Supporting the team

You can argue this point 'til the end of time but nothing will ever change. ALL football fans are the same, and the assertion that Town fans are worse than the rest is utter bollox.

Football is a tribal game and when your tribe is being bested by a perceived lesser tribe, then anger and vitriol will come bubbling to the surface.

It's human nature i'm afraid, and no amount of trying to explain that a positive nurturing environment is better for the team is going to change that. In other countries, players and officials get physically attacked and sometimes killed in the name of football.

Not saying it is right, and i re-iterate that i have never, and will never boo and jeer my own team, but it will always happen. I've been going to BP for over 40 years and i have heard the team booed and calls for the managers head on many many occasions, and with far more people in the ground.

What annoys me is fans that seem to be totally schizophrenic, as soon as we play a few sideways balls some fans start moaning and grumbling that we ‘should play it forward’, even though there’s no simple forward pass on. The same fans then moan when the defenders end up lumping it forward to no one.

The other old chestnut is barracking a player for not taking on his man, then going crackers when he does and doesn’t beat him.  

I don’t really think this is that big of a problem though, negative fans is part and parcel of playing for a ‘big’ club at a low level, Luton fans are notorious for being quick to turn on their team and I’m sure Rangers and Portsmouth fans are a lot less forgiving than they were 5 years ago.

If it is that big an issue is it worth getting a sports psychologist in to speak to the players?

Quoted from carrot top

I have witnessed plenty of positive support at home, but it is extremely frustrating watching this long ball tactic which ultimately has little end product. I'm not surprised by a few moans and groans. It would happen at any ground, it's not just Grimsby fans. In fairness the team are lucky that so many turn up week in week out both home and away.
I also don't buy this 'away fans are better than home fans' thing. All away fans are voiceferous in support of their team not matter how many travel. It's a given.
This team needs to give home fans something to cheer. Huddersfield and Northampton games are prime examples.

That's a given mate, of course it is. The reasons why they haven't have been discussed to buggery and that will carry on. But this thread is about how we as supporters can do better to help the team. Support is not the same as praise.

We go to the games as supporters, not critics. Therefore what happens or is happening on the pitch does not have to be reflected by what happens in the stands. If the team is not playing well they need the support of the crowd arguably more than when they are playing well. In adverse circumstances, having the support from the crowd must make a huge difference to a player's confidence and willingness to try something different, to take greater risks. It is most certainly the case in relegation scraps, it should be the same in promotion battles.

For me, support and the team playing well is a little bit chicken and egg. Obviously supporters in the stands react to what the players are doing on the pitch but it's also true to say that the reverse can happens too. We have the power to affect things on the pitch, for good or bad and we need to recognise this as individuals and as a collective to try and give the players that extra 1% that could make the difference. The rest is up to them.

Quoted from ginnywings

You can argue this point 'til the end of time but nothing will ever change. ALL football fans are the same, and the assertion that Town fans are worse than the rest is utter bollox.

Expectations differ though. Some Grimsby supporters think we should be top of the league, play "entertaining" (whatever that is) football, and convincingly beating all these little sides whose level we have dropped to. This despite the fact one team in the division has over twice as many supporters as we do, others have a bigger budget and our support and budget is the same ball park as several other teams in the division.

Paul Hurst and the players are judged on their final position in the table and the results in the play-offs. That's what current and future employers will look at, that's what they'll ultimately judged by. By any objective analysis finishing fourth or above is a good season. We should be encouraging them to go the extra mile, it's often said one side "wants it" more than the other. That's what your support should give you, that's why you're strong at home. Instead some of us wallow in self-pity and point out all the negatives, and what should be a strength becomes a weakness. It all boils down to unrealistic expectations,

I have sat in the ground for the last 3 home games and after 20 minutes of each of them I have known exactly what was going to happen ,I knew we would huff and puff then they would go and score .
Am I supposed to take my shirt off bounce up and down waving it around my head in excitement  singing my head off when I know inside what is coming ?
Why dont the team try changing what they are flipping doing and see how we react ?

Quoted from ginnywings

You can argue this point 'til the end of time but nothing will ever change. ALL football fans are the same, and the assertion that Town fans are worse than the rest is utter bollox.

