Fickle, fickle fans thanks to the internet

“The thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.” - Terry Pratchet

Football fans have always been integral to the success of the sport, be it with their soulful singing, choreographed routines and their penchant for intimidation. It’s them that feeds the growth of a club, both monetarily and aesthetically. Players who fail to win the approval of fans are dispatched like rotten tomatoes and players that do are hailed as legends. Careers are destroyed and revived by the very attitude of fans to performances or the lack of them. Managers fear buying players that have irked his fans in the past and revel at signing those commodities that would greet his fans like cheese on a pizza.

Well, this was the scenario of yesteryear.

The present attitude of fans(at least indicated by social networking trends) has been rather displeasing. Fans turning on players almost instantly isn’t a rare notion any more . What’s worse is the love-hate relationship shared with managers oddly relative to the relationship prevalent between Howard and his mother on the popular American sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” is showing no signs of decay. Loyalty is almost a relative term now, its relevance showing a gradual yet steady decline over the years as seen in shocking transfer requests handed out by players. Manager loyalty is thing of the past barring rare exceptions. I must point out though that fickle attitudes are more prevalent amongst foreign fans that support big-money clubs and most of whom have been victims of nothing but mere effective marketing strategies leading to the now infamous term “Glory hunter”. Seldom does a fan identify himself with a club based on values, most often that not, it’s success. This new culture is observable all the more on the Internet in its various debate forums and fan pages.

Social Networking websites allow fans give us an insight into fan behaviour.

Gone are the days when managers were loved as much as an extension of the club’s infrastructure(in metaphorical terms off course). Today, they are dispensable as the money that is splashed on replacing a manager every year; this attitude practised by the big clubs in the business that are burdened with the responsibilities of being trend setters. It doesn’t take a IITian to observe the horrible transfer policies of some of the big clubs in Europe and their flirtatious relationships with managers.

Even as Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and Arsene Wenger remain as the embodiment of success and profitability ensured by prolonged stability, the world fails to recognize that a manager should be treated like just any other addition to a club’s staff. A new signing isn’t judged by his first season in the club being just a tool in the orchestral setup. Expecting the dictator of the orchestra to strut his stuff almost instantaneously is beyond madness.Arsenal fans on twitter and Facebook launched verbal torpedoes at Wenger after their first home game and now suddenly seem to revel in Arsenal’s success; these mood swings reminiscent of an ill-tempered pregnant woman of six.

Being a United fan myself, the exit of Sir Alex evoked mix feelings; a deep sadness knowing that we will never again experience a career again like that again , and a legion of excitement realising that our invincible manager will be succeeded by an individual bringing in new inputs and idea, a new era if you like. The cataclysm of insults heaped onto David Moyes after a shaky start to the Premier League is deplorable to a new degree. We have supporters of the club heaping insults onto his family and who have subjected their verdict to a minuscule reign of a dozen odd games handling the club, this even after receiving one of the hardest schedules handed out to a top Premier club for quite a while. A win garners him over-the-top praise and a loss guarantees immense subjugation; this being the trending nature of fan base reactions to players and coaches across the world on the Internet.

Sir Alex Ferguson was labelled “finished” during 2003-2006 when United failed to win the Premier League and mount succulent European challenges; such treatment reserved for a coach that revolutionized the club and gave modern United fans their most cherished moments. Fans somehow could not grapple with the primal idea that rebuilding a team takes time. The same manager was subjected to vile abuse online when United failed to qualify past the Champions League group stages in the 2011-2012 season, despite rampaging to three Champions League finals in his previous 4 years in charge.

Real Madrid fans launched a hate campaign against Jose Mourinho, a managerial stalwart who had broken their poor European run of 6 consecutive Round of 16 exits simply for benching an out of form Casillas in favour of a goalkeeper who proved his manager right every time he wore the famous white of Madrid. The hate campaign included Mourinho’s decision to bench Kaka who had been out for a year due to injury and simply could not overshadow the ruthless German efficiency of the now Arsenal talisman Mesut Ozil.

Has it stooped so low that fans don’t trust the judgement of their own manager ?( an incredibly successful one at that).

Certain fan pages even went to the extent of blaming Mourinho for “destroying” Kaka’s career, a statement that requires no further reading to comprehend its stupidity.

The Internet is a strange world indeed.

A football club today is much like any other corporate organization and functions in respect to the timeline showcased by corporate giants. Development is steady and requires patience especially with money at stake in today’s marketing engineered brains.

Sir Matt Busby at Man United took 4 seasons to win his first League title not before winning the League Cup. He then went trophy less for a few season before his vision in youth policy kicked in and the rest we know is history. United would never be the same again.

Bill Shankly in his first few years in charge overturned Liverpool from a struggling 2nd division side to First Division Champions. From 1966 to 1970 he went through a barren spell consistently finishing just beyond the top 5 before rebuilding his team to set the foundations that helped his successor Bob Paisley catapult Liverpool into previously unimaginable success. Hard to imagine these mangers being successful in today’s world.

The examples are obvious and there for every layman to see.

This fickleness exhibited by fans probably is refection of the football culture we have now. Owners who change things at the blink of an eye and the ludicrous concept of “cash for instant success” dominate proceedings. Comparisons between players have become a religious routine encompassing trivial information, fake facts and almost propaganda like campaigns to malign other athletes; The pointless Ronaldo vs Messi debates springs to mind.

Sir Alex Ferguson continues to receive flak for simply holding an opinion about Steven Gerrard. Despite the immense praise he bestows on the Liverpool captain equating him with Graeme Souness as one of Liverpool’s finest, the Liverpool lobby comprising of ex-players have lashed out at Fergie for holding an opinion for which he is completely entitled in doing so be it popular or otherwise. It was expected that the manager would come out in Stevie’s defence, which was his duty, but the over-reaction to one cherry picked quote from a book is quite puzzling to fans on the other side of the divide.

Propaganda based campaigns to malign players find a place amongst fans today.

When I grew up watching football, Ronaldo, Ronaldhino, Zidane, Figo, Scholes, Davids, Giggs, Beckham, Rivaldo and Nedved were not constantly compared but were celebrated as a golden generation entertaining an extremely lucky generation of fans. Every new player in this increasingly technically superior generation of players is constantly associated with biased terms like “over-rated”, “waste of money” based on a handful if not an individual opportunity to impress.Gareth Bale was at the receiving end of vile abuse based on the performance in one game against Barcelona, a match in which Ronaldo and Messi were not at their usual strides themselves. Macheda was hailed as a future great for 2 goals that he scored in 2009 which no doubt were crucial, but to call it justified was absurd to put it in its mildest. His part in Manchester United’s present is non-existent. I could go on but it seems pointless right about now.

Whether fan IQ has diminished over the years or football’s increased commercial activity has to led to a legion of fans not well versed with the culture of the sport, one aspect of the game remains as a constant. Respect.Recent trends indicate that well respected players be it for whatever reason are much less prone to wild fluttering fan reactions be it positively or negatively as compared to the “bad boys” of the lot, a certain former Man City and current AC Milan player coming to mind instantly. The core of football principles pre-emanates the same values : Patience and Loyalty guarantee success and unless new fan bases cope with such values, football clubs in the future will have a hard time dealing with constantly shifting fan bases making Glory-Hunting a dictating principle of this great sport.