He got away with it because we were naive and deferential. We learnt a lesson from that experience and that's always to hold your Chairman to account. That's why the action against Bates has been happening. No, for obvious reasons. I'm hopefully doing 15-20 away games next season though. Wonder how many QPR and Fulham fans will be doing the same. Fulham are definitely worse, but the thing that makes me laugh about QPR's is the way so many fans voluntarily sit down and keep their gobs shut, like the Loftus Road experience has been so vigorously bummed into them that they can't have any fun even on their travels.
You may have been "naive and deferential", but my question stands. Just how much of your fan base can you attribute to living the Champions League dream on borrowed money you were only gonna repay if the gamble paid off? And if you weren't naive and deferential would you have boycotted those games like you are now?
It depends, we can definitely make a load of noise when we want too, sadly, all too often, no one is motivated enough etc, and on our travels we'l only be properly loud against Luton, Cardiff etc and obviously Chelsea. you'd think with the increase of attendance this season you'd see more plastic type fans but the atmosphere for many home games has been immense, Chelsea was spectacular, we got a player subbed off and Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, even Swansea have been amazing, all too often, the wind is taken out of the sails by things such as red card where everyone gets in to that depressing mood of 'here we go a again' And I hope you don't say 'Loftus Road experience' as in comfort and welcoming?? the only thing we'd actually win this season is ****test ground in the league...
If by "attribute" you mean "hold responsible", then none. Fans should scrutinize, but Chairmen and owners shouldn't make colossal, club-wrecking cock-ups, even if they are being let off the hook a fair bit. If we were to rewind to the turn of the millennium, I don't think a boycott would have been needed so much. Our club then had great links with the Supporters Club, who had official recognition unlike the Supporters Trust today whose board have been banned from matches. The SC presumably would have pressed the club harder on the issues and they would likely have listened. Ridsdale and Leighton weren't men who wanted to see Leeds go tits up, it's just that they were so cocksure and myopic that they thought nothing could go wrong. So to answer your question, I'd definitely have been calling for a change of policy. What I'd do from then on would be based on the club's reaction to that call. Skinman, away fans should stand and sing no matter what the scoreline, refereeing decisions or performance. You're a good lad, but QPR's away support is mule dung.
This. Nothing annoys me more than people sitting down at away games, singing is a must. The beauty of away games it's always a good day out regardless of the scoreline. Unless you are playing rivals like Arsenal, Spurs or West Ham where the result carries far more bearing.
Only time I've seen Leeds fans sitting at away games is leaning on the seat behind them when we've got tanked at Barnsley. I've heard it's a different situation altogether when you're with Chelsea.
I've only seen it once at Chelsea, and that was Sunderland away in the 1st half and half were standing, half sat down, obviously when we were attacking our end everybody stood but it still annoyed me. I've never seen or heard of it at any other game though.
Iqbal is clearly on a wind up. Can't we just ignore him please!!! Or DL, and I mean this politely, as I know you contribute sensibly, debate on your own boards!
No that wasn't what I meant. The point I'm trying to get across is that while we were mismanaged and badly let down as fans by underinvestment you weren't. On the contrary while while we were passing buckets around and desperately trying to stay afloat, Risdale was pumping you lot full of cash he never had and never paid back. So while we were losing to Vauxhall Motors, you were on TV screens playing against Europe's finest on borrowed money. So how much of your fan base in your one-club town do you think became dyed-in-the-wool Leeds fans as a result of all those glamour ties in Europe and title chases? And how many fans do you think we lost out on in our three-club borough while we plummeted down through the divisions? And I'm also guessing that during the golden Risdale years your ground was upgraded/redeveloped. Ours hasn't been because we didn't have Risdale or someone like him financing a boom-bust on money he didn't possess. Fickleness is a word that's thrown about a lot on this board but boy oh boy we'd have to go some to beat Leeds "fans" for that. In 1974 your average home attendance was 38,666. In ten years that became 15,994. A 65% drop in ten years. By 1986 you barely averaged 13,000. And in case you think this is too far back to be considered then mull on this. In 2002, at what might be considered the height of your personal boom-bust cycle, you averaged 39.752. In the space of 5 years this dropped to 21,613, a drop of almost 50%. Now That's What I Call Fickle. In your very own one-club town too.We've never come near losing that much in % terms. Indeed the season the buckets were passed around at Loftus Road, we averaged only about 15% less than we did in what was until now, our previous Premiership season. That's dedication and loyalty for you.
