Ultimate Insult for a Fan

[AG7]

Came across this article by Rebecca Knight and it has sparked quite a debate ... think more debate will follow here given the mix of City faithful ... how do you feel about the club getting new fans? What's wrong with it? That's what success brings ...


Imagine just having a casual walk down the street – you see a City fan wearing his new shirt proudly – what do you think ‘glory supporter. ’ You see a Chelsea fan in a pub with a shirt that says ‘Legend’ on the back, followed by a number 11. Again the first thing that comes into your mind is the fan is somewhat of a glory supporter. Not a die-hard fan, but someone on a whim, who cares little about the club apart from the trophies they have achieved. Likewise, the age old joke, most United fans live in London – yet are these actually fair claims, or are they what can only be described as an insult to the born and bred fans?

Don’t get me wrong, I am fully aware of the ‘prawn sandwich brigade’ type of supporters, who are only interested in fun filled away trips in Europe or a big game to discuss on the golf course the following Monday, yet what about those real fans – the ones who would describe it was a total insult to be a dreaded ‘glory supporter?’

There are Chelsea fans who remember the days before Abramovich and his Russian billions took over the club, for whom the victory in Munich will only ever tie with a Jesper Gronkjaer goal against Liverpool to save the club and get fourth place in the Premier League.

Not to mention the City fans who were there for the second division play-off final against Gillingham many blue moons ago – leaving it late far, far before the days of Aguero goals, and of all the clubs it is perhaps City fans who take the tag hardest.

These are by no means the only clubs who’s fans get such a tag – any club that has recently come into money or trophies – or usually both – suffer the same fate, and ironically you will find that the genuine fans are the ones who hate the new breed of supporters at their clubs the most.

The running joke last season for new City fans was that they had come by their shirt by putting their old Chelsea one in the wash on a high heat to dye out the dark blue – how insulting to real fans, yet such a valid accusation for the new breed, who when it looked like City were about to lose out on the title were about to declare they had loved United all along.

It is such a fine line in modern football, where loyalty from the players is also a thing of the past in most clubs, and you don’t get many like Craig Bellamy who would play at a club they loved for half the money they were being offered elsewhere – it is somewhat mercenary these days, and in some cases this is the situation for fans too.

Of course, all clubs no matter how small have their die-hard fans – those Rangers fans who will turn out every week for third tier Scottish football, or the Leeds fans who were their when they were splashing the cash and are still there now, and it is full credit to them, and they are the people who keep the clubs going, not the new influx of fans each season who come armed with their ‘Champions’ shirt and prawn sandwich, and it is those fans who rightly feel aggrieved when asked exactly how long they have supported the club – they are about as far away from a glory hunter as you can get.

[eddiecityfan]

Personally i welcome new fans of the club and the club does need these new fans if we are to continue to enjoy the success we are having now. Its the clubs attitude to these fans i find the most concerning. New fans are welcome but they should have to earm their loyalty points like everyone else, thus those of us who have been going for donkeys years, through thick and thicker, get their rewards. The buying of loyalty points (double for platinum, points for subscribing to the on line program, cup schemes etc, stank). At last seasons vital derby match there were a row of about 10 spanish people sitting near me who had clearly never been to a game before. Surely, for such a vital game in our history, these tickets should have gone to true blue die-hard fans. Its issues like this that i feel antagonise the established fan. If success does leave us its us established fans who the club will relie on to see it through the difficult times. Its veryimportant thattheclub does not alienate and price out its established fan base.

[bobby brows]

The running joke last season for new City fans was that they had come by their shirt by putting their old Chelsea one in the wash on a high heat to dye out the dark blue – how insulting to real fans, yet such a valid accusation for the new breed, who when it looked like City were about to lose out on the title were about to declare they had loved United all along.

was that the running joke?

In football there is always confusion between a 'true' supporter and a 'hardcore' supporter. Yeah its great to go home and away every week but are those who can't afford it any less of a true supporter?

