A supporters view

Last updated : 27 August 2010 By Shaded

Here's a wee rant about the supporters and moaning at dens.  The most unhappy fans in the world?  Are we the worst supporters in the world for moaning? I think it was  10 minutes before I heard the first Mooo from the Bobby Cox stand on  Saturday, 10 minutes into what could be argued as the first match of > the season depending on what your views are on the Alba cup.  Supporters at dens are well known for being moans though maybe with me  being younger and not remembering too much what dens was like before  we were relegated before but i actually think this moaning is getting  worse each season. In my opinion supporters need to accept the reality that it’s now been 6 season’s in the first division and it’s not a  stroll in the park and this season will be just as hard as any other  season in the first. We are not Newcastle United we don’t have the  money to jump back up. Yeah we have more money than other clubs but i  doubt very much this money will continue much longer especially with  Bob Brannan eager to leave, though he has done a wonderful job, and Melville not looking as interested as he did last season, though maybe  he is very busy. I doubt there will be anybody else who’s going to  want to come along and invest in our club so we need to try and accept  that this is the best we’re going to get accept the reality and stop  moaning when we’re not 6-0 up within 5 minutes. Player confidence when  they hear moaning after 10 minutes of a season is going to be rubbish.  We should be out there giving the players our full support. Problem is  how can we increase the positivity and try and get some good support  behind the team?  In my opinion and purely my opinion we need to start selling cheaper  discount season tickets to supporters clubs. Maybe £10 - £20 discount  off the normal price making it more appealing for people to get season > tickets via supporters clubs. These supporters’ clubs could then sit  together in the stands creating a sort of singing section of the stand  the atmosphere at away games is brilliant and is generally generated  by supporters groups singing together. We could have a small section of the Bobby Cox and a small section of the Derry for these groups.  Would it work? I don’t know but would certainly get a group of  supporters together who can sit together and hopefully gain a bit more  support.  Next it would be great to see the support more acknowledged from the  club. 5,000 average attendance for a first division club is brilliant,  thats nearly 2,000 more than other clubs in the first division of  arguably the same size as us, the club should be out there  acknowledging this and thanking the supporters for this excellent  support organizing events such as open days for supporters and  allowing for more interaction between the supporters and the club.  There’s plenty of space at dens why not stick the smaller away support  in the main stand and give away tickets to schools enough to have a  decent home support in the Bob Shankly? As somebody who started to enjoy going to the games because he got tickets from school that he  could then take his friends along then I feel this will work great. I  know people from my son’s class at school who like football but never  go, but maybe there Dad would take them along if they had a free  ticket and went home to harass him to take him along. Have it on the  ticket so that once the shankly was filled for this match you would  have to pay for entry elsewhere, I doubt very much we would fill the  Shankly stand with a free tickets but if we got 100 kids each taking  along a parent paying £18 this income would probably be a similar  amount to what the away fans bring and gives the chance that a young  fan might come along and get hooked to the football and then not  wanting to miss the bigger games so coming along to them too and  paying in then.  Bringing along younger supporters could help with the positivity  around the stadium. Pick fans at random from the stadium and invite > them onto the pitch and half time for a beat the goalie type event.  Hopefully the increased younger support, the supporters being > acknowledged from the club and supporters section in the stands can  either create more positivity or at the best drown out the moans from  the Bobby Cox Cows.  Hopefully this article can bring on some discussion about what  everyone’s thoughts are. I’ve no doubt there will be plenty out there  who believe that because they have paid £19 to get in there entitled  to moan all they want and yeah i would agree but some of the state > some people get themselves in swearing at the top of their heads about how crap we are doesn’t help and it certainly scares off some of the  younger supporters who have to sit and listen to this swearing game after game. Why not take a friend along instead and quietly moan to  them? Or take a cat along and kick that?