43 years

I've been watching Town since 1981. I've seen the Buckley years. I've seen us beat Everton, Liverpool, Spurs. Some great games of football. I've teams and players I remember fondly to this day and replay some goals in my mind.
True the last twenty years have had more downs than ups, however 2 promotions and FA cup quarter final is more than some have had.
Yes it's hard work at times and Fenty became a real issue. But the new owners are trying to get us somewhere.
If I'd read someone having enough when Holloway was here I'd maybe have that, we looked like a circus.This however is really bad timing.

42 years here. Not bothered about trophies. The only thing that concerns me is staying in the league. Don’t live in the area anymore and my son gets loads of sh1t for following Town. All his mates “support” prem teams. I’ve tried to explain to him, but all you understand at that age is having the P1ss taken out of you. I’m sure his head is being turned.

The optimism of close season, the relaxed demeanour of Hurst  the apparent quality of signings led me to believe we’d do well this season and carry on where we left off. The first few games suggested this would be the case.

And we find ourselves here. Yet a-fúcking-gain.

Missed a few games for a number of reasons. Summoned enough motivation to come back for the Harrogate game…

We’ve gone backwards. I’ve seen nothing (yet) in our new manager to convince me he’ll turn this round. Playing out from the back with players who can’t do this means teams like Mansfield will have over 30 shots on target. Salford is huge. A team that were thrashed at home by Tranmere. I suspect they’ll beat us.

I hope one day I’ll look back at this post and be utterly embarrassed. I won’t hold my breath.

Everything else in my life is pretty rosey......so I need to watch to Town to bring a bit of balance 😁

I think we all get fed up with it from time to time...if it genuinely gets too much then by all means stop going or if Town and wider life is a struggle then reach out, don't just hide away.

Some of the best parts of a matchday can be pre or post match meet ups with friends, or the away day itself, .thats all part of watching Town, not just the 90 mins of football.

I think that we're so far away from where many people (including myself) expected us to be this season and that's really frustrating and highlights how far behind being competitive on and off the pitch we truly are.

I expected us to be hovering around between 10th and 7th playing some reasonable football and things just looking better overall. Instead we've recruited a set of fannies to add to the predominately NL squad we brought up with us, not sure how it happened but pointing the finger is pointless. I suspect data tells us if a player can play and not whether they have the desire to fight.

We started the season with a manager who to some was marmite but is competent and had quite rightly earned a reputation for building squads with unity, spirit, resilience and desire, like the ones that one him two promotions. It became evident pretty quickly that this term was the complete opposite to what had worked reasonably well in the past. In August if you'd have said to me PH would be gone by the end of October I'd have laughed, but managers are only as good as the players they recruit and select and this appears to have been his down fall.

New manager is in place and unlike some will get my support as though he's a bit different to what we've been used to I think he's arguably around the level we could have hoped for, he'll need to change the squad and will need time, though we are in a relegation scenario I'm still optimistic with an ok Jan window that this group will buy him time, just!

I absolutely love what the owners have done, they're really good people with thankfully a growth mindset and like many I'm grateful as they helped get rid of Fenty but I've learned to take some of what they say with a pinch of salt to be honest as they not by intention but just enthusiasm inspire optimism and at time some confidence that things will get better, but where we sit today on the pitch at least they're not but I'm eternally optimistic they will be.

The continual process of re-set we seem to be drifting through often kills my enthusiasm but I'm a "supporter" and not a "fan" so I'll continue to support and attend but after 45 years I'm finally learning to manage my expectations and take things in context as our staring point is much lower in a game where throwing money at things can sometime bring success but as JS quite rightly points out rarely sustainably.

The telling context for me being that we haven't been the "Mighty Mariners" ( a team that opponents worry about) this century, my current reflection is that we're in the EFL (for now) and we have years of catching up to do, some of it doesn't feel that palatable to be honest but I guess it is what it is.

UTM.  

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I think that we're so far away from where many people (including myself) expected us to be this season and that's really frustrating and highlights how far behind being competitive on and off the pitch we truly are.

I expected us to be hovering around between 10th and 7th playing some reasonable football and things just looking better overall. Instead we've recruited a set of fannies to add to the predominately NL squad we brought up with us, not sure how it happened but pointing the finger is pointless. I suspect data tells us if a player can play and not whether they have the desire to fight.

We started the season with a manager who to some was marmite but is competent and had quite rightly earned a reputation for building squads with unity, spirit, resilience and desire, like the ones that one him two promotions. It became evident pretty quickly that this term was the complete opposite to what had worked reasonably well in the past. In August if you'd have said to me PH would be gone by the end of October I'd have laughed, but managers are only as good as the players they recruit and select and this appears to have been his down fall.

New manager is in place and unlike some will get my support as though he's a bit different to what we've been used to I think he's arguably around the level we could have hoped for, he'll need to change the squad and will need time, though we are in a relegation scenario I'm still optimistic with an ok Jan window that this group will buy him time, just!

I absolutely love what the owners have done, they're really good people and will always be grateful as they helped get rid of Fenty but I've learned to take some of what they say with a pinch of salt to be honest as they not by intention but just enthusiasm inspire optimism and at time some confidence that things will get better, but where we sit today on the pitch at least they're not.

