Thu Feb 19, 2015 7:14 pm
Thursday 19th February 2015
By Scott Johnson
' Cardiff City have served up turgid football that's uninspiring and gruelling to watch but that's no reason to abandon them '
Cardiff City season ticket holder and columnist Scott Johnson implores his fellow fans not to abandon their club, despite the poor football on show
Prior to Tuesday night against Blackburn, the football Cardiff City have served up recently has been pretty turgid.
There is no point pretending otherwise, it’s been uninspiring and gruelling to watch.
Sometimes your team does not play fluid, one-touch tiki-taka stuff. You may not like it, but perhaps you just have to lump it.
They are still your team and you have to back them.
Football is not a beauty contest, it’s a results business and also cyclical. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s not.
The idea that you have to be entertained every week is a very modern phenomenon. It’s tied up with the huge sums of money passing through the game, the monstrous wages paid to players and the extortionate cost of tickets.
I don’t like it either and there will be a tipping point, but for the time being, it is what it is.
Arsenal fans boo Arsene Wenger, who has kept them competitive for 20 years, Manchester United fans boo their team playing direct, Real Madrid fans boo Gareth Bale.
It’s become the done thing, common sense sometimes goes out of the window.
Going to a football match is not like going to the cinema or the theatre. You don’t know what you’re going to get in advance and that’s part of the charm.
It’s also why betting on football is a mug’s game, things rarely go according to plan.
Teams sometimes get stuck in a rut and that is the time they need you most. It’s easy to applaud a winning side, but backing a struggling one is where supporters really earn their corn.
At the end of the day, it’s context. I put up with my football club playing in red for two and a half years because I knew they would be back in blue eventually, that common sense would prevail.
I found it unpalatable and considered walking away many times, but I’m glad I stuck it out.
I will never consider walking away though because the football is not up to my high expectations, that’s not why I support Cardiff.
It’s where I’m from and what I am. If I want world class football, I can be at home and watch Barcelona games on the TV.
That being said, Cardiff are tasked with shifting season tickets for next season. These days supporters are regarded as customers and the Cardiff City brand had been damaged.
Regaining that brand loyalty will not be easy. Cadbury recently changed their recipe and caused outrage amongst consumers.
Chocolate enthusiasts can go elsewhere whereas football fans are wedded to their clubs, but they will not be taken for a ride. Cardiff are in an vulnerable position for the first time in ages and they will have to build bridges to regain trust.
The two sides have to play their part. The club has started to interact with supporters and that should be applauded.
Sometimes clubs go too far and refund tickets for embarrassing away performances and that is not something I condone. You pay your money, you take your chances, but football fans today want and deserve a say.
But Cardiff fans have to play their part too. They may not like the current manager or the players he selects, but it’s still Cardiff City out there.
You have every right to boo, but it is essentially counter-productive in my opinion.
The truth is that Cardiff fans have probably had it too good for many years in some respects. There has been a lot of talk recently about who would make a Cardiff team of the decade and when you look at the candidates, you realise the quality that has passed through the club.
But it has not always been like this. If you think this is bad, you should have seen Cardiff 20 years ago.
Things change quickly in football and things have a way of resolving themselves. The football on offer may have been terrible until recently, but there were signs of progress against Blackburn on Tuesday.
If the poor form returns, the appropriate changes will be made and the cycle begins anew.
The goal of a football club is to win matches. Attractive football is a bonus, usually leads to wins and sells more tickets, but sometimes you have to take it one step at a time.
So ride it out, Championship or League One, Slade or no Slade, because sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth.