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Loyalty and Limpets

S B Ingle

Thursday, December 4th, 2014

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Our game has changed but we still go
In search of good times, like lost souls
Ghosts looking for their former home
unrequited love is all we know

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Born in Norwich, I’ve supported Norwich
as a kid, teen adult – forever it seems
Still with my childlike dreams
‘One day I might see them win the FA Cup’
I’ve watched it lifted by unlikelier clubs

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Players sign on a contract, paid to play
When they’ve had enough they walk away
There’s always a better deal to be had
Fans are there watching good and bad
Born to Norwich, and we stay
Need our football club, that’s just our way

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Managers come and go, conveyor belt style
They sign, pose for photos with fixed on smile
They may not reign long but they know
They’ll end up with loads of dough
Promise, prevaricate, ultimately plateau
Until its clear its time to go
Fans talk about who we’ll get next
There must be one we haven’t tried yet
Welcoming the next man to take the test
As long as our club badge is on his chest
Non-football fans will never understand why
I’m hard-wired to be ‘City ‘Til I Die’

Notes

I wrote this after witnessing Norwich City lose 2-1 to Reading, meaning we have won one in the last 11. Not long ago, we were second in the Championship. Now we’re eight points off the top, nine points off the bottom. (AND NINE PLACES BELOW IPSWICH!!)

At the final whistle, there was prolonged booing and chanting of What a Load of Rubbish. Frustration on all sides sparked angry exchanges at the ground and, later, on Twitter, when a player said he was disappointed with the fans reaction after his five years of loyal service. He said also if it was about the money, he’d have left ages ago. When someone earns in a week what many fans earn in a year, an ordinary earner finds it difficult to accept a players ‘need’ for more money. When it suits domestic arrangements, a player can leave without a backward glance.

An ugly day such as last Saturday will not help anyone and is depressing to witness and be part of. Fans cannot be sacked, sold, swapped or loaned. The club is stuck with us. Perhaps players get the fans they deserve.

A noteworthy action in the name of sport was made by the Reading ‘keeper who placed his cricket bat behind his goal in memory of Phillip Hughes, the young cricketer whose life ended as a result of playing the game he loved.

As fans, our frustration is fuelled by our helplessness to change the situation. Players can leave, managers can be sacked, Chief Execs can move on, even grounds can be moved or rebuilt. Fans can only pay up, sing up and put up. We can never give up.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/loyalty-and-limpets/