That special feeling that fans of 'big'clubs miss out on

[CC51DAS]

It must be dull following a 'big' team. Watching your favourites playing 'big' teams every week and scoring against them routinely.

How can that compare with the excitement of watching your local 'minnows' take on a 'massive' club once in a blue moon and if you're lucky scoring once or even twice.

That is the special feeling 'small' clubs' supporters experience now and again and when it happens it is worth the wait.

It is a feeling that supporters of 'big' clubs never know.

Shame really :)

 

[DTS]

I was thinking the same last night. Must be so dull when you can buy everything and anyone you want. Half the attraction for me is you see the same faces week in week out, you dont expect a lot so anything above average seems amazing.

Supporting Southend is about those special moments. Going to Brum and winning 3-1 despite being given no chance, its about singing your heart out at Donny or when you come back from some Northern away trip and theres twenty of you on the train all singing.

I saw all those plastic ******s last night and I pity them. They follow a team (the bulk of them but not all) because they are good and because they have **** all else in there lives in which they are a sucess. I despise them and at the same time I pity them for what they miss out on.

My mate supports Hornchurch and goes week in week out. There is a real honesty in it and I really enjoy going over there and watching them. They like us are not the best but its the day to day real lifeness that appeals. Not the mutli millionaires and flash cars and jewellry that most of us can only dream of that makes football special.

 

[weststander]

Totally agree, my feelings when we scored against Bury, Lincoln, Spurs, Man Utd and Chelsea last night cannot be truly described. But even they pale into insignificance to my feelings when we equalised at the bridge, i forgot to breathe for a good half a minute and as a result hyper ventilated a bit, but i will never ever forget it. The fans of the big clubs will never be able to say this or experience these feelings. I think that we are truly very lucky to support Southend United.

 

[Bluesmanager]

Of course, it helps that you know your side's got a hope in hell of winning a game once in a blue moon...

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

Yes, they miss out on so much:

- the crumbling away terrace at Chesterfield with the open air bogs and a wall you can pee against but still see over and watch the game

- catering at Roots Hall

- seats bolted on to old terraces with gaps so narrow Twiggy (circa 1970) struggles to move between

- Clarkey's pin point passing

- tannoy systems that either deafen or give out morse code noises

- club shops where the new amazing 'must have' is a cuddly shrimp

- trips to Grimsby

- stanchons

- moronic banter from Ipshite fans with the mistaken belief of superiority

- scoreboards with less lights than a kids home disco kit

.............................................................................................................................................................

Yep, wouldn't swop it.:)

 

[Bluesmanager]

You're forgetting that we need to pay the electricity bill.

Which we can't, because, guess what?

WE'RE SKINT!!!

 

[CC51DAS]

Yes, they miss out on so much:

- the crumbling away terrace at Chesterfield with the open air bogs and a wall you can pee against but still see over and watch the game

- catering at Roots Hall

- seats bolted on to old terraces with gaps so narrow Twiggy (circa 1970) struggles to move between

- Clarkey's pin point passing

- tannoy systems that either deafen or give out morse code noises

- club shops where the new amazing 'must have' is a cuddly shrimp

- trips to Grimsby

- stanchons

- moronic banter from Ipshite fans with the mistaken belief of superiority

- scoreboards with less lights than a kids home disco kit

.............................................................................................................................................................

Yep, wouldn't swop it.:)

Is that because they put them in the north west corner ?

 

[Sussex Shrimper]

I think that we are truly very lucky to support Southend United.

Definitely.

Most of my family are from London and support the A**e, so there was a ready made excuse there if glory hunting had appealed, but as soon as I saw my first live game it was never really an option. We were in the old Fourth Division at the time and I try never to lose sight of the fact that whatever might be going on in the short-term I've received a huge upgrade from what I might reasonably have expected, and may get a bigger one yet.

It's pretty incredible to think just how many of the club's finest hours have occurred during the relatively small slice of our history that I have been a fan. I've seen cup finals, promotions, an extended run in the second tier, a Football League title and a win over Manure, a club I've always despised - all of it before my 30th birthday. We've been spoiled rotten, to the extent that in the context of our recent past a season of mediocrity at our current level seems like a disaster to many.

