I did a couple of items on choosing an English Premier League team. The first when I was in Hong Kong, trying to figure out which team I ought to prefer, if I was going to see EPL soccer six hours a day.

Then a second item, last week, in which I revealed I hadn’t yet found a team I liked. I felt as if I couldn’t root for one of the big four clubs, and found the rest of the Premiership to be, oh, unremarkable or unlikable, and suggested I might eventually decide to embrace Queen’s Park Rangers, a club currently not playing in the top league.

Both items got some intelligent analysis in comments from readers.  I was particularly impressed by the comment that came in today … to the point that I’m giving it a blog entry all its own, so it can be see by more people than those who get down to the “comment ” area of the March 1 entry.

In this comment, the author, Damian Secore, insists there is no shame in rooting for Manchester United, the New York Yankees of the EPL.

Well, heck. We’ll let him make his case. It’s fairly persuasive, I must say. Perhaps because Damian is half-English and a former soccer journalist, as well.

“OK, I know I could get some stick for this post, but here goes…

“If you want to find a Premier League team to root for based on the possibility of your team having trophy-winning success, combined with the fact that you have no personal/family history to any geographic region in England, you’ll have to be a fan of 1 of the big 4 — Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal. Yes, Aston Villa is having a splendid season, but this is their best season in decades and the club just doesn’t have the resources to be a consistent, Top-4 Premiership club year after year. Unfortunately, the way it works in England is that the Big 4 have all the funds and resources and it has always been a top-heavy league, with Chelsea just joining this discussion after Roman bought the club a handful of years ago.

“And if you want to be a fan of a team, it should stand that you’ll need to pick a team that you can actively follow on a consistent basis by watching them. And, sad as it is, most Fox Soccer Channel/ESPN matches involving Premier League teams focus around the Big 4.

“(An aside … By the way, I found Brad Friedel to be very pleasant and cordial after attending Villa-West Brom (a Midlands derby!) on Jan. 10 at Villa Park during another England holiday. Of course, it helps that Brad knows I do some work for his academy in Ohio, and so he left me tickets and we met up in the Villa players lounge after the match. But when he was chatting with others in the lounge and had his wife and toddler to entertain in there, he went out of his way to acknowledge me, introduce me to his family, tell me to sit tight, and then made his way over to sit down for 15 mins or so and chat while keeping the wife and kid waiting as most players had come and gone.)

“So, if you are trying to decide amongst the big 4, you can rule out Chelsea because they don’t carry themselves like a true English club. Sure, they start A. Cole, Terry and Lampard, but there isn’t an overwhelming feeling that those guys are the true leaders, heart and soul of the club.

“Arsenal plays a beautiful, contemporary style of football and should always be in contention in Europe with their style of play under Wenger, but it’s not the style conducive to Premier League success. Besides, as you point out, there’s almost no English influence on what is a traditional English power.

“That leaves you Liverpool and Man United. Man United is seen as the team with the bandwagon fans, but it is Liverpool that has a fuller trophy cabinet in its history, especially with respect to winning European Cups. However, Liverpool these days is being overrun with Spanish influence in the coaching ranks and at key positions on the pitch, save Gerrard in midfield and Carragher in defense. Besides, Liverpool and Chelsea are the most egregious, irresponsible spenders on the world player market without showing any consistency in developing their own players.

“That’s why you join the Man United fan club. Man United plays the most attractive football in the Premiership, along with Arsenal, and is still run as a British institution. Sir Alex Ferguson, though he’s a Scot, has been the manager for the last 25 years.

“They’ve developed their own players well for years — Beckham, Gary and Phil Neville brothers, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, John O’Shea, Jonny Evans, Ben Foster — which has been the core to their team for almost as long as the Premier League has been around and United doesn’t rely on the transfer market nearly as much as the other Euro superpowers. They always make a point to keep their heart and soul of a British nature. Look at their team now — Giggs, Scholes, Ferdinand, Rooney, Gary Neville, O’Shea, Evans all play roles on the pitch and in the leadership dept. with the team.

“When United does spend, it should be noted that they find many of their star players at an early age before they become globally-known commodities, buy them relatively cheap as compared to what these players are worth on the open market now. And as compared to what other superclubs do, which is wait for players to hit their prime and shell out millions. They develop their talent to the point of reaching stardom.

“They bought Ronaldo when he was 17 and no one had ever heard of him. They bought Rio Ferdinand when he was young, but have kept him all these years and made him better all the while and raised his value. No one had heard of Nemanja Vidic when they bought him from Spartak Moscow for a mere 7 mil, but now he is considered a world-class defender 3 years later. They bought Rooney and Nani in their teen years and have developed them. Rafael is their 18-year-old right back who they plucked out of the youth ranks in Brazil and he’s going to be super. This speaks to their superior organizational and scouting networks, which is certainly worth commending.

“Man United has the best organization in world soccer, from the scouts to the coaches to the players, and is worth respecting. They do it right, and not just outrageously spend all the time. Sure, they have signed some busts, but everyone does, and everyone does it much more frequently than United.

“There’s no shame in supporting a winner when the club operates the right way and plays football that is fun to watch. Their leadership is consistent, they don’t look to fire their manager or sell players at the first or second hint of adversity.

“And these are all reasons why United are still alive to have the best season in the history of club football. They are the reigning Premier League, World Club and European Cup champions, just won the Carling Cup a couple weeks ago, are leading the Premier League again comfortably, are in the semis of the FA Cup and still alive in the last 16 of the current Champions League season. I don’t think anyone has held 5 such titles at once. We’ll see how it turns out in the coming months.

“Of course everyone will accuse you of being a glory chaser and front-runner, but it beats being miserable/lovable loser year after year and knowing that your English club never stands a chance at winning anything significant if you’re not Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal.

“Besides, if you have a problem rooting for the rich, QPR is owned by rich Arab tycoons and has the funds to buy whatever they want at that level. In essence, they are the Chelski of the lower divisions, so you can’t root for them.”