I'm enjoying Rohan Ricketts' pieces for Sabotage Times - this one's sparked by the Rooney affair but resonates closer to home as well.
What players really think about fans.
These days it’s considered entertainment to judge people. They forget that you’re human as well. I mean, can you imagine the whole Man United team going into a fan’s office and saying “The balance isn’t right in the finance department, you’re shit!” Imagine a player saying to an air hostess “You’re garbage because you made a few mistakes on the flight.” Having to face this kind of abuse every week it’s no surprise that some players have a ‘fuck you’ attitude.
Of course, on the other hand, when your fans get behind you it’s the most exciting feeling possible. I remember the first time Tottenham fans sang my name. It was Anfield away, I went on a run, past Steven Gerrard and Danny Murphy and had a shot – then I heard “There’s only one Rohan Ricketts”. Even then I didn’t have many hairs on the back of my neck, but those that I did have stood on end. It’s so important that a player feels appreciated by his own fans – otherwise he has to fight against them as well as the other team and their supporters.
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Just googled him to find out where he is playing now.....
Bloody hell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Dacia_Chişinău
It's all relative but if you can't stand the heat take up a different sport.
Too many "footballers" are stealing a living these days. If they had one tenth of the passion some fans have they would be much improved on the pitch!
the gap between supporters in the real world and these thick 'stars' in their own little world is becoming greater. the worlds footballing bodies need to step in before everybody falls out of love with the game.
However, Ketman is right in one respect, stick from the crowd is an occupational hazard, and as a highly paid professional, you should do your job whether the fans love you or not.
If you can't handle it, get another job.
Liverpool Champions League final for instance. At half time, 3-0 down Benitez said just listen "YOU'LL NEVER WALK...ALONE" was all they could hear. 3-0 down. for 10 minutes solid. They came out knowing what it meant to the fans and won.
Maybe if we sang our hearts out when losing at half time the team might respond in the second half
if it played as big a part as some would have you believe, galatasary would be regular champions of europe.
If that really was the case then there would be almost as many away wins as home ones which, of course, there usually isn't. I say "usually" because I think I'm right in saying that, in the season before last, there were actually more away wins in League 2 than Home ones. Though that could add creedence to the argument given that home crowds of 2,000 might not have the same impact as say 30,000.
Away fans normally make more noise than the home fans. The "You're supposed to be at home" chant is bollocks. We are almost always outsung at home, similarly I feel we outsing the home teams a majority of the time when we go away.
I think home 'advantage' exists because for some inexplicable reason teams set themselves up more defensively away from home, and more attacking at home. I'm not quite sure why this is.
I'm with Ketman. Dizzle's example of the Champions League final is hardly proof that the fans made the difference. The fact that Milan played like a bunch of amateurs for 15 minutes after half time was the main factor behind Liverpool getting back into it.