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ginnywings |
September 2, 2018, 3:58pm |
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Recovering Alcoholic
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No wonder the fans are miserable. The ground hasn't changed for decades and the team is mediocrity personified, season after season. I agree with Codger, in that i attend merely out of duty now, because it's my team and maybe just maybe, someday, we will get a manager and players that make us get out of our seat now and again. I'm not a vocal supporter at games, but neither do i boo and shout obscenities at the players or manager. Exciting games at BP are very few and far between, and it's wearing down the fans. For those of us raised on McMenemy, Kerr and Buckley, it's been a thin gruel for a very long time.
Is it the fault of the fans for not encouraging the team enough, or is it the fault of the team for not giving us much to get encouraged about? I think you could argue that point forever.
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promotion plaice |
September 2, 2018, 4:51pm |
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Moderator
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God it's depressing going to BP these days, I also go only through duty now.
I suppose it could be worse, imagine being a York fan.
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| When Leeds trainer Les Cocker was once told Norman Hunter had broken a leg, he asked: “Whose is it?” |
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Yoda |
September 2, 2018, 4:57pm |
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Fine Wine Drinker
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I agree it very hard work watching town after all these years of torture i have to think twice about going.
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MuddyWaters |
September 2, 2018, 5:03pm |
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Barley Wine Drinker
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Imagine that - we pay out of a feeling of duty to support a regime synonymous with failure with very little expectation of being entertained - what a sorry situation.
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ginnywings |
September 2, 2018, 5:05pm |
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Recovering Alcoholic
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It's not all doom and gloom though. The performance against Lincoln was superb and we played very well at MK, two of the fancied sides in this division. Problem is, we can't seem to finish teams off when we have them there for the taking, and it's very frustrating. Hopefully, when we get everyone back fit and firing, we will start to pick up more points. We have also played a few sides who have started the season very well, so there is cause for optimism when we come up against some of the sides in and around us. I don't feel we have got the points we deserve, and could easily have had 2 or 3 more.
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toontown |
September 2, 2018, 5:06pm |
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Whiskey Drinker
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A decline in winning at home is actually an across the board trend, away teams are performing better than in the past on average. Remember reading an article on it a year or two ago. Just looking at our results in isolation doesn't tell the whole story. It might be that we have declined more than most tho.
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toontown |
September 2, 2018, 5:13pm |
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Whiskey Drinker
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http://www.skysports.com/footb.....myths-home-advantageHere's an article on it - our performance across the latest decade at home is actually above average! Fewer than half of home games won on average and the lower down the leagues you go, the fewer home matches are won (just 40% in league two).
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toontown |
September 2, 2018, 5:16pm |
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Whiskey Drinker
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Oops just realised your figures were for points gained, not win percentage, so two different ways of looking at it. The general point remains the same tho - it's not just us.
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lew chaterleys lover |
September 2, 2018, 5:48pm |
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Vodka Drinker
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I know I'll get grief for this, but I honestly believe the atmosphere and feeling around the place has a negative impact on the team, and this has been getting worse in the last 10 years or so, in my experience.
You all know what I mean - the place is full of people who can't wait to start getting on players' backs and digging the manager out. It was mentioned by an opposition player or manager probably a couple of seasons ago (might've been when Hartlepool beat us 3-0?) that players knew if they could frustrate the team for the first half hour, the fans would start getting at players and the atmosphere would turn in their favour. They're not wrong.
Before you all start about how the fans have stuck with the club - that's right, and should be commended. How we sold over 3k season tickets this year I'll never know, and its a testament to the fans that we continue to turn up week after week after getting dished up absolute turd for two decades straight.
But the atmosphere is very, very rarely one of unconditional support and encouragement. Everything's tinged with expectancy (perhaps rightly), and when people do go start to really vocally support the team, a lot of the time it seems like it's out of frustration and people are being forced to drag the players along. It never seems like fun, it's a chore.
You've got pockets around the ground - on the left of the Pontoon, on the Osmond side of the Findus & Main stand - but it's like some people need to be beaten with a massive stick to get any kind of support out of them. Up to them I suppose, not everyone goes to shout & sing and jump up and down, but it seems like half the ground just want to get in, moan to the people around them, and get out as quickly as possible.
Why's it like this? The same reasons we go over every few months. The stewards are overbearing little Hitlers. The sound doesn't carry around the ground and gets lost out of the open corners. You've an aging crowd as young people are priced out or have better options on a Saturday like sitting in the pub watching Jeff Stelling. When there's the opportunity to do something different and open the Osmond to get a bit of atmosphere going, the club aren't even remotely interested. Year after year of turgid performances, even with decent teams (Hurst, Slade in 05/06), haven't helped - functionality help might get results but it hasn't been easy on the eye.
