I admire your attitude but I think we’ve been a bit too gracious for years to be honest. And all we’ve got from it is to be subjected to a level of bile way out of proportion to anything we’ve ever done. Read any City thread in a national paper and it’s infested by people saying ‘soulless, no fans, horrible cheating club’…don’t see any other club getting this level of stick, clubs with far more chequered histories and nastier pasts than ours.
My attitude now is defend the club at all costs and apologise for absolutely nothing. Discussions about what the club might or might not be getting right are strictly between blues. ‘Outside the house’ I won’t be conceding anything. The fact we went from being liked as failures to hated as successes tells me that other fans opinions are fickle and shallow and as such mean jackshit.
My kids keep me informed on what’s happening at other clubs but I don’t seek it out. I try and watch as little news as possible these days because so much of it is manipulative. My interest in football is about seeing my team fight for my city. I can enjoy a game of football that we’re not in but it’s not going to stay with me. Couldn’t really give a fuck who is in or out at Southampton, not my business, so it irritates me that other fans want to involve themselves in ours. For years I simply haven’t cared enough about other teams to feel like I actually ‘hate’ their supporters, but the feeling that the world would see City destroyed has got my blood up.
