Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Friel

Division One - a fan's guide

Recommended Posts

Greetings Canaries

Assuming you dont get your get out of jail free card on Sunday and get relegated, I''ve compiled this guide for fans of a big club on how to survive League One, or as I affectionately call it, ''The Abyss''. As a Forest fan, we had 3 delightful seasons down there, so I know of what I speak. If you do get out of jail, keep this handy and read it next year, as safety often convinces boards that all is fine and nothing changes - there''s clearly something wrong at your club, and it often takes relegation to shake things up so maybe in the long run its best to get it over with.

1) Get over yourselves - Seriously, you arent the first ''big'' club to go down to the third tier, and sadly you wont be the last. Man City, Wednesday, Forest and Dirty Leeds all went before you - hey you''ve even got Southampton, Charlton and (hopefully) Dirty Leeds as company, you wont be alone like we were for the first 2 years until Dirty Leeds joined us down there. Expect a team like Derby or Watford to follow you next year. Sad but true.

2) Its a crap division - so get used to it, Crap teams, crap grounds, crap crowds and unplayable quagmire pitches - and thats just August. Worst thing is, you''ll be losing to some of these teams - you''ll be a ''scalp'', their cup final, they''ll be desperate to beat you, or they''ll put ten men behind the ball and say ''come on then, we''re happy with a point''. Its shite, truly shite.

3) "You''re not famous anymore" - expect to hear that alot. Best response is "You weren''t famous anyway". If its sung at their home ground, "here cos its Norwich, you''re only here cos its Norwich" will do the job nicely. Should you score and make it 1-0 for example, "one nil to the famous team, one nil to the famous team...." always goes down a treat. If you''re losing, or have lost, just grin and bear it.

4)  Your local rivals - Will be pissing themselves, on a weekly basis. If you lose, they''ll take the piss, if you win they''ll take the piss "oh wow, you beat <crap team>, woohoo lol". Suck it up, theres nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, you went down, they didnt, they have the bragging rights and you will just have to live with it - think about it, what would you do if roles were reversed,? Exactly the same - Your only hope is that they get a flukey promotion to the premiership, get utterly found out and become the worst team in history - this strategy worked quite well for us.

5) Ok pop quiz - Its late february, you''re a few points off the playoffs - lower than you expected to be after a dodgy run of results, you have a home game against a bottom 6 side thats shipped goals all season, its half time and its goalless. What do you do?
 a) hope for better in the second half, go and get a pie. b) boo your team off becuase you should be turning teams like this over in your sleep.
If you chose b, you are a cock. This isnt the Ryman premier, you;re not playing pub sides, these are professional players playing for professional teams, and theyre not going to roll over cos you once played in Europe. You''re not going to win every game 4-0, youre not going to win every game period. So what if you only beat yeovil 1-0 with a lucky 87th minute penalty, at least you won. If you''re losing 3-0 at half time then fine, boo away, they deserve it, but booing your team because it isnt men against boys is just gay. Treat every goal, and every win as a bonus, not a given. Some fans expect too much - dont be such a fan.

6) Promotion is the sweetest - think it was great going up to the prem? Thats nothing from the feeling of getting out of Division one. There are benefits to losing out on promotion to the premiership - you get to play in the championship, and that means watching your team play on a saturday afternoon, no ridiculous ticket prices and being part of a genuine league as opposed to a cartel of four sides with sixteen others who just dont want to go down. There are no benefits to losing out on promotion to the championship from Div 1, and when promotion comes the joy is augmented by bucketfuls of utter relief. Our promotion day against Yeovil on the final day matched any from the European days for atmosphere and pure jizz-my-pantsness. Promotion will come eventually, it is inevitable, Division One is like a septic tank - its full of crap but eventually the big chunks rise to the top.

Now go my son, tread the oft-worn path of a big club in Division One, and when you return to the championship - for return you surely will - may you be a better fan for it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="CT "]

[Y]I''m guessing you copied and pasted that?

Well done if you didnt

[/quote]

Well, whether he did or not it''s completely wrong.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i have a leeds mate and boy dont i rip the piss into his leeds! you''ll get loads stick lads

what ever you do dont lose to histon in the cup [;)]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Camuldonum"][quote user="CT "]

[Y]I''m guessing you copied and pasted that?

Well done if you didnt

[/quote]

Well, whether he did or not it''s completely wrong.

[/quote]

And you would know- oh oracle of league 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great post.  Pretty much confirms what most of us were expecting.  I liked the bit about being a few points of the play-offs; have forgotten how this feels past the first month of the season!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I''ve a mate who''s a PNE fan,and he tells me much the sames as Friel has done. It took AGES for PNE to get back into the second tier (they even went via the bottom half of Div 4..Lge 2 to the uninitiated),but they''ve done pretty well since they got back.

so,Camulodunum,he''s not "all wrong" as you so eloquently put it. Spot on I''d say.

In case anyone is under any misapprehensions,next season is NOT going to be a stroll in the park.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="CT "][quote user="Camuldonum"][quote user="CT "]

[Y]I''m guessing you copied and pasted that?

