difference of attitude with long timers and permiership years fans

[TonyGilroy]

I really don't think I "endured" the 33 years out of the top flight.

FFC is my club and going to football is a big part of my leisure life but it's not MY LIFE - it's a distraction from the worldly cares, troubles and responsibilities we all have. I like going to football and fixating on everything about the club but at the end of the day it really doesn't matter and for me that's a big part of the attraction.

I don't think you can appreciate the good times without experiencing the bad but the crucial thing about supporting a football club is that everything that happens is completely outside your control.

I want us to stay up and I want Mr Khan to spend HIS money but neither of those things are certain to happen and if they don't I'll be putting up with things as they are but hoping for better.

If you only want success FFC really isn't the club for you.

[Lighthouse]

As ever there is a middle ground in middle Earth where the Hobbit Fulham team play. But we don't need to spend to bankrupt ourselves but we did need to spend to improve. By not spending we are slowly dying. There is that middle ground.

As ever there is a middle ground between success and failure. Success for Fulham is what we had for thirteen years and should have improved upon. But failure is what we have and we created it. Everything is a gamble but sustainability is stagnation in life and sport. We are more likely now to do a Leeds or Portsmouth chasing what we had when we should have invested to keep and improve where we were. We would have spent far less then than we will have to now.

[premFlem]

As ever there is a middle ground in middle Earth where the Hobbit Fulham team play. But we don't need to spend to bankrupt ourselves but we did need to spend to improve. By not spending we are slowly dying. There is that middle ground.

As ever there is a middle ground between success and failure. Success for Fulham is what we had for thirteen years and should have improved upon. But failure is what we have and we created it. Everything is a gamble but sustainability is stagnation in life and sport. We are more likely now to do a Leeds or Portsmouth chasing what we had when we should have invested to keep and improve where we were. We would have spent far less then than we will have to now.

+1  I also think Jol was brought in with promises of cheap survival.
  I think if there's something we all should have learned from this is that there's no cheap survival .

[Peabody]

Thinking back, for me, it just was'nt an issue when we were relegated and that was a few times, starting in 1952 ang going through the 70's, 80's and 90's. But the lowest I ever felt was'nt what happened on the pitch, it was the Bulstrade period, because that episode proved just much trouble we were in. Luckily, we some supporters that had the balls to stand up and be counted. 

So, my biggest fear is not relegation, it is the fear that we fall into the hands of people like Bulstrode and Clay.

[Holders]

As ever there is a middle ground in middle Earth where the Hobbit Fulham team play. But we don't need to spend to bankrupt ourselves but we did need to spend to improve. By not spending we are slowly dying. There is that middle ground.

As ever there is a middle ground between success and failure. Success for Fulham is what we had for thirteen years and should have improved upon. But failure is what we have and we created it. Everything is a gamble but sustainability is stagnation in life and sport. We are more likely now to do a Leeds or Portsmouth chasing what we had when we should have invested to keep and improve where we were. We would have spent far less then than we will have to now.

That would be our elf players, then.

[Harold Shand]

There's actually 3 groups of fans.

The die-hards who stayed through thick & thin.

The newer & younger group who have only known the Premier league.

Then the fans from the 60's who deserted us in their droves in the 70's, 80's & 90's. who came back to Fulham

[Berserker]

Personally if we are talking types of fans and LOTR/Hobbits I would like to be Legolas

[jarv]

I enjoyed the 60s. I became a supporter after one match. I was 12 (I think) and saw Johnny Haynes play for the first time. I couldn't wait to return and watch him again. I was a JH fan first. After a few games, Fulham were stuck with me.
Later in the sixties and through the 70s I was playing every Saturday but I would go to a match at EVERY opportunity. That 70s 2nd division team was magical (and comical at times). Mullery, Moore, Best Marsh, Mitchell, Strong, Conway, Barrett.......etc. Highly entertaining stuff.
I did not attend so much in the 80s, then I moved to USA where I could get no news of Fulham whatsoever....until the premier league and games on tv.
As far as the difference in attitude, I don't think so. We all support Fulham. However, it will be interesting to see how many newer supporters stick around if we go down.

