In Defence Of The Apathetic Fans
By AD
October 14 2011
Sid did a piece in the Coventry Telegraph calling many Coventry fans apathetic and having the team they deserved.
This got some harsh criticism in the comments and I think that Sid was mainly talking about the ‘floating’ supporter rather than those die-hard season ticket veterans who’ve turned up for years regardless.
But this in itself is unfair on the less fanatical supporters. For many, football isn’t the be-all and end-all - it’s a form of entertainment, a hobby, a pastime. Something to spend your free time and spare cash on rather than a way of life.
Sid, amongst otherCoventryCityfans, say the club need money, which is undoubtedly true. But so do the likes of the city’s rugby, speedway, American Football and basketball teams, so why aren’t they so avidly calling on people to turn up and pay their hard-earned to those?
The reason is because they don’t care about those sports to the same degree, so why should they spend their finite resources on something they don’t enjoy as much. What those people need to realise is that how they feel about watching things like egg-chasing is how a lot of people feel about watching football – its fine if it’s entertaining but it’s not a vital part of their lives.
For example, I went to a basketball game a year or so ago. It was an exciting game andCoventrywon, but I knew the team lost a lot and it didn’t captivate me enough to go again. And it was only £2. Ice hockey is the same - half the price of the football, easier to get to, offers excitement and on top of that the team is pretty successful. But it just doesn’t quite hold my interest in the same way as football so I’ll only go once or twice a year at most.
I haven’t written anything for this site this season for one simple reason – I haven’t been. I haven’t particularly missed it and I’ve saved myself a fortune. I’ve done other stuff – watched comedians, other sports, even the theatre – and it’s been cheaper and entertaining. OK, you don’t get the same feeling of jubilation as you do with a win but those have become such a rarity at CCFC these days that most times all you feel is exasperation and annoyance – not exactly a worthwhile way of spending upwards of £40.
Imagine someone 21 years of age – just starting out on their own in life having to make their own living and deciding what to spend that on. What do they have to justify spending their wages onCoventryCity? A team including Keane and Hadji etc from when they were in primary school and a couple of wins against the likes of Man U andBlackburnfrom about 5 years ago. And that’s it. However, they’ve also experienced relegation and numerous seasons of poor performances, turgid displays and relegation worries.
I’m over 30 and the only thing I can add to that is the FA Cup win. You’d have to be near 50 to include a top six finish, a promotion and European football. But even they will have witnessed much more pain than elation, with constant struggles against relegation.
Do you think Man U fans would still be at Old Trafford in their droves if they had to put up with that?Liverpooland Arsenal fans were starting to complain just because they weren’t in the top four of the Premier League. In comparison our ‘stayaways’ are positively stoic.
The cost of watching football keeps going up (tickets may be quite steady but are still pretty expensive and travel, food etc keep going up), disposable income is going down and the entertainment on offer just keeps getting worse. You don’t go to a restaurant that keeps on serving crap food. You don’t carry on going to watch a comedian who isn’t funny. So why carry on paying to watch a football team that’s crap at football with a board that treats you like dirt if all it is to you is something to do in your free time?
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I agree that people blaming everything on SISU isn't fair, and that they're just doing normal business practice - if you can't increase income you have to cut costs. It's a bit of a false economy because you cut costs, you get worse players and therefore worse performances and results which means even less people go, costs get cut further and so the vicious cycle continues. But as we've seen under BR if you speculate to accumulate interest and therefore income doesn't increase sufficiently to make that a viable plan either. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The outcome is always financial problems and the eventual demise of the club.
I think the quoted break-even figure is a few years old and I don't think even if we sold out every game we'd break even now. But even if we did sell out, all that'd happen is agents would be straight on the phone demanding pay-rises for players, so the extra money would be swallowed up that way and we wouldn't be any better off anyway.
It isn't the fans fault many clubs, including us, are going this way, it's the greed of players and agents - the more you give the more they'll take, and the only way to put a stop to that is to stop feeding their greed.
We sold the training ground, the ground and now the players, we are so far down the road to ruin there is no escape.
We have a manager and players at the club who are only there because the club cant afford to pay them off.
I will not allow myself to become emotionally attached to this club ever again, its not worth the anguish.