Suggestion to the North Bank today

[TrueBlue]

The Trust has already helped The Blue Voice financially several times....think new drum, banner, badges....and more I believe. I'm not sure how much sympathy there would be towards providing them with more funds when clearly their main purpose seems to have been forgotten or too much for Scott on his own. I thought they were planning to do their own fund-raising anyway not so long ago?

Asking the trust would not have been my first option

That would have been to raise it ourselves however now we are APPARENTLY closer to the new ground then ever you have to ask the question would the time frame be worth it?!?

Lastly Kay this would be for the fans not just TBV I understand we would benefit but the club would make more money from the bar over that side and from food and many in the north get put off by having to walk round to the west

Lastly pushing away fans into the corner will mean a much bigger segregation gap thus less trouble and will also mean we will have it for every game be it league or cup

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Reading through the thread it begins to resemble a political argument. It really is nowhere near as complicated.
Whether you are a supporter in the North, South, East or West - the word is...supporter.

To chant for Luggy when you all know damned well that he has gone (and a fitting farewell with fans at Wembley) and aint coming back!!! Why?? Do you honestly think there is anything positive in that?
To mock a Southend United player? To be fair, over the years we have all taken the **** or shouted in frustration at a player or two. However, orchestrated ridicule of our left back - at Roots Hall. That was disgusting.

It does not take meetings, forums (err it obviously does) but just a group of like-minded supporters who gather in a traditional area of the ground and sing their hearts out for the lads.
Meetings? That proves it is all about the leaders. The majority of fans just mooch up to the ground. If you fancy having a sing-song with the lads? Go in the North or wherever it will be loudest.
The meetings and self-appointed leaders are the problem. If you are a self-appointed group of leaders - then in theory it is your fault when our left back is hounded or the atmosphere is contaminated. Yet you then absolve yourselves of any responsibility. You cannot have it both ways.

The North Bank should be an area where people who wish to create a magnificent atmosphere gather.

ps. I am obviously out of touch. Why would the mocking of our left back be preferable from the East side of the North Bank?

 

[mrsblue]

Been to several away grounds but have never experienced any problems simply due to the segregation factor,RH allows rival fans to be only yards apart and you don't need to be a genius that is not good enough.If I were a visiting fan to RH I would be appalled at the close proximity of high spirited home fans.

TBV if channelled correctly could become a wonderful tool to help the players hopefully win games which we all want.

 

[farawayshrimper]

I hope something does get sorted as we all want the best for the club, players respond to a positive atmosphere just can't see what can be done to galvanise the other three stands. Thank you for your efforts

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Been to several away grounds but have never experienced any problems simply due to the segregation factor,RH allows rival fans to be only yards apart and you don't need to be a genius that is not good enough.If I were a visiting fan to RH I would be appalled at the close proximity of high spirited home fans.

TBV if channelled correctly could become a wonderful tool to help the players hopefully win games which we all want.

I have nothing against the mocking of rival fans (part & parcel and they will give as good as they get) - it is the mocking of our players that I am against!

 

[united we stand]

I wasn't there on Saturday , but I stand in the North for most home games--- but not at the back . I am in my mid forties and don't enter the ground via the pub- , and I am not alone despite the 'stereotyping' given to the NB.

You can not generalise the entire North Bank , in the same way that you can not generalise many things in life. There are many of us who do NOT join in any 'anti' chants and only join in, or indeed start positive chants. One suggestion for those critising those in the North is come over and try and change from within. Literally another 10 people who will sing positive stuff would make a difference- its doesn't need hundreds just another 10 standing in the middle/front of the stand.

How do you stop 'anti' songs- TBH this is as simple /difficult as you want it to be . The singing follows the drum, or dies our quicker without it. As soon as an 'anti' song starts the drum can cancel this out with the drum role at the start of the 'Southend' song (sorry can't think of a better explanation- no words except clapping 'whooo Southend'. HOWEVER the drummer or those around him need to want this- hence my point that this may be simple, may be difficult.

Perhaps the saddest thing is I wasn't there as my son (STH) wanted to do something else rather than watch another 90 mins of crap. If the atmosphere in NB was always as good as it has been in the past this might have been enough for him to want to come - dispute the crap on the field.

 

[madaboutblues]

I might be missing something here but I'm not quite sure when singing a players name became known as slating them. I started the chant yesterday and there was no intention to slate Straker at all.

That may be how it was meant but unfortunately once it continued on and on, I and everyone around me felt that it did turn more into sarcasm than support. A couple of chants would have been fine but to continue it for virtually the whole second half became very uncomfortable and judging by other posts, I am not the only one. I am not knocking TBV at all but I do feel that every player needed lifting and it's a shame that the chanting did not focus on the whole team rather than just one person.

