Despite growing up within walking distance of Windsor Park and supporting Linfield in my younger days I wanted to play for Cliftonville. I was a fantastic goalkeeper (in my dreams) in the school playground at Methody and had designs on carving out a career between the sticks.

Methodist College, to give my 'alma mater' it´s full name, was a rugby school through and through. Football was for the working classes and we were only allowed to play the beautiful game at lunchtime and in the summer. Even then it was never an official part of the curriculum and it was played under the guise of áthletics.´

So shunning my beloved (at the time) Blues I wrote to Cliftonville asking for a trial in my schooolboy naivite. That would be regarded as herecy nowadays but to me as a wide-eyed football nut of a teenager it made perfect sense. You see Cliftonville weren´t bad those days. They were simply awful.

An application for re-election was the perennial end to every season in the days before promotion and relegation were introduced. So showing a fair bit of savve for one so young, at the risk of sounding immodest, I decided to try my luck with the worst team in the league as I thought I could do a job for them.

But I was rejected with a polite letter saying that it didn´t work that way and I would have to prove myself in a more competitive setting than the lunchtime knockabout at Methody. Fair dos Cliftonville. I will forgive you. Back to the playground and dreaming of being the next Alex Stepney, the Man U goalkeeper of the day. Yes in those days I supported the Red Devils and the Blues. Now as the job dictates I´m strictly neutral.

Well not entirely I should say - I am an avid fan of lower league football and hate with a passion the sight of overpaid prima donnas kissing the shirt. The Rooneys and Lampards of this world. What utter nonsense. As if the lure of 100 grand a week or more isn´t a tiny factor in their self-styled ´loyalty.´

The Irish League falls into that less glamorous category -let´s not kid ourselves - and I love it just as I love the Championship and below in England and lower league football in Spain both of which I have been priviliged to cover for Sky Sports in the last couple of years.

I am writing this in Marbella I kid you not and beliieve me it is a tough job but someone has to do it. I am here with my great friend and colleague Ruth Gorman and our trusty cameraman, Donovan Ross, and whatt we experienced yesterday was ´La Lower Liga´' at it´s best. Marbella play in the third tier of Spanish football and, like Cliftonville in the old, amateur days, are, well, crap.

Marbella used to be sponsored by the local brothel, their pitch is awful but they are a homely club. The linesman yesterday had to be seen to be believed. There was a police escort for the ref after the game. The riot police were there. They, and the ref, were showered with missiles after the game. Great stuff !

We have been treated like Lords out here. Given a sense of importance. Media access no problem. I am sure it doesn´t happen in the English Premiership.

As I said it is a real privilige to be working for Sky albeit in a freelance capacity. We have done three football programmes for them. All about ´´lower league football.

Ruth and I were doing a feature for UTV in Burnley two years ago and that is how it all started. We noticed that there seemed to be a big link between Burnley and Belfast when we walked down the corridor at Turf Moor. Great minds think alike and ´From Belfast to Burnley´ was born. There was something special about that place.We covered a few games including Clarets 2 Leeds 1. Our mate Healy got the Leeds goal. We had steak and kidney pie and mushy peas at half time. No prawn sandwiches !

As freelances Sky don´t pay us for such programmes so I tentatively asked ány chance Burnley could sponsor it?´Politely told ´no´. BFC are losing 30 grand a week and to cap it all, the visting supporters´ stand leaks. Lower League footie at it´s best !

Although Ruth is a Man U fan - for years - I soon departed from that mode when I was about 12 - but each to his or her own. You see I support Chesterfield (someone has to). Long story. I wrote to a lot of clubs after Cliftonville rejected me asking for a few mementos. Had tried a few ´bigger´clubs first.Chesterfield were obviously shocked. I was a teenager at the time, understand. I got a personally-signed photograh from every player, a dozen programmes and an invitation to come over and watch them play. I did.

I took it up at the age of 14 and have supported tham ever since. Once again the lure of lower league football.

It wasn´t always that way though and I had some good times supporting Linfield. Best memory ? Circa 1984. Milltown. Big (or medium-sized as he was then) Davy rifles the ball home and we are 1-0 up against Shamrock Rovers. They equalise but we go through on goal difference after a 0-0 in the first leg at the Shrine.Next up Greek side Panaithinaikos. 2-1 down in Athens. 3-0 ahead at Windsor. Dreamland. Nightmare, 3-3. Greasy Greeks.

That was just one of many great nights in Europe for our guys. The Glens beating Arsenal and drawing with Rangers though losing out over two legs. The East Belfast boys came ever so close to beating the mighty CSKA Sofia not so long ago in 1981. I was at the Oval that night.

One of the best domestic games I have ever witnessed was at the same venue. 3-3 draw between the Big Two in 2001. It had everything.

This season has been so unpredictable so far I am not even going to make any predictions for Saturday but to confirm my neutrality I just hope the Reds get back on track. Three defeats out of four isn´t good. But when I wrote that ill-fated letter, asking for a trial, all those years ago they would probably have settled for that !

The perennial whipping boys of Irish League football are no longer that. Cliftonville have come a long way. I was up at Solitude last week with Eddie Patterson doing a feature for UTV. Wild horses wouldn´t have driven me away. We spent an hour chatting in the lovely new stand. Solitude is undergoing a massive transformation.

Reading between the lines Conor Downey´s heart lies there. He´s back where he loves best. When he kisses the shirt he means it unlike the overpaid English Premiership prima donnas.

Viva lower league football. And Eddie Patterson if you ever need goalkeeper you have my number !