The Fans’ Responsibility

[Leicester Ram]

So, the ‘wheels have fallen off’ in February again. We’ve seen this happen before and it’s frustrating a lot of people but I think we have a responsibility as fans to not overreact. Again.

You can blame whoever or whatever you want but the thing about following football is it’s all out of your power. What is in our power is our reactions and contributions as fans. Some fans are like pigs in muck when things go tits up, there’s a sort of satisfaction to it when you don’t like the manager or style. People love a good ******* moan.

But in this situation, the one thing that can change is the fans reaction in previous years. How many ******* twitter meltdowns have we been through now? Countless.

Just as much as you can say the club need to learn from past mistakes, the fans have to as well. Do you think a toxic atmosphere at games helped in previous years? It certainly ******* didn’t, part of the reason so many of these players have been labelled bottlers is that they’ve been jeered by their own fans so often.

It’s about the time the fans stopped repeating the same old **** just as much as the team. Don’t let a dip in form get the better of you, don’t let the last few years get the better of you and get behind the team.

Mind games are a funny thing, fans need to acknowledge that there’s 25,000 of us in a ground on a Saturday afternoon and only 11 of them. We can play a positive role or a negative one, time to choose.

It’s not ******* divine intervention like some people seem to be convinced it is, if you look at this rationally you can calm yourself down a lot.

[G STAR RAM]

Groundhog day...

[I Am Sheep]

What's Twitter?

[Doodle]

Fans were crap today. I stood left of the goal, bout half way back. Lots of people, trying to get songs going but most failed miserably. I just can’t understand 3000 people going that far and not joining in. The train home was great though.  We have a major part in how this season pans out. The last 3 away games, I feel we have let ourselves down. I’m sorry to say but I expect if our 3000 fans today were Leeds fans, they would have roared their team to a easy victory against a poor team, lacking confidence. We can blame the team, the manager or even the ref. But a big slice of the blame for the current malaise rests with us 

[Anag Ram]

I was at the game today and there were some fans around me with faces like a bulldog sucking pi55 off a nettle from the kick off. First mistake -torrent of abuse.

Rowett has turned a bunch of journeymen and speedsters into contenders. 

The party has turned a bit ugly and we have forgotten how much fun it was.

Have a coffee, chill out and then let's turn the noise back up!

 

[Van der MoodHoover]

5 minutes ago, Doodle said:

Fans were crap today. I stood left of the goal, bout half way back. Lots of people, trying to get songs going but most failed miserably. I just can’t understand 3000 people going that far and not joining in. The train home was great though.  We have a major part in how this season pans out. The last 3 away games, I feel we have let ourselves down. I’m sorry to say but I expect if our 3000 fans today were Leeds fans, they would have roared their team to a easy victory against a poor team, lacking confidence. We can blame the team, the manager or even the ref. But a big slice of the blame for the current malaise rests with us 

We're back to another thread. What are the songs that people tried to get going?

If you took out the 20 year old collymore song and everything that involves forest there isn't a lot left. 

I joined in a few "Derbys" etc.

Also joined in with our rendition of sweet caroline - reading's song. 

Apart from singing - why not more clapping or shouts of appreciation and /or encouragement as opposed to the shouts of vitriolic abuse I heard? 

[Chellaston Ram]

Vocal support has been poor all season compared to previous seasons. People seem to think we have a divine right to get promoted. There's probably 19 teams in our division, some of which are bigger than us, that would gladly swap places with us. Let's be more positive and get behind the team 

[RiddingsRam]

I think we've been on a false expectation since we climbed into second place. Suddenly the fans thought this is it. Were going up , man it's away we singing 2 nail down who gives a **** were Derby County and we're going up. Are we? Ok if we go up this season I'll be over the moon obviously. But will I be disappointed if we don't go up . Cause not. I never expected us to go up this season. Rowett has a plan and we as fans need to get behind it. I know it's hard sometimes to get behind the team and get rilled up when we're not playing the most efficient yet mainly productive football. But we need too, this will be the only way to get out of this league.

[jagerbob]

9 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

I was at the game today and there were some fans around me with faces like a bulldog sucking pi55 off a nettle from the kick off. First mistake -torrent of abuse.

Rowett has turned a bunch of journeymen and speedsters into contenders. 

The party has turned a bit ugly and we have forgotten how much fun it was.

Have a coffee, chill out and then let's turn the noise back up!

 

expectations became unrealisitc.

I remember how delighted we were when we won at boro and we got into the top 6.

now we go a few games of draws without a win, and its the end of the world.

One day our fans will get a grip and realise we have no more right than any other team, and we are no biggger a club as most the rest of the league.

