Watch and learn.

They’ve been mentioned time after time on here, but for one more time, they will be mentioned again, because that’s how highly they’re thought of at FWFIN. Napoli visit Stamford Bridge tonight in the second leg of the Champions League and coming with them will be their travelling support which will be absolutely astonishing. Some people do have the biased opinion that English fans are the best in the world, but that’s what it is, biased. Italian supporters, German supporters and many other countries are so much better than us in terms of support, whether it is vocal, choreography, tifo, you name it and chances are they will be superior. FWFIN has said before though, it is good to see that English fans are taking ideas from the European supporters and going into the ultra scene, because that is exactly what the fan culture over here needs. Tonight, the Napoli supporters will sing non-stop, there is no two ways about it, the Chelsea fans, will maybe give a rendition of “Chelsea, wherever you maybe…” every now and again, but that asides, the away support will be miles ahead of that of the home.

FWFIN hopes we are proved wrong, nothing will please us more, but sadly it doesn’t look particularly likely at the time being. Ask your Crystal Palace’s, your Aldershot’s, your Accrington Stanley’s, all who have ultra groups in the football league, you can’t just become an ultras group, you have to plan it out. To think that you could turn up on a Saturday morning and get everything prepared there and then is just insane, displays take time to plan out, get the correct material and many other things as well go into putting on a display before a game, it can’t just happen. That’s what most people think though; they will think well why hasn’t my team got support like Napoli? FWFIN will tell you why, it is because people need to stop watching teams like your Napoli’s and do something about it, there’s no point watching them in awe as they out support Chelsea tonight and then get into the stadium on Saturday and just being in the same old routine of maybe singing every now and again. Get together with a group of likeminded people and say what you think and if people agree then take things on from there, of course, when you have people agreeing, you will have those that disagree as well, but it takes time to realise that the ultra way is the best way.

 To those of you that have got ultras groups up and running, no matter big or small, well done for taking the steps in the right direction, because it takes some bottle to try something new. To those of you who’re thinking about doing it, have a go, there’s no harm in trying, people may join right from the beginning, if they don’t, they will eventually. Remember though, you can’t be an ultra just on a Saturday, you have to be one seven days a week. Last but by no means least, never forget that: football without fans is nothing.

FWFIN.

A football team isn’t a hobby; it’s a lifestyle.

It’s a Tuesday morning, you look outside, it’s a dark dismal winter’s morning, the rain is hammering against the window, you’re wondering is it all worth it? You’ve taken the day off work (or college/school), just for the undying love you have. Your beloved football team, you know the day is grim outside but that doesn’t stop you becoming filled with anticipation at the thought of watching your team later that evening, knowing that there is every possibility that you could come out on top and come away with three points. On this particular occasion, you’re away from home and you know that the away end is an open terrace, so unless the weather clears up, you’re going to need a pair of goggles by half time. You travel to the ‘foreign’ town, knowing that you’re not welcome there, and you wouldn’t dream of venturing there if your team wasn’t playing. The rain still hasn’t stopped as you get into the ground and within the first five minutes, you’re down to ten men and one nil down after one of the centre halves gives away a penalty and receives a red card for his troubles. It gets to half time, and you’re still one down. Throughout the first half, the away end, despite being dripping wet, has not stopped supporting the lads on the pitch, outsinging the home fans, despite being outnumbered. Second half begins, much the same, your team are constantly under pressure, but the keeper is playing a blinder and it is still one nil as the game enters into stoppage time. Then, in the last minute, a corner. The away support believes, they think this is it, the ball gets whipped in, and there it is, the last minute of injury time the equaliser. The away support is going absolutely ballistic, you don’t care that it’s been raining all game, it’s all worth it now and as the final whistle goes, the players come over and celebrate with you, thanking you for your support. You’re all together, united as one.

That’s how it used to be and FWFIN is sure that many of you will agree that those were the better days, now the enjoyment of the fan doesn’t matter anymore, the game is too over commercialised, and only very rarely will the players thank the supporters now, especially if it was a rainy day as the aforementioned. Players would be more worried about getting into the changing room and getting home to their luxury houses whilst the fans, who have spent their money and put the effort in to watching the team, have to set off home. That’s the problem though; the gulf between the fans and the players in this day and age is ridiculous, some players will earn in a week what most fans will earn in a year. If you go to the top of the scale where you have football players earning a staggering £200,00 a week, that’s more than some people will see in a life time. But hey, money doesn’t rule football, does it?