Football is a tribal game and when your tribe is being bested by a perceived lesser tribe, then anger and vitriol will come bubbling to the surface.

It's human nature i'm afraid, and no amount of trying to explain that a positive nurturing environment is better for the team is going to change that. In other countries, players and officials get physically attacked and sometimes killed in the name of football.

Not saying it is right, and i re-iterate that i have never, and will never boo and jeer my own team, but it will always happen. I've been going to BP for over 40 years and i have heard the team booed and calls for the managers head on many many occasions, and with far more people in the ground.

The ability to think and reason should trump subconscious 'tribal' instinct. I think positivity can be harnessed if people make a conscious decision to leave their doubts and negativity at the turnstile. Remember 2001/2? Obviously, not all will/are capable of being persuaded but some will be and it could make a difference.

Quoted from immariner

Positive Mental Attitude. Try it. It really does work. If it doesn't, we go again. At least then in a positive environment that's ripe for success.

UTM

Not really mate....

Ever since I was a kid I had one dream and that was to score the winning goal for Town in the FA cup at Wembley. Failing that was to replace Freddie Mercury as the lead singer of Queen. Both never happened but it wasn't because I never had any "positive mental attitude" it was because A, I was excrement at football and B, had no musical talent and couldn't hold a note to save my life.

My point being, telling the fans to be positive when they see a another dire performance and it's finally dawned on them that Town will be beaten in the play off's by a better team is hard to take, the town fans live in the real world, no matter how "positive" you are it isn't going to change anything, having said all that, I will be there supporting town in the play off's but if the mariners are down 3-0 after 20 minutes of the first leg at Blundell park you can guarantee I'll be showing a very "negative" side to my character towards Hurst and any other player that I think deserves it

Quoted from grimps

I have sat in the ground for the last 3 home games and after 20 minutes of each of them I have known exactly what was going to happen

The last three home results have been 1) a draw in which we came from behind (twice) and all the goals were late, 2) a win in which we scored early, added a second late on after missing quite a few chances, and conceded a fluke in injury time, 3) a game of few chances for either side, but the away team scored midway though the second half. A win, a draw and a loss. 1 game with 1 goal, 1 game with 3 goals and 1 with 4.

I'd be surprised if you could have predicted that after 20 minutes. Maybe you should consider taking up in-play betting.

Quoted from Sussexmariner

Not really mate....

Ever since I was a kid I had one dream and that was to score the winning goal for Town in the FA cup at Wembley. Failing that was to replace Freddie Mercury as the lead singer of Queen. Both never happened but it wasn't because I never had any "positive mental attitude" it was because A, I was excrement at football and B, had no musical talent and couldn't hold a note to save my life.

My point being, telling the fans to be positive when they see a another dire performance and it's finally dawned on them that Town will be beaten in the play off's by a better team is hard to take, the town fans live in the real world, no matter how "positive" you are it isn't going to change anything, having said all that, I will be there supporting town in the play off's but if the mariners are down 3-0 after 20 minutes of the first leg at Blundell park you can guarantee I'll be showing a very "negative" side to my character towards Hurst and any other player that I think deserves it

Haha the odds were stacked fairly against you, but pipe dreams are healthy.

The signs coming into it might not all be rosy but as long as we make the play-offs we have a chance. Being 3-0 with 160 minutes to play would be game over, clearly. That's your prerogative I guess.

Quoted from immariner

The ability to think and reason should trump subconscious 'tribal' instinct. I think positivity can be harnessed if people make a conscious decision to leave their doubts and negativity at the turnstile. Remember 2001/2? Obviously, not all will/are capable of being persuaded but some will be and it could make a difference.

But it doesn't, and that's my point.

A fan who has had a few beers and been working in a shitty job all week, or nagged by his/her other half isn't going to harness their positivity at a football match.

There were several drunken fans behind me at the game on Tues, having a right moan (when they weren't going to the bar or toilet) and i'm sure they would have been delighted for me to point out that their actions were doing nothing for the prospects of the team.

Or alternatively, they would have twatted me.