Most liked posts in thread: Is the home form decline this season the fault of the boo boys ?

Don't know if that's the reason or not, but maybe if we try a gameplan to not concede the first goal early doors and see if it helps?

 

It's not the fans fault, it's the dross being served up for years.

 

Oh goody ....
Another "is it the fans fault" thread".

 

Something has to give. We've turned over players like a pancake gets turned on pancake day, we've sacked managers who on paper looked right, we've tried rookies, and we've turned to a legend.

Deadly Derek alluded to issues higher up, Hughes looked broken at the end and GA is heading the same way. We can't shift Rupp unless someone comes in with silly money, so the next thing has to be the man who is running the business into the ground. His mistakes are sometimes small, sometimes huge, but they are often. For instance:

• Heralded a great new fans zone and plonked a single shipping container behind the kop instead
• Booked an expensive hotel for a POTY awards ceremony at £65 a pop with a sit down meal, when no-one sane will attend, when he could have had a pie & peas event in the McCall Suite
• Gave two rookies a long term contract on the back of a seven match run then sacked them three months later
• Gave Stuart a new contract the sacked him a few weeks later
• Appointed a head of recruitment who can see past players who once played for Middlesbrough
• Gave a catering contract to a company who refuse cash and shut all the kiosks as soon as half time ends
• Presided over a total scam in the Getafe match, where they insisted you had to buy a package to get in and Getafe fans got in for free
• Appointed Mark Hughes based on name alone and an e-mail application that landed in his spam
• Didn't carry out due diligence on the cowleys to a point where they made us look tin pot
• Sacked Hughes with no idea of a replacement and eventually had to go with at best the second choice
• Gave three year contracts to players who are clearly not good enough and who we are no stuck with
• Sets up a new ticket system three days before season ticket renewal
• Put a ridiculously short deadline on existing season ticket holders renewing in their current seats
• Constantly lies about the actual attendance at VP (this wouldn't matter if it wasn't so obvious, but it's now making us a laughing stock)
• Puts an auto reply on e-mails directing enquiries to a bunch of supporters whose main concerns are hot water in the toilets
• Is clearly not telling the truth to our owner
• Constantly bombards us with e-mails about sales in the shop but doesn't actually front up the real issues
• Publicly states that we won't accept mediocrity and then does exactly that
• Employs doormen to scan the cards of people entering suites, with a scanner that doesn't read them and ultimately turns away people who have paid a fortune to use that suite, and in most cases have probably used it for years.
• Sells people a physical season ticket card that will have a five year life on it and then brings in a system that makes it redundant and says we have to buy another.
• Finally, despite having a plumbing company as regular sponsors, can't fix the water issues in the toilet (that one is tongue in cheek btw)

I'm sure I could go on with a bit more thought, but the bottom line is Sparks has no idea about running a football club, has been promoted way above his pay grade and is starting to do us very serious damage.

 

Every team that plays away has the same 'tactic'.
Score first to shut the home fans up and let them get onto their team's backs - it's not special to VP!

 

It was different to Saturday. That was a scene of apathy where the fans showed little emotion. Last night was toxic at the end with the fans that remained. When Cook was remonstrating with fans in the kop i'm sure he was gesticulating in the direction of Graham Alexander, pointing the finger at his tactics and set up. Make no mistake the last three games, all at VP, are all on Alexander. Beaten by 2nd from bottom, obliterated by the best team in the division and torn apart by the worst form team in league 2. Bewildering team selection and illogical use of the subs bench. A style of football that makes Bowyer and Adams football seem entertaining. I'm actually embarrassed right now for this football club, its even been discussed on other forums and social media outlets about how poor we are and fans of other clubs questioning how its got to this stage.
Change is now a must. You could change owner, CEO, manager, players, the whole lot for me. But it has to happen, probably around 5,000 home fans last night witness to club literally begging for someone to come along and save it.
I'm not gonna bag the players right now, although they are playing appallingly its a result of being failed by everyone from management to ownership. An owner who should not be in football, a CEO who wouldn't get a CEO gig anywhere else in business, a manager who hangs players out to dry with baffling tactics.
As it stands this club is dying. I suspect there will be few here next season to witness its eventual demise.

 

Wow you blaming the fans! It’s not the fans fault! Don’t be so bloody silly!

Maybe, if we played like a home team, on the front foot and pressing for most of the 90 mins then crowd would get a lift.

 

We got beat by Wycombe in the Fl trophy but the fans were behind the lads - even at FT - because we had a go.

so if the performance is there. Fans will acknowledge it. Many times this season, its been shocking.

