Exeter Blue I am here said:
gordondaviesmoustache said:
When you think of where we've come from and where we find ourselves and factor in the fact that it was never going to be an entirely smooth ride, it would be astonishing if there weren't tensions between our supporters along the way.
This is especially the case when you consider that we've always bickered as fans and our support base has always seemed, to me at least, to be a mixture of those expecting the worst and those hoping for the best.
Those factors were always going to throw up some who were grateful for whatever came our way and others whose expectations would rise in direct correlation with the money invested.
In most given situations in life the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle and this situation is no exception. We cannot expunge from our memory banks where we've come from. It defines us as fans and as a club. It is a remarkable story and one which we, as supporters, played our part. Without our steadfast support the club, especially in the late 90's, would not find itself where it is today. So those that say York away is not relevant are wholly wrong. The day a couple who win the lottery stop telling each other how fortunate they are to find themselves where they are, is a day that something dies inside them. York away is relevant, because it should always give us a sense of perspective of who we are.
But it can't go on defining our expectations for ever. It is right that supporters get pissed off when the team doesn't perform to anything like its potential, just as the lottery winning couple shouldn't be expected to endure the same standard of hotels and restaurants as they did before they had their good fortune - but they shouldn't be spoilt arseholes about it when things go wrong either. In fact you would hope that their sense of grounding should help them accept that sometimes in life things don't always go your way.
I guess a lot of the points I've made are obvious ones, but the reality is that it is unreasonable to expect rich people to live in the same shoes that they did when they were poor, but it's equally wrong for them to forget where they came from in the first place.
That sense of perspective from both sides in this debate at times wouldn't go amiss.
Good post GDM, although I would argue that whilst our experiences of not just York, but Lincoln, Halifax, Shrewsbury and 35 years of winning fuck all, have given City fans a phlegmatism and humility lacking in some of our well known rivals, in terms of where we're at now York is as much a drag chain as it is a mental means of keeping our feet on the ground. In that respect I can't see its relevance at all, and its constant introduction into any debate on this site that involves even mild criticism of the current manager or team, is an epic irritant
When I refer to York away, like many other I imagine, I use it as a metaphor, as you are correct there were many other (un)forgettable milestones along the way. You've listed a few that predate December 1998, but there were a several (although not as many) after. The 2000/1 season was pretty depressing, as was the entire Pearce era, for example.
York is significant for what it represents rather than what it actually was and what it represents is the turning point (or thereabouts, as that is a matter for debate) in an incredible narrative which has now found us debating whether we prefer Mancini or Mourinho to manage our club. If you take a step back that is truly astonishing.
When I was stood away at, for example, Fulham, Bournemouth, Wycombe and Lincoln (not York, I must have been the only one!) that season watching my football club seemingly die, I would have laughed if someone had told me we'd be seen as one of the major clubs in Europe a decade and a half later. I would have done almost anything for it to be true.
I try and remind myself of that sometimes when the upward march of or our club isn't an entirely seamless one. If that means I don't have the requisite "winning mentality" required of our support today, then so be it, but I'm not yet prepared to entirely depart from the notion that even if we finish second this term and win the Cup, it's still been a great season.
I'm sure in years to come my feelings in that regard could change, human nature being what it is, but I'm not quite ready to forget that guy stood on the terrace at Sincil Bank, praying for a miracle, that eventually, unbelievably came.
