Dear Mr. Tilson

onceknownasrab · Jul 17, 2010

Dear Mr. Tilson and the 09/10 crew,
As a supporter of an entirely tribal activity, I am like many, sad to see the demise of the clan. I am always one for nostalgia and do not embrace change readily. This time though I am actually glad of the change and look forward to smelling a sweeter air around Roots Hall and not the rotting corpse of Captain Could-have-been and his merry band second rate mercenaries. I remember emailing RM when Tilly was only caretaker in charge and asking for the lad to be given his chance. No regrets there but too long was given. As for the players, well, I appreciate the view that many supporters have when they ask ' who would work without pay?' , but in my opinion they and the players are wrong. If you are not paid, then either you do not play or you do your best. To take to the pitch with a grievance, knowing you want out and giving so much less than 100% only punishes the supporters. Supporters? You know, the guys that go week in and week out to pay your wages. Those that may have a recent bereavement, redundancy, relationship split, illness or even just a bad day and choose to watch their team as escapism. The people that week in and week out are robbed at the turnstyle because players want to punish them for their own trials and tribulations. The same players that can turn in an absolutely dire set of performances and question the integrity of fans for booing, as if any of the players truly understood the meaning of integrity. When you look at how few points we needed to survive last season, then for all the trouble the clubs turmoil caused, we could have stayed up if more of the players actually cared about the supporters or the club or their integrity. RM is not the club and nor are the players. The fans are the club. We are the past, the life-blood and the future. UTB

Shakes · Jul 17, 2010

I couldn't agree more. Great post.

fbm · Jul 17, 2010

onceknownasrab said:
Dear Mr. Tilson and the 09/10 crew,
As a supporter of an entirely tribal activity, I am like many, sad to see the demise of the clan. I am always one for nostalgia and do not embrace change readily. This time though I am actually glad of the change and look forward to smelling a sweeter air around Roots Hall and not the rotting corpse of Captain Could-have-been and his merry band second rate mercenaries. I remember emailing RM when Tilly was only caretaker in charge and asking for the lad to be given his chance. No regrets there but too long was given. As for the players, well, I appreciate the view that many supporters have when they ask ' who would work without pay?' , but in my opinion they and the players are wrong. If you are not paid, then either you do not play or you do your best. To take to the pitch with a grievance, knowing you want out and giving so much less than 100% only punishes the supporters. Supporters? You know, the guys that go week in and week out to pay your wages. Those that may have a recent bereavement, redundancy, relationship split, illness or even just a bad day and choose to watch their team as escapism. The people that week in and week out are robbed at the turnstyle because players want to punish them for their own trials and tribulations. The same players that can turn in an absolutely dire set of performances and question the integrity of fans for booing, as if any of the players truly understood the meaning of integrity. When you look at how few points we needed to survive last season, then for all the trouble the clubs turmoil caused, we could have stayed up if more of the players actually cared about the supporters or the club or their integrity. RM is not the club and nor are the players. The fans are the club. We are the past, the life-blood and the future. UTB

The only loyalty in football is from the fans. To the players and management it's their career but they'll work for whoever employs them. There is so much money in the game the owners of all clubs are only in it for what they can make. There is enough money in the game for everyone to have a good living but unfortunately it's all at the top. Understandably everyone wants a slice of that pie so it's no surprise to see players using lower league clubs as stepping stones.

The players that don't are the ones that see playing for teams like us as the pinnacle of their career. They are the ones who sadly cause us fans to turn our nose up as we perceive them as not good enough to get us where we want the club to be, which is as high up the league as possible.

But whilst I agree with you in theory (and in an ideal world), the realism of the situation is that professional footballers are generally not middle class university graduates; they are no more than talented kids who are paid to kick a ball about and if they didn't make the grade then in most cases they would be unemployed or even unemployable.

As part of my profession, I spend a significant amount of time persuading people to leave their estates to their children in a Will that stipulates they can't have it until they are 25 when they are theoretically mature enough to deal with a lump sum like £100,000. Where people have died without a Will, I have seen teenagers of 18 go through that (and more!) in months and on one occasion they didn't even make their 19th birthday.

In this beautiful game, the top players are paid that a week. Even a Championship player will be on a salary equivalent to a senior director of a FTSE quoted company with bonuses; someone who has probably studied his craft/trade/profession for years, obtained qualifications and has worked his way up the career ladder for about 30 years.

Who pays for that?

We do, in both meanings of the word. We fund it by buying our SKY subscriptions and season tickets, replica shirts, corporate packages... yet we moan like crazy when a player departs for pastures new and the promise of higher wages (or in our case, just wages).

In life, we generally get what we deserve. Supporting a club is a tribal activity but it's not compulsory. A complete revolt against Premiership football (which never has a better chance of being achieved following our overpaid, lame, petulant excuse for a World Cup squad) may make Rupert Murdoch say "You know what? I don't think I'll pay as much anymore".

Until that happens, I think we reap what we sow. We fund this game. If we want to follow a REAL football club, then it saddens me to say it but the non leagues are where we need to be... where players play with pride, passion and not for the moolah.

But will I be cancelling my season ticket and SKY package? Not a chance. I'm not willing to make that sacrifice. So I just accept my lot and pray that the great casualties of the game don't include my beloved SUFC.