What Matters Most To You?

[Storts]

I was going to title this what does football mean to you - but I think that’s different to the question I want to ask.

So what is the important thing to you about supporting your club, about watching football and enjoying the sport.

Ive touched on this in my posts recently but the obsession with trophies by some, and the Mourinho factor, has helped add clarity to the question 

For me the pandemic has also brought things further to light - football for me is a) about the days out, the people you meet, the time you spend with them, the sense of family and belonging. The tribalism. Football is nothing without these experiences, the highs and the lows but doing it as a community.

and b ) it’s about enjoyment. Winning isn’t enough for me, if it’s not done with a flourish, if there isn’t attacking intent and a clear style. For others it may be but I personally wouldn’t swap the last 5 years of Poch for a couple of trophies with Mourinho. Not a chance. 

Pochettino meant something to me, it’s weird, but it’s true. There was a connection there between fans and manager - a journey, a real sense of mutual understanding of what we wanted for the club. The emotion on the pitch at Ajax was all of that coming to fruition. I’m gutted we never won anything under Poch, but it doesn’t matter overall, no one can take those experiences and memories away. 

But I think everyone will be different - so what is it that really matters to you and what your football club is doing - what keeps you coming for more?

 

 

 

[Danny]

Honestly? Griffin Park. Even if it doesn't exist, I've no idea how far they are with construction and I don't want to know. Couldn't bring myself to watch the final video made about the stadium swap.

I had no real feelings for anything club football-wise, didn't expect to. Fell out of love with it all completely, just made no sense. Then one night under the lights at Griffin Park, sat in the Braemar Road stand, looking down over the Ealing Road terrace, watching an underdog battle back against Southamton to try and secure a draw with what was a late goal and a header from Leon Legge....it all changed. Fell in love with Brentford, Griffin Park, football, dodgy burgers and wooden stands, half empty stadiums with more passion than an armchair fan watching MOTD could ever have.

Griffin Park might be gone but for me, it's still the one thing that connects me to the game.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

I wanna be able to watch my team compete with the greater majority of other teams in the same league, and be hopeful for a measure of success. (Winning the cup, finishing top 6/4 for European qualification) I don't need Champaign football but I don't want it to be so dull the eyes burn out of my skull either. 

[Stan]

The journey to the stadium. That feeling you get on matchday actually physically being at the ground. Getting the beers in the pubs nearby with whoever you've gone to the game with. The unhealthy food. Walking through the turnstiles, walking up the steps and seeing the open stadium in front of you, the pitch, the players, other fans. 

I've missed it incredibly. One of those things where you only miss it until its gone. 

I've met some fantastic people supporting Leicester and wouldn't have come across them had I not been supporting them. 

Some might say VAR, impurity of the game, controversies ruining the game. Of course there is that, but for me, just being there at the game is enough for me. Being there experiencing the entertaining wins or the gut-wrenching losses. Experiencing that controversy. It's not a feeling you can really ever quantify without just living that experience. That's what matters to me - being there, living football. I can't wait to get back. Sooner rather than later. 

[Danny]

15 minutes ago, Stan said:

The journey to the stadium. That feeling you get on matchday actually physically being at the ground. Getting the beers in the pubs nearby with whoever you've gone to the game with. The unhealthy food. Walking through the turnstiles, walking up the steps and seeing the open stadium in front of you, the pitch, the players, other fans. 

I've missed it incredibly. One of those things where you only miss it until its gone. 

I've met some fantastic people supporting Leicester and wouldn't have come across them had I not been supporting them. 

Some might say VAR, impurity of the game, controversies ruining the game. Of course there is that, but for me, just being there at the game is enough for me. Being there experiencing the entertaining wins or the gut-wrenching losses. Experiencing that controversy. It's not a feeling you can really ever quantify without just living that experience. That's what matters to me - being there, living football. I can't wait to get back. Sooner rather than later. 

Mate I was sat thinking how I miss being sat in a car, windscreen wipers on with Rock n Roll football on the radio.

[Azeem]

I like Shakira's performances for the World Cups

[DeadLinesman]

Net spend.

[Danny]

22 minutes ago, Cazza said:

My husband feels the same way about Kenilworth Road all the quarks and features of an old ground in return for a concrete box. I was not in Oz when the Weagles went from Subiaco  to the Optus but it would have been different, very much.  It's more about the history in that stadium than anything else and all those dreams of your teams success borne out on the pitch either broken or realised but all memories enshrined in an old ground.  

