1. Defeat and – eventually – little disgrace at Chelsea. City didn’t help themselves, but Chelsea have spent hundreds of millions of pounds to ensure that contests such as this are acutely unequal. And the first half was as unequal as you could hope to not see. For all of City’s brave talk, the first half precisely resembled a poor Championship side away to Champions League participants. It was tough to watch. 2. Perhaps we should allow limited credit to City for ensuring that a hammering didn’t become a record-breaking rout. Chelsea, aware that Barcelona visit next, didn’t seem too bothered about adding any more goals but City did also smarten themselves up a little, and while drawing a half isn’t an achievement, it was at least an improvement. It was a desperately poor tie to have been given anyway. 3. Elsewhere, our absence from league duty didn’t cause undue harm. Four of the bottom six were in action on Saturday, and none won. City remain outside the bottom three, with a home game in hand on most of them. We may be out of the Cup, but in terms of the Championship it wasn’t a bad weekend. 4. It’d be great to build upon this by taking something from Middlesbrough tomorrow evening. The pre-season title favourites have underachieved this season, but with only five points separating them from sixth place, they won’t have given up just yet. It won’t be easy. But the assured performance at Nottingham Forest nine days ago suggests that we haven’t given up just yet. A point would do just fine, even though unwanted results elsewhere could still see us draw and drop back into the bottom three. But imagine the transformative effect that a second successive win could have… 5. Then it’s Sheffield United. The match first, then the rest. Since cuffing City 4-1 in November their season has gone a little awry, and while we’d gladly swap places with a side in eighth, they must have hoped for more at this stage. It’s therefore a presentable opportunity for three points, three we’re sure to need whatever happens at the Riverside tomorrow. City’s heads may just be above the water at the time of writing, but they’re deep and choppy waters. It’s going to be a big week on the pitch, and by 10pm on Friday we’ll have a good idea of our likely fate. 6. It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens off the pitch as well. Anger at the mismanagement of the club continues to swell, and rumours about serious and sustained protests in the forthcoming Sheffield United fixture have grown. Ehab Allam claimed to be in possession of intelligence (yes, we know…) pointing towards a whistle protest during the game, akin to the one Brighton implemented at the Goldstone Ground when City visited in the late 1990s. It’s a cracking idea from a man few ordinarily associate with understanding football fans, and it’d certainly be effective. 7. The big question is whether it should happen. It’s proven predictably divisive. And we absolutely understand why some City fans don’t really fancy it. It’s a bit confrontational, it could interrupt the night’s football – or potentially even terminate it, it’s just all a bit too much. But we’d urge those wavering supporters to look at the paucity of options now open to City fans. Talking to the Allams doesn’t work, because they refuse to listen. For years they’ve been told what we want, and they haven’t acted. You cannot reason with fundamentally unreasonable men. We can’t even trust their promises to begin a process of meaningful change, because Assem Allam repeatedly promised not to try to change City’s name without consultation, only to renege upon this pledge within days. However, we know that protests affect them. The stress balls against Forest earlier in the season dragged them to the table. So why not? 7a. There are two arguments you can summon against it, and neither really stack up. Firstly, it affects the team. Except that no evidence exists for that. Lack of investment in players affects the team; fans driven to desperation by negligent owners does not. And the second argument is that City will be harshly punished for a disrupted game. And again, that isn’t supported by facts. Coventry City, Leyton Orient, Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic have all staged in-game protests in recent times. Can anyone remember the sanctions handed down to them? Exactly. Ehab’s suggestion of points deductions and/or games being played behind closed doors is ridiculous scaremongering designed to suppress dissent, because no precedent exists for such drastic punishments. 8. So on balance, we have no issue with protests on Friday. Something needs doing – we cannot simply let the Allam family drive this club to the wall. Those planning the protests should still tread carefully, if only for their own sake. But if they want to proceed, then so be it. 9. It’s truly astonishing that the mere prospect of supporter protest led to Ehab seriously considering not selling tickets for the game, and only yielded seven days before the fixture itself. What the hell kind of dysfunctional football club genuinely ponders not selling tickets for its own fixtures? The Allams have done a lot of incredibly stupid things, but this could have been right up there. 10. There’ll be no Amber Nectar podcast tonight – we’re going to leave it until Wednesday to incorporate the Middlesbrough fixture instead. Meanwhile, we’ve a bit of an anniversary coming up on that day as well – stand by for a trip down memory lane… http://www.ambernectar.org/blog/2018/02/things-we-think-we-think-293/
I think the argument that a whistle blowing protest could hurt the team has more credibility than you give it. I may be wrong , but I was pretty sure that David Meyler among others (and he has been very sympathetic to the fan base generally) said that he thought the disruption at the Forest game had a negative impact on younger players Flipping the argument round, does the protest help us get the Allams to sell the club more quickly? I want them to sell and I want my club to stay in the Championship - I don't see how this protest helps either.