Two lads i go to City with are both true supporters, one of those lads goes home and away every week and considers him more a true supporter than the other lad who can't afford to go every week. This lad, like myself, goes out of his way to watch every city game whether he goes or its on TV.

When Rio accused City fans of being glory hunters because he see's city shirts everywhere he goes now, that was a flawed argument because it could easily have been the same city fans who chose to wear their shirt with a little more pride. (It happened at work, lads who've been blues for years where their colours more often now.)

I was accused of being arrogant now that City are doing well, again flawed, but i've always been arrogant about City they've just armed me with more ammunition in recent years and that rubs the rags the wrong way cos they're used to be arrogant with immunity.

[Chinners]

Personally i welcome new fans of the club and the club does need these new fans if we are to continue to enjoy the success we are having now. Its the clubs attitude to these fans i find the most concerning. New fans are welcome but they should have to earm their loyalty points like everyone else, thus those of us who have been going for donkeys years, through thick and thicker, get their rewards. The buying of loyalty points (double for platinum, points for subscribing to the on line program, cup schemes etc, stank). At last seasons vital derby match there were a row of about 10 spanish people sitting near me who had clearly never been to a game before. Surely, for such a vital game in our history, these tickets should have gone to true blue die-hard fans. Its issues like this that i feel antagonise the established fan. If success does leave us its us established fans who the club will relie on to see it through the difficult times. Its veryimportant thattheclub does not alienate and price out its established fan base.

Bang on

[Dubciteh]

AG7 are you trying to break the record for the number of threads created in a week??!

[Chinners]

AG7 are you trying to break the record for the number of threads created in a week??!

Shouldn't you have asked that in a new thread? To be fair some are pretty decent whilst others could/should be tucked away elsewhere ... this ain't BM which is why I prefer it on here, controlled, measured threads in general rather than a free for all

[Scatman]

The running joke last season for new City fans was that they had come by their shirt by putting their old Chelsea one in the wash on a high heat to dye out the dark blue – how insulting to real fans, yet such a valid accusation for the new breed, who when it looked like City were about to lose out on the title were about to declare they had loved United all along.

was that the running joke?

In football there is always confusion between a 'true' supporter and a 'hardcore' supporter. Yeah its great to go home and away every week but are those who can't afford it any less of a true supporter?

Two lads i go to City with are both true supporters, one of those lads goes home and away every week and considers him more a true supporter than the other lad who can't afford to go every week. This lad, like myself, goes out of his way to watch every city game whether he goes or its on TV.

When Rio accused City fans of being glory hunters because he see's city shirts everywhere he goes now, that was a flawed argument because it could easily have been the same city fans who chose to wear their shirt with a little more pride. (It happened at work, lads who've been blues for years where their colours more often now.)

I was accused of being arrogant now that City are doing well, again flawed, but i've always been arrogant about City they've just armed me with more ammunition in recent years and that rubs the rags the wrong way cos they're used to be arrogant with immunity.

I'm not too sure I've come across anybody who has switched allegiances now that we are where we are and I'm certain there will be plenty of people who go from not supporting anyone to being a city fan, be they kids, women or men. But I do have to question the people who have been city fans all their life and hid under a bushel, only for them to start wearing colours now they support a successful team. I can completely understand the negative attitude towards the people who come out of the closet when their team becomes successful. The very word, support, suggests some kind of carrying, the act of assisting. The quality of a team's support can be established by how they act when their team is down. City fans think of themselves as the best supporters because of the way they acted between the mid-90s and the early zeros. If you support a team, then why wait until they are successful before letting the world know?

[Chinners]

Bang on

[ronk]

The loyalty point system isn't perfect and is no measure of bigger or smaller fans. In the same way as post count, date of joining etc doesn't say a lot about better or worse forum members.

There were always day trippers, just people weren't sensitive about them.