Supporting your local club does not mean denying yourself the opportunity to watch the game at the highest level - it just means that you don't lose appreciation of those opportunities when they arise. It always makes me laugh when I hear fans of the big four bemoaning the fact that "their" team is only second/third/fourth in the land, and that they're losing the willy jousts that are such an integral part of "supporting" that kind of club. You wonder just what they feel the need to compensate for.

 

[Manchester Shrimper]

On the other hand, I'd have thought it'd be quite good fun to follow your team around Europe. Madrid over Milton Keynes anyone?

On balance though, definitely rather be a Southend fan. Besides, all those flights must be crippling on the bank balance.

 

[Bluesmanager]

I'd prefer to stand in the Walker's' concourse than on MK's freezing stand if that's what your asking.

But by the same token, I'd rather be in the Nou Camp than Canvey Island (but then again, pretty much any sane person on the planet would, so that's not really a fair comparison is it?)

 

[Manchester Shrimper]

- the crumbling away terrace at Chesterfield with the open air bogs and a wall you can pee against but still see over and watch the game

Yeah, I remember those.

Worst away bogs in the Football League...now there's an idea for a thread. Think Chesterfield just about pips Bury where there was literally just a section of the wall you peed against.

- moronic banter from Ipshite fans with the mistaken belief of superiority

You could probably say that about the fans of any ex-Premiership club. Forest fans were the worst

"You never won **** all"

Neither have you...since I've been alive.

 

[M@CC@ 16]

Think you get more satisfaction aswell finding a rare gem like freddy eastwood for a nominal fee watching him stand out at this level and then progress for a much bigger fee.

Than signing a player for 20/30 million and paying him 100K pw, he should be good for that money

 

[Blueshrimper]

Its even different when you make a new signing. At this level in the summer its an exciting and frustrating time seeing the unveiling of some signings who will feature in the upcoming season, then catching a glimpse of them against a local non league side in pre season. Chelsea fans will just see the news of their new signings on Sky Sports News and it will be just another player added to the squad.

 

[Ron Manager]

This is going to sound a bit poncey but I think it rings true - basically you don't choose who you support, it chooses you. If that's the case then it doesn't matter whether you support Man United or Macclesfield - you feel the highs and lows exactly the same.

There are plenty of Chelsea fans who will be Chelsea for the rest of their lives regardless and they get as much out of supporting them as we do from Southend. They also have fans who would eventually ditch them if the money ever ran out and the glamour and success faded - they don't get it in the same way.

 

[Rob Noxious]

It must be dull following a 'big' team. Watching your favourites playing 'big' teams every week and scoring against them routinely.

How can that compare with the excitement of watching your local 'minnows' take on a 'massive' club once in a blue moon and if you're lucky scoring once or even twice.

That is the special feeling 'small' clubs' supporters experience now and again and when it happens it is worth the wait.

It is a feeling that supporters of 'big' clubs never know.

Shame really :)

And what is really strange is when you meet a fan of a big club who comes from Southend, in the most unlikely of places... example: there's a lot of Chelsea out here in West Cornwall (for 30 mins on Weds, I was so looking forward to seeing 'em out & about this w/e), the older ones being fans from their FA Cup win in 1970. I was playing 6-a-side on Tues night & wearing the 2006 'A Century United' replica shirt when the ref comes up to me after the game to comment on it. Turns out that he's from Southend (he had the Essex FA badge on his ref top) but is a Chelsea season ticket holder & would have been at the game if he wasn't at college in Cornwall during the week. This lad (good ref by the way, made me MOTM) was probably in his early 20s so my guess is he became a fan of them when they won the UEFA Cup about 10 years or so ago when the only place we were going then was down the Leagues, so it's probably the allure of associations with a winning/successful/ glamourous team that takes away home fans from where they 'should' be. I know myself, when I were a lad, though I was a Southend fan, all the kids at school had London teams they supported as well. When we played West Ham in the League Cup in '79, that totally dispelled any notion that you could support two teams in equal measure & was a liberating moment from the attachment to a bigger club for me. Oh, what about the WHU flag draped from a window of the 'South Bank flats' caught on camera by ITV crew on Weds? There's still some displaced souls about, you know...