You haven't sat next to my brother for a lifetime he's never stopped.
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My father took me to my first Cardiff City game in March 1975 on the day before my eighth birthday. Sheffield Wednesday were City’s opponents that day. The Owls were rock bottom of the Second Division table, while the Bluebirds were just one place above them. The match ended in a goalless draw. The crowd jeered, slow hand clapped and chanted ‘what a load of rubbish’ at regular intervals throughout the ninety minutes and City were booed off the field following the final whistle. Both teams were relegated to the Third Division a month later.
Crowds slow hand clapping during matches, chanting 'what a load of rubbish' and booing the players off the field at the end of games were regular features of my formative years as a City fan. The team was rarely much good and there always seemed to be some sort of drama happening off the field. Indeed, 'sack the board' was another favourite chant of the Bluebirds faithful back then.
Strong vocal reactions from supporters to the performances of their players was by no means restricted to Cardiff City and Ninian Park. I can remember having great fun at a wide variety of away matches when City were winning and the home crowds were consequently giving their players or managers some serious stick.
In light of some of the recent threads on here in which certain individuals have taken great exception to the idea that any Cardiff City supporter should dare to be critical of the manager, individual players, the team or the club in general, I've been trying to remember the last time a City side got some genuine stick from their own fans during a game and it's been difficult. Furthermore, I can't recall hearing any Premier League or EFL team getting such treatment in recent times, let alone Cardiff.
Of course, I haven't been to too many matches post-rebrand, but I've watched hundreds on TV and I've also been thinking in terms of the years leading up to 2012 as well as the present day. I can remember Roger Johnson moaning to the press about City fans at one point during the Dave Jones era, although I can't recall the exact details. However, I do remember laughing about it with David Giles and him telling me: "Johnson doesn't know he's born. During the Seventies and Eighties the fans used to heckle us in the warm-up!"
When did things change in that respect and why? When was the last time slow hand clapping and chants of 'what a load of rubbish' were heard at British football grounds? Considering the gap between the average professional player and the average supporter has never been greater in terms of earnings and lifestyles, why has it seemingly become so taboo to give the players some genuine stick during games?
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
You haven't sat next to my brother for a lifetime he's never stopped.
Swansea fans gave their side loads of stick when their fall started. Chants of we are feckin sh!t , thats why we are going down. Really toxic support. Chelsea were singing we are feckin sh!t against us.
Our support really has changed. Virtually every single returning player is warmly welcomed and there was a brilliant atmosphere watching what was a awful game v Fulham
I remember years ago City drawing to Merthyr in a away game. Think we may have played a lot of the game with 10 men and Steve White shaking his head in disbelief at the stick the players got at the end.
Of course, there's still plenty of individual moaning and groaning. I've got a few mates who are notorious for that. I just can't remember when the whole crowd (or at least a large majority of it) last got genuinely vocal. Considering there have been two relegations in recent seasons and a couple of genuinely dire campaigns in the Championship under Ole and Slade, it's surprising there hasn't been more vocal dissent really.
I think after years of being genuinely sh!t I think our expectations arnt that high.
I think the crowd would have turned if Trollope had stayed much longer.
I remember Dave Jones got pelters in his last game.
Was it Reading in the play offs?
Whatever happened to chants like ‘Clemo’s wife’s a f*cking lesbian’ club’s gone soft
Pound for pound the home defeat v Middlesbrough under Dave Jones when we were challenging for promotion and hammered in under 30 minutes was the worst most disgraceful display ive seen from a City side. Even then the reaction wasnt bad.
I started going down the City about the same time. About 9 or 10 of us used to walk down from Ely.
We were truly awful then, and to this day, I can’t help wondering what kept us going 😁
As you say, the players and board used to get hammered by the supporters.
We were starved of decent football, and It would be a major success if we won a throw in or a corner.!
I don’t think any City fans at the time expected much, but it didn’t stop the anger and frustration from being bellowed from the stands.
