http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...ine-city-now-its-only-a-question-of-the-le... I´m sure some of the younger contributors may find it hard to relate to much of this, but we older fellas certainly can - and I think he´s hit most of it, right on the head.
Yes, very sad and very true RBF. I think that the attitudes described reflect a lot of people in life generally not just Norwich City fans, but the case is well described. More broadly I think it touches on the malaise of the Western World as a whole where we all expect everything and respect nothing any more. Depression anyone?
As a slightly younger contributor. I would say that as a kid attending carrow rd, It was very much cardboard box and enjoyment of sharing the experience with not just my Dad but with all the rest of those of a green and yellow persuation. That said age and cynicism play a part these days in a sometimes more negative outlook. But the game has changed as much as I have in that time. In those days (mid-late 80s) the players weren't that different from the fans. My dad knew (Ok was acquainted with) two or three of the players, and chatted with them at such places as Zaks on mousehold heath. They were seen more around the city and felt less removed. With that I think players had more of a bond with the fans, there was maybe more of a feel that they were our players not, the latest batch of mercinaries earning a kings ransom. Now may be I'm not old enough to remember the times the to which the article refers but in the 80s there was angst, abuse and post match postmortems. That they were done with out the profile of socail media may have left it as lower profile. But Football has always been escapism, crap week at work, lets hope the boys in yellow can give us some cheer! That is true today as it was years before. But with all the other forms of entertainment that are accessable in this day and age and the now very high cost of attending a match I think people want more for their money. This is not just football, look at a welfare claimant today, relative to 30 years ago. Today they want and seemingly have all mod cons: playstations, big TV's, Enough booze and ***s to keep an Ollie Read XI going from now till christmas! Then it was an aid to survive and keep a roof over their head. Its a social shift to a belief of entitlement. Am I guilty of it? Maybe a little. I don't want to see diabolical Hughtonball, certaintly at todays prices. But by the converse inspite of defeat to Forest, I had a cracking day, the experience is still a good one, sometimes less so especially on a quite one at carrow rd, where you can already feel the crowd tension before a ball is kicked. If you go to a game I think the minimum you should have to be in that cardboard box is a level of optomism that you could get a result and see some good football and a goal or two to boot. If you go thinking that none of that is likely (A frequent sense under hughton) then the the mind set is already one of boxless gloom. Hense why I think things have turned a little on Adams. Everyone can take the odd poor performance and result, often even a run of them, but right now we have a perfect storm of a series of disappointing results coupled with whether justified or not probably the highest sense of expectation any Norwich fan has ever held. (How many of us have been saying playoffs a minimum and automatic should be secured?) For you olduns, Can you really say that you're still in that CB box each match? Or have your expectations evolved as football has sold it's soul? Bah!
Speaking as an old´un Melchy, I don´t get, nor do I expect to get the same level of enjoyment from games these days as I did 30 / 35 years ago. Money and the change from being a game to a business has spoilt it for me, so I can fully understand where Ed is coming from. But at the same time, it´s naive to think that the game should still be practised and looked upon, as it was in the Stone Age, but the cash influx has brought its fair share of greed and cynicism with it. Had I supported a club which had been tempted to go along the cash route by selling out to a wealthy owner, and then trying to buy their way to success, I would probably have stopped supporting them by now, so I´m eternally grateful to Delia and Co for keeping the club on what I consider the straight and narrow.
But would you? I bet some Man City fans or Chelsea before them might have felt that way(But even QPR with fernandez whom we all deride, has given them the best roller coaster ride and success they've had in years). But they get to see some top quality football, many wins and finally something we may never know, win some major trophey's. It might feel hollow to start with but, it's a bit of the old if you can't beat em join em. I am grateful to Delia et al for having given us some good years and it is nice to have fans of the club running it. But just as players, managers and tealadies come and go, so will the owners. And we may not find a city supporter with deep pockets after Delia has gone, so one way or another it's going to eventually be some wealthy sort who gets his new play thing. The one constant will be us the fans, through thick and thin we'll turn up for a regular dose of punishment/escapism/fun* *delete as applicable Bah!
Even some of our more reasonable sound posters are turning into moaning bastards and claim to know more about the goings on at Carrow road than Adams McNally and Delia combined. I find it pathetic even after a win the moaners have something to complain about. Funnily enough the old gits are more positive than the 20 somethings on here, very odd.
Without being critical of RBF it is far easier to distance yourself from Norwich living in Denmark and I am surprised that he would stop following his team if we sold to a rich investor. I have very strong views on Palestine but as I don't live there it makes it a tad easier to not get too upset sbout it.
As another 'old'un', I have to say that the critical diatribes and negativism have taken much of the joy out of following City (as I have been doing for over 40 years and yes, with a lot of ups and downs). Like RBF, I dislike football becoming big business and unlike many fans I don't feel that the only success is getting back into the PL 'where the money is'. If we get back to the PL then great, but it won't be because of the money for me, for we'll never have as much money as the teams we're competing against. I have to say also, that I enjoy discussing football on boards like this, but the relentless negativism and rants about the manager have turned discussions into arguments, often becoming personal in order to win points. Football is a 'game', not a science, to be dissected endlessly from mostly very 'unscientific' points-of-view.
23 - Far from distancing myself from City, I´m actually closer and more involved with them here than I ever was when I was in England, at that time I had far too much else to think about. I can promise you if we were taken over by a rich investor who was only in it for what he or she could get out of it, and where money was no object, I would find it very difficult to keep giving my support, whether it ended up with us being successful or not. Buying ones way to success is as cheap as it gets, there´s very little merit in that as far as I can see. In fact that was why I always thought, that for a club like ourselves in the Premier League, just staying there, was as great an achievement, greater in fact, than any of the money-bag clubs winning the title.
Brighton will be my last game for a while RBF I am off to China next week and won't be back to Blighty for at least 3 months.
saw this on the Twitter the other night - it's not Carrabuh is it? No, it can't be, surely? View attachment 34206