 

[South Bank Hank]

I personally feel the North bank dream is over! Its one of the main reason I try my upmost to avoid home games now.

As a couple of the guys said in the pub after the game about why they started the Straker chant as it was to prove a point about how many kids/sheep there are in the NB............

Your latter point sounds like a good thing to me Gareth. The more sheep there are in the North Bank, the more important it is to have a few shepherds leading the right way. If they're going to follow blindly, who cares? Just lead them in the right direction and get them supporting the team.

As others have pointed out, the Blue Voice movement has brought more positives than negatives. It just may have lost its way temporarily in terms of what it's trying to achieve. Nothing that a re-thinking can't achieve.

Just to ask the question: is it worth a flyer of some sort being handed out to everyone in the North Bank at the beginning of next season reminding people what the Blue Voice is all about and what it's trying to achieve?

 

[Prodigal Son]

Time to shut the south east and west nothing going on in them either!!!!

You really silly aren't you

To respond,a library is preferable to mocking our own players. The Straker stuff was done for much of the time to a banging of the drum,was it you beating it? It was embarassing and should be shut. Some have defended this type of singing saying it was not mocking, probably the same lot who said the smashed seats at Orient were an accident. I don't know what happened to our support this season but it has gone down the toilet in terms of credibilty. There is often a recurring theme around alot of the bad parts and that is you. That may be unfair, but whether it is 'going missing' at Wembley or Saturday's events you are never far from it. Your posts suggest that you court conflict and controversy, I've no idea if you are like that in real life. I have tried to strike up conversation with you on two occassions, once at Southampton, I could not shake your hand as you were holding three pints, and you did not venture from the concourse for the entire match, and another time at Wycombe where you chose to remain in the pub for the duration of the game. Never mind.
You come across as the self-appointed leader, occassionally up Dave Jobson's backside, and a wave from Cameron Belford who might send you a text is preferable to a quiet unassuming professional. You do have your followers, young and impressionable, andsome of this hasspread and we get to where we are today. Yes, I can be silly, but don't think this postis one ofthose occassions. Do say if I'm being unfair.

 

[DTS]

For me I think its pretty harsh to tar the entire North Bank with the same brush as a few kids that sing silly songs.

My Dad and I go in the North (he is 61, I am 33). We go in there not to abuse players or have a go at them -we go in there to get behind the team vocally and to do our tiny little bit to try and get us the win. I appreciate in real terms it makes very little difference but I want to feel like I did all I can once the 90 mins is up.

In every crowd you get a few idiots and I think the north bank is true of that as much as anywhere. However the bulk of people in the north are not hardcore seat wrecking, knucle dragging hooligans - they are people that want to sing and create an atmosphere to give us a compeitive edge. When I sat in the South Upper, Fatso for example absued Mark Gower to the point where he told him to **** off. Had he done the same in the North would it have been TBV to blame? I hear abuse when I sit in the West from time to time from the old boys that stand at the back? What group are they then?

I dont have any problems with some goading of the away fans as that is par for the course. Appreciate its not for everyone and is counter productive.

I think Scott takes a lot of flack. A lot of it is due the way he repsonds to people on SZ but a lot is probably unfair. In the North often there can be three of four pockets of fans starting songs. Scott and his boys control the top left corner but there are a gang of about 20 or so late teenagers that also start songs at the back and another pocket of family type people closet to the West. Often (as I stand in the middle) there can be two songs going at once and neither Scott nor TBV can really be held responsible for the entire output of that stand.

I also think blaming TBV is a bit easy. Are my Dad and I TBV? We go and do our bit, I will join in with the songs that support the club, but I dont ever recall joining up for a gang? I dont join in with songs I dont like and the bulk of stupid chants never get going or are actively booed. Largely the self area self regulates itself.

As I see it abusing your own players is wrong and if you want to do that then you have no place at Southend. It does not matter if you sit in the North, South, East or West.

 

[DTS]

Your latter point sounds like a good thing to me Gareth. The more sheep there are in the North Bank, the more important it is to have a few shepherds leading the right way. If they're going to follow blindly, who cares? Just lead them in the right direction and get them supporting the team.

As others have pointed out, the Blue Voice movement has brought more positives than negatives. It just may have lost its way temporarily in terms of what it's trying to achieve. Nothing that a re-thinking can't achieve.

Just to ask the question: is it worth a flyer of some sort being handed out to everyone in the North Bank at the beginning of next season reminding people what the Blue Voice is all about and what it's trying to achieve?

The problem with a flyer is the type of people that wont read it are the same people its targeting IMHO.