I also think the club really need to take a look at how they're pitching themselves to fans and the town more generally. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I'm sick to death of being told how we're the 12th man, how the club need us, how we can get them over the line, we're a big team with a great following...blah blah blah balderdash. Frankly, the club have worn that line out in the last few years, and their actions don't show they particularly give a stuff about us. Bignot and Jolley clearly have had this "pipe the fans off" line drilled into them, but it wears off very quickly. Look at this from the club on Friday, just 5 games into the season -
[tweet]1035516014585413633[/tweet]
Maybe save the begging and pleading for a little later on in the season. Maybe try and say something that might get fans excited about coming to BP, don't try and force it on us like some kind of moral obligation.
There are plenty of other clubs and other grounds where fans are miserable and moan, but I couldn't care less. This is about GTFC and clearly there's a problem at home.
I agree by and large but obviously you are not going to get "unconditional support" in the ground after nearly two decades of dross. It is unrealistic. Look at the euphoria in the ground when we have had our moments of success in all that time - remember the opening game when we got back into the league - the atmosphere was fantastic from start to finish but that is too few and far between because of a chronic lack of success. All atmospheres are built on success or at least a togetherness but you cannot ask for it when we have no success or indeed plan so fans and players feel together in a mission. Look at clubs who had success and and are now failing - for eg Hull who had great atmosphere in the stadium when things were going well, but now it is like a morgue apparently. Success breeds success as they say, and until we get some we are stuck with it as the club seem unable to raise themselves from their stupor to do anything positive at all.
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Bigdog |
September 2, 2018, 6:04pm |
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Whiskey Drinker
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I know I'll get grief for this, but I honestly believe the atmosphere and feeling around the place has a negative impact on the team, and this has been getting worse in the last 10 years or so, in my experience.
You all know what I mean - the place is full of people who can't wait to start getting on players' backs and digging the manager out. It was mentioned by an opposition player or manager probably a couple of seasons ago (might've been when Hartlepool beat us 3-0?) that players knew if they could frustrate the team for the first half hour, the fans would start getting at players and the atmosphere would turn in their favour. They're not wrong.
Before you all start about how the fans have stuck with the club - that's right, and should be commended. How we sold over 3k season tickets this year I'll never know, and its a testament to the fans that we continue to turn up week after week after getting dished up absolute turd for two decades straight.
But the atmosphere is very, very rarely one of unconditional support and encouragement. Everything's tinged with expectancy (perhaps rightly), and when people do go start to really vocally support the team, a lot of the time it seems like it's out of frustration and people are being forced to drag the players along. It never seems like fun, it's a chore.
You've got pockets around the ground - on the left of the Pontoon, on the Osmond side of the Findus & Main stand - but it's like some people need to be beaten with a massive stick to get any kind of support out of them. Up to them I suppose, not everyone goes to shout & sing and jump up and down, but it seems like half the ground just want to get in, moan to the people around them, and get out as quickly as possible.
Why's it like this? The same reasons we go over every few months. The stewards are overbearing little Hitlers. The sound doesn't carry around the ground and gets lost out of the open corners. You've an aging crowd as young people are priced out or have better options on a Saturday like sitting in the pub watching Jeff Stelling. When there's the opportunity to do something different and open the Osmond to get a bit of atmosphere going, the club aren't even remotely interested. Year after year of turgid performances, even with decent teams (Hurst, Slade in 05/06), haven't helped - functionality help might get results but it hasn't been easy on the eye.
I also think the club really need to take a look at how they're pitching themselves to fans and the town more generally. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I'm sick to death of being told how we're the 12th man, how the club need us, how we can get them over the line, we're a big team with a great following...blah blah blah balderdash. Frankly, the club have worn that line out in the last few years, and their actions don't show they particularly give a stuff about us. Bignot and Jolley clearly have had this "pipe the fans off" line drilled into them, but it wears off very quickly. Look at this from the club on Friday, just 5 games into the season -
[tweet]1035516014585413633[/tweet]
Maybe save the begging and pleading for a little later on in the season. Maybe try and say something that might get fans excited about coming to BP, don't try and force it on us like some kind of moral obligation.
There are plenty of other clubs and other grounds where fans are miserable and moan, but I couldn't care less. This is about GTFC and clearly there's a problem at home.
Maybe if the board try and DO something that may get the fans excited more's the point. We're way past shallow words that the fans know the board don't believe in but it serves their purpose of bringing in income that they can gladly spend and take the credit for rather than change the whole dynamic of the club by bringing in extra investment or sorting a new stadium. Every bit of responsibility for the well being of the club is being loaded on the fans year by year. A set of loyal fans that have suffered enough over the past two decades. A set of loyal fans who are generous enough to blame themselves in this thread regarding how crap the team are at home due to atmosphere, yet BP was voted best for atmosphere in League Two in a recent fan survey. BP was a morgue on Saturday, but fans should not be blamed for everything that's wrong at the club and they should not feel responsibility or guilt for everything that's wrong at the club too, the ultimate responsibility lays elsewhere..
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