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As fans are we "emotionally inadequate misfits to be pitied and patronised"

Hants_red

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An interesting look at fandom http://quietfan.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/who-are-fans-none-of-us-all-of-us.html

I think of myself as passionate but dispassionate, and very changeable between the two moods.
 

Legohead

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Re: As fans are we "emotionally inadequate misfits to be pitied and patronised"

Interesting. I like alternative ways of thinking when it comes to discussing 'the football fan'. It is a commonly held belief that to be a football fan is to pick a team, go and watch that team win, lose or draw - national league south or premier league and that's it. You die.

For many though this is not the case, other than the death bit. None of us can cheat that sadly. There are many different types of footy fan out there including ones who only go to home league games because of their season ticket and never home cup games or away games. There are fans who go to every home and away game. Fans who pick and choose their games due to the standard of the opposition. Fans who 'support' a club that they have no family or area connection to whatsoever and for whom a home game is 200 miles away and just too much of a chore anyway so Sky TV comes to the rescue. Fans who even change which team they support for varying reasons.

There are fans who like to go to the game, get plastered and make themselves heard and fans who like to sit quietly and observe the nuances and intricacies of every match they go to. We are all different and experience a matchday in different ways.

Personally i only dislike one type of fan and that's the fan who stops attending simply because the team are losing or have been poor for a while. I don't have an issue with someone making up their mind that going to watch their team is making them unhappy so they stop going. That's absolutely fine but once the team picks up again IMO such a fan has no right to return and gatecrash the good times (if there indeed are any). I'd have more respect for someone who changes their team full stop than one who simply returns to the fold once the bad times are over.

With this method the individual will either get fed up of having supported 36 different teams in a 10 year period and just give up on the game altogether OR they might come to realize that they can't keep flitting from team to team and so may as well attend through thick and thin. As a fan should.

So by all means dip in and out of attending games which could be due to illness, other engagements, lack of money, no transport etc but not because the team is crap.

IMO this criticism can be levelled at numerous Arsenal fans. They are in one hell of a dichotomy. Many want to stop going to games because they are sick of the underachievement at the club. I was going to put 'sick of the poor football' but then realized it's Arsenal, not Accrington. They know that if they give up their season tickets then there are thousands waiting in the wings to take their place therefore they pay and suffer (relatively speaking - again, Arsenal not Alfreton). The key aspect of this though is that these Arsenal fans WANT to stop going because they've had enough, which is fine but they then want their seats keeping incase it gets good again and they can roll back in without a care in the world and pick up where they left off.

If they decided to quit and then went to watch Barnet or Enfield then i'd have more respect for them despite them doing the footballing unthinkable and changed clubs.

I've probably patronised lots of people now. :(
 

Spoonz Red E

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Re: As fans are we "emotionally inadequate misfits to be pitied and patronised"

I really enjoyed reading the linked article - in particular his take on 'Monday's Child'.

I love the game of football because it is so simple.
I love the matches because for two hours I can get energised, frustrated, be part of a noisy crowd whilst all the time knowing how absurd it is in the great scheme of things.
I love Exeter City for all the Pavlovian dog tribal and territorial reasons which shouldn't be important logically but just are emotionally.
I love St James Park because of a huge chunk of memories tied to the place both trivial and intense.
I have no interest whatsoever in the hype of football as a business which celebrates the heat and steam coming out of the kettle when it should be enjoying a nice brew.

I think of myself as an emotionally adequate misfit.
 

sign of the chimes

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Re: As fans are we "emotionally inadequate misfits to be pitied and patronised"

My relationship with my club seems to be linked to how well it is being run. The results on the pitch matter but they aren't the key for me.

I largely withdrew from actively following Pompey when we were in the top flight, having been attending fairly regularly for 15 years before that. I'd do the odd league and cup game - and did make a couple of trips to Wembley, for the occasion more than anything else. I wasn't making a particular statement but the expense (it was around £40 to go and watch us at home in the seasons before we dropped out of the top flight), and the change in the way the club interacted with supporters over that time made the relationship hugely unrewarding.

I reconnected and got a season ticket once we hit League 2 - the fact that the club was run by a combination of the supporters trust and some high-net-worth individuals who supported the club, and that it reconnected with the community it served was a massive draw. We're now back in private hands and I just hope the new custodians we have are true to their word in their vision for the club, which is about sustainability and growth. I'm fortunate in that were we to scale the heights again (and I appreciate this is a proper outside chance) that the financial side of things wouldn't be such an issue - however, it would still come down to what sort of club we were as to whether or not I'd join in for the ride.
 

iscalad

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Re: As fans are we "emotionally inadequate misfits to be pitied and patronised"

Well.......

Saturday's fan is nurturing expectations so low that the scrappy 1-0 win against the league leader comes as a beautiful, life-affirming surprise.
 

Billy The Fish

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Re: As fans are we "emotionally inadequate misfits to be pitied and patronised"

The fan I least like is the one built like a West Country sh*thouse who pushes in and stands right in front of me two minutes before kick-off.
 
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