Blood boiling, frantic key-tapping, delete, re-type, brain, mouth, fingers: completely unengaged; it’s all part of being a modern football fan these days. From forums to Facebook, from Talksport to Twitter – football supporters have never had so many podiums from which to offer their opinions or shoot down others.
We used to do these things indoors, amongst close contemporaries, back in the pub after a game or on the walk back to the car. By the time the second pint had touched lips, or the heat from the engine had melted into an ambience of early-evening sky, sweetly serenaded by the passing traffic and crackly radio – we’d usually resigned our attentions to something else – there’s always next week: ‘we’ll do them then’ – there are more important things in life – aren’t there?
I can’t speak for everyone, but a look through the forums and social networking sites tell me that I’m not alone and as a Blackburn Rovers supporter in troubled times, I simply cannot turn off.
There’s perhaps something inwardly perverse that keeps me wanting to come back for more – it’s like a drug, a bad one. I spoke to a good friend the other day, mulling over which away dates are looking appealing – a normal being would say none – and yet, the sadomasochist in me fancied them all; ‘glutton for punishment’ doesn’t do it justice.
When all is well with your beloved, we have a tendency to get complacent. A quick analysis is enough, smug in victory, tails up for the rest of the week – perhaps a cheeky glance at the league table just to tell ourselves how wonderful we really are. Tumbleweeds blow over keyboards, pins drop on radio phone-ins, all is well with the world – well, with football anyway. Match of the Day can be enjoyed for once, or bypassed completely – what’s it matter? ‘We won, I was there, the box is ticked, see them again next week’.
The above sentiment may puzzle some of you, there may be a sense that I’ve made the whole thing up and you’re probably right. In truth, I have no immediate recollection of what that feels like – I can only hark back to a golden age that probably never existed in the first place. I probably wouldn’t want it to exist – where’s the fun in that?
It’s fitting perhaps that one of our most loyal custodians, a player who has divided opinion for the last five years and has been loved and loathed in equal measure, allowed us more coverage on Match of the Day on Sunday night, than we received when we won the title in 1995. I was immediately inspired by Jason Roberts’ positivity – yet I have no doubt, that the next man probably thought to himself ‘what a load of b*ll*cks’.
Back to 1995, I defy any Rovers fan that has watched Sky Sports’ Premiership Years not to feel utterly empty and cheated from that year’s offering – it’s as if it’s a footnote at the end: ‘Klinsmann blah, blah, Cantona, blah, blah, Fowler, blah, blah, Wright, blah, blah, Venables, blah, blah, oh, there’s Shearer and by the way, Blackburn Rovers won the title in their third season since winning promotion’. Yes, it’s personal and yes, I hold a grudge. It wasn’t Manchester United’s failure; it was history in the making – not forgetting the fact that had we not been completely robbed of points in both fixtures against our title rivals, we’d have romped to the title – Ludek Miklosko or not (legend).
Anyway, I digress (and breathe), the sacking of Allardyce, the appointment of Kean, ‘Kean out’, ‘give him a chance’, ‘we’ve given him a chance’, ‘give him another’, ‘the football’s better’, ‘the results are sh*t’, ‘we’re going down’, ‘we’re staying up’, ‘we’ve got no money’, ‘we’ve got money’, ‘the owners are w*nk*rs’, ‘well, at least they’ve got a few bob’, ‘no, they haven’t’, ‘the plane’s a good idea’, ‘the plane was a sh*t idea’, ‘bury your head in the sand’, ‘you’re a wanker’, ‘you are’ – can you see where I’m going with this? If you didn’t rant – you’d cry.
I guess that’s my point, whatever the true intentions of the owners are, whether the manager is up to it or not – it’s got us all talking again, it’s got football talking, about us – that little club in East Lancashire buried behind terraced houses, the one that won the Premier League once (If you stay up to watch the credits on Sky’s Premiership Years 1994-95 that is).
It’s not exclusive to fellow supporters ranting at each other online either, club legends and players have been ridiculed for speaking out, and in recent weeks, I’ve witnessed pensioners arguing with middle-aged men in the stands. Only today, the local paper’s own blogger has used his weekly offering to openly abuse the protest organisers, despite demanding that the manager had to go only a matter of weeks earlier.
