Are we a good set of supporters?

m_taylor · Post by **m_taylor** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:05 pm

I have often thought sat watching Bolton play whether we are a good set of supporters?

As a football fan I go to see football where I can and have been lucky enough to go to see Aresnal, Hertha Berlin, Chelsea and a few others at home. I find that as fans we are very quick to criticise and jump on the back of a mistake rather than support! Compared to other clubs I think we are shocking.

When a sub is made people either boo, sit and do nothing or complain. I always stand up and clap the players regardless if they have played well or crap. There is never an atmosphere at the reekbok and I would argue some of the away games are the same. (I know the team helps to Create one and currently there isn't much). Even west ham supporters today were cheering along.

I was sat next to two fellows yesterday who even critcise N'gog for not shooting for the second goal!! I mean come on!!!

I was just interested to see if people thought the same.

BWFC_Insane · Post by **BWFC_Insane** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:07 pm

Simple answer is no.

TKIZ! · Post by **TKIZ!** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:12 pm

BWFC_Insane wrote:Simple answer is no.

Moaning swines

bwfcdan94 · Post by **bwfcdan94** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:17 pm

No the atmosphere at home games is rubbish and has been getting worse at away games since Boro, we cant even be bothered to sing songs at home games.

jonnycooper · Post by **jonnycooper** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:17 pm

Reebok has never had a good atmosphere!

bobo the clown · Post by **bobo the clown** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:18 pm

We've always been cynical ... we are as a town. It's part of our make up. But you need something to cheer and to believe in.

Go back to the Ian Greaves and the Bruce Rioch days and support was almost unquestioning. Even the Todd times were mostly well supported. The Sam days were, typical of the man, "us against the World" but a degree of lack of love for the style. Since then it's been downhill and with managers who haven't generally presented us with style to support.

bwfcdan94 · Post by **bwfcdan94** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:20 pm

Really I remember the days when we are the one and only wanderers was sang for 15 minutes continuously by most of the fans and I remember games where most of the fans stood up for long periods of the game.

BWFC_Insane · Post by **BWFC_Insane** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:24 pm

bobo the clown wrote:We've always been cynical ... we sre as a team. But you need something to cheer and to believe in.

Go back to the Ian Greaves and the Bruce Rioch days and support was almost unquestioning. Even the Todd times were mostly well supported. The Sam days were, typical of the man, "us against the World" but a degree of lack of love for the style. Since then it's been downhill and with managers who haven't generally presented us with style to support.

Chester City away 'Rioch out'.......

StaffsTrotter · Post by **StaffsTrotter** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:58 pm

don't think its as simple as the question - there will be all sorts of types within our fan base but generalising

are we loud in our support - not been the same at reebok - but this is replicated at many grounds since the all seater. there have been times at the reebok were its been unbelievable - first time we had utd at home but these are the exception

think theres also something in terms of the teams standing - things changed once we became established and were 'expected' to win rather struggling to survive. All the great escape match atmospheres were good. I know stoke are going though the same thing - they're not selling out and they regularly talk about losing their much vaunted atmosphere and noise. Of course we've had a tough couple of years and recent home form hasn't helped.

I've sat in home fan ends at quite a few grounds and I have to say I don't think we are much different - remember being in utd end in the year nolan scored and we beat them 1-0 and the whining and moaning was unbelievable even before the goal - giggs in particular was getting no end of stick and this was 10 years or more ago

the thing I'm mystified about is our numbers and turnout - it is really shit. Its really not that long ago (late 70's) when we could get high 20-30k and I would've thought the reebok/ promtion to premier would have brought back some of the missing numbers to get an average of low 20's no matter what. I'll never forget the cup s-f with villa - absolute joke attendance. The club offer the cheapest tickets (albeit all football is still to expensive) but to little avail.

to summarise those that go - could do better, but the bigger issue is those that don't and a 1001 excuses will be given for that and it would be interesting if anyone could work out whether we had propotionately more non attending 'fans' than similar teams

m_taylor · Post by **m_taylor** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:59 pm

Another question, how do you change it to go back to when it was good, I'm only 25 so I have lived through the Rioch, Todd and Sam days and it's just depressing to see our lack of support.

I often ask fans who complain about a players lack of passion, is where is there passion? They sit and complain ( and leave early which is another things that irrates me) and never support or cheer.

Zat knight made a mistake last week and I was pissed off but I never booed him and I never would. I like would like to think that any player (I know I do) would react better to support.

I play football every week and there is one guy who knows everything and shouts at every mistake and I hate playing with him, so I always try and play on the other team where we support one and another and have because of it I'm willing to work harder.

danardif1 · Post by **danardif1** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 4:12 pm

m_taylor wrote:Another question, how do you change it to go back to when it was good, I'm only 25 so I have lived through the Rioch, Todd and Sam days and it's just depressing to see our lack of support.

I often ask fans who complain about a players lack of passion, is where is there passion? They sit and complain ( and leave early which is another things that irrates me) and never support or cheer.

Zat knight made a mistake last week and I was pissed off but I never booed him and I never would. I like would like to think that any player (I know I do) would react better to support.

I play football every week and there is one guy who knows everything and shouts at every mistake and I hate playing with him, so I always try and play on the other team where we support one and another and have because of it I'm willing to work harder.

I feel very similar to you about my fellow Wanderers 'supporters'... I've been fortunate to have lived in Germany for the bulk of my teens, and I used to go and watch Hannover 96 for most home games. Hannover at the time were not dissimilar to us in quality and place on the pecking order, but their fans were fantastic. Consistently large crowds, enthusiastic support and a desire to see their team do well but with a realistic outlook. My trips to the odd Reading game and even Morecambe games when at my parents have yielded a good experience as well... Wanderers games not so much, and not just because of the natural tension of being emotionally invested in the team and not the others.

