YankeeCanary 0 Posted October 25, 2005 All football fans have a varied level of loyalty. Some will turn up no matter what the weather or what the performances are like. Others won''t. There obviously is a host of reasons why this is the case, and we all have our opinions on what these are. Some loyal fans ( not all ) take their pleasure in letting others know how they are loyal through the good and the bad times. Others ( some might call them fringe fans ) want to be part of the crowd when great things are happening. As we''ve seen on this message board some diehard fans ( not all ) on this message board are ticked off when they can''t obtain tickets but newly discovered fans can. Depending upon which football club is involved and, given that there is a reasonable amount of ambition present, there will always be an ebb and a flow to the support level depending upon the circumstances of the day. My own view is that there is a significant spread in the potential support base for Norwich City. If all things were positive and, if the stadium size could accommodate, then I believe 35,000 people would be turning up regularly. When things go sour to the extreme it''s entirely plausible that this amount could drop off quickly to 15,000. While support level for a decent club ( and I believe Norwich is ) will taper off when performance is not going well, it''s unlikely to fall to it''s lower extreme as long as hope for a resurgence is encouraged. I don''t think Norwich City has yet reached the lower point ( it''s still too early and many fans have already bought season tickets etc ), however, the troubling signs are there. Club ownership and management need to quickly come to grips with what their most prized asset is. It''s the Norwich City fans. Last season''s effort, from a club standpoint, fell short of the mark ( "we are the little club that might, or might not" ). The board were too accepting of the disgrace following the Fulham debacle. Until now, the board has been virtually silent this season. Nigel Worthington let his feelings about the fans show through ( Bill Shankly NEVER would have made such a mistake ). Although one could be critical of some of the content of the current input from Delia and Michael, If any one of us were writing it we would have much similar rhetoric. I believe the mistake is not in the content but more in the timing. I believe the problem goes back to what transpired last season, making mistakes of not preparing ourselves for success in the Premiership in both our actions and attitude. If you remove the content of this current note referring to what occurred at Loftus Road and the difficulty of motivating a relegated team, it could easily have been written midway through last season. If it had also been accompanied then by a few sentences of determination to preserve our Premiership status that would have been all to the good. What is being served up on the pitch and by the administration falls short not only of the Championship mark, but also of what could have been with a little more determination.In conclusion, football is ultimately an entertainment product and, in my view, people in the Norfolk area measure their shekels carefully. Give them a product that is less than what they are paying for and some will drift away. Fail to reinforce consistently a sincere awareness of what constitutes the greatest asset the club has, and you run the risk of driving a great many away. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TwoSheds 0 Posted October 25, 2005 Geeeeeeeeez im out of breath after reading that,but pretty well spot on! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
westoncanary. 0 Posted October 25, 2005 You do go round the houses a bit YC, but I do find myself in agreement. If we find ourselves still in the Championship come the end of May then season ticket sales will fall as Ashton etc are sold. It pains me to say it, but I think Worthy must now go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0Amarillo<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM> º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>ddMMyyyy0Falseen-US<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM> º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>True 0 Posted October 25, 2005 Ahh, if only we had loyalty like Ipswich. Sigh. After all they''ve been through, and still getting 18k season tickets. It''s a shame that we''ll never measure up to them I guess. Yankee, you must be right, we are the least loyal supporters in the world. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YankeeCanary 0 Posted October 25, 2005 Your response, Amarillo, is not quite what I was saying, as I''m sure you know. We all know the loyalty that Norwich fans have been showing at home and away to date. Most other clubs in the division can only look at such loyalty while licking their lips in envy. All the more reason for our ownership and management to say and do the right things by these loyal fans, or they risk damaging some of that loyalty, which ultimately takes the club further away from the level we aspire to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plastic Scouser 0 Posted October 26, 2005 Amarillo, I think that you will have to agree that if City''s recent history is anything to go by, City fans can and will be a very fickle bunch - how many did we used to pull in during Hamilton''s reign?There is a danger that if City do not improve, then there will, as YC quite rightly says, be a drop off in attendance - maybe not down to the 15k mark of yesteryear, but enough to have a serious effect on City''s finances... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
