Once upon a time it was 100% certain that we would have got the traditional British sympathy as underdogs. However, given the sea change in this country in terms of football support and media stance, it is by no means a foregone conclusion. Many 'fans' now 'demand' silverware, quality football and have no interest in the romance of the competition or its tradition. Factor in Merson, Wright, Dixon, Keown, the London factor and the lack of interest/knowledge that most media people have for our club, I suspect that neutral support may be less than we would like to think.
A fair few of the Club Wembley lot are Chelsea and Spurs fans, so we should at least have them onside.
Mickey Quinn was on talksport t'other day saying he really hopes Arsenal win it. That's about all I've heard about the FA cup final that Hull City are playing in within the media.
Does it matter? However, like OLM says, fans of at least every other London club will not be wanting Arsenal to win, nor will I suspect the majority of Manchester club fans. But, like I started with, does it matter? We're both PL teams, I don't see the need to go for the pity support, or the patronising "under dog" bollocks, all smacks of the victim mentality we see more and more these days.
Does it really matter? As long as every City fan in this Country and around the World support the team on the day, that's all that matters. **** everybody else.
Well if I was a neutral I would be wanting Hull City to win. When you think of how much their squad costs compared to ours. We are also without our two strikers, have injuries and have come a long way in 10 years. Would truly be a fairytale ending to our season.
Let's hope Meyler doesn't mistime a challenge or Elmo doesn't lose his balance apparently easily, else rather than support the team they'll all be squealing about diving/cheating/assaulting etc. like we've shamefully seen on here from many the past few days.
I can't believe you're trying to dfend them. Identify the problem, rectify it and move on. Fans accepting these things is why the game is in the ****.
But that 'sympathy for the underdog' which was once taken for granted in football seems to be less evident than 10 or 20 years ago. Blame marketing, a generation reared on TOP 4 focused tv coverage, and more and more turds who strive to link themselves to successful brands rather than unfashionable ones. Sorry, I've just been to OT last night and had to witness the countless thousands of nomarks who want to be part of vicarious success. Couple that with FarvLarv's aftermatch discussion which only featured one of the two teams who were playing (can you guess which one?) and you get a depressing snapshot of what the media and many 'fans' want.
There's a few people who seem genuinely offended by clubs like us, Stoke and Cardiff being in the PL at all. Their argument seems to be that the likes of Forest, Blackburn and Leeds should be in there instead because they used to be good ages ago, and clubs who were in the lower divisions at that point are somehow less valid.
There's a generation of folk who grew up in the 90s who seem aghast and amused that we are in the Prem, they knew us as a basket case club with low gates. Regardless of that, it's clear most media people struggle to get a handle on us or our past. Solution? Focus on the opposition who are easier to portray.
Wasn't there some media twat on Twitter awhile ago saying teams like Stoke, Cardiff and Hull need to get out of the Premier League and Leicester, Forest and Derby all deserve to be in the Prem because they're The Midlands.
Think I mentioned it before, supporting the underdog is a British phenomenum, in France they seem bemused if you don't support a big club sometimes and all of France will suport L'Arsenal grace à Monsieur Wenger et l'histoire des jouers francais tel que Henry, Pires, Viera, Wiltord, Petit.
At school when people asked who you supported and you said City, the response was always "Yeah but, in the Premiership?"
Gang of kids went round our primary school back in the day asking "Hull FC or Hull KR?" and if you got the wrong answer they'd "kick your head in".. so I panicked and said..."Warrington"!!