[Zag zig]

It was a bit weird today, the trouble with the atmosphere seemed to be the vocal young uns were scattered in amongst a few oldies who wanted to sit and suck on a humbug, clap when we scored, mumble when Reading did.

Around me I could see young uns standing at the front, a section sitting and complaining to stewards about the own fans standing in front of me. Now I’m not saying either are right or wrong, I’m happy either way, though prefer standing away. Just that there used to be a singing section, where you would expect those who wanted to stand would be and these are often the most vocal and create our wall of noise.

Think it broke up our backing, there was kind of no coordination from the singers, sometimes got going, sometimes fizzled out; crickey think I’ve just described disjointed fans as bad as disjointed team.

[Doodle]

6 minutes ago, HantsRam said:

We're back to another thread. What are the songs that people tried to get going?

If you took out the 20 year old collymore song and everything that involves forest there isn't a lot left. 

I joined in a few "Derbys" etc.

Also joined in with our rendition of sweet caroline - reading's song. 

Apart from singing - why not more clapping or shouts of appreciation and /or encouragement as opposed to the shouts of vitriolic abuse I heard? 

There were a group of 20 ish year olds who tried everything under the sun to get it going. Even to the point of jumping from row to row to try and prompt a response. I loath the collymore song but nothing worked. Bounce, anti forest, sammy Winnall. You name it, they tried. All to no avail. We may be average at home, but usually very good away. It’s just not happening at the moment 

[ramit]

Me: We just can't win a game anymore.  i don't know what is wrong with this team but it always falters on the home stretch.  We were on such a good run, looking so strong, almost unbeatable and that's what hurts, building my hopes up and then crashing them.  Derby are such **** teasers, it's driving me mental

Mrs Ramit: Dear, it's only a game

Me: But but Rowett

Mrs Ramit: Shhh now

Me: Yes dear

 

She's right as usual

[Van der MoodHoover]

3 minutes ago, ramit said:

Me: We just can't win a game anymore.  i don't know what is wrong with this team but it always falters on the home stretch.  We were on such a good run, looking so strong, almost unbeatable and that's what hurts, building my hopes up and then crashing them.  Derby are such **** teasers, it's driving me mental

Mrs Ramit: Dear, it's only a game

Me: But but Rowett

Mrs Ramit: Shhh now

Me: Yes dear

 

She's right as usual

There's only one solution my Icelandic friend.

Save hard for 6 months and buy a beer 

[WestKentRam]

I've been thinking about this this week, with the thread on stadium atmosphere, and the deliberations over why our form falls off the latter half of the season. Proving cause or effect will be almost impossible. I agree a toxic atmosphere isn't going to help players, but then at Reading today the away end was well supported and encouraging, and it didn't change the performance. The players went off the boil after a bright start in the first half before the fans did. Also, having been to many different stadiums over the years, Derby doesn't seem particularly quieter, more nervous, or louder than any others, with exceptions to the rule that of course exist.

There must be many different factors why we tend to fall away like this. My particular bug bear is clubs that break FFP and get promoted, with Leicester settling for a piffling amount this week compared to what they earned from promotion. Bournemouth, QPR... It's not a level playing field.

One view I've read on here and wonder about as well is do the players need to be strongly reassured, if it's not happened already, that they won't potentially lose their jobs if they get promoted, with all the personal upheaval that would entail for them and their families? Not much of an incentive for them to give that little extra needed to get across the line if they think they won't be in the club's plans for the PL.

I don't think human nature can be changed over this. It will be very difficult to have a happy, cheering crowd if things are going south on the pitch. If the team are playing good football in a game the crowd become more animated and positive, whether goals are being scored or not.

Scientific studies have looked at this, so I'm tempted to order this book to gain a more researched view. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Myths-Facts-about-Football-Psychology/dp/1443801143. 430 pages on football psychology looks a little heavy going. Chapter 12 on Fan Pressure and Football Outcomes hopefully will answer my questions and dispel some myths.

 

[utisbug]

If Cardiff lose tomorrow we're 4 points off automatic. It aint been great of late but folk need to get a grip. Above where anyone would've predicted at the beginning of the season. We've always been soft fans, and it clearly has a part to play in the results we see at this stage of the season. Folk need to get behind the team, like someone said earlier if it were Leeds there today the fans would probably have roared em to an easy win over a poor Reading side instead of imploding at 3-2 up.

[ramit]

10 minutes ago, HantsRam said:

There's only one solution my Icelandic friend.

Save hard for 6 months and buy a beer 

It so happens my English friend that i was given a bottle of Spanish caramel vodka which i have kept in the freezer, waiting for the opportune moment to open it in celebration of a famous Derby victory.  i'm half way through it now and i don't regret a thing

[Millenniumram]

30 minutes ago, Zag zig said:

It was a bit weird today, the trouble with the atmosphere seemed to be the vocal young uns were scattered in amongst a few oldies who wanted to sit and suck on a humbug, clap when we scored, mumble when Reading did.