Alexander set the tone on Sat with his dreadful team selection. Fans were shaking heads once saw line up. How can you drop Halliday? He’s been terrific. How can you drop Cook for Smith. Cook always does well vs old clubs and had a point to prove to them more than anyone. Plus, Smith was never gonna win battles against big Flint.

 

I very seldom boo, but I booed off the team as loudly as I possibly could do at the half time whistle on Saturday

Constructive or not, the damage was already firmly done in the first half and I wanted at least a couple of the players to hear my boos. I don't give a damn what other supporters were thinking of my actions at the time, and as a paying supporter home and away, I am fully within my rights to voice my opinion in this manner if I so wish

If the match against an appallingly-poor Notts Co goes the same way tomorrow, then expect it to be as toxic as we've ever known (if any fans can actually be arsed making the effort to come down for a 3rd consecutive Tuesday evening that is - I wouldn't blame them if they stayed away)

 

I think if it was something that was just a "this season" problem, then maybe it's a topic. But the form at home has been sub-par for a few seasons now. Fans cant be expected to just sit through and watch without expectation or the ability to speak up.

Going back to the start of the 21/22 season, we've played 65 home games and we've managed 21 wins, 16 losses and 25 draws. Scoring 84 and conceding 76. To say we had a promotion chasing season in there, that's not a good enough return. At best, it's that lovely word again....... mediocre.

 

Maybe getting on the front foot from the kick off might help. The number of times I’ve witnessed the opposition have most of the ball, attacking our goal in the first 5-10 minutes is ridiculous. This leads to an expectation that the game will play out as we’ve seen so often. I remember going to games wondering how many we’d win by and never expecting to lose for one minute. That was probably when Blake, Mills, Lawrence and Beagrie were playing. The current players play with fear and know that one misplaced pass will likely be met with cynicism rather than encouragement. With the exception of Halliday I’d say probably every other player has come in for stick this season.

 

I also think we are missing a dog of war in the middle of the park. Players that will die for the cause. Gillehead and Halliday are pretty near but a combative midfielder has been missed badly....

 

That's just basic game management away from home in front of large crowds. Our crowd is generally passive and not hostile to anyone. Its the last thing to look at.

What's needed are players of the quality and mentality to perform well, get the crowd going and make VP a horrible place for the opposition - like it used to be

 

Exactly! Its got nothing to do with crowds. People thinking we’re getting beat because we are a massive team in the league is a joke.
Coming to Valley Parade isn’t the pinnacle of a league 2 players career and we need to stop with the narrative that we are a big fish in this league. We’ve lost 10,000 fans at home during this run. That’s a huge ratio compared to what other clubs of similar fanbases would lose.
All that this narrative creates is excuses. Excuses for the Leadership and manager and then you get Jamie Raynor peddling out the question every week about the “pressure” of playing at VP. It’s utter rubbish.

 

A fan online claimed to be the one who had a pop at Cook and others have claimed to have heard the convo all online say a similar thing, in that he called him a lazy sh*t and had a go because he'd only scored 4 at home all season.

I thought Cook ran his arse off last night, just nothing worked out for anyone on the pitch. You can tell when he's frustrated, because he gets it to feet, turns and tries taking a few on before blasting it when hope has failed. Of all the people to have a pop at after last night, Cook would have been way down my list.

 

Spot on. I have never boo’s my own team. It will not help all it does is make the players nervous and more prone to make mistakes. We walked out on 86 minutes, something we have never done before, except when we had to go somewhere. Those that boo do the job for the opposition they are part of the opposition game plan.

 

A bit of a nonsense post for me, EVERY team has its boo boy fans if things are not going well - Chelsea 2 major cup semis and they boo, Villa had massive progress but they boo etc
I think our supporters can be amongst the most loyal with the constant crap they are served up - and one expression of emotion is to boo, it just happens.
But rarely when there are signs of a plan, direction, effort and some entertainment - Wycombe a prime example, standing ovation at the end and we lost

 

We had something similar in the Doncaster game the other week.

Walker took a goal kick, cook headed back towards midfield, the midfield headed it back towards ciaron Kelly, who under pressure headed it back towards our goal for a corner.

From our own goal kick, Doncaster got a corner without touching the ball

 

I agree with you Don but we also missing a goal scoring midfield, our goals scoring from midfield is pathetic.

 

Recruitment and players mental strength is important. we seem to get it wrong more often than not.
I truly believe we need a better CEO and head of recruitment.
I do not give two hoots that Rupp is hands off and not willing to blow his personnel fortune, as long as the guys running the club on his behalf are more than up to the job, the current two are not in my opinion. Our budget is good enough for playoff's at a minimum.