The irony to all this, is that the protest organisers are the hard-core group that felt ‘enough was enough’, that something needed to be done many months ago. Kudos to them for keeping things fairly amicable, xenophobic chicken jibes aside.
In truth, the aeroplane stunt backfired. Initially, I felt it was admirable that they had stuck two fingers up to the banner ban – but for various reasons, the main one being that we were actually outplaying Chelsea at the time – it just didn’t work. The whole thing felt a tad awkward after the initial impact and to be honest, I actually felt a bit of compassion and embarrassment towards the manager – he’s a human being after all.
So where do the protesters go from here? It’s all very well demanding them to stop, but as Blackburnians and Rovers fans, giving up isn’t embedded into our nature - we’d have left for sunnier climates or bigger teams some time ago if that were to be the case. It’s a matter of principle and if performances dip and the results don’t come, then we’ll be wishing they never went away.
There’s further irony in the fact that Steve Kean may be cut from similar cloth – say what you will about the man, but his loyalty and strength of character are proving to be admirable qualities; virtues that will be well suited in the months to come. Of course, he’s earning more money than he’s ever earned in his life – but a pay-out, subsequent gagging order and stress-free life would be an easier and cosier option. Strip it all down and it boils down to one fact – that the man wants to succeed.
By the same token, the Venky’s continue to back their man. Call it stubbornness, or born out of the fact that they made such a bold step in the first place - that may well be – but it’s the same stubbornness that will ensure that the protests are on-going; we’re all human.
As Jason Roberts pointed out on Sunday night – if the team is winning, then everybody is happy. When we were losing earlier on in the season, nobody was happy. Now, we’re playing well – but not achieving the results that our performances merit, some are happy and some aren’t. That’s football.
I’ve climbed up and down from my fence a few times, landing on either side – I’m back on the bugger at the moment, for performances alone - but I can’t rest there too long. The splinters will get me before the fortnight is out, yet there are three words flashing through my mind at the moment that will say more than any argument could ever do, wherever your opinion lies: ‘WIGAN OR BUST’. We are the Rovers.
We used to do these things indoors, amongst close contemporaries, back in the pub after a game or on the walk back to the car. By the time the second pint had touched lips, or the heat from the engine had melted into an ambience of early-evening sky, sweetly serenaded by the passing traffic and crackly radio – we’d usually resigned our attentions to something else – there’s always next week: ‘we’ll do them then’ – there are more important things in life – aren’t there?
I can’t speak for everyone, but a look through the forums and social networking sites tell me that I’m not alone and as a Blackburn Rovers supporter in troubled times, I simply cannot turn off.
There’s perhaps something inwardly perverse that keeps me wanting to come back for more – it’s like a drug, a bad one. I spoke to a good friend the other day, mulling over which away dates are looking appealing – a normal being would say none – and yet, the sadomasochist in me fancied them all; ‘glutton for punishment’ doesn’t do it justice.
When all is well with your beloved, we have a tendency to get complacent. A quick analysis is enough, smug in victory, tails up for the rest of the week – perhaps a cheeky glance at the league table just to tell ourselves how wonderful we really are. Tumbleweeds blow over keyboards, pins drop on radio phone-ins, all is well with the world – well, with football anyway. Match of the Day can be enjoyed for once, or bypassed completely – what’s it matter? ‘We won, I was there, the box is ticked, see them again next week’.
The above sentiment may puzzle some of you, there may be a sense that I’ve made the whole thing up and you’re probably right. In truth, I have no immediate recollection of what that feels like – I can only hark back to a golden age that probably never existed in the first place. I probably wouldn’t want it to exist – where’s the fun in that?
It’s fitting perhaps that one of our most loyal custodians, a player who has divided opinion for the last five years and has been loved and loathed in equal measure, allowed us more coverage on Match of the Day on Sunday night, than we received when we won the title in 1995. I was immediately inspired by Jason Roberts’ positivity – yet I have no doubt, that the next man probably thought to himself ‘what a load of b*ll*cks’.
