An article by Wswilly3
Before I even finish this article I’m going to put my tin hat on as I can imagine the rightful indignation it could create. But anyway, here goes…
My contention is that if our site, Vital Manchester City is a fair representation of Man City fans then we are a bit of a cynical, under confident and negative lot.
We are now the richest Football Club in the World, I repeat the richest Football Club in the World and yet many of us do not seem able to get a smile on our faces and realise that we are at the start of a revolution, an incredible journey. Many of the comments are self deprecating and lack a real positive attitude – I said many as I do know that some contributors have changed their protective attitudes, built up over a lifetime of loyal support.
Let’s look at the facts. This close season we have been promised six new players at a liberal transfer outlay of over £100 million yet how may of us have got our mind round the fact that we will and SHOULD be competing for a top 4 place against teams like Arsenal, who can hardly scrape the fee for one signing together and will have to sell to do more.
Equally the situation is not hugely different at Liverpool or Everton or Fulham – yes Harry at Spurs may have some money but nothing like we have and he is already bemoaning the fact that he cannot compete with us. We are the envy of every other club in terms of our financial clout, so my first thought is that we should all start being happy about this fact for a start.
Wow, I’ve supported City for 56 years and I’ve never known us to be able to compete for world class players ever before. For many years in the 50’s and 60’s the best we could hope for was an unknown Scottish player that came from Third Lanark or Kilmarnock and after a great fanfare was inevitably totally crap. But the times they are a changin` and let’s surely recognise this.
After saying this I do realise that it is this history, this familiarity with mediocrity, this awareness that a cock-up is around the corner that becomes a bit ingrained. We have all been there and yes we have still remained loyal and trooped off to places like Oxford and York, and we have kept our sense of humour and we have learnt the hard way not to expect too much.
However my hope is that we all get out of this way of thinking and shake it off pretty quick as we are in a different position and the best way to support our team is with anticipation of success not anticipation of failure. I for one am fed up of living in the shadow of the Rags, who I heartily, heartily detest.
Why, because they have been more successful than us for far too long and it was easy for me to get a bit of an inferiority complex and be as pleased at them losing, as us winning. That’s how you think when you don’t have confidence in your own team, however loyal you are to them, and City fans are the most loyal of the lot, thank goodness.
Before I get accused of not having my feet on the ground or of being super optimistic, let me say that I am not expecting us to win the Premiership next year, or even come second – although I might be persuaded on my second bottle of wine when the heart rules the head. What I am saying is that for our team to be successful it has to have a positive mentality and believe it is going to win most games. Equally as supporters we should have a similarly positive attitude as well.
The atmosphere that is created by supporters can be a huge factor in both home and away matches. Do the team smell fear or anticipation, do we believe we will score in the last minute (like most Rag supporters) or concede in the last minute. A few months ago Robinho actually referred to City not having this winning mentality and was ignored or condemned – no he was more ignored as it wasn’t a palatable thing to say. However I believe he was right
I’m equally not asking us all to be cocky, superior or to restrict objective criticism but what I am saying is that we are in a totally new era.
Forget whether Sven Goran Ericsson was any good or not as irrelevant as arguing whether George Poyser or Les McDowell was, unless you just like arguing for the sake of it. That’s looking backwards not forwards. Equally forget whether Mark Hughes is the right manager or not, the time to ask that question is by Christmas when his signings, the most expensive team that City has ever assembled by a long chalk have had the opportunity to show their worth.
Should we expect them to do well? You betcha we should, but in the interim shouldn’t we enjoy a little time in the sun as the ‘World’s Richest Club’, who is signing up world class players or players who have starred in the Premiership and therefore should perform for us in a positive manner. Shouldn’t we recognise that we are actually in a privileged position as supporters of Manchester City for the first time I can ever remember, with the possible exception of the Mercer/Allison era.
So let’s continue to be loyal to our team, to get behind them but let’s drop any inferiority complex we might have. Let’s drop the defensive cynicism and shall we begin to believe that we are going to be successful and let’s enjoy it from the start of the revolution that is happening.
Amen.
Oh and don’t forget to drop your offerings in the box on the way out.
Let the good times roll.
Share this article
