| KM asks for unity? 12:21 - Feb 12 with 6622 views | RIPbobby |
Surely we are the most supportive and on the whole united fan base in the country. I'm a touch surprised he has asked for this. We are also realistic in the fact it has been a tough season. Hopefully we get a bit of luck against them villains and then 3 points is on our way. |  | | |  |
| KM asks for unity? on 15:22 - Feb 12 with 1631 views | SaffronWaldenBlues |
| KM asks for unity? on 13:15 - Feb 12 by Illinoisblue |
It was a mostly woeful, naive second half display against the bottom team. Understandable there’d be frustration from the fans. |
We could see the belief had gone from the players, I think they have accepted their fate. |  |
| An East Anglian Town overtaken by Londoners |
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| KM asks for unity? on 15:30 - Feb 12 with 1609 views | Illinoisblue |
| KM asks for unity? on 15:21 - Feb 12 by bsw72 |
He's ringing everyone, based on how big a supporter they are. Not got the call yet? |
Just fired up my fax machine. Waiting patiently. Any minute now. |  |
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| KM asks for unity? on 16:10 - Feb 12 with 1576 views | LA_Tractor_Boy |
| KM asks for unity? on 15:22 - Feb 12 by SaffronWaldenBlues |
We could see the belief had gone from the players, I think they have accepted their fate. |
I remember Sheffield United supporters saying last season that their players got tired of giving everything but not being good enough.
I think our players might have reached that point too. |  | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 16:38 - Feb 12 with 1553 views | OldFart71 |
Sadly I don't get to many games now not just because it's difficult to get tickets but it's the walking to the ground. I used to be a regular at PR standing in the North Stand with my Dad back in the fifties through until the mid eighties. During that time I have obviously seen the ups and downs and seen fans roaring on the Blues or booing them off the field. Really low gates to 38,000 against Leeds. As for now I'm a bit more chilled with how we are doing. I can appreciate why some who have been used to us blitzing teams for two seasons and seeing nothing but joyous scenes at the end of a match having to see glum faces and people talking about how so and so should have done this or that being a tad peed off. But they should remember where we have come from the third tier in football up to playing the glamour clubs who have gates of 50,000+ and have multi million pound players, some who cost nearly as much as the six purchases we have made. These players are good, maybe not as good as someone costing 50-100 million. I think if anything what has led to a few moaning minnies is that teams where we perhaps were expected to get points against we haven't. It's all very well drawing against Man Utd, beating Chelsea and Tottenham but losing to the Saints and Brighton really deflates fans. Having said that players are still learning as is the manager to a certain extent. | | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 17:34 - Feb 12 with 1483 views | flykickingbybgunn |
| KM asks for unity? on 14:13 - Feb 12 by BrandonsBlues |
One of the many issues is this
Even between the Lower North and Block A we can barely get a song going sometimes
Despite what people in those areas may think as someone who sits opposite the A block in the west stand. Quite often your singing is not as loud as you think and you do not get the rest of the crowd going.
We have to wait for the lower north to sing to join in and then the majority of the time it is different songs from north and a block.
It is really quite depressing that a and north cannot reconcile their differences and get it together. |
Against Citeh Block A were singing right up to and after the final whistle. 0-6 Not withstanding. |  | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 17:41 - Feb 12 with 1464 views | LA_Tractor_Boy |
| KM asks for unity? on 14:13 - Feb 12 by BrandonsBlues |
One of the many issues is this
Even between the Lower North and Block A we can barely get a song going sometimes
Despite what people in those areas may think as someone who sits opposite the A block in the west stand. Quite often your singing is not as loud as you think and you do not get the rest of the crowd going.
We have to wait for the lower north to sing to join in and then the majority of the time it is different songs from north and a block.
It is really quite depressing that a and north cannot reconcile their differences and get it together. |
I don't think the Block A singing section has worked unfortunately.
Tucked away in the corner of the ground, I hoped the atmosphere generated would extend towards the away fans. But it hasn't happened and the atmosphere in SBR lower is now worse than before. | | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 18:22 - Feb 12 with 1411 views | charlie1 |
| KM asks for unity? on 13:44 - Feb 12 by smithy69 |
I think we are like every other club personally. We have some amazing fans through thick and thin, some that come and go depending on success, fans who are positive regardless of what’s happening, and fans that are negative regardless of what’s happening |
Exactly.
On here during the Coventry game the usual suspects were gleefully critical when Coventry scored but silent when we did.