[MasterHaynes]

I've been supporting Fulham since 67, watching managers come and go seeing them spend big(Robson & Sanchez) and get us relegated and others spend next to nothing and achieve success(Dodgin, Stock,Adams, Hodgson). Spending doesn't necessarily equate to success, look at Roy's team not much expenditure there but it was a pleasure to watch the team with a degree of expectation we would win most home games and occasionally roll over one of the big 4. The cup run was the envy of all other clubs fans outside the big 4(maybe even some of them).

If a manager can build a team, instill a team spirit and school the players in a system which exploits the players strength then success can be achieved and supporters buy into the club and its ethos. I think Roy re-engaged Fulham with its supporters after the Coleman and Sanchez years

Agreed we need to spend wisely, develop our own players and sell to highest bidder,  accepting the fact that Fulham have always needed to sell their top players (even before bosman and players freedom of contracts).

So what is success? to me its going to watch Fulham play good football with optimism, grounded on current performance that we can beat any team on our day, anything else is a plus which would be gratefully accepted.

I just have a feeling about Felix, from they way he has gone about his work engaging with fans and players, his straight forward manner with the press that he could bring the same qualities that Roy brought to Fulham. He built a team Wolfsburg , not full of stars but good players and won the Bundesliga. I'm not expecting a repeat but think we are at the beginning of a journey that good turn out to be a very enjoyable ride.

[jms]

I really don't think I "endured" the 33 years out of the top flight.

FFC is my club and going to football is a big part of my leisure life but it's not MY LIFE - it's a distraction from the worldly cares, troubles and responsibilities we all have. I like going to football and fixating on everything about the club but at the end of the day it really doesn't matter and for me that's a big part of the attraction.

I don't think you can appreciate the good times without experiencing the bad but the crucial thing about supporting a football club is that everything that happens is completely outside your control.

I want us to stay up and I want Mr Khan to spend HIS money but neither of those things are certain to happen and if they don't I'll be putting up with things as they are but hoping for better.

If you only want success FFC really isn't the club for you.

:plus one:
How perfectly expressed. I have watched the whites since 1959, aged 10.....they are the only football team for me. What will be will be.

[Macedo]

Thinking back, for me, it just was'nt an issue when we were relegated and that was a few times, starting in 1952 ang going through the 70's, 80's and 90's. But the lowest I ever felt was'nt what happened on the pitch, it was the Bulstrade period, because that episode proved just much trouble we were in. Luckily, we some supporters that had the balls to stand up and be counted.  

So, my biggest fear is not relegation, it is the fear that we fall into the hands of people like Bulstrode and Clay.

Correct..Well Said..

[Logicalman]

I enjoyed the 60s. I became a supporter after one match. I was 12 (I think) and saw Johnny Haynes play for the first time. I couldn't wait to return and watch him again. I was a JH fan first. After a few games, Fulham were stuck with me.
Later in the sixties and through the 70s I was playing every Saturday but I would go to a match at EVERY opportunity. That 70s 2nd division team was magical (and comical at times). Mullery, Moore, Best Marsh, Mitchell, Strong, Conway, Barrett.......etc. Highly entertaining stuff.
I did not attend so much in the 80s, then I moved to USA where I could get no news of Fulham whatsoever....until the premier league and games on tv.
As far as the difference in attitude, I don't think so. We all support Fulham. However, it will be interesting to see how many newer supporters stick around if we go down.

I think that sums up my progress as well. I recall going so regularly (even if I couldn't afford to get in, waiting at the Hammy end until nearly Half-Time and the exit gates often opened a little) from the early 60's up until the very late 70's, when I got married and moved out of London, but still attended whenever I got the opportunity, no matter where we were. Moving to the US brought a deeper sense of love for the club, as not having the opportunity to attend is very different from just not attending.

Those 70's were very magical, it was as though we cared less about the success and getting promoted than just having a good time, it was in those times we saw Pele and Eusebio visit the Cottage, and along with seeing Haynes play years beforehand, and then Best, Marsh, et al afterwards, memories were made that stick fondly as others fade. As for the 'newbies' joining the fanbase, I have little doubt the vast majority of them will stick around should relegation come calling, as once you become a Fulham fan, success is not the highest priority any longer, its just becoming one of those special few that means the most.