[Mase]

I was accused of being arrogant now that City are doing well, again flawed, but i've always been arrogant about City they've just armed me with more ammunition in recent years and that rubs the rags the wrong way cos they're used to be arrogant with immunity.

I got that a lot last season, mainly from rag fans.
I was accused of being arrogant and turning in to a "proper prick of a City fan".

I asked why that was? Is it because I've grown up surrounded by rag fans shoving it down my throat for 20+ years that City are shit and will never amount to anything, and now because my team is winning things I'm not allowed to celebrate this? I'm not allowed to make the occasional joke on Facebook about how it is to be City, when your team signs Kun Aguero and United sign Phil Jones?

Basically, they can't take it now the boot is on the other foot.

[Chinners]

or in Gary Neviles case ... the other hoof

[ashton287]

Personally i welcome new fans of the club and the club does need these new fans if we are to continue to enjoy the success we are having now. Its the clubs attitude to these fans i find the most concerning. New fans are welcome but they should have to earm their loyalty points like everyone else, thus those of us who have been going for donkeys years, through thick and thicker, get their rewards. The buying of loyalty points (double for platinum, points for subscribing to the on line program, cup schemes etc, stank). At last seasons vital derby match there were a row of about 10 spanish people sitting near me who had clearly never been to a game before. Surely, for such a vital game in our history, these tickets should have gone to true blue die-hard fans. Its issues like this that i feel antagonise the established fan. If success does leave us its us established fans who the club will relie on to see it through the difficult times. Its veryimportant thattheclub does not alienate and price out its established fan base.

The points system is skewed anyway. Half the fans at away games don't have the points for them. They get tickets on other peoples cards who have earnt the points in the past but don't bother anymore. So they don't go but get the points still.

Buying loyalty points isn't a new thing invented with platinum SC's either. People with money could afford to travel the country and build up points and other people couldn't. They bought the points.

It will never be fair for everyone. Some will always benefit more than others due to circumstance.

[BobbyDazzler]

I'm not sure we've even got "new" fans. It's probably more a case of people who have always supported city but not gone to games are now attending because it's more entertaining than it used to be. That, alongside things like city square, make it a more appealing family day out. The Townley isn't any busier than it used to be, nor is Mary D's, and these are the places that the more hardcore fans go.
It's difficult to gauge whether we are more popular nationwide than we used to be, but as for the increase in people wearing shirts around Manchester goes, the simple fact is it's now "easier" to be a city fan. You'd probably find the same thing happened to Swansea on promotion.

[Slim]

I like it, the reason the filth weren't mentioned as having these glory hunter fans is because they all are, and there is no-one else to insult.

[Socrates]

I'm not sure we've even got "new" fans. It's probably more a case of people who have always supported city but not gone to games are now attending because it's more entertaining than it used to be. That, alongside things like city square, make it a more appealing family day out. The Townley isn't any busier than it used to be, nor is Mary D's, and these are the places that the more hardcore fans go.
It's difficult to gauge whether we are more popular nationwide than we used to be, but as for the increase in people wearing shirts around Manchester goes, the simple fact is it's now "easier" to be a city fan. You'd probably find the same thing happened to Swansea on promotion.

Worldwide we have new fans. Found loads in Nepal and I'm pretty sure none of them were around for the Gillingham game...

[ronk]

I'm not sure we've even got "new" fans. It's probably more a case of people who have always supported city but not gone to games are now attending because it's more entertaining than it used to be. That, alongside things like city square, make it a more appealing family day out. The Townley isn't any busier than it used to be, nor is Mary D's, and these are the places that the more hardcore fans go.
It's difficult to gauge whether we are more popular nationwide than we used to be, but as for the increase in people wearing shirts around Manchester goes, the simple fact is it's now "easier" to be a city fan. You'd probably find the same thing happened to Swansea on promotion.

If it were a case of semi-regular fans becoming more regular, then the Townley would be jammed. New fans and fans travelling distance are less likely to be going to the same hotspots, especially somewhere like the Townley which is a bit hidden away.