I think we've been spoilt as fans with the underdog status and success we enjoyed under Big Sam, and now there's a core of supporters who have illusions of grandeur and are incensed that we are not in the Premier League or even doing particularly well in the Championship. We've got into our (collective) heads that we're a big club and shouldn't be wasting our time playing the likes of the Championship clubs. Look at the large crowds clubs like Derby, Brighton, Leeds and others get despite being more recently lower level clubs than ourselves... they have fans who want to see their club do well... sometimes I get the feeling ours want to see Wanderers fail just to moan about it.

Yes the club isn't in the best state at the moment, but surely now is a better time to get behind the club and give them as much support as we can.

Armchair Wanderer · Post by **Armchair Wanderer** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 4:29 pm

I think there are a lot of older gentlemen at the games who, like Bobo says, aren't afraid to embrace their cynicism.

The last game I went to I tried shouting the odd bit of encouragement to the team and I got some funny looks/comments. You stick your head above the parapet and people shoot you down. So, maybe you don't try as hard the next time.

If the ground wasn't filled with cynics there'd be a lot of empty seats and possibly even less singing.

Bruce Rioja · Post by **Bruce Rioja** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 4:38 pm

m_taylor wrote: Zat knight made a mistake last week and I was pissed off but I never booed him and I never would. I like would like to think that any player (I know I do) would react better to support.

I found the Knight situation quite interesting last week, and the reaction possibly answers your question - Both.

When the second goal went in I too stood up to holler my opinion at Zat Knight as to his worth as a footballer, but was appalled to hear his next touch (and touches) booed. I know that people pay their money and all that, but come on, what's the best possible outcome here?
As such, the majority of supporters swallowed their disappointment and aplauded his subsequent touches in a show of unified support for him, drowning out the boos. Though I'm sure some will disagree with me I thought that Knight then went on to have decent game indeed, and I'm not sure that he would have done without that support.

Vertigo · Post by **Vertigo** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 5:13 pm

Not sure how you could call yourself a supporter and then go on to boo your own players. Couldn't bring myself to do that, but that is my nature (plenty of "What the f*** was he thinking?" moments though). Always encouraging my team mates I am! Playing (or supporting) negatively doesn't bring any good in my opinion.

Sponge · Post by **Sponge** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 5:27 pm

I hate the "I pay my money so I can shout abuse at the players" bullshit. Feck off. Paying money does not give one the right to abuse people. And yes, Bolton fans are shit.

William the White · Post by **William the White** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 5:39 pm

Plenty of good supporters amongst our lot. We aren't a big city club. We are in Lancashire so it's impossible to have a large hinterland of support - practically every time you cross a boundary there's a league club there. The Reebok hasn't had the big-game atmosphere of Burnden, but plenty of times in non big games Burnden was very quiet. And, I've been in semi-silent Anfield, OT, Elland Rd and, notably, Arsenal.

Fans respond to what they see on the pitch. Last week at Leicester their support was tense and quiet for long periods as we competed forcefully in the first half. Ours was pretty noisy and witty. by the end we were quiet and they were jubilant. It's rare to find anything different anywhere.

I voted 'yes' to the question - the people I go to the match with are great, real supporters, and, in the case of one of them, we've been going together since we were both 15. We're both 65 now. We are part of a good set of supporters - you bet!

BWFC_Insane · Post by **BWFC_Insane** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 6:50 pm

m_taylor wrote:Another question, how do you change it to go back to when it was good, I'm only 25 so I have lived through the Rioch, Todd and Sam days and it's just depressing to see our lack of support.

I often ask fans who complain about a players lack of passion, is where is there passion? They sit and complain ( and leave early which is another things that irrates me) and never support or cheer.

Zat knight made a mistake last week and I was pissed off but I never booed him and I never would. I like would like to think that any player (I know I do) would react better to support.

I play football every week and there is one guy who knows everything and shouts at every mistake and I hate playing with him, so I always try and play on the other team where we support one and another and have because of it I'm willing to work harder.

Support isn't tested when the team is doing well. It is tested in the tougher times. As I said there were calls for Rioch's head early doors. The reason it was great for the most part was because we were successful. But let's not forget the season we got to the premiership the last game before the play-offs, Mixu was booed, Rioch was appalled and said so and well, even our most successful season in a long time at the time, had boos and moans right at the end.

All clubs have a mix, I just feel Bolton fans have a higher percentage of people just wanting to moan and whinge. It happens. We all get unhappy at times with stuff. But coupled with a lack of atmosphere I think it would be hard to describe our support as particularly strong or good.

BL3 · Post by **BL3** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 6:54 pm

m_taylor wrote:Compared to other clubs I think we are shocking.

Drivel.

BL3 · Post by **BL3** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 7:00 pm

danardif1 wrote:Look at the large crowds clubs like Derby, Brighton, Leeds and others get despite being more recently lower level clubs than ourselves... they have fans who want to see their club do well... sometimes I get the feeling ours want to see Wanderers fail just to moan about it.

It's not that simple. Catchment areas. Trophies won. Number of other teams in the vicinity. All play a part in a team's support.

Gail Platz · Post by **Gail Platz** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 7:04 pm

Home support is crap, our away support in my opinion is pretty good.

As long as it's not a ridiculous trip i.e. Bournemouth on a Tuesday night, we tend to have a vocal backing when we play away, especially against the likes of Burnley, Blackburn and teams in and around Yorkshire.

I suppose it depends on how you define 'good'. For me, good is being vocal and creating an atmosphere. Sitting there quietly is not. Lots will disagree with that but just ask anyone who's actually played a sport - being backed by vocal support really does make a difference.