As you might have guessed by now, I support Huddersfield Town AFC, as does Patrick (Star Trek) Stewart and David (The Damned United) Peace. Michael Hardcastle MBE, one of the earliest children’s authors to write football stories, is also a Town fan.

To be honest - and this is a daring revelation - it would have been more natural for me to follow our arch enemies, Leeds United. When I was little I lived near Leeds and everyone knew the names of all the players. Paul Lorimer was my favourite but I can remember my grandma being delighted when the Leeds centre-half, Jackie Charlton, once bought fish and chips from her fish shop in Garforth.  However, my family never attended matches so I never experienced a live match until many years later. Maybe if I had been taken to Elland Road as a child I’d be a die-hard United fan today but it was not to be. We moved from Leeds when I was 11 and the connection was broken. I do still have a soft spot for them, said she bravely.

As a teenager I was more interested in music than football (from Lindisfarne to David Bowie). I remember when I went to college one of the girls was a Manchester United fan and everyone thought she was odd! Girls just didn’t go to matches then, or so I presumed.

It wasn’t until I met my future husband that I began going to games. A Huddersfield Town supporter all his life, if I wanted to see Pete on Saturdays, it would have to be at Leeds Road. And so, almost 30 years ago, it began.

Here’s a list of teams some other children’s writers support:

Neil Arksey - Arsenal

Allan Ahlberg - West Bromwich Albion

Adele Geras - Manchester United

Paul Cookson (poet in residence at the National Football Museum) - Everton

James Riordan - Portsmouth

Dennis Hamley - Portsmouth

Alan Gibbons -Manchester United

Bali Rai - Liverpool

Chris D’Lacey - Leicester City

Korky Paul - Liverpool

Tom Palmer - Leeds United

Echo Freer - Leeds United

Malcolm Rose - Coventry City

Sandra Glover - Manchester United

Anne Cassidy - West Ham

Alan MacDonald - Watford

Mal Peet - Norwich City

Sue Mongredien - Aston Villa

Steve Smallman - Aston Villa

Andy Seed - Manchester United

Narinder Dhami - Wolverhampton Wanderers

Keren David - Manchester United

Cindy Jeffreries - Cheltenham Town

Damian Harvey - Blackpool Town

Malachy Doyle - Tottenham Hotspur

Mary Hooper - Brentford Town

Jennie Walters - Tottenham Hotspur

Fiona Dunbar - Arsenal

Seb Goffe - Manchester United and Cheltenham Town

Kathryn Langrish - Hereford United