Supporter behaviour towards own players

[Chris Harte]

Something that arised out of last night's game for me, and to be fair has been bugging me for a while now.

Is the era of fans being complete arseholes to their own players during a game a relatively new thing or has it always gone on? It certainly seems much worse these days than it ever used to be. I'm all for giving players the bird at full time but during a game it seems counter-productive.

I'm particularly interested in the opinions of those who would use the seats even pre-Taylor report, back as far as when I first started going to games regularly in the mid-1980s.

There's not a game that goes by it seems when someone is barking abuse at our own players. The three arseholes in the row behind me last night seemed to be particularly targetting Bannan, Ireland and N'Zogbia. In the past, in the days of terracing it would be possible to move away, but thats not the case now, hence my interest in answers from people who've always used seats.

[glasses]

The time you refer to is very different to today. Back then footballers earned well, but Stephen Ireland, for example earns the best part of £8000 a day. That is the difference for me, and why it gets frustrating when someone (not just him, he's an extreme example) can't string a seven yard pass together.

[Mortimer's Bear]

Whilst not condoning this behavious (some of it makes me cringe), I thnik it's because the modern day footballer is so far detatched from your average supporter.

When I started going down, I could cycle to Bodymoor Heath is the school holidays and watch them train up close, then wait for them to drive out in their Rovers and grab some autographs, with most of them happy to stop and chat. Nowadays everything is fenced off so you feel miles away from them, then if they do stop in their Audi Q7's or brand new Range Rovers you are lucky if they bother to make eye contact with you as they give their autograph.

When they earned a reasonably moderate wage back in the day, I could forgive almost anything on the pitch because they were my heroes and were doing something I could aspire to, but they were also regulay guys. Nowadays the first sight of a mis-placed pass or a half-hearted attempt to win the ball and my first thought is nearly always 'that twat earns in a week what I earn in 3 years, and is doing something I'd do for free', maybe a lot of people think the same.

[jonzy85]

It's just an example of the ever widening chasm between players and fans. They live in parallel worlds.

[saunders_heroes]

I don't remember it being any different. If players were continually shite they got dogs abuse from some fans. It's part of football.

[NeilH]

I see no difference either. I remember Spinksy going through a rough patch and a small section of the Holte End took great pleasure in screaming 'Spinks you're useless' every time he touched the ball. What was shall ever be, seats or no seats.

[D.boy]

I don't remember it being any different. If players were continually shite they got dogs abuse from some fans. It's part of football.

But the gulf has widened due to the fact a poor player can still pick up more a week than most of us earn in a year.

[N'ZMAV]

Maybe it's because the players appear to care less these days and show no loyalty to clubs.

[saunders_heroes]

I don't remember it being any different. If players were continually shite they got dogs abuse from some fans. It's part of football.

But the gulf has widened due to the fact a poor player can still pick up more a week than most of us earn in a year.

But players still got stick in the past. It's hardly a new thing.

[Chris Harte]

I agree it used to go on back then, but it seems so much worse these days.

Perhaps it just seems worse because there's no getting away from it in all-seated grounds or, like has been pointed out, the gulf between players and fans is now bigger than ever and so any negative feeling is magnified.

[saunders_heroes]

I agree it used to go on back then, but it seems so much worse these days.

Perhaps it just seems worse because there's no getting away from it in all-seated grounds or, like has been pointed out, the gulf between players and fans is now bigger than ever and so any negative feeling is magnified.

Have we ever been this bad before though? Even in 86-87 I don't remember us being this appalling.

[Chris Harte]

Have we ever been this bad before though? Even in 86-87 I don't remember us being this appalling.

Oh, I do. We finished bottom of the old Division One, with a lot of kids in the side. It was pretty grim. And we've had bad patches before where we were in danger. That first season back in Division One, then 1994-95, 2002-03. There are probably others.

Maybe I'm just unlucky to have the nutters congregate around me at the moment. Not really sure, hence the OP.

[itbrvilla]

Whilst not condoning this behavious (some of it makes me cringe), I thnik it's because the modern day footballer is so far detatched from your average supporter.

When I started going down, I could cycle to Bodymoor Heath is the school holidays and watch them train up close, then wait for them to drive out in their Rovers and grab some autographs, with most of them happy to stop and chat. Nowadays everything is fenced off so you feel miles away from them, then if they do stop in their Audi Q7's or brand new Range Rovers you are lucky if they bother to make eye contact with you as they give their autograph.

When they earned a reasonably moderate wage back in the day, I could forgive almost anything on the pitch because they were my heroes and were doing something I could aspire to, but they were also regulay guys. Nowadays the first sight of a mis-placed pass or a half-hearted attempt to win the ball and my first thought is nearly always 'that twat earns in a week what I earn in 3 years, and is doing something I'd do for free', maybe a lot of people think the same.

Perfectly put.  Sums in all up for me. How much was a player earning a week on average when we won the cup in 1994? 3-6k at the most maybe. It was high then but considering its only a short career and they woild need some money to help them with their future then fine. But now, we have shite players earning millions sitting on the bench.

[SuperSub]

It does seem to happen more recently but surely a big part of it has been just pure frustration with our predicament. This is further exacerbated by footballers being far harder to warm to than in the past.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Have a look at Dave Woodhall's book that mentions the vile abuse that Joe Mercer received, not to mention being pelted with rubbish.