 

[Davros]

for me, TBV lost my respect after the whole "10 German Bombers" thing at Brentford.

 

[Cockle43]

Well I think this thread just shows what a narrow line is trodden when it comes to supporting/slagging off players and also says a lot about people.

I've stood in the North Bank for virtually every game this season, and will continue to do so, as long as I'm able to, and can honestly say that the level of negativity in the North is far lower than any I ever experienced in the West. Yes, there has been some, let's face it, it is difficult not to be sometimes but far more often than not it's been a feeling of positivity. Tell me, honestly, when we go a goal down where does the supportive noise/chants almost always start?

Now tell me, if the chanting on Saturday afternoon had been of Bentley, Clohessey, Cresswell, Corr, Eastwood, Tomlin, Assombalonga, or Reeves' names would we even be having this discussion? I would say probably not.
A chant was started, with good intention, to give Straker a bit of a boost; the fact that this then took hold and was then repeated for so long was out of control of those who started it, however, this then turns, in the heads of those hearing it as sarcastic because it goes on for a while.

So I will ask another question, I'm obviously in that mood today, If the name Clohessey had been chanted for that long would that have been seen as being sarcastic, or would it have been seen as being supportive and showing him that the fans know he is out of contract and would like him to stay? But because the name was Straker people assume it's sarcastic, to me that says as much about the perception of Straker's abilities in the heads of those that see it as sarcasm; if those people feel he is limited then they see the chant as negative because that is what they think and expect everyone else does as well.

This now leads on to what the negative thinkers reaction is and the options they have. They can say, I think this is sarcastic and even though I agree for the sake of the team I should back the player I'll do nothing because I agree with what the chanters are thinking or they can try and change the atmosphere, however, this would involve a hypocritical dilemma for them as they would have to try and change the situation round even though they don't agree with what they would have to do, i.e. be positive about a player they believe to be limited. Alternatively, they can do nothing, which resolves their hypocritical dilemma, but this leads to a feeling of guilt that they are doing nothing to assist a victim even though they think he deserves to be a victim. Another agenda then comes into play in that the guilt needs assuaging and this can be done quite easily by criticising the perpetrator because the perpetrator of the affront, in this case, is a nebulous, ever changing, almost ephemeral being with no real physical identity, TBV. Thus the negative thinker is able to defuse the feeling of guilt by deflecting it, with their approbation, on to another, conveniently, faceless body with no real physical existence which also, conveniently, largely resolves their original hypocritical dilemma by allowing them to not actually help their deserving victim.

Wonderful thing the psychology of football crowds. Good job I'm just a mindless football fan standing and chanting mindlessly on the North Bank otherwise I might have to think occasionally.

 

[Gremlin]

The problem with a flyer is the type of people that wont read it are the same people its targeting IMHO.

Won't or can't?

 

[bucket&spade.f.c]

for me, TBV lost my respect after the whole "10 German Bombers" thing at Brentford.

Question is was it TBV or a random pocket of fans?

 

[Firestorm]

Question is was it TBV or a random pocket of fans?

Does that matter ?

I feel people need to take count for themselves before judging others as after all TBV is every Southend fan

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Please no flyers! Oh dear, if The North Bank in 2013 needs to be told (by the self-appointed once again) how to support? There is a problem.

I cannot imagine too many other clubs that require advice on what to do. Incredible when you think about it. Pathetic too.

I think TBV needs to forget both the abysmal chanting against Morecambe and the "went missing" at Wembley over the Summer and come back refreshed and as one for 2013/14. Drop the "look at me I am the leader" ego and get back to supporting Southend United.

 

[londonblue]

Do these sort of songs not normally come from history? Think it would be pretty meaningless to adopt a club song in 2013 that has no real meaning to the club.

Maybe, but you've got to start somewhere. It will take years for a song to become an anthem, but if you don't ever start it won't ever happen.

 

[Davros]

Question is was it TBV or a random pocket of fans?

Fair point, but i ask you, if i am to assume it was TBV, how many others would assume it was TBV.

The fact that i saw TBV members singing along, and the fact that members of the TBV have said on here before that they lead the singing would lead me to believe it was, but, as you say, i have no proof who started it.

The point is, we were asked on here a week or so ago, why certain away fans don't join in the singing. My answer is quite simple... when certain fans (TBV or not) lead a 10 minute chorus of a song, that is at best playground stereotyping, and worst, casual racism, and regardless, has nothing to do with supporting our team, is it any wondering why sometimes people don't want to be associated with that, and therfore may have formed a poor opinion of TBV, or our associated so called chorus leaders?!

 

[McNasty]

Bring back Smiffy .