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Every Aylesbury United supporter has a story. In our Once a Duck, Always a Duck series, we’re sharing the memories and experiences of the people who make the club what it is.
Next, Nick Nelms, an Aylesbury United director responsible for fan engagement and a member of the 21st Century Ducks committee, explains how childhood Saturdays with his dad stayed with him, why he drifted away when the club left Aylesbury and how three generations of his family are now watching the Ducks together.
By Nick Nelms
My dad started taking me to watch Aylesbury United in the late 1980s but my first really vivid memory of supporting the Ducks came a few years later.
On Saturday 12 November 1994, Aylesbury travelled to Newport in the Isle of Wight in the first round of the FA Cup. To a nine-year-old me, it felt like we were travelling a million miles away.
There was the excitement of the coach journey, the ferry crossing and the sense that this was much more than an ordinary football match. The atmosphere was brilliant and everyone seemed to be in incredibly high spirits - something I now suspect may have had a little to do with the long drinking session that accompanied the journey!
The Ducks won 3–2. It was a wet day and I can still picture the celebrations after our third goal, with the players diving into the mud in front of the travelling supporters. The ferry journey home was just as memorable. The Solent was particularly rough, sending beers and supporters flying in all directions.
From that point, I had the bug.
There are certain things that still take me straight back to watching football as a child: the smell of chips cooking, Deep Heat and tobacco smoke. Away games in the middle of winter with feet that felt like blocks of ice.
My dad would never sit in the stand.
“That’s not how we do it,” he would tell me - although, knowing my dad, he was probably trying to save the extra pound it cost. I don’t have the clearest memory of much of my childhood but those Saturdays watching football with my dad have always stayed with me.
After a match, we would rush home and put on Teletext to check the other scores, usually to find out how our relegation rivals had got on. I can remember one season eventually realising that we had survived on goal difference. Limbs in the Nelms’ living room!
It feels like another lifetime now. There were no smartphones, social media updates or live league tables. You had to wait until you got home and hope Teletext had updated.
When Aylesbury United left Buckingham Road in 2006, I became what I would now describe as an estranged supporter. I didn’t drive at the time and making an ‘away trip’ to watch Aylesbury play a home match didn’t appeal. I went to a handful of games over the following years and always enjoyed them but it never felt the same as those days at Buckingham Road.
That experience is why I have so much sympathy for the supporters who have stayed away since the club left the town. I understand it because I was one of them.
Then Covid happened. Months without live football made me realise how much I missed actually going to games. Watching the Premier League on television never filled that gap, so I decided to take my children to watch Aylesbury United at Chesham. Almost immediately, I was bitten again. My dad started going again shortly afterwards. Today, three generations of our family are watching the Ducks together.
I’ve also found myself turning into him. I now tell my children that we aren’t sitting in the stand because “that’s not how we do it” and I get increasingly irate whenever the Ducks take a short corner.
Some things are passed down through the generations in ways you don’t necessarily expect.
The community feeling around local football simply cannot be replicated by spending a weekend on the sofa watching Premier League games. At non-league level, you aren’t just watching from a distance. You get to know the supporters, volunteers, players and the people running the club. You become part of it.
Since returning, I’ve become more and more involved with both Aylesbury United and 21st Century Ducks. This season, I was delighted to become the club’s Fan Engagement Director.
For me, the role is a natural extension of what brought me back. I want to help more people experience that sense of belonging, make sure our supporters have a genuine voice and strengthen the connection between the club and the community it represents.
I also want those who drifted away after 2006 to know that I understand. We cannot pretend that playing outside Aylesbury feels the same as having our own ground at Buckingham Road. It doesn’t. But the football club, the friendships and that community spirit are still here. They are worth rediscovering.
The long-term ambition remains to bring Aylesbury United home. Until that day comes, we must keep building the connection between the club and the town, while giving existing, returning and completely new supporters a reason to join us on the journey.
The grounds have changed. The way we follow football has changed. Teletext has been replaced by smartphones and instant updates. But when the teams come out and the supporters find their voices, I’m there with my dad and my children - three generations watching the Ducks together. It still takes me back to those Saturdays in the 90s.
I found my way back to the Ducks. In truth, I don’t think the Ducks ever really left me.
Every supporter’s journey with Aylesbury United is different and we would love to share yours.
Whether you have followed the Ducks for decades, recently found your way back or have only just attended your first game, please get in touch with 21st Century Ducks and tell us your story. membership@21ducks.co.uk
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