Well done if you didnt

[/quote]

Well, whether he did or not it''s completely wrong.

[/quote]

And you would know- oh oracle of league 1

[/quote]

Oh come on you are doing Camuldonum down,he is an oracle on everything.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Camuldonum"][quote user="CT "]

[Y]I''m guessing you copied and pasted that?

Well done if you didnt

[/quote]

Well, whether he did or not it''s completely wrong.

[/quote]Seemes like a fairly honest fans'' experience of it to me - can you offer an alternative vision ?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Friel"]

Greetings Canaries

Assuming you dont get your get out of jail free card on Sunday and get relegated, I''ve compiled this guide for fans of a big club on how to survive League One, or as I affectionately call it, ''The Abyss''. As a Forest fan, we had 3 delightful seasons down there, so I know of what I speak. If you do get out of jail, keep this handy and read it next year, as safety often convinces boards that all is fine and nothing changes - there''s clearly something wrong at your club, and it often takes relegation to shake things up so maybe in the long run its best to get it over with.

1) Get over yourselves - Seriously, you arent the first ''big'' club to go down to the third tier, and sadly you wont be the last. Man City, Wednesday, Forest and Dirty Leeds all went before you - hey you''ve even got Southampton, Charlton and (hopefully) Dirty Leeds as company, you wont be alone like we were for the first 2 years until Dirty Leeds joined us down there. Expect a team like Derby or Watford to follow you next year. Sad but true.

2) Its a crap division - so get used to it, Crap teams, crap grounds, crap crowds and unplayable quagmire pitches - and thats just August. Worst thing is, you''ll be losing to some of these teams - you''ll be a ''scalp'', their cup final, they''ll be desperate to beat you, or they''ll put ten men behind the ball and say ''come on then, we''re happy with a point''. Its shite, truly shite.

[/quote]I totally agree with point 1 and thats a main thing you have to to - accept where you are, but for the most of it, i dont agree with point 2. Going to many games home and away this season i have enjoyed every minute of it, partly through success and partly because the grounds are places ive never been to before, great atmosphere (fantastic being on a terrace..) and i think the majority of you will enjoy it, our fans had fantastic banter with clayton ince and walsall, including a snowball fight, we have created a great friendship with cheltenham and their fantastic fans.But mainly, the pitches are generally no worse than in the championship and the there is a lot of good football played, so i definately wouldnt call their teams ''crap'', even hereford came with an attackive 4-4-2, looking to play football how its meant to be played, overall i''d say about 16-18 of the teams come to play good football and definately gave us a good game home and away. If/ when you are confirmed as relegated, dont expect it to be an easy season playing against crap teams, because its not like that, and enjoy the new grounds and this time next year, you would have had an amazing time at all the little grounds (with an atmosphere and a bit of character, unlike a lot of grounds in the top 2 leagues - leicesters included) and its also a great time to rebuild and get a winning mentality to push onwards in the future.Just enjoy it and hopefully your team won''t make hard work of it like forest.. p.s (to forest fan) i''m looking forward to our game (and all our other derby matches) next season.. see you soon!! :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="WACCOLO"]I totally agree with point 1 and thats a main thing you have to to - accept where you are, but for the most of it, i dont agree with point 2. Going to many games home and away this season i have enjoyed every minute of it, partly through success and partly because the grounds are places ive never been to before, great atmosphere (fantastic being on a terrace..) and i think the majority of you will enjoy it, our fans had fantastic banter with clayton ince and walsall, including a snowball fight, we have created a great friendship with cheltenham and their fantastic fans.But mainly, the pitches are generally no worse than in the championship and the there is a lot of good football played, so i definately wouldnt call their teams ''crap'', even hereford came with an attackive 4-4-2, looking to play football how its meant to be played, overall i''d say about 16-18 of the teams come to play good football and definately gave us a good game home and away. If/ when you are confirmed as relegated, dont expect it to be an easy season playing against crap teams, because its not like that, and enjoy the new grounds and this time next year, you would have had an amazing time at all the little grounds (with an atmosphere and a bit of character, unlike a lot of grounds in the top 2 leagues - leicesters included) and its also a great time to rebuild and get a winning mentality to push onwards in the future.Just enjoy it and hopefully your team won''t make hard work of it like forest.. p.s (to forest fan) i''m looking forward to our game (and all our other derby matches) next season.. see you soon!! :D[/quote]Well i guess its a few years now since we went down there, your experience being more recent is probably more accurate - I certainly think things improved for the 3 season we were down there, maybe i over-egged the statement, however bear in mind when we first went down we had to visit Chesterfield  - by far and away the worst ground in England! Without turning a Norwich messageboard into an east midlands love-in, I think all teams relegated from the CCC could do with a trip up to Liecester to find out how to deal with Div 1 as the manner in which you bounced back was pretty emphatic, and certanly better than the dog''s dinner we made of it. Looking forward to our derby games next season too.Peace

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="TIL 1010"][quote user="CT "][quote user="Camuldonum"][quote user="CT "]

[Y]I''m guessing you copied and pasted that?

Well done if you didnt

[/quote]

Well, whether he did or not it''s completely wrong.