It’s the same every single game. I have no idea what possible benefit that continuous negativity is intended to achieve. | | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 19:27 - Feb 12 with 1379 views | gsoly |
| KM asks for unity? on 13:43 - Feb 12 by PhilTWTD |
It was part of his reflections on the Southampton match.
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I see that, but this doesn't quite read to me "asking" for it in a pejorative sense?
“The supporters have been great, they’ve been right there with us and we’re going to need them right there with us for the rest of the season...
"I fully believe that if we do that the supporters will be right there with us and will be strong and in it together.” |  | | |
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| KM asks for unity? on 19:33 - Feb 12 with 1367 views | PhilTWTD |
| KM asks for unity? on 19:27 - Feb 12 by gsoly |
I see that, but this doesn't quite read to me "asking" for it in a pejorative sense?
“The supporters have been great, they’ve been right there with us and we’re going to need them right there with us for the rest of the season...
"I fully believe that if we do that the supporters will be right there with us and will be strong and in it together.” |
No, it wasn't like that, as far as I recall. I can't quite remember how the question was put but it was along the lines of supporters being disappointed after Southampton but important they stay behind the team, that sort of thing. |  | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 19:41 - Feb 12 with 1350 views | sotd78 |
There's a 14k fan base that will forever be blue. They don't moan. They just go silent. Then there's the 7k that came back in league 1 when it looked like we weren't flogging all the silver. And then another 8k that me and my bro call the Roy Keane Prawn sandwiches. Sadly they are only here to be on telly with their half and half scarves |  |
| Blue shirts/white shorts - sotd78 |
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| KM asks for unity? on 21:08 - Feb 12 with 1301 views | southnorfolkblue |
| KM asks for unity? on 12:45 - Feb 12 by Jon_456 |
I do wonder how many of those ‘entitled’ fans were with us in League one or just new fans jumping on our success and expecting the same results in the prem.
I’d like to think most of our core fan base understands the challenge this year and that relegation was and still is a likely possibility, given our rise in such a short period of time. |
You just have to look at the season ticket numbers over the last 2 or 3 years to know that most of the fans in the ground have been around for all if not a decent portion of the journey | |
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| KM asks for unity? on 21:11 - Feb 12 with 1299 views | Churchman |
| KM asks for unity? on 19:41 - Feb 12 by sotd78 |
There's a 14k fan base that will forever be blue. They don't moan. They just go silent. Then there's the 7k that came back in league 1 when it looked like we weren't flogging all the silver. And then another 8k that me and my bro call the Roy Keane Prawn sandwiches. Sadly they are only here to be on telly with their half and half scarves |
Oi, don’t forget the hard core 8k who watched us lose to Stockport and co under Duncan and the 10k who were watching as Lyall built the promotion side! It was little better under GB until Wembley 2000.
But yes, the true hard core support is about 14k- 16k (the McCarthy mob in the anti football years) which is why the club should prioritise kids over sad old fogeys like me. They’re the future. |  | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 21:31 - Feb 12 with 1265 views | EuanTown |
| KM asks for unity? on 17:34 - Feb 12 by flykickingbybgunn |
Against Citeh Block A were singing right up to and after the final whistle. 0-6 Not withstanding. |
yes they were, but not always loud enough for others to hear clearly across the pitch, and therein lies the problem.
Sometimes there is a dearth of variety of songs. Or some songs sung for too long, over and over again. When you are in it you think everyone is singing and joining in. But when you are not in the middle of it you realise that others are not joining in, or start singing a different song.
It is all a bit of a mucking fuddle which does seriously need sorting. and as another poster has said. It has not really worked.
Another thing is evening games. You would think that the atmosphere would be better, but I think you will find that there are less regulars going and more day trippers, this may also apply to games not on a saturday at 3pm. There does seems to be a different atmosphere where it is not saturday 3pm kick off, and not for the better. |  | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 22:51 - Feb 12 with 1194 views | Slambo |
| KM asks for unity? on 21:31 - Feb 12 by EuanTown |
yes they were, but not always loud enough for others to hear clearly across the pitch, and therein lies the problem.
Sometimes there is a dearth of variety of songs. Or some songs sung for too long, over and over again. When you are in it you think everyone is singing and joining in. But when you are not in the middle of it you realise that others are not joining in, or start singing a different song.
It is all a bit of a mucking fuddle which does seriously need sorting. and as another poster has said. It has not really worked.
