[madsteve]

My only advice is that no-one will judge someone as a lesser fan because the cannot afford to support at every home match. Attend when you can and enjoy the ride because it is going to be exciting.

Pardon     without falling out MS, you have been one of the biggest critics of 'fans' who don't attend every week, so can't possibly understand how the game went, and shouldn't really comment or their views not taken as seriously  

It's a shame the old site is dead or I would search for the 'exchanges of views' in the past  

Think you are mixing two different things.

1) No fan should be judged a lesser fan because they cannot attend.

2) Someone who attends a match has a more valid view on how the team is playing.

I fall about laughing when they ask fans their view of a match on RS & they say that they thought their team played well when they weren't actually at the match. Basically, they are giving the commentator's view not their own.

I often return from a match & the thread on here & other forums bears little relation to the match I have seen. On the bigger forums you then have a dozen fans expressing one opinion (what they have seen) and being shouted down by fifty fans who haven't been, expressing the John Pearson view - basically one person's view.

I will never decry a fellow fan for being unable to attend due to financial or geographical reasons.

I think I have said this before but I don't think attending games makes anyone more qualified to make valid comments!!  Lets be right, we have all sat at S6 listening to the guy behind us spout absolute crap about a player, a formation, a referee or the game as a whole.  His review would probably be worse than one Maddix could write after listening to a commentary!!!

I am of the belief that football fans generally fall into two categories - those who understand the game, probably due to having played it quite a bit, and those who watch football, enjoy the game, cheer when goals are scored but don't see the finer points of the game.  Maddix I know played football to a decent level, I susupect MS and Consilio probably did and I would put all of you into the first category.  I for one never played football, I was crap at it and I definitely fall into the latter category.  Both types would die for the club and both are as committed to the club as each other but some fans just understand the game better.

I do agree that our match threads are full of spontaneous reactions to what we are hearing, including the commentators, the crowd noise etc but to be fair MS, they really are not views on the game as a whole or the tactics or even an individual players total performance, they are a snapshot of one play or move or goal or missed sitter, thats all.  I agree that it would be very difficult (and pointless) for us to write a review of the game like MS, Consilio or OwlKev can after being at the game unless we actually watched it live, in which case we get subjected to Imre's No Nonsense ratings, which if you look back at them are similar to the ones we get from MS generally.  And lets be right if there is no live feed to watch none of us do write reviews anyway!!!  Of course we all see reviews from posters at the game who see it completely different to another attendee, thats the essence of football - its all about  opinions!!

We have a fairly good mix on here of those who attend games and those who do not, but the mere fact we are on here tells you we are all die hard fans of Sheffield Wednesday Football club and that gives us something in common that I for one will always admire and respect!!  I really like the reviews from those who go, I trust most of our posters to have decent views, and in return we learn from them about the game and back this up with intelligent and sometimes passionate views about the club, long may that stay the case!!!

 

I think even poorly formulated opinions have a place but they can be judged as poorly formulated. I take those as part of an overall picture of a game. Generally, I think my review of a game is correct (obviously) because I usually don't write it until the following day so have calmed down from any knee jerk reactions that may have happened on the day. However, I do read other match reports and think that they make valid points that I had missed.

I do also notice that when you watch a match on TV, you miss so much regarding off the ball runs and who is making an effort tracking back. I remember after one match last season (Forest, I think), reading a match report on here & thinking what nonsense then watching the TV coverage later & seeing why they had expressed that view because the live TV coverage only showed the on the ball action.

It can also translate into views over players. I think if you don't watch enough live matches then maybe you have to be less dogmatic in your views sometimes.

Anyway, my real point is that no fans are really better fans than others just because they can attend matches due to money & location. Sure, they are better fans than those who CHOOSE not to go but I have seen some awful comments made on both sides of the divide regarding ticket prices.

I expect that eventually we will all see that the prices are not as bad as initially thought & that most of us can get back to supporting Wednesday.