'To me, United are an international club'
We’ve all heard the tedious jokes about the majority of United’s support hailing from London. But those tired attempts at banter distract from the cold, hard truth: that the Cockney Reds have long been an important and fiercely loyal wing of our fan base.
“A good school friend, Steve, was a United fan, so I became one too, without understanding it too much,” he recalls. “I didn’t even know there were other teams at that point!
“As I started playing and got interested in football, it just stuck. My dad took me to Fulham [a 2-2 draw in 1967] and then I went to the famous 6-1 game at West Ham. I remember my uncle putting me on my shoulders, rather than my cousin – ‘because it was my team’! They were both Leicester fans, funnily enough.
“I was just a kid, and Denis Law was my hero. As time went on, I went through school and, once I got a job, I started travelling with the London Fan Club. I saw the ad in Football Monthly, joined and then I started going regular.”
“I probably went to nine or 10 games a season, and always kept my season ticket,” he explains. “I was fortunate enough to go the Champions League final [in 1999], and I was always on the supporters’ club committee. That was one way I could keep in touch with Graham Castle [founder member] and Mike Dobbin [legendary United fan].
“I only came back full-time at the end of 2018/19. My wife had died in April 2019. It’d been expected for a while and I’d always said I’d go back to football. Her take was, ‘You’ll find someone else,’ and I’d say: ‘No, no – I’m going back to football.’ A lot of my friends were still going, and had been going during the period I missed.”
“There’s other London supporters’ clubs as well,” says Mitchell, “but tickets are all online now, so people can sort their own out. But we still travel together, and you always see lots on the train. We have fans who go everywhere. Some were on the United We Stand podcast recently, from Transnistria! They travelled there when we played in Moldova recently.”
And what of United’s London support? How do Mitchell and his friends respond to those unimaginative comments from detractors?
“I always say: ‘I was born in the north – north of Charlton, south-east London! It doesn’t bother me,” he laughs. “To me, United are an international club, supported all over the world. It doesn’t annoy me. Your team is your team, and I’ve got nothing but admiration for anyone who supports their team and puts their hand in their pocket to support them. When I first started going, there were no match tickets and you just turned up. And there was always loads of Cockney Reds.”
And what about heroes? Does Denis Law still top the list, even after all these years? “It’s still Denis. As a child, he just stood out,” Mitchell replies. “But there’s been some great players – Law and Charlton at the same time, obviously. And some of the unsung ones stand out – Denis Irwin, Pallister in his day, Stevie Bruce. I like to see the players wear their heart on their sleeves. Obviously, the gifted ones stand out too, like Cantona – though I missed a lot of his time unfortunately.
“I loved the Tommy Docherty team. Obviously, I loved the Sir Matt Busby teams as a kid, but Docherty’s side was my time when I was growing up. Unfortunately it was all too brief. I just wish it had continued a bit longer. But it was an exciting team and an exciting time.”
As we speak, Mitchell is about to head up to Manchester for the home game against Omonia. Proof – as if it were needed – that his love, and London’s love, for United is in no danger of reducing.
“I still enjoy it, I still get nervous, I still get excited when we score,” he confirms. “The only downside, I suppose, is VAR, when you’re celebrating a goal. But the important thing is I’ve made great friends through football. The football’s the main thing, but it’s about the whole day in the end.”