Another thing is evening games. You would think that the atmosphere would be better, but I think you will find that there are less regulars going and more day trippers, this may also apply to games not on a saturday at 3pm. There does seems to be a different atmosphere where it is not saturday 3pm kick off, and not for the better. |
If it's not loud enough, it's because there are still too many fans in the block who don't join in. We asked the club - and continue to ask them - to be more proactive in 'engineering' the section (i.e encouraging non-singers to go elsewhere and encourage singers to come in). But they just ignore us. There are 800 spaces up there - if every space was filled with a singer it would make a helluva racket...
The whole thing about 'uniting the fanbase' was always a a bit of a fantasy. The significant majority of fans at Portman Road - and I dare say at every ground in the country, maybe even the world (they're not all rabid ultras at German grounds - it's only ever one section of fans who make the noise) - are too self-conscious or inhibited to sing, or indeed, just aren't bothered. And that's cool. So all you can do is create a space where fans who do want to make a din can congregate. This is even more essential in all seater stadia where fans don't have the freedom to move...
In that regard, A Block has been a resounding success. The noise in there is constant and, considering there're probably only ever a couple of hundred of us going at it, we project the noise pretty far, certainly as far as the NL section 5, and even at times across to the West. If the song peters out somewhere in the North, or further across the Cobbold, there's not a lot we can do. Yes, we should be behind the goal in the North Lower, because that's proper and was the preferred option from both the club and the survey we put out. But neither the club nor the existing NL st holders were willing to go through the ballache of making that happen. So A Block it was...
I've said it before and i'll say it again: if you are someone who likes to sing at football matches, switch your ticket into A Block. I think a lot of fans are sentimental about the North Lower as the main partisan 'end' and are reluctant to leave it behind. And I get that. But change happens, and honestly, A Block is the future of engaged, active support at ITFC. No-one who has ever come in has left disappointed. As long as you're willing to put a shift in yourself, you'll have a great time...
Now...the club do have a once in a generation chance to really tackle this problem head on. We've lobbied them incessantly about building a new 'singing section' as part of the Cobbold rebuild - perhaps even filling in that corner where the club shop is. They could have dedicated, 2,000 capacity block where the express expectation is to sing non-stop; the club could make efforts to ensure the right culture is maintained in there and not weakened over time. But i'm just not convinced they take the idea of atmosphere at games seriously enough... |  |
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| KM asks for unity? on 22:54 - Feb 12 with 1190 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
You would think so.
Although reading some of the reactions on here and on what was formally known as twitter, maybe not. Not sure how realistic lots of people were. |  |
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| KM asks for unity? on 23:01 - Feb 12 with 1177 views | Swansea_Blue |
| KM asks for unity? on 12:41 - Feb 12 by Churchman |
Given abuse heaped on our players that has caused the Captain and Manager to comment earlier in the season, let alone the father of a player last year, can we really be described as ‘the most supportive and on the whole United fan base in the country’?
We get good numbers and the vast majority are understanding and supportive. The atmosphere in the ground has been good a fair amount of the time too, despite poor stadium acoustics.
I’d be very interested to hear what those who’ve attended away games in the past couple of years think on this. |
Yeah, I think so. I don’t know if we’re THE most, but having watched football and plenty of grounds around the country including regular stints at local grounds wherever I’ve lived, you don’t get many crowds as supportive/docile as us. Maybe it’s better to say we’re one of the least critical, as we’re not always the most vocal (never have been apart from brief spells like last season). |  |
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| KM asks for unity? on 00:38 - Feb 13 with 1121 views | ReusersTown |
| KM asks for unity? on 13:15 - Feb 12 by Illinoisblue |
It was a mostly woeful, naive second half display against the bottom team. Understandable there’d be frustration from the fans. |
Frustration doesn't have to equate to over the top criticism in the ground, such as the booing, entirely unnecessary and to me shameful given the context. You couldn't even say we've gone backwards this year, games against the same two teams we played last year (Leicester, Southampton) we've been largely more dominant in comparison and clearly the better team. I'd love it if a few people had a snap back at these thickos, and put them in there place tbh. | | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 00:41 - Feb 13 with 1119 views | Blue_In_Boston |
We are the same as every club across the land. Let's face it, our diehard fan base is less than 20,000. All of the recent additions have seen nothing but success. My position as a fan for 50 years, but one who no longer can afford to get (I'm living in Durham these days) is that both groups have valid points.
Some fans accept mediocrity to easy, are to reluctant to criticise - probably because this is so much better than recent memory.
Those who want more, expect more, I also understand that. They have a bit more fire in the belly, not as tolerant when things don't go well. They have got used to sucess and want more.
