The protest was fantastic tonight. Kudos to everyone who went and took part, looked like a heck of a lot and very loud whilst managing to remain pointed and hostile but within reason, ditching the sexism and foul-mouthed abuse. I'd love to have made it but couldn't, so a big thank you to all those of you who did.
However, if things don't improve in the way the club is run, I would still consider trying to organize a mass boycott.
Reality is the hardest you can hit an owner is in their pocket. Forget if you've already paid for your ticket or not, that's actually quite a small portion of where the club makes it's money on matchday with programmes, the shop, catering, the two club bars, the vendors, security staff etc. If you make the costs drastically outweigh the income for a few games running, and it would have to be a few, it will have significant impact because it will create concern and it will show a true loss of fans where so many believe this club only cares now - the pocket.
I know the argument, the same old one about not turning your back on the team and supporting them no matter what, but I really don't understand this when you all seem to have serious, genuine concerns at how the club's decisions will mostly impact the team. Your support alone, as good as it might be, won't keep us and won't change the foundations of the way the club is being run. This British partisanship of supporting our team until the dying end is frankly, on occasion, as daft as it is unfounded. You've proved your true supporters already, you don't need to keep proving it. Your making a point with the ownership, not the team, and the distinctions are not always as black and white as everyone thinks.
The manager doesn't deserve your support either, his post-match interview, which is available through the News Shopper at least currently, shows the contempt he has for you. The scoffing of which he subtly accuses fans of selfishness and mildly mocks a 60-point season of which the efforts of Chris Powell and company have been unwound and kicked to the floor by an owner he is in bed with and has been for quite some time, he was re-recruited in a grand old set-up that Chicago Addick absolutely nailed to the f___ing wall on his excellent blog and that many esteemed football writers, like Martin Samuel, predicted almost two years ago - see his Daily Mail piece.
Will staying away hurt the team's chances of staying up? No more so. More effort today but we've had the odd game here and there since September, form and reliability in experience says that you can sing your heart out and bounce around until you are in cardiac arrest but it probably won't make too much difference because the coaching, the management, the transfer mandate, the depth, the organization, the discipline and the mentality have been MIA for quite some time, certainly since Chrissy's penultimate season and brief spells under Jose Riga.
There is no unwritten rule that in these circumstances with us so desperate for change that any and all outside the club can see is so required that if you chose to boycott you suddenly aren't a passionate or undeserving fan.
Don't buy into the rubbish the players spout through the OS either. Of course Stephen Henderson doesn't want to lose, what player does? The 'sticking together
' part is club doctrine for you must not only support the team, but don't dare to oppose or criticise the club as that is the polar opposite. Fraeye proved it tonight with his interview, he says it only hurts the team after sounding like he was beckoning to fans frustrations only a few short weeks ago. If he is telling the truth, if you really want change, you have no other choice but to boycott because as Nick Powell said in the Guardian this morning, the protests might look grand sound loud, but chances then the owner will just ignore them.
Face it, if things don't change, we're running out of choices and the worse scenario here is that this just subsides and we eventually roll with it.
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Comments
How many cars did you smash up? You can always judge how good a protest was on how many cars were totalled.
Throw the season ticket outside the front door protest?
Boycott the food drink, Club Shop, Jackpot tickets etc until they have gone.
Hit him hard in his pocket.
Only my ST and VG membership left, and they're both in the balance at the moment.