[s1ty m]

The running joke last season for new City fans was that they had come by their shirt by putting their old Chelsea one in the wash on a high heat to dye out the dark blue – how insulting to real fans, yet such a valid accusation for the new breed, who when it looked like City were about to lose out on the title were about to declare they had loved United all along.

was that the running joke?

In football there is always confusion between a 'true' supporter and a 'hardcore' supporter. Yeah its great to go home and away every week but are those who can't afford it any less of a true supporter?

Two lads i go to City with are both true supporters, one of those lads goes home and away every week and considers him more a true supporter than the other lad who can't afford to go every week. This lad, like myself, goes out of his way to watch every city game whether he goes or its on TV.

When Rio accused City fans of being glory hunters because he see's city shirts everywhere he goes now, that was a flawed argument because it could easily have been the same city fans who chose to wear their shirt with a little more pride. (It happened at work, lads who've been blues for years where their colours more often now.)

I was accused of being arrogant now that City are doing well, again flawed, but i've always been arrogant about City they've just armed me with more ammunition in recent years and that rubs the rags the wrong way cos they're used to be arrogant with immunity.

No way Robert. I've never seen you be arrogant about City.......misguided, yes. Off your head, yes. Daft, very much so. But arrogant, nope! Maybe catch up with you Sunday?

[bobby brows]

The running joke last season for new City fans was that they had come by their shirt by putting their old Chelsea one in the wash on a high heat to dye out the dark blue – how insulting to real fans, yet such a valid accusation for the new breed, who when it looked like City were about to lose out on the title were about to declare they had loved United all along.

was that the running joke?

In football there is always confusion between a 'true' supporter and a 'hardcore' supporter. Yeah its great to go home and away every week but are those who can't afford it any less of a true supporter?

Two lads i go to City with are both true supporters, one of those lads goes home and away every week and considers him more a true supporter than the other lad who can't afford to go every week. This lad, like myself, goes out of his way to watch every city game whether he goes or its on TV.

When Rio accused City fans of being glory hunters because he see's city shirts everywhere he goes now, that was a flawed argument because it could easily have been the same city fans who chose to wear their shirt with a little more pride. (It happened at work, lads who've been blues for years where their colours more often now.)

I was accused of being arrogant now that City are doing well, again flawed, but i've always been arrogant about City they've just armed me with more ammunition in recent years and that rubs the rags the wrong way cos they're used to be arrogant with immunity.

No way Robert. I've never seen you be arrogant about City.......misguided, yes. Off your head, yes. Daft, very much so. But arrogant, nope! Maybe catch up with you Sunday?

Can do Michael, my number hasn't changed.

I'm afraid the silent buzzing feigned indifference fails me outside of work when i've got a beer in me and i'm watching City in a pub full of filth cheering on whoever we are playing as if they were the Chorlton supporters branch of (insert name of premier league opponent here) and with greater passion than they support their own team.

When we played Sunderland on New Years Day last season when they scored at the end, one of the lads jump up in the air and did a fucking star jump. Pretends he doesn't remember it now but I will forever.


I think true support is determined by something bringing you to a club, for example my dad took me to my first City game, and then something happens that keeps you coming back. Ultimately if your affinity with a side is based solely on their success your going to have a tough time supporting that team in the long run.

[dazby]

I got that a lot last season, mainly from rag fans.
I was accused of being arrogant and turning in to a "proper prick of a City fan".

I asked why that was? Is it because I've grown up surrounded by rag fans shoving it down my throat for 20+ years that City are shit and will never amount to anything, and now because my team is winning things I'm not allowed to celebrate this? I'm not allowed to make the occasional joke on Facebook about how it is to be City, when your team signs Kun Aguero and United sign Phil Jones?

Basically, they can't take it now the boot is on the other foot.

I think it's cos you leave games early. ;-)

[Nickyboy]

<null>

Where abouts in Chorlton do you watch games? I watch away games in the Trevor and it's always a rag fest