Have you been to the Optus since? Looking at pictures of Subiaco it looks like it holds a lot of character, I was really impressed by the Optus though

[palacejohn]

A lot of Crystal Palace fans seem to think that as long as Roy Hodgson is manager we will continue to be a Premier League club. It doesn’t bother them that we are by far the most boring and negative team in the league. I for one am embarrassed every time we are on TV to think that we are being watched all over the world. Roy needs to go and we need to get in someone who can get us playing attractive football again and bringing some of the youngsters through. Nobody who actually goes to the games can enjoy the way we play. That is far more important to me than trying to churn out a 0-0 or defending for 90 minutes and then nicking a 1-0 by catching the opposition on the break.

[Smiley Culture]

Oh god, I miss attending live football. That’s my takeaway from this pandemic. I have struggled to watch much football on tv since this season started. The novelty of behind closed doors games and Premier League games being on, what feels like, every single day has just been a bit much, for me. 

I genuinely think there’s not a lot I dislike about a matchday. I like the planning of pubs, I like the train journey and standing at Euston or Kings Cross and seeing other football fans there. I like talking rubbish on the way there, the pubs, sticking a paper bet on, getting to your seat, watching a game, a quick half time drink and then the post match analysis as you walk back to the station or have an extra drink to let the crowds die down. 

I also quite like the ease of non-league football nearby. I can decide as late as 2.30 and still make kick-off, without any issues. It was a bit of a god send in the summer months being able to go to football with what was going on elsewhere. Being able to get home in fifteen minutes and not having an issue with parking is also nice. 

[Danny]

37 minutes ago, palacejohn said:

A lot of Crystal Palace fans seem to think that as long as Roy Hodgson is manager we will continue to be a Premier League club. It doesn’t bother them that we are by far the most boring and negative team in the league. I for one am embarrassed every time we are on TV to think that we are being watched all over the world. Roy needs to go and we need to get in someone who can get us playing attractive football again and bringing some of the youngsters through. Nobody who actually goes to the games can enjoy the way we play. That is far more important to me than trying to churn out a 0-0 or defending for 90 minutes and then nicking a 1-0 by catching the opposition on the break.

Not just me that says it @The Palace Fan

[Pyfish+]

Great question! I think I echo a lot of what has already been said but it's the entire matchday. You wake up excited about what is to come when you get to the match. You meet up with your family, friends or whoever it is that you go to the games with and perhaps go for some food or a pre-match pint. You're watching Soccer Saturday or Football Focus in the pub or on your phone to catch up with what's going on in other games that day. Then, you make your way to the stadium. You walk through the turnstiles, seeing familiar faces that you only ever see in that stadium. The atmosphere hits you as soon as you walk in. Fans singing, the lads warming up on the pitch, music blaring through the tinny speakers. And then the team lineups are announced and you get into a heated conversation with those around you about why the number 9 isn't playing today or why the manager has gone for 3 at the back. Then, of course the match starts and you get the highs and lows and that feeling of unity. In those moments, you're just one in a crowd of thousands but you feel like you're one big family. You enjoy the euphoric highs together, and the devastating lows. Half time comes and you grab a pie or whatever, you discuss the game so far and before you know it, the games back for the second half. More highs and lows, and then the final whistle blows, you clap the lads for their efforts and it's out the stadium, chatting to people as you go. You get home, turn the TV on, watch an evening kick off whilst moaning about your team on social media. 10:30pm comes and you put on MOTD and then find yourself falling asleep towards the duller matches at the end.

Yeah, I miss going to matches.

[Lucas]

Definitely the atmosphere.

I know everyone thinks their team has a brilliant atmosphere but honestly, the last game I got to attend before the pandemic was just magic.

Home to Huddersfield, local derby, packed house, bit of pre match anxiety because naturally, you always feel you have a fuck up in you being Leeds.

Then beat them 2-0 with an absolute stunner from Ayling in the 2nd minute, which when that went in, the roar gave you goosebumps. It was like all that nervous energy just released. People were going bananas.

Bare in mind, there was no VAR either so you celebrated normally then. Elland Road can be so loud in those circumstances, it really get's you what a special ground it still is.

The whole buzz around the ground after the whistle, around Bremner square and people streaming out the ground believing we were finally going to do it too, was evident. It made you feel on top of the world and pretty emotional.

I've waited for us to be back in the Premier League for 17 years. And I watch us this season, and don't get me wrong, I'm loving what we're doing, no parking of buses, just pure entertainment, and yet it's all in front of empty stadiums. It feels such a shame. It's true what they say, Football is nothing without the fans.

There are some home games where our crowd would have won us a few more points, I'm convinced of it.

Not even touched on the away days either. Winning so convincingly at the likes of Villa, Leicester in particular, that away section would have been mental. Guaranteed coming home with a throat that felt like you'd swallowed razor blades.

I'm just desperate for the atmosphere back.

