By Adam Dutton
One of Britain’s most dedicated football supporters hasn’t missed a single competitive game for almost 30 YEARS.
Nick Waites, 64, has watched his beloved Middlesbrough FC 1,400 times in a row, both home and away, since they lost 4-0 to Southampton in September 1996.
Before that, he had only missed a handful of games since 1967 due to ill health and attending his brothers wedding.
Nick reckons he’s covered more than 250,000 miles travelling to watch The Boro play in all league, FA Cup, League Cup and European matches.
The superfan started attending Ayresome Park with his dad in 1967 when he was just five and the first match he remembers was a promotion decider in the old Third Division against Oxford.
And he hails his favorite game as watching Middlesbrough win the Carling Cup in 2004 – ending the club’s 128-year wait for silverware.
The dad-of-two has seen the likes of Gazza and Bryan Robson play but says his favourite player was the tricky Brazilian midfielder Juninho.
Accountant Nick, from Middlesbrough, said: “It becomes an addiction – how do you stop?
“My dad brought me up to support Middlesbrough, so it’s in the blood.
“My son had been to every ground in the Premier League by the age of 10.
“On Saturday I was coming back on the train from Fulham, I just posted on X the game was my 1,400th one, and it went crazy.
“There’s people at Middlesbrough who have been going longer than me, but I don’t think any have missed a game for as long as me.
“I don’t think anyone will beat that in the modern day.
“The first game I remember was in 1967, Middlesbrough played Oxford for a promotion in the third division.
“We won to get promoted but I can’t remember the score.
“The ground was absolutely packed to the rafters and there were people sat on the track outside the pitch, they were overspilling onto that.
“I was only five. I’ve been a season ticket holder since.
“My current record run started on September 28, 1996 with a 4-0 defeat at Southampton, so that’s something.
“The last game I missed was in 1992. It was my late brother’s wedding on the last game of the season at Wolves away.
“It was a major match. Middlesbrough won to get into the inaugural Premier League.
“Someone said it was 250,000 miles to the moon. Let’s say there’s 700 games and 11 or 12 European trips. If you take the mileage for those and the rest, it’s probably around that.
“In 2005/2006 we had 64 games a season and I went to all of them. One game we played in Greece in a qualifying round.
“I booked a flight but they cancelled it due to lack of numbers.
“We had to get a holiday flight and then managed to get back on the team’s plane coming back.
“To get back any other way there was no way I’d make the next league game on the Sunday.
“It had been very difficult to get to some of them but I don’t think I’ll ever stop trying.
“I would love to get to 1500 consecutive games but we’ll see.”