If someone had told me back then, I’d see my team play 4 times at Wembley, I’d have thought they were an inmate from Ely hospital!
As you say, times have changed, and it now appears to be frowned upon, especially on here, to criticise the team or manager in any way.
Last season, I posted on here at the beginning of the season, that I thought we were lightweight and would go straight back down.
I got slaughtered for it and accused of not being a city fan at all.
Burton away under Trollope
I was there and it was actually one of the games I was thinking about when I wrote this. On the whole, the criticism that day was muted. The team was awful but the fans seemed to just accept it. There seemed an air of resignation more than anything. The atmosphere might have been ‘toxic’ by recent standards but it was nothing in comparison to years gone by. The weather was awful though....
That's how I remember it. I have two main memories of your first game. The first was the Sheffield Wednesday keeper saving a penalty from Johnny Vincent I think it was, but the one that is relevant to this subject is George Smith v signing the home crowd when he was substituted. A year or so before that match, I can remember Leighton Phillips doing the same when he scored a late goal to give us a 1-0 win over Notts County.
The closest thing I can thinking of to compare to that in the fairly recent past is Craig Bellamy's "celebration" of his goal against Norwich being a reaction to the stick which Peter Whittingham had got from supporters in a match in which he was taken off for tactical reasons in the first half - that's the only thing I can think of in the last twenty five years or so that even remotely compares with the incidents I described in the paragraph above.
Someone mentioned the Chelsea fans giving Sarri some fearful abuse at Cardiff City Stadium last season and one of the reasons I was so surprised by it was that it is so unusual these days.
Players and managers don't know they're born these days when it comes to abuse from their own supporters at games - maybe the advent of social media has led to supporters waiting until the game is over before letting off steam?
Good post TLG.
Despite many on this forum being critical of your contributions over the years it is clear that you are a devoted supporter.
My initiation was back in 69 against Huddersfield.
I blame my elder brother for taking me to Ninian Park and lifting me up onto the wall of the players tunnel so I could actually see what was happening.
This was the era of Barrie Jones, John Toshack etc
To this day I am one of the Cardiff till I die brigade.
I have posted critical responses / posts about CCFC on this forum but in the main try to be positive.
I am proud to boast about my allegiance to the 'greatest team in football'.
At matches home or away I'll always be supportive whether or not the team are enjoying success. At games I'll never boo / slow hand-clap / whatever. This is futile if you want the best for your team.
One of my proudest moments as a Cardiff fan was the reaction of the crowd to the team and Warnock on getting relegated last season. Made the hairs on my neck stand up.
That's real support.
As Cantona said recently "I love Football".
Durban Durban where's your wife , Durban where's your wife .......3000 city fans down at swansea
I remember quite a lot of booing when we lost to Charlton at home in the 2007/08 season. We had been in and around the relegation places from the start of the season, having ended the previous season with 2 points from the last 9 matches.
Having said that, abuse of our own players seemed to be much less than it had been a decade ago. I remember Josh Low getting quite a bit of stick despite ending the season in the divisional team of the year!
Mind you, all the booing, slow hand clapping and vitriolic abuse has never in history, made a team play better. It might have made us feel better though 😁
The atmosphere at home in DJs last season was toxic, in particular the 3-0 home defeat to Boro.
I also remember Lee Naylor getting dogs abuse from our own fans after Reading equalised late in a 2-2 (I think) midweek game.
Cognitive dissonance is the explanation. Watching football is expensive today and you would be calling yourself a mug if you started booing.
I remember during the mid 80's on the very sparcely populated old Bob-Bank everyone complained. We still clapped occasionally and cheered if we scored. We knew we were mugs for showing up. Everyone took the piss at work etc. It was just the way it was.
Complaining at football seems perfectly reasonable to me. You want the team to win, the shot to go in the net, the cross to create some danger etc etc. When it doesn't happen it's only natural that as a fan you experience and demonstrate some displeasure.