fans in Straya may have to change the team they follow every season. Sometimes they must change the team they follow every week; or even during the match - they start by following the better team & then change their allegiance if the opponent is better as the match progresses. But, this type of support is only observed across truly sports crazy Aussie fans.

Do what ever you want buddy.

The only time I would even consider it is if you have a situation like what happened to Wimbledon FC moving to Milton Keynes (becoming the MK Dons against the wishes of the fans) and then changing alliegences to AFC Wimbledon for example A "phoenix club" scenario and/or the establishment of a new club that wasn't there previously (eg. most of the A-League clubs prior to 2005/06, all except Perth Glory, Adelaide United & the since-defunct New Zealand Kingz)

Never is the answer.