Portsmouth, Rangers and now Port Vale are three clubs in the last few weeks and months to enter administration, each for a number of different reasons, but why, when there is so much money in the once beautiful game are clubs still able to fall into the red, it’s not right. Football clubs have to be run better, but nothing will be done, until it happens to one of the ‘big boys’ such as Chelsea or Man United. FWFIN can practically guarantee that the authorities would step in if it were to happen to one of the aforementioned and lend them a helping hand. But, because Port Vale are in League Two, they will be left to slip under the radar as it has happened many times before with over clubs.

Fans will always support their club, nothing will change that, but if there’s no club to left to support what will happen? The club will get rebuilt from the bottom and will start again; fans will never let their club die, one way or another. Because, football without fans is nothing.

FWFIN.

Love the game, hate the business.

Napoli fans were warned by UEFA yesterday about their conduct in last night’s match against Chelsea, regarding flares, here is the outcome…

 What were UEFA honestly expecting? Napoli sell flares outside the ground, so there is little hope that none will be set off during the game.

Following up to yesterday’s post regarding how much damage Sky Sports and other channels such as ESPN have done, FWFIN is sure you’re wondering, how can football will survive without television? We understand that it has progressed a hell of a lot, but there was football for more than a hundred years before the level of television coverage was introduced in the early 90s. Stadiums would be packed to the rafters, there would be no such thing as dwindling attendances like there is today; so what is the difference? Price is the answer. Clearly you have to make room for some inflation as with everything, but paying around £50 if not more at some Premiership grounds is nothing less than daylight robbery. A few decades ago it wouldn’t be more than a few quid and the experience would be ten times the experience as well. Which is why FWFIN will look into the ticket pricing structure of clubs and try and get them significantly reduced, one way or another and boycotts will be organised around the country.

Some football clubs are very well run, others, are not; it’s as simple as that. Some chairmen and chief executives make a mockery of the clubs supporters and it’s not right, with the fans, football is nothing and some clubs hierarchy need to switch on and realise that. The majority of clubs will argue that they do have offers in place, but even then, you have to question the motive behind them, because it’s just another way of squeezing money out of the supporter. FWFIN can see from a different perspective that at times it can be quite difficult to run a football club, but at other times, the simple decisions are just over complicated to an horrendous degree.   

Change is on the horizon, we need to take a leaf out of Germany’s book and see how the Bundesliga is run, because that is what we, in England, should be aiming for. Safe standing is incorporated, the experience for the supporters is incredible compared to what it is over here. Germany realises that football without fans is nothing, it’s about time we did.

FWFIN.

Modern football is a disease.

Long gone have the days where you could sing on terraces, even when you could stand up in seated areas and support your team without any interruption from stewards. Nowadays you’re lucky if you can sneeze and not be threatened to be thrown out the ground. Enough is enough though, if we stand as one in the stands, support our beloved team as one, as FWFIN have said previously they won’t chuck us all out, because then there would be no noise coming from the terraces, it’d just be a soulless ground, the only sound coming from the players communicating on the pitch.

The thing is though, if you go back thirty years to 1982, do you think that if you told the people that watched football in those days that all stadiums would be seated and the rules would’ve got a million times stricter, they would have believed you? Of course they wouldn’t; now do you think it’s that unrealistic that modern football grounds will try and get rid of your average working class fan with ever increasing ticket prices? What will the next thirty years hold, because just that is maybe what will happen and we will do everything in our power to make sure that is not true at all. Supporters deserve the right to be able to watch their team on a Saturday and not have to worry about doing something wrong; it should be a relaxed atmosphere, not one where you’re always looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re not in anyone’s bad books.  

Well, we say that supporters should be able to watch their team on a Saturday, however, the chances of it actually being played on a Saturday is becoming too much of a rarity these days. This is another thing that will be looked into, because it’s not fair to make supporters travel hundreds of miles for a Sunday afternoon kick off, just for the sake of television. Sky Sports and ESPN should take a long look in the mirror with some the decisions that have made over recent years, with no thought whatsoever for the supporter. Take last night for example, Carlisle played away at Brentford, which is a ten hour round trip; ten hours is gruelling enough on a Saturday, but on a Monday? It’s inhumane, it’s actually borderline farcical.

Sky Sports has to be stopped, ESPN has to be stopped, and the gulf in football has to be stopped, to mention just a few. People say that it can’t be stopped, but believe us, it can. Whether it takes years, decades or more, FWFIN will not rest until the aforementioned has been sorted once and for all! Always remember that:

Football without fans is nothing.