The Strange Soccer Story Collection

Maine Road - No Chickens Please!
Submitted By: Jeremy Poynton

Listening to Rradio 5 this morning, and they suddenly say, "Right, we are off to Manchester now to interview Neil Riley, the Maine Road 'Chicken Man'". Apparently he has been taking a ready-to-roast chicken to home games for ages, to join in the celebrations when a goal is scored and to cheer the team on - ie, he waves it about his head, gets it to clap it's wings or legs together, sings chants to Uwe Rooster, and so on. The chicken, I believe is (was) always called Frank.

Now, apparently, some people have complained about it, and he has now been banned from bringing the chicken to games. I must point out that it is a fresh chicken for each game, as he takes it home after and they eat it ("Bit of a downer for the bird", he noted :-) ). He did say that he has a stuffed pheasant at home he was thinking of bringing as a replacement, but he thought it would probably get the same treatment.

I also recall a set of English supporters who apparently travel to one of the lower division Scottish clubs with a frozen fish (Called Eric); the fish would always have it's own seat, but again, I think the club in question (can anyone out there verify this ?) objected.


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