Back to 1995, I defy any Rovers fan that has watched Sky Sports’ Premiership Years not to feel utterly empty and cheated from that year’s offering – it’s as if it’s a footnote at the end: ‘Klinsmann blah, blah, Cantona, blah, blah, Fowler, blah, blah, Wright, blah, blah, Venables, blah, blah, oh, there’s Shearer and by the way, Blackburn Rovers won the title in their third season since winning promotion’. Yes, it’s personal and yes, I hold a grudge. It wasn’t Manchester United’s failure; it was history in the making – not forgetting the fact that had we not been completely robbed of points in both fixtures against our title rivals, we’d have romped to the title – Ludek Miklosko or not (legend).
Anyway, I digress (and breathe), the sacking of Allardyce, the appointment of Kean, ‘Kean out’, ‘give him a chance’, ‘we’ve given him a chance’, ‘give him another’, ‘the football’s better’, ‘the results are sh*t’, ‘we’re going down’, ‘we’re staying up’, ‘we’ve got no money’, ‘we’ve got money’, ‘the owners are w*nk*rs’, ‘well, at least they’ve got a few bob’, ‘no, they haven’t’, ‘the plane’s a good idea’, ‘the plane was a sh*t idea’, ‘bury your head in the sand’, ‘you’re a wanker’, ‘you are’ – can you see where I’m going with this? If you didn’t rant – you’d cry.
I guess that’s my point, whatever the true intentions of the owners are, whether the manager is up to it or not – it’s got us all talking again, it’s got football talking, about us – that little club in East Lancashire buried behind terraced houses, the one that won the Premier League once (If you stay up to watch the credits on Sky’s Premiership Years 1994-95 that is).
It’s not exclusive to fellow supporters ranting at each other online either, club legends and players have been ridiculed for speaking out, and in recent weeks, I’ve witnessed pensioners arguing with middle-aged men in the stands. Only today, the local paper’s own blogger has used his weekly offering to openly abuse the protest organisers, despite demanding that the manager had to go only a matter of weeks earlier.
The irony to all this, is that the protest organisers are the hard-core group that felt ‘enough was enough’, that something needed to be done many months ago. Kudos to them for keeping things fairly amicable, xenophobic chicken jibes aside.
In truth, the aeroplane stunt backfired. Initially, I felt it was admirable that they had stuck two fingers up to the banner ban – but for various reasons, the main one being that we were actually outplaying Chelsea at the time – it just didn’t work. The whole thing felt a tad awkward after the initial impact and to be honest, I actually felt a bit of compassion and embarrassment towards the manager – he’s a human being after all.
So where do the protesters go from here? It’s all very well demanding them to stop, but as Blackburnians and Rovers fans, giving up isn’t embedded into our nature - we’d have left for sunnier climates or bigger teams some time ago if that were to be the case. It’s a matter of principle and if performances dip and the results don’t come, then we’ll be wishing they never went away.
There’s further irony in the fact that Steve Kean may be cut from similar cloth – say what you will about the man, but his loyalty and strength of character are proving to be admirable qualities; virtues that will be well suited in the months to come. Of course, he’s earning more money than he’s ever earned in his life – but a pay-out, subsequent gagging order and stress-free life would be an easier and cosier option. Strip it all down and it boils down to one fact – that the man wants to succeed.
By the same token, the Venky’s continue to back their man. Call it stubbornness, or born out of the fact that they made such a bold step in the first place - that may well be – but it’s the same stubbornness that will ensure that the protests are on-going; we’re all human.
As Jason Roberts pointed out on Sunday night – if the team is winning, then everybody is happy. When we were losing earlier on in the season, nobody was happy. Now, we’re playing well – but not achieving the results that our performances merit, some are happy and some aren’t. That’s football.
I’ve climbed up and down from my fence a few times, landing on either side – I’m back on the bugger at the moment, for performances alone - but I can’t rest there too long. The splinters will get me before the fortnight is out, yet there are three words flashing through my mind at the moment that will say more than any argument could ever do, wherever your opinion lies: ‘WIGAN OR BUST’. We are the Rovers.
Great blog.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking whether or not the plane was a disaster. My conclusion would be not really.
ReplyDeleteThis is down to the club trying to silence the paying public, by banning the banners. This was to show the club the fans will not be silent, they will continue to be heard.
By the way this is one cracking blog. Thumbs up.