Is Pearson Right? - Stay with the Players?

[Tomo]

I was at Newport v Crawley today reporting on a 'bottom half of the table' League 2 fixture. 

Newport were losing 2 nil until the 83rd minute. No fans left, they were still 'on side', singing and supporting their club.... 

They roared on their team, no booing, no moaning and celebrated 2 goals in the last 10 minutes to earn a draw. 

It got me thinking, our fans may have been heading to their cars on 80 mins? 

Respect to the fans at Newport today

I know we have much higher expectations but it makes you think how lucky we are

 

 

 

 

 

[Dr Balls]

1 minute ago, Tomo said:

I was at Newport v Crawley today reporting on a 'bottom half of the table' League 2 fixture. 

Newport were losing 2 nil until the 83rd minute. No fans left, they were still 'on side', singing and supporting their club.... 

They roared on their team, no booing, no moaning and celebrated 2 goals in the last 10 minutes to earn a draw. 

It got me thinking, our fans may have been heading to their cars on 80 mins? 

Respect to the fans at Newport today

I know we have much higher expectations but it makes you think how lucky we are

 

 

 

 

 

Links to the thread on our recent home form. Our fans are so pessimistic at the moment because we have seen so little in the way of performance that might give any hope that the players can stage a comeback. Even the singing section have gone very quiet recently, which says it all really.

[tin]

I said the same to a mate yesterday. We both remembered our days on the East End when it was support the City no matter what, and there were some worse performances back then as well. Some of our ‘fans’ at the Gate have no idea what the word support actually means, in contrast to our away support, and that must affect players’ confidence IMO. Negativity doesn’t help anyone.

[Northern Red]

Remember that game at Leeds a few years ago under LJ, we were 2-0 up and cruising, then their crowd decided that they'd had enough of giving their players stick and started to get right behind them and created a raucous atmosphere for the last half hour or so.

Sure enough, the players responded and salvaged a draw. Nobody who saw that would say that the crowd didn't have a big impact on things that day.

[iamalagerdrinker]

2 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Remember that game at Leeds a few years ago under LJ, we were 2-0 up and cruising, then their crowd decided that they'd had enough of giving their players stick and started to get right behind them and created a raucous atmosphere for the last half hour or so.

Sure enough, the players responded and salvaged a draw. Nobody who saw that would say that the crowd didn't have a big impact on things that day.

I remember seeing one Leeds fan start whirling his scarf in the air next thing I knew everyone was doing it and they was unlucky not to win!

[exAtyeoMax]

7 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Remember that game at Leeds a few years ago under LJ, we were 2-0 up and cruising, then their crowd decided that they'd had enough of giving their players stick and started to get right behind them and created a raucous atmosphere for the last half hour or so.

Sure enough, the players responded and salvaged a draw. Nobody who saw that would say that the crowd didn't have a big impact on things that day.

I remember that, it was incredible. Never heard anything like it before or since!

[RedRock]

I think even ‘back then’, it was a defining moment that triggered the crowd - a harsh sending off, one player rolling his sleeves up and getting stuck in, a couple of brilliant solo runs. 

Was it not Huddersfield in GJs reign and after a 8-9 match series of straight defeats with the future looking grim , Cotterill rallied the crowd with a couple of mazy runs and the buzz and winning ways returned.

Not sure we have any on the pitch ‘leaders’ now who could trigger that crowd response (maybe Alex) ….. so a harsh sending off it might have to be! 

[Lew-T]

22 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Remember that game at Leeds a few years ago under LJ, we were 2-0 up and cruising, then their crowd decided that they'd had enough of giving their players stick and started to get right behind them and created a raucous atmosphere for the last half hour or so.

Sure enough, the players responded and salvaged a draw. Nobody who saw that would say that the crowd didn't have a big impact on things that day.

That game comes up a lot on the EFL classics on Sky. The wrong reasons of course for us…

Ryan Kent should have put us out of sight.

[Winterstoke toad]

Being honest our home fans are awful when it comes to trying to lift the team . People always say we need good football to create an atmosphere but anyone who was at that Leeds game when we were 2 goals up will tell you that atmosphere can definitely change the result of a game . 
 

