The problem with our fans.

equaliser said:
There is a strain of entitlement among many of our fans; you saw it towards the end of last season with many assuming the likes of Luton and Coventry were just there to make up the numbers, when it was clear we'd gone off the boil.

But I think we're all suffering from those raised expectations for the fact is, the final whistle of the play off 2nd leg was a devastating moment. The gap between success and failure is so narrow, the potential rewards so huge, and so much luck is at play. It was also apparent that much of our thrilling football in the second half of the season was down to players who wouldn't be returning. The players must feel that loss also and their confidence must be brittle, especially after the start we've had.

Tbh, I thought the thread was going to be about Boro fans' alleged 'fickle' nature and this is the trait in home games that most concerns me as no doubt Warnock's team talk will be to "get the crowd on their backs". We have to give Carrick time to instill confidence in his young charges. Yes, on paper, you could say we're weaker and yes, with established, well-supported 'big clubs' arriving from both directions, the league is probably harder. However, we and other like Luton showed last year that it's possible to put runs together and a strong team spirit can take you a long way.

For myself, it's my 51st season as a Boro supporter and I've long learned to live with disappointment. Last season under Carrick was a delightful surprise. His whole ethos is built on trusting the players to express themselves without fear, but that's hard if you have fans who hysterically barrack them for the slightest error. I wouldn't usually class myself as a ra-ra, but I buy into the vibe Carrick has brought. Ultimately, I want to feel to feel good about my club. We could be where Brentford/Brighton are, we could be where Derby/Bolton are. We have no divine right to be anywhere and discussions of how 'big' we are as a a club are just so so tiresome. Who the F**K cares?

A win, a couple of goals, today, and things will look different. But even if things don't go our way, I'm giving the boy Carrick my backing. Players take time to settle and let's see where we are in a couple of months.
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This idea that Boro have a home crowd that get on the backs of their players is an utter joke.
This is not St James or SOL or Elland Rd or Goodison, where that does happen and the players are put under pressure.”Not fit to where the shirt”
The Riverside is either very supportive, loud and hostile for the opposition, or just goes quiet.
The team and players are very largely protected from negative noise.
You can silence our crowd, but they don’t get on players backs near as much as at many big grounds.
 
jonny_greenings_sock said:
I think the problem with our fans is that we don’t appreciate the good times. 25k at the Basel home game, non-stop whinging about McClaren and Karanka. There’s a trait in our fans where they’d rather focus on the negative and feel like they’re proved right when things inevitably go wrong, than be embarrassed for being optimistic, which I hate to say it is a very Teesside trait.
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What utter nonsense Jonny (no offence intended)

Why is it inevitable that things go so wrong? Is it inevitable for other clubs? No, some clubs are well run, better organised, have made sufficiently good decisions to either win promotion, avoid relegation, retain top flight status win trophies. The clubs board have placed the club in its current situation, is promotion or further relegation inevitable? No, nothing is inevitable bar death. Accusing fans of focusing on the negative is really missing the point. Would you like the board to focus on the negative in an effort to want to ensure things become more positive, I would, you can’t ignore problems, bury your head in the sand and pretend things are better than they are. If people do that, problems tend to get worse. Accepting reality, debating and focussing on issues is a healthy positive, by doing so problems can get resolved once identified, a negative response really would be cheering and happy clapping when things are going wrong and pretending everything is ok.

xxlshirts_fit_all said:
We’re a yo-yo club but with a bit of luck we could put a premier league run together…
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We are definitely not a yo-yo club. We are into our 15th season since our last prolonged top flight season, within that time we have been promoted once and immediately relegated once. We have certainly not yo-yo’d, the string must have broke. I’d take yo-yoing for a while rather than settling for things as they have been since 2009.
 
We are not a Yoyo club anymore- we used to be a classic yo yo club. Every season we seemed to be involved in promotion and relegation and we are listed officially as one. I enjoyed those days.

en.wikipedia.org

Yo-yo club - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
indeedido said:
This idea that Boro have a home crowd that get on the backs of their players is an utter joke.
This is not St James or SOL or Elland Rd or Goodison, where that does happen and the players are put under pressure.”Not fit to where the shirt”
The Riverside is either very supportive, loud and hostile for the opposition, or just goes quiet.
The team and players are very largely protected from negative noise.
You can silence our crowd, but they don’t get on players backs near as much as at many big grounds.
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I think our crowd is exactly that either noisy or subdued but will engage from time to time in loud vocal ‘disagreements‘ with the manager about selection and tactics, the most recent being the short corner protest, but we’ve seen plenty of similar before, chanting for specific substitutes, moans of dismay about backwards passing etc.

I think it gets under the skin of the managers sometimes as well.
 
xxlshirts_fit_all said:
Our aim isn’t to finish 7th or to fail in a play off… what ever league you’re in the sun is to do the best you can..

