Others point out that mass boycotts hit the team we support and those with whom we sympathise the most, other fans and players. Also true. The problem is that disorganisation in the anti-Knighton alliance plays into his hands but this disorganisationand disagreement is a fact of life. Put this in the wider world and we have other things to consider.However hard done to we reckon we are there are otherclubs and supporters out there making the same claims andgetting some of the limited media attention. The medialove stories and events. Things that are so obvious andself explanatory that they write half an article beforethe journalist in question really has to start digging.This is not an insult aimed at the media, just a fact oflife. Everyone of us who writes for a living has to dealwith a world in which our work competes for space and attention and succeeds when it makes an impact. So, if CCUIST, or any part of the loose anti-FGB coalition that has been in action for a few years is going to make a major impact it won't be from the worthy and important fund raising of a golf tournament. We have to be aware of a few things. The Oxford team that shuffled, scrapped and ran around in about the same combination of disorganisation and inspiration as us in late October did so in front of 7,500 fans. Their fanbase and pride are suffering badly at the moment, my mate talked bigger crowds and better days throughout the match. That crowd was, roughly, what we managed on StJimmy's day. We need to consider this fact. What it tells us is that other teams suffer in the same way and, looked at by the national media, some of them are bigger news than us. Bigger news because they have bigger support. Publicity for our cause is good. National publicity is the best of all. At this level we get attention from everyone from the FA to parliament and the national press. It's all gone a little quiet on this front at the moment. One fanin a deckchair outside the ground as a match of genuine importance played itself out to little effect inside got some national television coverage. The truth is, stunts work. They work because people wake up, understand and, in some cases, come along and help. Fans up and down the country with grudges against chairmen can chant, complain and generally cry into their beer and nothing happens.Oxford are lower than they have a right to be, a few years ago Brighton were in the same situation. Lincoln City had jitters a while ago and now, for better orworse, have fans running their club. Budgets may continue to be a problem but at least they don't think that some fat git is lying through his teeth as he struggles toline his own pocket and use the last remnants of his fast fading power base to haul his crumbling empire out of the rising shit. If one fan can make national television it is time we all did something on a similar scale. That's why, despite all the misgivings and uncertainties that have gone with the debates about CCUIST's work to get a foothold in running the club, I'm still prepared to stand up and be counted with them. Their compromise option between outright boycott and no action seems to me to be the best possibility of making a point and not harming our team. A one match boycott followed by a mass turnout. If loads of us stick to it the financial effect on the club should be to provide the same income they would have seen over two normal games. Perhaps even a little higher. Moreimportantly, it is more publicity for the cause, areminder to anyone from the local MP to the nationalpress that we've still got a problem and still got thepassion to fight and it is doing something. That last point alone takes us away from a pit of total despair. If anything can shake the present regime it is the thought that the people who supply the income are capable oforganisation and mass action. Fan power is still power after all, but only when we do something with it. Depressed me, nah! Forgive me for banging on about music again but it's worth remembering the words of John Lydon, on the message board of this very site a few weeks ago."Anger is an energy." See you at the mass turnout. Email Neil @ |