[Dave]

For me, it's being there for the moments. I've seen us beat all the top six, play at Wembley, win at Wembley, beat our rivals in some dramatic encounters. A lot of modern day fans focus on style of football but i've accepted that we've had to grind hard to be in this league for eights seasons after spending eight seasons in The Championship and i'm happy to sacrifice that if it means getting the big moments we seem to get every season.

It's also important for me that the club keeps our identity and we seem to have made strides to doing that in the last 12 months. It's important to be a community club where we see players who grew up not far from SE25 like Zaha, Eze, Mitchell, Wan Bissaka etc develop. Given how difficult it's become to sign players overseas that are not full internationals and the fortunate catchment area we have, there is absolutely no excuses for us not to continue developing local(ish) talent.

Lastly, it's important for me to have players who enjoy playing for Crystal Palace,  who give 100% to the cause and connect with the fans. Mile Jedinak was from the other side of the world but he was fully immersed in to the club and gave it everything during his tenure.

 

5 hours ago, Danny said:

Not just me that says it @The Palace Fan

Focus on Barnsley.

[DeadLinesman]

2 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

For me, it's being there for the moments.

Pretty much this. I was at Old Trafford for Rooney’s overhead, Ronaldo’s free kick against Portsmouth, Beckham vs Greece etc and even the lows like the 1-4 against Liverpool. There’s nothing quite like being there.

[Dan+]

18 hours ago, Storts said:

I was going to title this what does football mean to you - but I think that’s different to the question I want to ask.

So what is the important thing to you about supporting your club, about watching football and enjoying the sport.

Ive touched on this in my posts recently but the obsession with trophies by some, and the Mourinho factor, has helped add clarity to the question 

For me the pandemic has also brought things further to light - football for me is a) about the days out, the people you meet, the time you spend with them, the sense of family and belonging. The tribalism. Football is nothing without these experiences, the highs and the lows but doing it as a community.

and b ) it’s about enjoyment. Winning isn’t enough for me, if it’s not done with a flourish, if there isn’t attacking intent and a clear style. For others it may be but I personally wouldn’t swap the last 5 years of Poch for a couple of trophies with Mourinho. Not a chance. 

Pochettino meant something to me, it’s weird, but it’s true. There was a connection there between fans and manager - a journey, a real sense of mutual understanding of what we wanted for the club. The emotion on the pitch at Ajax was all of that coming to fruition. I’m gutted we never won anything under Poch, but it doesn’t matter overall, no one can take those experiences and memories away. 

But I think everyone will be different - so what is it that really matters to you and what your football club is doing - what keeps you coming for more?

Regarding your point a), I think this season has confirmed that as much as I still avidly follow the sport, it isn't even close if you can't actually go to the games and I honestly don't think those who don't go a lot (sometimes it can't be helped) realise what they're actually missing out on. We're 3rd in the league, have quite possibly the best squad we've ever had, and I've felt very little both up or down this season simply due to the never being there, and feeling that the competition as a result is totally undermined. I don't get that happy when we win, I don't get that upset when we lose, I suppose some of that is age, but I think not actually having any proper release at games, and the days out themselves, a proper moan about certain things after a loss at the pub, proper celebrations after a win, it takes away such a huge part of the whole thing for me. It's not a TV show to me and it never will be.

Regarding b) I do totally get you there, something had gone stale under Pochettino but I think they secretly regret what they've done there, you were a team nobody really relished facing under him even if it didn't actually lead to any trophies. I cannot make my mind up totally on Mourinho, I can't tell if he needs better defenders to play a bit more expansively but recent evidence tells me that the game has just moved on a bit from how he does things. The fact he has the strong Chelsea links too, it just feels the wrong 'fit' to me, he's been badly found wanting in the past couple of months and not through new issues either. I don't mind winning by any means generally, but I'd offset it by saying you're not actually winning drawing at home to Fulham for example, games like that should be your bread and butter, restrictive tactics aren't earning you points, they're costing you. I didn't mind the way we finished in the title winning season playing more defensively and winning a lot of games 1-0 but I suppose that was the ultimate situation where you wouldn't care how you did it. I still think I just like winning games though no matter how it's done. Nobody will win boring every time.

What keeps me going for more is just simply knowing what highs can come from the whole thing. It's weird for us because I feel we've had the ultimate one that will never be topped, but I think just the fact you get things like last minute winners and whatnot, there's a feeling about it I can't really describe.

[Inverted]

I think its the kind of semi-religious elements you can get from football, which doesn't really exist for most normal people nowadays. The world has become very atomised and skeptical, and football is an escape from that.

Like, the feeling of ecstatically celebrating something with thousands of other people, unthinkingly. Or the feeling that, by sheer force of will you can make something happen together, which in theory none of you have any influence over. 

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

What @The Palace Fan & @Inverted said