Me, I'm somewhere in between. Yes it's great to be at the top table again - in my head and heart that is where we belong, forget where we have come from. Should we be doing better... sadly I think we should. We rightly laud KMK but as things stand Rob Edwards at Luton last season, with a far inferior squad, had them in the mix until near the end. There is time for things to change, my fear is if Wolves pick up another win before we do, it looks curtains.
And for the record, when I used to go regularly in the late 80s, and 90s , no I never booed. | | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 05:05 - Feb 13 with 1081 views | ibbleobble |
| KM asks for unity? on 00:41 - Feb 13 by Blue_In_Boston |
We are the same as every club across the land. Let's face it, our diehard fan base is less than 20,000. All of the recent additions have seen nothing but success. My position as a fan for 50 years, but one who no longer can afford to get (I'm living in Durham these days) is that both groups have valid points.
Some fans accept mediocrity to easy, are to reluctant to criticise - probably because this is so much better than recent memory.
Those who want more, expect more, I also understand that. They have a bit more fire in the belly, not as tolerant when things don't go well. They have got used to sucess and want more.
Me, I'm somewhere in between. Yes it's great to be at the top table again - in my head and heart that is where we belong, forget where we have come from. Should we be doing better... sadly I think we should. We rightly laud KMK but as things stand Rob Edwards at Luton last season, with a far inferior squad, had them in the mix until near the end. There is time for things to change, my fear is if Wolves pick up another win before we do, it looks curtains.
And for the record, when I used to go regularly in the late 80s, and 90s , no I never booed. |
Even in recent memory fans were all to ready to accept mediocrity and staunchly defend it. Let’s not forget how toxic this forum was under MM and ME when the malaise had set in and the club was slowly sliding into obscurity. Many felt we should haven been appreciative of what we had. It was absurd at the time and those individuals look even more ridiculous now.
After a 22-year hiatus fans are rightly concerned about it being all too brief but the rational should have accepted that as a likely consequence. However, fans are right to grow impatient if repeat mistakes are made given how avoidable they should be. How that’s vented is the point in question but the fan base shouldn’t be tarred based on the few. Using anecdotes as others have done as an argument is flawed. | | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 07:44 - Feb 13 with 1028 views | sjg |
| KM asks for unity? on 00:38 - Feb 13 by ReusersTown |
Frustration doesn't have to equate to over the top criticism in the ground, such as the booing, entirely unnecessary and to me shameful given the context. You couldn't even say we've gone backwards this year, games against the same two teams we played last year (Leicester, Southampton) we've been largely more dominant in comparison and clearly the better team. I'd love it if a few people had a snap back at these thickos, and put them in there place tbh. |
Vs Southampton - 6 points last season, 1 point this season
But you’re calling those who were frustrated thickos  | | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 12:04 - Feb 13 with 912 views | ReusersTown |
| KM asks for unity? on 07:44 - Feb 13 by sjg |
Vs Southampton - 6 points last season, 1 point this season
But you’re calling those who were frustrated thickos |
Yes, as I specifically referenced performances not results, and also the way they are expressing that frustration through booing (and tbh it is entitlement). You don't think all of us are frustrated and disappointed with that result?
Didn't take me long to find my first thicko did it! | | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 12:28 - Feb 13 with 871 views | sjg |
| KM asks for unity? on 12:04 - Feb 13 by ReusersTown |
Yes, as I specifically referenced performances not results, and also the way they are expressing that frustration through booing (and tbh it is entitlement). You don't think all of us are frustrated and disappointed with that result?
Didn't take me long to find my first thicko did it! |
No come on, you have called for 'thickos' to be put in their place so I am waiting for it - I don't think we deserved to win the game away at Southampton, I also don't think we deserved to win the game at home
On top of that, I don't care too much about deserving to win games in comparison to getting results, so please put me in my place | | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 12:43 - Feb 13 with 849 views | Luk38644 |
| KM asks for unity? on 22:51 - Feb 12 by Slambo |
If it's not loud enough, it's because there are still too many fans in the block who don't join in. We asked the club - and continue to ask them - to be more proactive in 'engineering' the section (i.e encouraging non-singers to go elsewhere and encourage singers to come in). But they just ignore us. There are 800 spaces up there - if every space was filled with a singer it would make a helluva racket...
The whole thing about 'uniting the fanbase' was always a a bit of a fantasy. The significant majority of fans at Portman Road - and I dare say at every ground in the country, maybe even the world (they're not all rabid ultras at German grounds - it's only ever one section of fans who make the noise) - are too self-conscious or inhibited to sing, or indeed, just aren't bothered. And that's cool. So all you can do is create a space where fans who do want to make a din can congregate. This is even more essential in all seater stadia where fans don't have the freedom to move...