Going to many grounds over the years the flatness in atmosphere from home fans  always seem to be at grounds like Ashton gate and reading where home fans creating an atmosphere are in a tiny little section. Grounds with home fans stood behind a goal for example elland road and as much as I hate to say it Cardiff makes it a lot easier for people to get encouraged to make an atmosphere.

[Harry]

It’s been this way ever since the rebuild unfortunately. 
The concourse offers food, drink and a TV to watch the game. 
I know fans who spend most of the game on the concourse, just having a few beers and watching it on the tele! 
Loads of fans watch the first 25 mins or so and then retire to the concourse for the rest of the match. 
The very fact that the game is being shown on the TV’s draws fans to the area. 
I guess City can’t have it both ways. Either keep everyone inside the stadium and engender 90 minutes of support, or put the game on the tv in the concourse and take loads of extra revenue on food and drink. 
The concourse enables City to maximise revenue at the expense of the physical support. It’s the way they want it. 
 

Newport, of course, do not have a concourse for loads of fans to piss off to when they get bored and fancy a pint instead. 
The emptying of Section 82 and other areas is 100% down to the convenience of the concourse. 

[Tomo]

12 minutes ago, Harry said:

It’s been this way ever since the rebuild unfortunately. 
The concourse offers food, drink and a TV to watch the game. 
I know fans who spend most of the game on the concourse, just having a few beers and watching it on the tele! 
Loads of fans watch the first 25 mins or so and then retire to the concourse for the rest of the match. 
The very fact that the game is being shown on the TV’s draws fans to the area. 
I guess City can’t have it both ways. Either keep everyone inside the stadium and engender 90 minutes of support, or put the game on the tv in the concourse and take loads of extra revenue on food and drink. 
The concourse enables City to maximise revenue at the expense of the physical support. It’s the way they want it. 
 

Newport, of course, do not have a concourse for loads of fans to piss off to when they get bored and fancy a pint instead. 
The emptying of Section 82 and other areas is 100% down to the convenience of the concourse. 

Agree mate, but they were still supporting their side post 80 minutes and were 2 nil down. Like all fans they do enjoy a half time beer / pie but return to their seats

[Tony Tootle]

Absolutely right. Football is very much a game of confidence. I understand why people feel they have the right to chastise players when they feel they are not performing having parted with their hard earned cash. However, this is completely counter productive and you can see the confidence drain from certain players in our team when the fans get on their back. One of the reasons I stopped bothering with a season ticket was the amount of vitriol from the thickos I used to sit near who would engage in this sort of thing. Do the team a favour and yourselves and always think positive and good things will come.

[DaveF]

45 minutes ago, Harry said:

It’s been this way ever since the rebuild unfortunately. 
The concourse offers food, drink and a TV to watch the game. 
I know fans who spend most of the game on the concourse, just having a few beers and watching it on the tele! 
Loads of fans watch the first 25 mins or so and then retire to the concourse for the rest of the match. 
The very fact that the game is being shown on the TV’s draws fans to the area. 
I guess City can’t have it both ways. Either keep everyone inside the stadium and engender 90 minutes of support, or put the game on the tv in the concourse and take loads of extra revenue on food and drink. 
The concourse enables City to maximise revenue at the expense of the physical support. It’s the way they want it. 
 

Newport, of course, do not have a concourse for loads of fans to piss off to when they get bored and fancy a pint instead. 
The emptying of Section 82 and other areas is 100% down to the convenience of the concourse. 

How bizarre! Might as well watch it on RobinsTV and get your friends round.

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, Northern Red said:

Remember that game at Leeds a few years ago under LJ, we were 2-0 up and cruising, then their crowd decided that they'd had enough of giving their players stick and started to get right behind them and created a raucous atmosphere for the last half hour or so.

Sure enough, the players responded and salvaged a draw. Nobody who saw that would say that the crowd didn't have a big impact on things that day.

Pedant alert, but it was actually under Cotts, the first point we got back in The Championship under him after defeats at Wednesday & home to Brentford when Freeman was sent off.

[Northern Red]

4 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Pedant alert, but it was actually under Cotts, the first point we got back in The Championship under him after defeats at Wednesday & home to Brentford when Freeman was sent off.

I'm talking about the game at Elland Road under LJ. It was on Sky in the 17/18 season.

[GrahamC]

14 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

I'm talking about the game at Elland Road under LJ. It was on Sky in the 17/18 season.

