Great Expectations

We have had the return of Landon Donovan to Everton. The return of Robbie Keane to Villa, the club he always supported as a child. We have even had the return of Paul Scholes coming out of retirement to solve Manchester United’s midfield woes. None of which can compare to the return of Jake Windsor to the blogosphere! That’s right, I am back! After being inundated with at least two requests to write another blog I have joined forces with Ryan Harmer in the form of A Foot Like a Traction Engine. 

Over the next few weeks we will be updating the site with a series of blogs, and possibly some player exclusives and guest writers.  Serious stuff! So to kick us off, I present Great Expectations.

Over the years I have been exposed to football at many levels, ranging from playing Sunday league football through to supporting Liverpool FC. Along that road of trials and tribulations I have also witnessed many changes to the game I hate to love. The introduction of the English premier league, the evolution of the champion’s league, the demise of the UEFA cup and the introduction of pointless officials that stand on the goal line seemingly doing absolutely f all! One aspect of the game that I have also witnessed is how the fans’ expectations have transformed.

Supporting Liverpool I have been engrossed in the premier league. Being a Liverpool fan also means I naturally have expectations that involve Liverpool challenging for trophies. However, I grew up watching non league football. My Dad used to take me to watch Dorchester Town and Yeovil Town regularly, normally on a cold drizzly night. A recent development has involved the organisation that I work for being involved in a non-league club called Forest Green Rovers FC. 

Before I expand, I’ll make it clear that I am not pin pointing any of my comments directly at FGR fans. This development has placed me in a position to hear staff and fans, some of which are both, vent their views and air their opinions about the club and their fans. I also frequently have a gander at the clubs forum out of intrigue more than anything.

What I discovered was a portion of supporters surprisingly hard to please, expecting a club that had avoided relegation in the last three seasons on technicalities and goal difference, to be challenging for promotion.  Now I am sure that this is not the only forum that these types of discussions take place, but really surprised me. There was a lot of negativity within these forums with explanations of these views veering on lunacy (which wouldn’t be out of the question after some of my experiences in Stroud). New investment, new players, a club with stability, you’d think there would be little to moan about. When did everything change?

It’s not difficult to work out why things have changed. Since the premier league and champion’s league have developed into their current form, so has the amount of money involved. This then created more pressure on the premiership clubs to qualify for champion’s league or to stay in the premier league. Nothing new here. It now seems that these pressures have disseminated throughout the leagues. 

There will always be clubs with fans that have higher expectations than others, or a set of fans that believe the club should be achieving more. However my experience of lower league football was that expectations were much more realistic. 

What seems to have been the catalyst in my particular example is the investment of a wealthy businessman in the club. It is this perceived wealth that caused expectations that are perhaps already unrealistic become stretched. How are clubs meant to meet expectations when they are so high, in such a short space of time?

The power and money involved at the top level is not filtering through the leagues, however the pressures and expectations seem to be. Should the FA be doing more to distribute the wealth, or should the Premier league take responsibility? The fans need to take some responsibility of course, but I believe the issue was from above; therefore they need to help out. 

Any thoughts and opinions on the above are welcome, I hope to address my points a little more  in the future but for the time being, any fans of lower league clubs it might be worth thinking of what is happening at Darlington for example, and if your club is stable appreciating what you have right now.