Getting behind the team and cheering them on to promotion to the Premier League didn't work so what do you suggest comes next?
I don't see the logic of your argument. I said that I didn't see that protesting would get rid of the Allams any quicker or help the team. Maybe you disagree but what's cheering the team onto promotion to the Premier League got to do with it?
I see both sides. I can see how it's hard to not do anything after everything they've done. People want to try to do something to hasten the Allams' exit or at least reverse some of their actions (concessions, etc). On the other hand I can see how people think it is pointless. Why would some inconveniences make them give up their cash cow before the final lump sum comes in? They won't. Overall we are pretty powerless to do anything about them. That's pretty depressing. Disruptive protests will piss them off though which is probably more than worth it.
It seems like everyone wants rid of the Allams now, There were those who said if only we could get to the Premier League and they would be gone, lets not upset the team, support the team not the regime, As most now realise the only way you will see the name Hull City used and concessions return is when the Allams have gone.
...or when things are made so uncomfortable that they do it to avoid on-going serous protests? We don't know that yet because that hasn't been tried
Uncomfortable? They don't go to games and don't care about the football side of the business. Still, people are free to do what they want. Damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.
It might not help sell the club as such but I don't think it will damage the chances either , as I've said before any potential new owners would look and see how hated The Allams are and realise it would be a pretty easy job becoming popular here, they would need to do very little , just call us hull city and would probably get their name chanted every game
We can't make the Allams do anything that they don't want to do, this is a fact. What we can do though is embarrass them at every given opportunity - to do this in front of a world wide audience, causing old man Allam to lose more face, is an opportunity too good to miss. PS The apologists and olive branch seekers can go **** themselves.
Whenever protests have happened - be it the match disrupting kind or just chanting, some people have always complained about it and there's always been this argument that it affects the team. I find it difficult to see the link between protests and performance. I think a crowd can significantly affect a team's performance if they're overly negative about poor passes, booing etc (see Sunderland) and a loud, supportive atmopshere can definitely help the team. But why would anti-owner protests cause players to play poorly? What exactly is the link there? I just don't see it, and our performances when protests have taken place don't support the idea that there's any link. But the bit that completely escapes me is, supposing that protests do affect performance, why it's so readily accepted that they will only affect the City players. Surely whatever ill-effect it causes to the players would affect both sets of players. In fact going back to the last set of protests at that Forest game. The restart immediately after the second set of balls went on was a Forest goal kick which he shanked into the crowd. So if it affected anyone it was Forest.
and yet a few balls being thrown onto the pitch caused them to meet fans and say publicly that they will take some action on branding and concessions whether they go to the games is irrelevant I think
Probably as much to do with timing and the impending visit of the queen. I love the fact they wanted honours list recognition and got **** all
I think that is the point being made. When faced with the current ownership perhaps nothing will work. Yes, there is an argument for doing/ trying something but if that has a detrimental impact on the team would it be worth it? Sadly, they give all the indications of only leaving on their terms and not before. MoH
Exactly. They saw an opportunity to bring supporters to the table around a so-called common interest - backing the team, not the ownership; it was nonsense and simply served their need to hold Supporter Committee meetings - they really don't care about the football, the supporters or the team - just their own endgame. They've given nothing, but they have taken worked suggestions, supporter commitment (to their club) and good intentions all round. The lies, cheating and manipulation has never stopped and it is only the flagrant manipulation that will, just so long as folk stop playing their game.
