Adver News: SAM MORSHEAD COLUMN: How to inspire the next set of Swindon Town fans

[News Monkey]

SAM MORSHEAD COLUMN: How to inspire the next set of Swindon Town fans
           
           


  PART of the process of becoming a football fan is dealing with hard times.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/11078617.SAM_MORSHEAD_COLUMN__How_to_inspire_the_next_set_of_Swindon_Town_fans/?ref=rss
           
           
           

[Batch]

Will that wasn't the 'come on, what you moaning about, cheer up you grumpy sods' article I thought it was going to be.

Think it's fairly accurate to be honest.

[Reg Smeeton]

Think it's fairly accurate to be honest.

Apart from the large mistake of mixing up his masochism with sadism.  Sam could do with getting along to the monthly meet of Swindon BDSM society....there's a few ladies there who'd happily correct his error 

I said a while back, we're doing OK on the pitch (see Morshead's piece from last week) but seem a bit rudderless off the pitch...McCrory for all his faults, did at least create an impression of doing something.  Increasingly in this day and age fans need to see a bit of this type of frippery...otherwise the sense of ennui exposed here by Sam can easily engulf a club.

[BruceChatwin]

Without wanting to provide absolution for the more abusive sections of our fanbase, who don't recognise getting on a players back for making a mistake is generally a self-fulfilling prophecy, I do think rising match-day prices, and a hostile atmosphere swinging somewhere between poisonous and apathetic, have gone hand in hand in recent years.

Aside from the inevitable change in demographics, it's as if people aren't going in only as fans any more, but in the mindset of modern consumers, impatient for entertainment, used to being able get it whenever we want, and expecting to be duly rewarded with something relative to our appraisal of the ticket price, as we would at a concert, or film, or any other avenue of entertainment.

There's something in what Reg is saying as well - we seemed, superficially at least, to be making baby steps of off-field progress under Jed, but now seem to have fallen back under the spell of a hands-off, faceless regime, who's only allowed in the country 90 days a year.

[Batch]

If Jed had the cash needed to run us power wouldn't be here. Power has talked a shed load more than black ever did.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sure whether we are ultimately in safe hands..

[Flashheart]

but now seem to have fallen back under the spell of a hands-off, faceless regime,

Really?

[BruceChatwin]

Sorry that was very clumsily phrased.

I didn't mean to say he's hands-off in terms of all the important respects of running a football club - I'm sure in that regard behind the scenes he's very hands-on - I meant hands-off in terms of the (essentially) cosmetic details which Jed for all his faults was very good at attending to - being seen around the club, talking to the fans, updating us on how they're trying to move things forward off the pitch, praising the fans for their support, and generally being enthusiastic to be involved with the club - all very superficial factors, which nonetheless gave you the sense of a relationship between club and supporters that seems to be absent at the moment with Power as chairman.

I'm sure it can't only be me that feels this. You get the impression all those small things have gone by the wayside, and we're now just treading water until Power can sell the club.

Black's anonymity never had an effect on the atmosphere in that respect because he had Fitton and J. Wray to act as his mouthpiece, but we seem to lack an equivalent figure at the moment, with Power in his capacity as both owner and chairman, but limited in his ability to be active around the club.

[Shaw Rosso]

I think Sam has got it pretty much spot on. It does feel somewhat soulless nowadays, the fun factor disappeared quite a while ago. You can't really expect many people to want to part with £25 or even £19 to watch kids playing at pre season levels though.

[Dozno9]

I think one of the contributory factors was the uncertainty of this season. We could have done anything from playoffs to relegation with many (including myself) going for the latter so I think now we are safe (I know not mathematically, blah, blah). People just want to switch the lights off, go home and see what the summer brings. I do anyway.

Power hasn't rallied the troops and any changes he's made are certainly covert and one game feels very much like the other.