Got you! 

The one I was thinking of went the other way, we were 2-0 down with about 2 minutes to go, we had already lost our first two & then Agard scored & in injury time Flint bundled one in at a corner.

Maybe because it was so early in the season but those there definitely stuck with us.
 

[Harry]

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

Agree mate, but they were still supporting their side post 80 minutes and were 2 nil down. Like all fans they do enjoy a half time beer / pie but return to their seats

Yep, half time. But, like in the days of the old Ashton Gate, 5 minutes after half time the bars close. And there’s no tv to watch the game on. So the only place to go is back to the stands. Our fans now have the luxury of drinking all game and watching it on a Tv in the concourse. 
There’s a surprising amount of fans that happily do this. 

[MarcusX]

29 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Got you! 

The one I was thinking of went the other way, we were 2-0 down with about 2 minutes to go, we had already lost our first two & then Agard scored & in injury time Flint bundled one in at a corner.

Maybe because it was so early in the season but those there definitely stuck with us.
 

I tell this story often, but having just met a couple of girls from Leeds on holiday and being in the area for work they persuaded me to watch the game with them in the Billy’s Bar at Elland road. When that equaliser went in I’ve never been so scared to move or speak in all my life 

[MarcusX]

23 minutes ago, Harry said:

Yep, half time. But, like in the days of the old Ashton Gate, 5 minutes after half time the bars close. And there’s no tv to watch the game on. So the only place to go is back to the stands. Our fans now have the luxury of drinking all game and watching it on a Tv in the concourse. 
There’s a surprising amount of fans that happily do this. 

No matter how shit the game is I’ll never understand the logic of watching a game on TV when it’s happening live right outside. That’s US culture where the games go on all day/night and not much happens.

[cheese]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

How bizarre! Might as well watch it on RobinsTV and get your friends round.

Yes, but you'd have to arrange for your friends to also come with you to some foreign country (virtually of course!).

[W-S-M Seagull]

It was embarrassing at Coventry that at 1 nil our fans rather than getting behind the team instead were singing Pearson our chants. I'm sorry but that really is embarrassing during a game.

[Philly The Kid]

IMHO the lack of atmosphere in most grounds these days is directly attributable to all seater stadia. On cold days standing around encouraged you to stamp your feet to keep warm and do a bit of shouting!!
Anyone who's been to German grounds will tell you the standing areas are always more raucous. I used to go to Union Berlin at the Alten Försterei  which is a brilliant little ground, they've got the balance just right. St Pauli at Hamburg too. We need to get standing back. This corporate matchday experience for the average fan is all too American.
Probably just a bit too old fashioned! but the days of the east end and the open end freezing your tits off but shouting and balling, stomping and clapping you felt so much more involved.

Edited January 3, 2023 by Philly The Kid

[Pezo]

You've got to have something to get behind even if it's just an outside chance of a comeback some memory and evidence that your team is still in the game, let's face it we give away soft goals, find it hard to break teams down and tire as the game goes on - hardly a recipe for making anyone think we have a hope of finishing strongly and mounting a comeback, it's more likely that as we tire we will concede leading to more anxiety as we finish rather than hope.

There is an element of us becoming customers rather than supporters as well, our fanbase has been successfully socially engineered in the last 20 years to be like this, with the cost of football as it is we have to produce an entertaining spectacle, and we just don't.

[sticks 1969]

8 hours ago, Harry said:

It’s been this way ever since the rebuild unfortunately. 
The concourse offers food, drink and a TV to watch the game. 
I know fans who spend most of the game on the concourse, just having a few beers and watching it on the tele! 
Loads of fans watch the first 25 mins or so and then retire to the concourse for the rest of the match. 
The very fact that the game is being shown on the TV’s draws fans to the area. 
I guess City can’t have it both ways. Either keep everyone inside the stadium and engender 90 minutes of support, or put the game on the tv in the concourse and take loads of extra revenue on food and drink. 
The concourse enables City to maximise revenue at the expense of the physical support. It’s the way they want it. 
 

Newport, of course, do not have a concourse for loads of fans to piss off to when they get bored and fancy a pint instead. 
The emptying of Section 82 and other areas is 100% down to the convenience of the concourse. 