In that regard, A Block has been a resounding success. The noise in there is constant and, considering there're probably only ever a couple of hundred of us going at it, we project the noise pretty far, certainly as far as the NL section 5, and even at times across to the West. If the song peters out somewhere in the North, or further across the Cobbold, there's not a lot we can do. Yes, we should be behind the goal in the North Lower, because that's proper and was the preferred option from both the club and the survey we put out. But neither the club nor the existing NL st holders were willing to go through the ballache of making that happen. So A Block it was...
I've said it before and i'll say it again: if you are someone who likes to sing at football matches, switch your ticket into A Block. I think a lot of fans are sentimental about the North Lower as the main partisan 'end' and are reluctant to leave it behind. And I get that. But change happens, and honestly, A Block is the future of engaged, active support at ITFC. No-one who has ever come in has left disappointed. As long as you're willing to put a shift in yourself, you'll have a great time...
Now...the club do have a once in a generation chance to really tackle this problem head on. We've lobbied them incessantly about building a new 'singing section' as part of the Cobbold rebuild - perhaps even filling in that corner where the club shop is. They could have dedicated, 2,000 capacity block where the express expectation is to sing non-stop; the club could make efforts to ensure the right culture is maintained in there and not weakened over time. But i'm just not convinced they take the idea of atmosphere at games seriously enough... |
"Yes, we should be behind the goal in the North Lower, because that's proper and was the preferred option from both the club and the survey we put out. But neither the club nor the existing NL st holders were willing to go through the ballache of making that happen. So A Block it was..."
Why SHOULD you be in S5 out of interest? I get what you're trying to say regarding acoustics and spreading songs, it would be the optimal position, but as someone in S5 and I have been for 12 years now, there are alot of noisemakers in that section already, myself included, along with S4 & S6 - surely rather than create another section and divide the noise to another stand with frankly awful acoustics, it's better to be in amongst everyone in the North Lower as it has been for decades? |  | | |
| KM asks for unity? on 15:47 - Feb 13 with 732 views | Slambo |
| KM asks for unity? on 12:43 - Feb 13 by Luk38644 |
"Yes, we should be behind the goal in the North Lower, because that's proper and was the preferred option from both the club and the survey we put out. But neither the club nor the existing NL st holders were willing to go through the ballache of making that happen. So A Block it was..."
Why SHOULD you be in S5 out of interest? I get what you're trying to say regarding acoustics and spreading songs, it would be the optimal position, but as someone in S5 and I have been for 12 years now, there are alot of noisemakers in that section already, myself included, along with S4 & S6 - surely rather than create another section and divide the noise to another stand with frankly awful acoustics, it's better to be in amongst everyone in the North Lower as it has been for decades? |
I meant more like every club's main atmosphere block should be behind the goal. It just looks better...
Maybe we remember it differently, but I myself was in section 5 for about 7 years before I started this Blue Action caper and there were few, if any, noisemakers. It was pretty roundly accepted that the atmosphere was mediocre at best and I certainly wouldn't have felt compelled to start BA if the North Stand was an absolute bear pit every week. That last season BA had in section 6 - when we were promoted from L1 and romping to victory most weeks - was screaming in the faces of hundreds of disinterested fans for 90 minutes. People lament us going up to A Block but, honestly, it was a struggle most weeks to get anything going where we were...
THAT BEING SAID - and I really want to emphasise this in case anyone comes piling in accusing me of thinking i'm better than everyone else - there are definitely great atmosphere generators in the NL. But you've alighted upon the problem yourself - they're all spread out across the entire stand. This is the fundamental problem with all-seater stadia: fans of different temperaments are lumped in together and fixed into place. Once upon a time all the singers would've converged in the middle of the stand. We can't do that anymore, so A Block kind of acts as a reset, an opportunity to create an area where only singers go... | |
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| KM asks for unity? on 22:52 - Feb 13 with 564 views | ReusersTown |
| KM asks for unity? on 12:28 - Feb 13 by sjg |
No come on, you have called for 'thickos' to be put in their place so I am waiting for it - I don't think we deserved to win the game away at Southampton, I also don't think we deserved to win the game at home
On top of that, I don't care too much about deserving to win games in comparison to getting results, so please put me in my place |
Were you booing at the game? You're also not being very clear re: which season. We've been demonstrably more in control against Southampton than we were in either games last year, if you can't see that it's difficult to help you.
So you'd rather just be a tw4t whatever the performance if it's not the results you feel that you're entitled to? Great glad we cleared that up! And if that's your attitude any football club is better off without you. | | | |
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