What we've seen this week proves to me we have completely lost the mentality of support we used to have. The Premiership fan mentality has sucked us all up, and i don't think we realise it.
Plymouth keeper scores an own goal, and within seconds every one of their fans are singing his name trying to give him a lift. It looks like a lot of our support just don't feel aligned to Charlton players any more, whoever they are, because we appear more interested in knocking down rather than lifting up.
Johnny Robinson was shite for his first 3-4 seasons with our club, yet is regarded as a hero, a reminder of the 'good old days'. Robbo wouldn't of been given a chance and would of been hounded out pretty quickly if he was starting here now. Shame.
Fair or unfair ?
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Mentally needs to change quickly, the Valley needs to be a place where it's an comfy environment for our players, who in the main are a pretty honest bunch, rather then the edgy, moany atmosphere we have now.
i for one, with all my moans and gripes on here , always get behind the team when i'm there and would never booo any player or clown wearing the charlton shirt!!
absolutely spot on mate. If only more fans that arent members of CL could read that post.
We've been playing Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool for seven seasons and it's inevitable that going behind to the likes of Plymouth and Barnsley is going to bring the snob out in people and I think it will take a season or two for that to change.
Too early to be concerned though, a win on Saturday and hopefully the moaning will stop for a bit....
But will things change?
Only if people like us make it happen
It's so much harder to identify with the players these days. There is a fair number of siginings that took a few seasons to come good in the old days - not only Robbo, but the likes of Mark Aizlewood and even Lawrie Madden. Parker didn't look the finished article by any means when he first came into the team. Some of them took terrible stick (it's nonsense to say we never used to have a go at players), but they kept at it to prove themselves and worked hard at their profession. The worry is that the likes of McLeod, Tragic and even Fortune feel like they're already superstars and will just sulk and take their wages if we don't love them. It's not only the supporters' attitudes that have changed...
Or is it that's that the mental image we get in our heads with no facts ?
Footballers have always been arrogant, its not a recent trait.
Go to a match to cheer on your team and try to enjoy the experience. I think that a lot of people now go ready to diagnose problems or waiting for things to happen and it takes away from the experience. Football is a simple game at heart and supporting it even simpler - there is plenty of time between matches to have a look at what went wrong if it did, on the day a bit of blind faith and fun might be a better approach.
Agreed mate, the lack of patience in the ground is painful at the moment, and especially the way some in the North upper turn on the team so quickly.
You three will be late back up to the north upper though tomorrow
And there lies the thing that's always intrigued me. There's, what, a few hundred of us that post on forums, make ourselves heard, and get passionate about things.
But what about the other 20,000 fans? Maybe they're the ones who phoned up Five Live/Talkshite to moan constantly about Curbishley. Maybe they're the ones who use that barmy "your views" thing on the official site. What makes them tick? Why do they never sing or get behind the team? Do they think about Charlton during the week? Is attending matches a chore for them? Do they even enjoy it? Where do you find them during the week?
I know footballers have always been arrogant, but you can still have a beer and a chat with Hales/ Walshie/ Robbo/ Morts, etc. I don't imagine that happening with many of these guys in years to come - Pardew for starters. It has changed. What on earth will the club do for matchday hosts, I wonder?
I love watching Semedo play at the moment, because he's a young lad learning his trade in a foreign country, doing it the right way. Then you have herberts like Barry Hayles ...
Don't worry, give it a few dodgy games and he'll be a 'johnny foreigner only here for the money'.....
Did anyone watch the Spudz last night. Got mullard by a supposedly inferior opponent, who looked comfortable on the ball, and didnt resort to punting balls up to their attack. The premier league, no English club football is shite, and needs players like Semedo to make it watchable.
BUT to listen to some of people round where we sit you would think we are the biggest pile of shite ever to grace a football pitch. Their view seems to be that you encourage a team by moaning constantly whenever anyone makes a mistake or misplaces a pass.
I think we lack some composure upfront and had we put away some of our chances then we would be doing fine. We are bit vulnerable at the back at times. Maybe some of our players look as though they could care a bit more at times.
But we are not doing that bad that we need to be all doom and gloom,as AFKA says we are still the best footballing team we've seen in this division so far. It's too early to tell how we are going to do, and the potential is there.
And I have always thought that when you go to a match to support your team, you do exactly that, win or lose.
For as long as I can remember we've been beset by a section of whinging tossers, but now, because we've tasted the high life and there are quite a few more who have known nothing but the Premiership and Sky TV packaged footie, we have a whole new breed.
Nowt wrong with berrating a player when they screw up, as long as you applaud and encourage the same player at other times when it's called for. But the fact is there are those that can't grasp that concept, but no it is not a new phenomenon, as my countless arguments ove the years will testify.
And I think, for me, that's the problem. I can't bear to watch idiots who don't give a shit for the club, playing at all, let alone earning several times my annual salary in one week for doing it.
This season, it's different. we've got different players and, although they still earn alot, I think they're trying their best. We just have to face up to the fact that we have a front-line consisting of an average championship player (Iwelumo), a good league 1 player (Varney), a good League 2 player (McCleod). That's all they all. Accept it and try to spur them on to greater things. We want them to prove they're better than than w***k*r JFH don't we? Our defense is rather dodgy although I think it can be sorted so when we play Cardiff we want them to come out on top, don't we? That's how I feel and I'm behind them. The booing last season was understandable. Now it's done by those bred on Premiership football who are lost in the clouds.
If we create a good atmosphere from the start, it's uplifting to the team - it gives us the edge.
If we go a goal behind, then the crowd urging the team on is far more likely to help get a result than booing and berating them.
And when a player cocks up, lift him. The effect is always positive.
As said above, the QPR player who missed a sitter, was being urged on, not berated.
The Argyle keeper who scored an own goal, had his name sung by 1200 away supporters and went on to make good saves and played a big part in his team winning.
Why don't we do that?
Though I don't think they are *all* that bothered and trying their best, it's a vast improvement on spending hard earned to see HH, M Bent, El Kak, Faye etc take the piss.
Needless to say I was embarrassed by some comments I heard on Saturday. Here are a few.......
'I live nearer Maidstone Utd, think I'll start going there instead'
'Lisbie would have had 20 goals in this league by now'
& from an elderly lady to two young girls in the ladies after the game
'your still young enough to change your team'
one of the little girls response did cheer me up though
' I can't, I have a Charlton room!!!!'
The Lisbie one had me sat there with my head in my hands & it was said by a grown man btw.
In the relatively short time I've been attending Charlton (20 years is short compared to some) we've had our share of idiots in the ground but I have never witnessed booing on this scale (ok I grant you our support has grown). I have never witness supporters who would rather make more noise booing than cheering on their team.
I nearly cried at the end of Saturdays game & it had nothing to do with the performance.
KBs Little Sis - you've said it so much better than I could.
What's happened to our fans?
Ban them all i say bring back the proper fans