What's in a team?

I have a good friend who supports Liverpool football club.

It's always puzzled me what people support when they support a local team like that.
Obviously, I can understand supporting ones national team. If your country plays another, it's easy to see why you support them.

But when you've no links to Liverpool, what is it you support when you support them?

It can't be the manager, as they change all the time.
It can't be the players, as they change all the time too. Indeed, I asked my friend: "If all the Liverpool players swapped with all the Man U players, would you still support "Liverpool"?" Of course, he replied.
It isn't the stadium.


He started to get a bit defensive with all my questioning, saying that he supported Liverpool as it was the team his brother had taken him to see when he was young.
Aaah but, I asked: What is it you're actually supporting?

And the only ideas I could come up with were:
* The name
* The image
* The history
* Some other thing.


I'm really curious about it. He's not - he doesn't care, and wonders why it interests me.
But if anyone can suggest what it is that people support when they say "I support Liverpool", I'd love to know.