Around me I could see young uns standing at the front, a section sitting and complaining to stewards about the own fans standing in front of me. Now I’m not saying either are right or wrong, I’m happy either way, though prefer standing away. Just that there used to be a singing section, where you would expect those who wanted to stand would be and these are often the most vocal and create our wall of noise.

Think it broke up our backing, there was kind of no coordination from the singers, sometimes got going, sometimes fizzled out; crickey think I’ve just described disjointed fans as bad as disjointed team.

Think you were behind me then mate Dunno what was going on there, I kept saying I can’t pissing sit down because then I can’t see, compeletky distracted me from the game! Was part of the reason behind my half time rant on here. All due respect you can’t really expect to get everyone to sit down away, and if you’re going to try bloody well start at the front, I can’t sit unless they are! I missed their first goal trying to sort **** with a steward, it’s no wonder our atmosphere was so poor when we were arguing whether to sit or stand!

[HorsforthRam]

Getting tired of this Leeds love in. When they fell out of the top six last season, their fans were just as angsty. Like all fans, when the expectations are raised and the team starts to fail to deliver, anxiety starts to rule 

[europia]

1 hour ago, Leicester Ram said:

So, the ‘wheels have fallen off’ in February again. We’ve seen this happen before and it’s frustrating a lot of people but I think we have a responsibility as fans to not overreact. Again.

You can blame whoever or whatever you want but the thing about following football is it’s all out of your power. What is in our power is our reactions and contributions as fans. Some fans are like pigs in muck when things go tits up, there’s a sort of satisfaction to it when you don’t like the manager or style. People love a good ******* moan.

But in this situation, the one thing that can change is the fans reaction in previous years. How many ******* twitter meltdowns have we been through now? Countless.

Just as much as you can say the club need to learn from past mistakes, the fans have to as well. Do you think a toxic atmosphere at games helped in previous years? It certainly ******* didn’t, part of the reason so many of these players have been labelled bottlers is that they’ve been jeered by their own fans so often.

It’s about the time the fans stopped repeating the same old **** just as much as the team. Don’t let a dip in form get the better of you, don’t let the last few years get the better of you and get behind the team.

Mind games are a funny thing, fans need to acknowledge that there’s 25,000 of us in a ground on a Saturday afternoon and only 11 of them. We can play a positive role or a negative one, time to choose.

It’s not ******* divine intervention like some people seem to be convinced it is, if you look at this rationally you can calm yourself down a lot.

Derby supporters aren't above criticism, but nor should they be condemned as moaners and wrist slashers. Certainly no more so than any other club of similar stature. Its been a very long time since Nigel Clough came in to start the rebuild of the shambles left by Paul Jewell. It can be a tough league to climb out of, but lesser supported clubs with far less resources have managed to do it. Rams supporters are perhaps just a bit weary of the '....next season will be the one...' mantra. Nevertheless loyal supporters still keep buying tickets and making DCFC one of the best supported clubs in the championship. 

[TigerTedd]

I said it in the March day thread: the players are different, the manager,s different, but it’s the same old ****. The only thing that remains constant is the fans, and the pressure of expectation that we project onto the players. 

The season we lost in the final, there was absolutely no expectation when Max took over. We’d otten used to being alsorans. So I believe we just enjoyed the ride, and didn’t get too pissed when we made the occasional misstep (not that we made many that season). 

But that season has now set the bar, and anything less gets a torrent of boos and abuse. 

We need to wind our necks in a bit and remember what the expectations were at the start of this season. 

Mans if we don’t go to this season, I’ll remind myself of Billy Davies and his three year plan, which went tits up in year one when he accidentally got us promoted. And how did that turn out?

So if we go up, awesome, buckle in for next season. If we don’t, that’s okay, it wasn’t part of the plan anyway. 

And remember, in November we were something like 8 points shy of Cardiff. We were talking about how wolves had wrapped up 1st and it looks like Cardiff have wrapped up second, with only Bristol that might beat them. We were discussing it like it was a done deal, with half a season to go. 

Within a few games we’d caught Cardiff, and Bristol really will be lucky to get play offs at this rate (if you’re pissed off with our state of affairs, imagine being a Bristol fan). Suddenly the bigger threats were villa and Fulham. And then Cardiff managed to half their slide and fool us all with a rope-a-dope. 

Still a lot of football to be played between now and he end of the season. Maybe we’ll have a resurgence of form and catch Cardiff again, or maybe we’ll limp into 6th. We’ll have to wait and see.

But (back on topic) chucking abuse and critisism at the players isn’t going to motivate them. If we slip outside the play offs, we as fans will have had a big part to play in that.