Supporting the team

Ginny, I think you missed the gist of what I am saying-

I think we have to consider that none of the players are crap at their jobs- refer to the seasons statistics, they're the 4th best team in the league...

I am saying if they have a bad day, and this is totally different...

And as an extension of Ginny's point, all they've got to do, is do a good job - to show they are professionals for a reason. Expecting that they can perform basic skills - controlling and passing the ball, crossing it, moving with urgency and purpose are an absolute minimum.

The supporters of this club are absolutely crying out for a reason to get excited and to show their passion in positive ways. The paying public, on the basis of the above, are let down far too often at BP, which rankles especially in the light of the poor standard of the opposition generally and the relatively large resource we've ploughed into assembling a squad that should have been challenging for automatic promotion.

I repeat - booing and abusing players is wrong and unhelpful, but you could argue that it at least lets players know that poor standards, repeated time and again, are not acceptable at GTFC. We should be expecting more. If we don't strive for better, we might as well submit to perpetual, sh1tty conference football. Booing is part and parcel of the game; always has been and always will be. You want it to go away? Start playing well.

Grimsby supporters are appalling for their backstabbing. Go and watch any other team and you'll get far more positive crowd reaction than Town get. It's the same on the forums/twitter too. You'd never dream Grimsby were in the top 5 looking at some of the comments online. Go and take a look at other clubs forums, they're much more positive about their sides. If I was a Grimsby player I'd take one look at some of the threads on here and be straight on the phone to my agent.

I honestly think it's a big factor in our decline. The players get sick of all the criticism and want away just to go to somewhere they feel appreciated.

I would say that depends on how well they are playing. Players who fail to show basic ability time and again will find derision whoever they play for.

What happened to our reputation of supporting hard working honest players despite their lack of ability (Big Keith, Livvo etc). You always hear town fans saying "as long as they try hard that's fine with me." Clearly that mentality no longer exists because what we have got is an honest hardworking bunch of players who are doing their best (LJL & Colbeck spring to mind). That hasn't always been the case so let's get behind them until the end of the season and see where we end up. UTFM

As far as support is concerned over 4000 paid to support Town in the last two home matches, and we all were desperate for a positive result, it was frustrating to watch due in some ways to some of our players failing to do what allegedly they do well in training.
Football is like politics you soon fall into two camps for and against, and like politics when the chips are down we all pull together and support for the greater good.
My advice to Mr Kerr would be to lay his phone down and practise his set pieces or move over and let someone else have a go for the good of us all

Does Kerr think that Evertons season is compatible to ours?

Massive over achievement by them and they're entertaining the fans each week.

We are JUST about doing what was expected, we're doing it playing the worst football a lot of us have seen in years. We're all paying top dollar for it when these guys get paid no matter what shite they churn out! And then when we lose, its terrible to watch. How does anybody think that's possibly entertaining? Football was invented as an entertainment business, not solely a results one. For anybody who picks up on that, the two are very easily combined, the majority of successful sides do it.

Quoted from chaos33

And as an extension of Ginny's point, all they've got to do, is do a good job - to show they are professionals for a reason. Expecting that they can perform basic skills - controlling and passing the ball, crossing it, moving with urgency and purpose are an absolute minimum.

The supporters of this club are absolutely crying out for a reason to get excited and to show their passion in positive ways. The paying public, on the basis of the above, are let down far too often at BP, which rankles especially in the light of the poor standard of the opposition generally.

I repeat - booing and abusing players is wrong and unhelpful, but you could argue that it at least lets players know that poor standards, repeated time and again, are not acceptable at GTFC. We should be expecting more. If we don't strive for better, we might as well submit to perpetual, sh1tty conference football. Booing is part and parcel of the game; always has been and always will be. You want it to go away? Start playing well.

All they have to do is do a good job!! Haha. They aren't just painting a wall!

When Ian holloway was in charge of Blackpool he introduced a very attacking and passing style of play. He encouraged his players to take risks. These risks would lead to mistakes which the fans then jumped on the players backs for. Holloway had a go at the fans saying their 'moans, sighs, boos' would cause the players to go into their shells, take less risks and go for the easy option. Hoof ball anyone?

For people that understand football it is clear that this negatively affects your teams performances. When your team is most probably going to be in the playoffs can someone please tell me one good reason why you would want to negatively affect your teams performances?

I really hate this "I pay my £18 I have the right to boo"

Seriously just don't go to BP, I'm sick of hearing boo's, it doesn't help the players at all, football is a confidence thing and even if one person boo's you can hear it above the cheers.

####s sake we are still in it,

And hence me clearly stating that booing and abusing shouldn't happen, but the fact is, they do. You have to be good enough and answer criticism with performance. Let your football do the talking and shut them up.

Salford - you say 'they aren't just painting a wall' dismissively, as though I don't quite 'understand football' as well as you do. Well paid professional footballers should be good enough to do simple things even if they don't quite have the confidence at all times to try that risky, difficult first-time pass or through-ball. Sympathy and cheers when they give the ball away are not what they need, and are not going to happen. Football is just the same as any other vocation in essence - acquit yourself well and earn praise, promotion, a new contract etc. Of course, the reverse obtains too.

This argument could go around forever as people try to decide whether booing is a response to poor play or a cause of it. Its both of course. That's why we should refrain from stadium derision and abuse, but there has to be a place for critical analysis.