We’re a yo-yo club but with a bit of luck we could put a premier league run together…

It wouldn’t be pretty in the top flight and that’s where the over expectation lies, we should aim to get there but without big club investment from the owner or fans we should not be too unhappy if we come back down… in fact we should use the time to consolidate finances…
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This in a nutshell for me.

The club set itself back a decade because of the chairman‘s reaction to the fans overreaction to what was not an out of the ordinary last visit to the Premier League. We had a model that was working, from turning the season around in 2014, to playoffs in 2015, to automatic in 2016. Fourth bottom on goal difference having been thrashed multiple times would’ve been a glorious success in 2017. Relegation without panicking so that we could consolidate would have been a good result. Instead, we panicked totally first with Agnew, and then with Monk, and we are still paying the price. The contrast with Burnley, who accepted what happened in 2015, and accepted relegation without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, came back, stronger with us in 2017, and have finished above us every year, since, could not be more obvious. But Boro fans would never accept the realism involved in their reaction to their 2015 relegation. We have too big a sense of entitlement for that.
 
Ok, not a yo-yo club….

But we should expect that when we next go up it will be a tough slog and we shouldn’t knee jerk and waste money on failure but use the money wisely to invest and plan for the future…

All I ask if we get to the top flight I’d have sone fight and players who will try, not journey men…

As fans we shouldn’t be on here bemoaning a defeat at the first opportunity…

I do understand it’s all opinions though and we all have one 🤷🏼‍♂️
 
Are we ready to talk rationally about this yet lads?

We’ve played 3 teams towards the top of the league we’re in and lost to each of them. Is this a blip? Or is this our level?
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Look at the state of the squad, it's devastated by injuries. We outplayed Hull, missed a few chances, they scored two, it's football.
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We’ve lost the last 3 games mate.

Yes, we’ve been ravaged by injuries, but even before that a full-strength side had an absolutely horrendous start to the season.

We are where we are because that’s where we deserve to be.
 
Scrug said:
Is that they still think we’re a Premier League standard club that has just fallen on hard times and our current standing is just a blip.

We punched well above our weight for years. We’re an unfashionable area with limited resources, which means we’re swimming in a pool with much bigger fish.

That’s why they’re so easily rattled when it looks like, god forbid, we might not smash the league.

We are akin to the likes of Coventry, Stoke, Blackburn etc. We could, with financial mismanagement, just as easily be a Bolton or a Derby.

Be thankful you’ve still got a football club to support and a chairman who consistently backs the club. We’re embarking on a new model, it’s probably not going to result in promotion any time soon unless we’re very lucky. You need to temper your expectations and appreciate that you’ve still got a club to support playing at a reasonable level. There’s a lot out there who haven’t.

👍🏻
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Well said Scrug👍.
 
Its the manner of the defeats that's a worry. Promising start turns into a sloppy mess. Poor passing, poor decisions, poor finishing.

This team lacks heart and bottle atm.
 
BiggEggo said:
Its the manner of the defeats that's a worry. Promising start turns into a sloppy mess. Poor passing, poor decisions, poor finishing.

This team lacks heart and bottle atm.
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I’m not sure it’s heart. I see the lads trying. I just think it’s a lack of quality and consistency,

Way too many individual errors too.
 
We’re currently punching below our historical weight, and have been for quite some time now - it’s not good enough. We easily have the fan base to support a top flight club, but a series a catastrophic mismanagement decisions at boardroom level have stopped the club from re establishing itself back in the top flight where we belong
 
The Disciple said:
We’re currently punching below our historical weight, and have been for quite some time now - it’s not good enough. We easily have the fan base to support a top flight club, but a series a catastrophic mismanagement decisions at boardroom level have stopped the club from re establishing itself back in the top flight where we belong
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Do we though? We have a decent stadium, but we don’t fill it. Our average sits around 27000, which although decent, is not the best in this league.

I think it’s around 6th - 8th.

I would absolutely agree that we’ve been hampered by some appalling decisions. But we can only say that with the benefit of hindsight.
 
Scrug said:
Do we though? We have a decent stadium, but we don’t fill it. Our average sits around 27000, which although decent, is not the best in this league.

I think it’s around 6th - 8th.

I would absolutely agree that we’ve been hampered by some appalling decisions. But we can only say that with the benefit of hindsight.
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We would sell out most home games in the premier league - obviously a home night match in December against Hull isn’t going to have the same appeal as Liverpool or Manchester United
 
Scrug said:
We’ve lost the last 3 games mate.

Yes, we’ve been ravaged by injuries, but even before that a full-strength side had an absolutely horrendous start to the season.

We are where we are because that’s where we deserve to be.
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Our full strength side would , right now , I presume have hackney, Smith , coburn and O'Brien, Mcgree in ..
That's a likely 5 - 10th finish ..

Right now, that's half the starters out .. so we look a 10th - 15th side
 
Don't think heart or bottle is the issue, I saw a team desperate to get a point at the end. Lack of quality and composure and a bit of luck.
 
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