[/quote]

And you would know- oh oracle of league 1

[/quote]

Oh come on you are doing Camuldonum down,he is an oracle on everything.

[/quote]

You said orifice last time [:P]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Great post, pretty much confirms my thoughts of league 1. Visiting new grounds will be nice i guess, just have to wait and see.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I agree. Promotion from League One would be less of a ''delight'' than it would be a relief.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Friel"]

Greetings Canaries

Assuming you dont get your get out of jail free card on Sunday and get relegated, I''ve compiled this guide for fans of a big club on how to survive League One, or as I affectionately call it, ''The Abyss''. As a Forest fan, we had 3 delightful seasons down there, so I know of what I speak. If you do get out of jail, keep this handy and read it next year, as safety often convinces boards that all is fine and nothing changes - there''s clearly something wrong at your club, and it often takes relegation to shake things up so maybe in the long run its best to get it over with.

1) Get over yourselves - Seriously, you arent the first ''big'' club to go down to the third tier, and sadly you wont be the last. Man City, Wednesday, Forest and Dirty Leeds all went before you - hey you''ve even got Southampton, Charlton and (hopefully) Dirty Leeds as company, you wont be alone like we were for the first 2 years until Dirty Leeds joined us down there. Expect a team like Derby or Watford to follow you next year. Sad but true.

2) Its a crap division - so get used to it, Crap teams, crap grounds, crap crowds and unplayable quagmire pitches - and thats just August. Worst thing is, you''ll be losing to some of these teams - you''ll be a ''scalp'', their cup final, they''ll be desperate to beat you, or they''ll put ten men behind the ball and say ''come on then, we''re happy with a point''. Its shite, truly shite.

3) "You''re not famous anymore" - expect to hear that alot. Best response is "You weren''t famous anyway". If its sung at their home ground, "here cos its Norwich, you''re only here cos its Norwich" will do the job nicely. Should you score and make it 1-0 for example, "one nil to the famous team, one nil to the famous team...." always goes down a treat. If you''re losing, or have lost, just grin and bear it.

4)  Your local rivals - Will be pissing themselves, on a weekly basis. If you lose, they''ll take the piss, if you win they''ll take the piss "oh wow, you beat <crap team>, woohoo lol". Suck it up, theres nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, you went down, they didnt, they have the bragging rights and you will just have to live with it - think about it, what would you do if roles were reversed,? Exactly the same - Your only hope is that they get a flukey promotion to the premiership, get utterly found out and become the worst team in history - this strategy worked quite well for us.

5) Ok pop quiz - Its late february, you''re a few points off the playoffs - lower than you expected to be after a dodgy run of results, you have a home game against a bottom 6 side thats shipped goals all season, its half time and its goalless. What do you do?
 a) hope for better in the second half, go and get a pie. b) boo your team off becuase you should be turning teams like this over in your sleep.
If you chose b, you are a cock. This isnt the Ryman premier, you;re not playing pub sides, these are professional players playing for professional teams, and theyre not going to roll over cos you once played in Europe. You''re not going to win every game 4-0, youre not going to win every game period. So what if you only beat yeovil 1-0 with a lucky 87th minute penalty, at least you won. If you''re losing 3-0 at half time then fine, boo away, they deserve it, but booing your team because it isnt men against boys is just gay. Treat every goal, and every win as a bonus, not a given. Some fans expect too much - dont be such a fan.

6) Promotion is the sweetest - think it was great going up to the prem? Thats nothing from the feeling of getting out of Division one. There are benefits to losing out on promotion to the premiership - you get to play in the championship, and that means watching your team play on a saturday afternoon, no ridiculous ticket prices and being part of a genuine league as opposed to a cartel of four sides with sixteen others who just dont want to go down. There are no benefits to losing out on promotion to the championship from Div 1, and when promotion comes the joy is augmented by bucketfuls of utter relief. Our promotion day against Yeovil on the final day matched any from the European days for atmosphere and pure jizz-my-pantsness. Promotion will come eventually, it is inevitable, Division One is like a septic tank - its full of crap but eventually the big chunks rise to the top.

Now go my son, tread the oft-worn path of a big club in Division One, and when you return to the championship - for return you surely will - may you be a better fan for it.

[/quote]

 

Good stuff, thanks, grim but very funny !

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Brilliant post. I don''t agree with it 100% but it''s still a thoroughly enjoyable read, even with relegation staring us in the face!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Beighton"]

''League'' One. It''s LEAGUE One!!

L.E.A.G.U.E.One.

Good post though - cheers.

[/quote]

Lets get real here, its the 3rd Division!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Hissing Sid"][quote user="Beighton"]

''League'' One. It''s LEAGUE One!!

L.E.A.G.U.E.One.

Good post though - cheers.

[/quote]

Lets get real here, its the 3rd Division!!

[/quote]Yep. [:(]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"Division One is like a septic tank - its full of crap but eventually the big chunks rise to the top."

 

Classic.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Lord Snooty"]

"Division One is like a septic tank - its full of crap but eventually the big chunks rise to the top."

 

Classic.

[/quote]

 

Afterthought : but are we really a big chunk of crap ? 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...