Apathy is a very good word to describe how things are at the moment at the County Ground.
As we all know, the atmosphere has been dead for years, not helped of course by our shocking home performances and results. I was listening to the Loathed Strangers Podcast this morning and at the start, they have a raucous rendition of "Come on you Reds" which I do remember used to echo around the County Ground whenever we were awarded a corner. Now whenever we get a corner there is just a general collective muttering, as fans know we will fuck the thing up.
It can't be easy for the players given the lack of backing they are getting. We were quite patient on Saturday but after about 35 minutes this changed and every misplaced pass was berated.
Apathy is a perfect word to decribe Swindon fans at the moment and probably for the last 15 years or more with one short interlude in Di Canio where he seemed to unite fans with his pre and post match war cries to the press.
He was a very public figure who knows to to inpire and motivate fans (and players too apparently) with just a few words, the difference wass that
EVERYTHING PdC said was reported in the press, not just in Swindon but much further afield in the national and often international press too,
absolutely everything he said.
Because he was more friendly with the press and was a huge figure in football the press were never far behind him quoting everything he said, good and bad, waiting for him to say something inspiring or offensive, but they were there.
The fans felt more of a part of the club because he constantly told them they were, he was always praising the fans, the fans felt he wanted to be with us and felt that together
we would go places as a club, fans and on the pitch.
With the greatest respect to MacDonald, Cooper, Williams, Flipflop, Brown and Wellens they will never be followed by the press so will never have the opportunity to do what PdC did with the press.
He could manipulate them for his and the clubs benefits at times.
Whatever you think of the man as a person he was a great self publicist and motivational speaker but the press were always there for him to have an outlet.
So under him the fans felt they were part of the club, most of that was because of his communication with the fans.
Fans nowadays rely upon good communication which seems to be a little better under Wellens but the fans will never really feel a part of the club until they feel appreciated by the club, almost mollycoddled to be told we are great all the time and truly appreciated.
Wellens has praised the fans at many away games and said they are fantastic but rarely if any times has he praised the home supporters, the vast maority of the fans that actually see us play.
When we watch on iFollow or listen on the radio we do not generally hear the negativity when things don't go our way early in games, the constant moaning and muttering and often no more than 2 or 3 fans at a time, ut when you actually attend games you hear these things much more and they aften seem to come from the same group of maybe 50 people, this happens at every game I attend, its always the same ones. Most Town fans are very patient and at times deservedly like a moan but some fans would not be happy with 5-0 wins every week they would want more.
Sorry I have rambled enough I probably don't make mush sense, as usual.
