Massive myth this, and those sorts of threads are usually either started by wailing fannies who because they see a couple of tops reckon an area is now ‘lost’, or outright WUMs. Not saying there might not be one or two ‘floating’ fans whose family maybe aren’t interested in football therefore they don’t have a specific team drilled into them from birth and they have no choice, but it’s a myth that we lose swathes of kids to them in our dark times. The same was said in the 90s yet our crowds grew massively, just like they’ve grown again in recent years since League One to now. I went to school in a split area and all the kids who supported SAFC continued supporting us and all the kids who supported Newcastle still supported them, regardless of respective fortunes. Those people who have now had kids of their own also support the same team as their dad/family. Each club’s respective shirts will generally be more visible when their team is doing better as opposed to being shite. I’m from a predominantly mag area of Gateshead and it’s noticeable how fewer black and white tops I’ve seen recently. This doesn’t mean or lead me into thinking the area is losing fans to us though, the same people who were mags before will still be now. It’s just the more feeble minded (on both sides) will feel more inclined to wear their colours when their club is doing better.