The continual process of re-set we seem to be drifting through often kills my enthusiasm but I'm a "supporter" and not a "fan" so I'll continue to support and attend but after 45 years I'm finally learning to manage my expectations and take things in context. The context being that we haven't been the "Mighty Mariners" ( a team that opponents worry about) this century.

My current reflection is that we're in the EFL (for now) and we have years of catching up to do, some of it doesn't feel that palatable to be honest but I guess it is what it is.

UTM.  

Good post.

Nothing will ever be what everyone wants it to be but it’s a hell of a lot better than it has been. The very recent win over Crewe was far more entertaining than most of what we’ve seen in the past decade and I hope that it’s the standard for our future.

Whatever happens, you can be pretty sure that the owners will leave the club in a better place than before and I remain hopeful that the club remains an EFL club for years to come.

What I can’t fathom is that some are giving up on the Artell project after a couple of sub par performances.

I think there's a real danger of apathy setting in and I think it's lingered for a while to be honest.

Since our promotion back into the league in 2016 I've found myself really struggling at times to motivate myself to get enthused about Town for weeks, often months.  The lack of stability probably made it feel less dull though.    Even living relatively close to the game it felt more and more like a chore to go to games, I'm convinced if I didn't get my season ticket every year I would have missed the majority of games.   The 2-hour round trip to games now feels like a real grind and I've lost count of the times I've got home from games on a Saturday and thought "well that was a excrement waste of the bulk of the day".  For those who travel much further, hats off to you.

Covid changed the perspective a lot and I appreciated the value of going to the games, it's far more a social thing than a spectacle.  I weirdly enjoyed that season in some sort of glutton for punishment way.  I think it was probably the insertion of some sort of routine and nod towards normality in a generally excrement time.  Then when we were allowed back to games it felt euphoric and of course that whole season was pretty special.  The month of the play-off campaign was just epic, it'll never be replicated...

And from there on I think that's the problem.  It almost feels like it's peaked.  How can you top that?  Last season was flat as hell, it'll be an unpopular opinion but even the cup run didn't do a lot for me. Southampton away was a great experience and schooling Luton at BP is one of the best performances in a long time from a Town side.  But all in, it did little to mask a really drab season.  Again, how do you top what happened (at the time) 10 months previous?

This season I was hopeful and it got sucked out of me.  I think there's only so much deflating anyone can take and I genuinely feel that a lot of Town fans have just had enough, their enthusiasm is just gone.  Within this I do think it's a  combination of the things I've listed above (generally a bit excrement to watch, struggling to reach the highs of 18 months ago) but also the game in general just grating on people.  The bug bears from the top flight haven't quite reached our level yet, but it chips away.  

I can't quite put my finger on it but I've spoken to quite a few people who just feel disillusioned and losing interest in Town at the minute.   I'm in amazement at the younger lads (and lasses) who've not seen what I would regard as success, perhaps for the older fans it is a case that no amount of wins against Slough will be enough and impressing against Crewe shouldn't be the pinnacle of expectations.  

You only have to look at 1200 to Mansfield on Boxing Day unthinkable we couldn't sell that out in recent times. There seems to be a big switch off from the fans this Season after a fairly positive and upbeat pre season. The  Artell question whilst reasonable to query he must be given time to put his own marker on things. To me in these early days he wants to play offensive football BUT 3-4 of his outfield starters are simply not good enough. I doubt it will take him long to realise this and January should see this put right. The Season for the fans though is largely over and the conversation on the way home from Mansfield was cancelling plans for Salford away deemed a waste of time and money. The next two games are massive to stop the rot and the fanbase becoming more detached .I'm firmly sat on the fence hoping for the best here but fearing the worst and our EFL status o certainly looks at risk.

No town follows Town for the glory and trophies but a top ten place in league 2 maybe pushing outside play off place isn’t to much to ask.
Also players not putting in a shift and being incapable of passing or taking a corner is not acceptable.

Quoted from Yoda

No town follows Town for the glory and trophies but a top ten place in league 2 maybe pushing outside play off place isn’t to much to ask.
Also players not putting in a shift and being incapable of passing or taking a corner is not acceptable.

Exactly the way I feel, when I was playing local football years ago you knew when you had a bad game but was always determined to play better in the next otherwise you would probably get dropped, some of the players at Mansfield looked like they couldn’t be bothered in the 2nd half and would have been happy to be subbed. All I ask from Town players is to show commitment evan if things are going against you.

Quoted from It Bites

I’m feeling a bit fed up and I’m probably over reacting but I just feel like giving up with Town . I haven’t enjoyed going for a long time , with the odd decent game sprinkled in there . It’s not the Town I grew up knowing and loving even the Mick Lyon’s era was better than the last 20 years . Football/finances etc have changed so much I don’t even know what to expect anymore? I know my posts are often a bit off but I’m just at a loss with how hard it is to assemble a set of players capable of competing in lg2 . As we head towards another possible relegation scrap I was wondering if anyone else felt the same

I know how you feel, but at the end of the day, we don't have a choice, do we?  I've been a Town fan for the last 73 years, and I am afraid there's nothing I can do about it.  It's like saying that you don't like the colour of your eyes.... that's the hand you've been dealt, and even if you started going to watch another team home and away every game , you know, like we all do, that you'd be looking up Town's result, and given the slightest encouragement, you'd return to BP.