Lincoln City going soft? That is up to you

I’ve been away for a few days as you may have noticed, but I seem to have come back to a social media storm surrounding our SLO’s and the club going soft.

Firstly, thank you to everyone who took the time to stop by on my various social media outlets to wish me happy birthday. So far, being 40 is much the same as being 39.

I wanted to get back on the horse with a short piece about this ridiculous notion that Lincoln City have gone soft, as if we’re some sort of poster club for modern football that others are not following. There’s a train of thought that suggests we shouldn’t be welcoming Mansfield fans to the ground this week, their trip shouldn’t be pleasant and on the whole we’re some sort of soft touch. There’s so much wrong with the argument, I fear a short piece may turn into a long on.

Let’s start with the role of Supporter Liaison Officer shall we? It seems to me that Alan and his team have come in for a lot of stick recently, but I do assume those criticising realise that it is a nation wide role? The SLO isn’t something dreamed up by the club, it is an FA requirement. Some teams do it better than others, or different to others depending on your viewpoint, but we haven’t cooked it up ourselves.

When it comes to the ‘supporter experience’ I know there are a few doubters. It tends to be fans who cannot accept football is changing. It’s been changing ever since the early nineties and it continues to do so. There is an unwillingness (in my opinion) for some to accept that change as well as for some of the newer factions to accept the old guard too. Just because someone likes to have a few beers and chant songs, doesn’t make them a hooligan and it is a shame when that accusation gets made. Likewise, the families, disabled supporters and minority groups are permanent fixtures at the club and want a different experience. They shouldn’t be excluded and Lincoln City are, in my opinion, doing everything they can to accommodate everyone.

That isn’t us being too corporate, it is the changing face of football. A crowd of 9,000 will now not just be 8,500 white males and 100 women and kids. That isn’t what the game is developing into, the days of the eighties have gone, for better or for worse. 

As for us making Sincil Bank too welcoming for the away fans, surely that is down to those in the stands as much as the club’s media? Do you really believe the SLOs and media team would be allowed to do anything other than welcome travelling supporters by the FA? Those who think we’re being too soft, what is it you want from the club? You want them to tell Mansfield fans to f*ck off and too not bother coming? To direct them to the home pubs so they get a kicking, or to parking areas that don’t exist? You want them to serve cold tea, out of date Mars bars and burned pies? Ok, maybe the last one will be applicable, but they club cannot, under any circumstances, treat visiting fans with contempt. We’d get hammered by the FA.

I was at the front of the queue moaning about Forest Green last season, keeping our fans out in the rain and I believe that a club has a responsibility to treat away fans with a degree of dignity and respect, whether you like it or not. When I go away I expect certain standards and I know full well our supporters do too. When we don’t get those standards (Barnet and Stevenage spring to mind) then people kick off, fighting and arguing. I’ve been to many grounds in the last twelve months and aside from the two mentioned I have found helpful stewards, decent facilities and value for money. I expect it, so do you and don’t pretend otherwise. If you went to a ground and were forced to sit in the rain, were dealt with by rude, heavy-handed stewards and denied basic facilities, you’d kick off. I know I would. The hosting club, be it Lincoln, Mansfield or Forest Green, have to provide a proper welcome. If they don’t, you can complain. Look at Crewe, they complained for absolutely nothing at all. 

Remember Wycombe on the opening day of last season? The huge fan zone serving beer for us? What a great day that was. Are the fans moaning about us being too welcoming suggesting we shouldn’t have been afforded that courtesy? Because I’m damn sure that some of the names I’ve seen complaining were enjoying a pint or two that day. 

In saying we’ve gone soft, have you considered last time we were in the Football League there was no strict control over social media because in the main, clubs didn’t have active accounts on Twitter? The use of sites such as Twitter is something that sprung up in our absence, as are SLOs and as such I fail to see what parallels those complaining on social media are drawing? I believe wholeheartedly that had we had social media in the days of Keith, Colin and Graham the message to opposing fans would have been exactly the same. We haven’t particularly changed our approach in welcoming visiting supporters, but the methods by which the message is delivered have certainly varied.

You see, it isn’t up to the club to make Sincil Bank imposing and unwelcoming, it is up to you. The club are expected, by the FA, to welcome away fans as guests. Ok, granted the social media welcome occasionally makes it sound like we’re bringing family friends into the fold and that is a bit far, but in the main the club are doing exactly what is expected of them by the powers that be.

In the eighties it became common place for programmes to have write ups welcoming the visitors and since then it has been the norm, whether that be managers, officials or Alan on the pitch. That hasn’t changed, the manner in which the welcome is delivered has gone from printed to social media, but we have done it for years. I have a pile of programmes to the side of me, Keith and Rob Bradley welcome Doncaster in the top one. Peter Daniel welcomes Aldershot and John Schofield welcomes Walsall. In 1967 our programme for the match with Workington opens by offering a ‘hearty welcome’ to all visiting officials and fans. It is nothing new.

If we want Sincil Bank to be intimidating then don’t expect the club to break FA protocol, instead you make the noise. You make it intimidating. Gilbert Blades didn’t spray ‘this is your last chance to run’ on the stand in the eighties did he? No, the fans did. The club don’t pipe the songs in through the speakers, you sing them. As a modern football club, Lincoln City will welcome visiting supporters, but the noise and vitriol from our own fans is what makes it a proper fortress, not Alan ignoring them on the mic. We have 8,500 dedicated home fans almost every single week and any advantage we are to glean will come from them, from you and I, not from social media.

Don’t get me wrong, I think modern football has lost a certain edge, whether that is a bad thing or not is down to perception, but games in the eighties are very different to today. For instance, we get more fans than we did at the end of the eighties and through the nineties, we’re treated like human beings with no cages or heavy police presence. Is that a bad thing?

Do I hope Mansfield fans come here and feel welcome? Not especially, but I wouldn’t want it to be because our club were being petty, I want it to be the noise from our fans, the people who create a derby atmosphere and make the cauldron of Sincil Bank what it is. Then I want it to be because Danny and the lads hand out a proper hammering.

There seems to be a distrust of some of the different groups at the moment, be it the SLOs, the Supporters Board, even the 617 in some quarters. Every fan has a different approach to supporting the club, a different experience they want to have. Some feel they want to be a part of a group such as LISA, others want to come to the ground at 2.45pm after having beers with their mates on the High Street. Some want to help shape the experience from within the club and have a voice, others want to help their fellow supporters enjoy the games. Some want to organise banners and displays, others want to hire boxes and sip wine during the match. None of those groups are wrong or right, but they have as much of a right to do their thing as any of the others. Quite why one camp feels the need to dig and probe at the other is beyond me, especially when they rarely tread on each others toes. 

You want to needle someone, criticise and nibble away? Do it to the opposition fans, make Sincil Bank intimidating yourself. Don’t expect the club to stray from the guidelines but once you get into the ground the atmosphere is up to you. Banners, songs, bouncing and noise. That is what makes or breaks a derby, not a tweet from the club’s SLO or Alan ignoring fans on the mic.

Incidentally, in 2011/12 Alan and I were told by the club NOT to welcome away fans to the Bank during a game to make it more intimidating. Did it work? Of course not. Why? Because we had less than 2,000 home fans in the stadium and the 15 or so that travelled from Bath City deserved a mention for their dedication. If you don’t like Alan welcoming their supporters, chant over the top of them when he does so. The power lies with you, the Lincoln City fans.