So very true 

[Mad Cyril]

9 hours ago, Tomo said:

Newport were losing 2 nil until the 83rd minute. No fans left, they were still 'on side', singing and supporting their club.... 

 

 

 

 

To be fair, who in their right mind would want to leave early if you lived in Newport?

[Major Isewater]

The phrase  ‘ long suffering ‘ was invented for us. It’s no surprise that we are ‘ pessimistic ‘. What is incredible is that we keep turning up in numbers. 

[sh1t_ref_again]

10 hours ago, Harry said:

It’s been this way ever since the rebuild unfortunately. 
The concourse offers food, drink and a TV to watch the game. 
I know fans who spend most of the game on the concourse, just having a few beers and watching it on the tele! 
Loads of fans watch the first 25 mins or so and then retire to the concourse for the rest of the match. 
The very fact that the game is being shown on the TV’s draws fans to the area. 
I guess City can’t have it both ways. Either keep everyone inside the stadium and engender 90 minutes of support, or put the game on the tv in the concourse and take loads of extra revenue on food and drink. 
The concourse enables City to maximise revenue at the expense of the physical support. It’s the way they want it. 
 

Newport, of course, do not have a concourse for loads of fans to piss off to when they get bored and fancy a pint instead. 
The emptying of Section 82 and other areas is 100% down to the convenience of the concourse. 

Perhaps they are not the type who are going to get behind the team and support them anyway, if they prefer to stand around and watch it on tv

[real_bristol]

3 hours ago, Pezo said:

You've got to have something to get behind even if it's just an outside chance of a comeback some memory and evidence that your team is still in the game, let's face it we give away soft goals, find it hard to break teams down and tire as the game goes on - hardly a recipe for making anyone think we have a hope of finishing strongly and mounting a comeback, it's more likely that as we tire we will concede leading to more anxiety as we finish rather than hope.

There is an element of us becoming customers rather than supporters as well, our fanbase has been successfully socially engineered in the last 20 years to be like this, with the cost of football as it is we have to produce an entertaining spectacle, and we just don't.

It’s cyclical though Pez. What goes around comes around. Who was it that used to talk about the 12th man, one of the Johnson’s I think. I’ll never forget that Huddersfield game under Gary after he first took over then lost all those games on the bounce. My Dad and I made the decision to go that day because we knew the players needed us, we were going to get behind them regardless. That’s what we need from the fans now as hard as it may be. In my opinion this is what separates the men from the boys. As fans we have to dig deep as well. Ok Pearson has made a few questionable selection decisions but the whole setup just looks better. If we can give these players some confidence, get them on a run, I think they could be unstoppable. 

[NOTBLUE]

How many home games have we won in the last 3-4 seasons,not many,as a result of the lack of wins we turn up expecting the worst and often get what we’re expecting.Do people really think the fans don’t want a good atmosphere,and just want to be negative,of course they don’t,but the football over the last few seasons has been uninspiring to say the least.

[Son of Fred]

18 minutes ago, Percy Pig said:

Maybe it's just me, but if i want to be entertained and exhilarated I don't choose to go to a second tier football game. I'll go to the cinema or watch something at the elite level of any major sport. 

I go to Ashton Gate to be part of something more meaningful than just entertainment. I go for the friends, I go for the incomparable joy of scoring a goal, I go out of loyalty to a club who have been a constant in my life for 25 years, a community that has pulled me back from dark times and been a welcome distraction from all the shit real life entails. 

Regardless of results or performance, I owe that club my voice and my support when I am there. 

If those who moan claim their only issue is the results then I've got to ask, in what way do you think logically that moaning will help? If you really sit back and think about it, it's selfish and counterproductive nonsense that typifies the behaviour of toddlers rather than full grown adults. 

If the desired outcome is better results, then support, vociferous and unrelenting support, is the only thing any fan should ever do when they enter Ashton Gate. If that isn't possible then frankly, you're not a supporter but a customer...

 

It starts with us. It's so.much easier for us to change the atmosphere than it is for a team to win a game of football in a ridiculously competitive league. There's is precisely nothing to stop each and every fan from doing that. Nothing but excuses and ego. 

Great post Percy - echoing many of my own sentiments...

Whatever anyone of our support is feeling right now,, chanting "Pearson out" will only effect everyone in the ground negatively - most importantly the players - they,as any of us,are not made of stone.