17-05-2017, 21:22
Unsurprisingly, I'm with most of you on this site in caring a great deal on how we are seen. An initial word of caution I would throw in is that, in the 55 years since I saw my first Albion match, the world of football supporting has changed, even more so with the growth of social media and the opportunity to post unpleasant, baseless and ignorant comments about other teams than one's own. Years ago (here comes the old fart's reminiscences) it was just local rivalry and, even then, it was pretty good natured banter. Now you see keyboard warrior twats sounding off and verbally abusing fans of any club, often with no rivalry link to their own, because they can hide behind the anonymity of the internet.
Having said all that, we used to be pretty well liked by other fans, seen as a "proper" football club who played attacking, exciting football. Now, we are scorned as a team with no ambition on the pitch and who basically fulfill fixtures against the so called elite of the league, our only aim being not to get hammered. I honestly don't see this changing whilst Pulis is manager. If all that matters to our fans is that we are in the Premier Leagu, regardless of the style of performance, I don't see the point of them attending the match - just get the score at 4.50pm and then look at the league table. This is meant to be entertainment, not torture.
Having said all that, we used to be pretty well liked by other fans, seen as a "proper" football club who played attacking, exciting football. Now, we are scorned as a team with no ambition on the pitch and who basically fulfill fixtures against the so called elite of the league, our only aim being not to get hammered. I honestly don't see this changing whilst Pulis is manager. If all that matters to our fans is that we are in the Premier Leagu, regardless of the style of performance, I don't see the point of them attending the match - just get the score at 4.50pm and then look at the league table. This is meant to be entertainment, not torture.