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For these last 15 games how about as a fanbase adopting a willing suspension of disbelief and if we are not going to see no fear football let's have no fear support. Go into games thinking the team is going to win go a goal down we are going to come back. Misplaced pass, poor cross, miss an open goal, never mind we will execute the next one well or the next one. Let's try and inject one last shot of positivity into this final push to stay in the EFL.
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
Good idea who know what could happen with fan support
I'm not saying there isn't support already but negativity has been criticised, not that criticism isn't justified or surprising. Just for those last 15 games hold our noses whether it be in the ground, watching or listening in on Ifollow and focus on any positives we can in each game even if it's just a decent short pass oh and ignore the mistakes.
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
I'm not saying there isn't support already but negativity has been criticised, not that criticism isn't justified or surprising. Just for those last 15 games hold our noses whether it be in the ground, watching or listening in on Ifollow and focus on any positives we can in each game even if it's just a decent short pass oh and ignore the mistakes.
James I don't hear or see a lot of negativity. Bar a few idiots on social media who say things they would never say to your face, this messageboard is measured and there is little revolt or reaction in the stadium. No protests, no booing, no "Bentley" out campaigns. Nothing. I think people are stunned and bewildered to be honest. I am resigned to our fate now having asked that we fight for our league status back in November. There has been little fight.
Our small but loyal fan base has always been quiet. There is a good atmosphere when play hots up and we press and attack. We generally have low expectations and all we want to see a team fighting for the cause and doing its best to entertain us. We don't expect promotion as a right like the fans of so many other clubs. If we do that then the fans will show their vocal support. What will be will be
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No fear support. on 10:06 - Feb 15 with 3632 views
James I don't hear or see a lot of negativity. Bar a few idiots on social media who say things they would never say to your face, this messageboard is measured and there is little revolt or reaction in the stadium. No protests, no booing, no "Bentley" out campaigns. Nothing. I think people are stunned and bewildered to be honest. I am resigned to our fate now having asked that we fight for our league status back in November. There has been little fight.
Our small but loyal fan base has always been quiet. There is a good atmosphere when play hots up and we press and attack. We generally have low expectations and all we want to see a team fighting for the cause and doing its best to entertain us. We don't expect promotion as a right like the fans of so many other clubs. If we do that then the fans will show their vocal support. What will be will be
Bang on for me that. Is there a reason for the sudden increase in bizarre threads/posts on here? We’re turning into bury ffs.
“He was deliberately misleading the EFL”
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No fear support. on 10:21 - Feb 15 with 3590 views
Bang on for me that. Is there a reason for the sudden increase in bizarre threads/posts on here? We’re turning into bury ffs.
I'm not saying to expect promotion a new stadium and the start of a worldwide scouting network. Just to pretend we not that bad. We have players low on confidence and enthusiasm and this attitude of we are down already can't help.
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
I'm not saying to expect promotion a new stadium and the start of a worldwide scouting network. Just to pretend we not that bad. We have players low on confidence and enthusiasm and this attitude of we are down already can't help.
The thing is James, Rochdale folk are realists for the most parts and see things for what they are.
In too many games this season, we haven't turned up or turned up too late. To try to pretend otherwise would be delusional. This is the biggest Jeckyl and Hyde team I've seen, but Mr. Hyde comes to the fore too often. We are too nice, too easy and a pushover. To think that it is the crowd's responsibility to change that is @rse about tit. The crowd can cheer - 100 fans made a lot of noise last night after the goal went in and the team started playing, but to think the fans will determine our survival is wrong. In my view, it has to come from inside the players, as I posted on the Bentley era thread. It has to come every game and it has to become attritional and a battle for absolutely every ball, every yard and every point. Anything else won't do.
I'm not saying to expect promotion a new stadium and the start of a worldwide scouting network. Just to pretend we not that bad. We have players low on confidence and enthusiasm and this attitude of we are down already can't help.
James - if you think a few people singing a song at the game or people clapping along at home watching ifoller is going to resonate with these players then I’m afraid you’re deluded. They don’t care! They’re on relatively short term contracts for good money so it doesn’t matter a jot to them whether we go down.
They don’t deserve anything from the supporters after what they’ve ‘given’ (bar one or two) so they can get to fook for me. If that makes me negative then I’m fairly sure I can live with it. If it was any other club they’d not be getting the easy ride at games they’re getting now. That’s not even in dispute.
“He was deliberately misleading the EFL”
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No fear support. on 11:10 - Feb 15 with 3480 views
I'm not saying to expect promotion a new stadium and the start of a worldwide scouting network. Just to pretend we not that bad. We have players low on confidence and enthusiasm and this attitude of we are down already can't help.
James, the manager himself keeps referring to the excellent support. You're creating an issue that doesn't really exist.
When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf?
For these last 15 games how about, as a professional football squad, adopting a professional attitude and a determination to help this club retain its league status?
Works for me.
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No fear support. on 12:24 - Feb 15 with 3279 views
There was nothing wrong with the attitude of any of our players just 4 days ago, albeit more than half a season too late. The support responded, whilst leaving deflated due to the late equaliser
Last night was disappointing but not in the least surprising given our respective league positions
For me, the final, very last chance saloon comes on Saturday against another of our rivals for the drop. