The police presence thread set the old grey matter working, apart from talking to fans of other clubs on here, I talk to people from all over the country through work, and often meet them face to face. As usual football fans tend to gravitate together, and the talk always seems to come around to Cardiff's hooligan rep in the past. If you have been a Cardiff fan for any length of time you will have been caught up in it at some time in the past, whether through choice, or through inadvertently being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The thing is the general consensus about our club is changing, everyone of these fans (and there has been quite a few) who has visited Cardiff over the last two or three seasons, have been pleasantly suprised, they thought they were going to Beirut at the height of the civil war, and their treatment went from being ignored to good natured banter. I know we have won all this Family Club stuff, which is great but a lot of these people wouldn't believe it until they'd seen it for themselves. One of the most telling comments came from a work colleague, a mad Liverpool fan who goes everywhere with Liverpool and has done for years, I speak to this guy regularly and see him two or three times a year. His observation, "The thing is you lot are getting the same sort of reputation as Liverpool fans have had for years, you come to Anfield, watch your football and don't look for bother and you will have a bit of banter and no trouble, you want it to go the other way, well there are plenty at Anfield who will accommodate you, but to be fair they never ever start it, OK we have had our run ins with the red mancs over the years, just like you and swansea, but generally we are left well alone, not so much feared as respected, after all who would poke a happy bulldog with a stick? And if you do, well don't grumble if you get bitten." Interesting observations?
Roy, I can't quite see you as a happy bulldog, a miserable mongrel maybe!!! LOL. Very good metaphor though. The CCS has been a bit of a love in stadium since we moved in. Okay due a lot to good organisation of away fans but generally they are walking out into a stream of City fans on Sloper Road, as they did on Wednesday night. I have seen no issues whatsoever in the last 2 years and saw no problems Wednesday. Celtic fans happier than us but so what, that's football. Apart from 1 incident at Pompey caused by 2 Pompey thugs who then got their just desserts, the bottle throwing QPR yellow bellies and the Chelsea fracas I have seen no trouble at away games either. And anyway we could not be accused of starting any of those. We usually travel in numbers and most are not looking for confrontation but it can't be wrong to react if someone has a go at you. The trouble is in this namby pamby, politically incorrect world it appears you are not allowed to defend yourself even when the police are not around to provide protection.
Andy I'm a happy buldog if we win........otherwise,yeah you are right Unfortunately we seem to be reaping what we have sown in the past, 1250 to West Ham whats that all about, mind you I think that says more about the lack of confidence from the Met than us, they don't think they can easily control the West Ham thugs who will be well up for it (apologies to decent Hammers), so once again they have taken the easy option, I bet they still police it as if 3000 "soul crew" were turning up though.....and claim the overtime
What on earth do you mean 'past'? Every club has a hooligan element but it'll take many many years for you to shake your reputation as having a thuggish fan base, if ever. Just ask those Toon fans who had bottles thrown at them from above at SJP a couple of seasons back, or the ref who had his head cut open by a piece of chewing gum (yeah right) on national TV. Or maybe the guys who had to repair our away end toilet block at a cost of over £10,000. All in the past but RECENT past and you're very wrong if you think those people have scurried away because you didn't get promotion again. Just like your favourite son trouble follows you everywhere you go. 'Hooligan Reputation' depends not only on your past but on the size of your active element of thugs and it seems that CCFCs remains large and very active. Hence the overkill on the police presence. Can't blame them. And before you go on about Swans fans - yes I know we've got the idiots too, just not quite so many.
The only time I have seen trouble inside the CCS, were the Swansea games. And both sets of fans were to blame for that. Destroying each others toilets, throwing coins/bottles back and forth. Other than that there is a never really a problem at home. There's always a tense atmosphere at away games, but it very rarely gets nasty.
They just can't stop thinking about us can they. Phatfrog! Without going into to much detail,I hope you managed to sort out your problem favourably the other day.Bloody hood rats are nightmare wherever you go.
You read the AAMB do ya? You signed up on there. Yeah, I didn't report it because there were a few "admin" issues that would have made the situation worse for me. So just writing it off as a bad experience. Luckily no damage done!
Phatfrog! Reader of all boards. Good result then. Back on topic. It's funny how we are reminded by certain elements about our less than virtuous past and yet they try to bury their own previous financial misgivings on every thread where it crops up.
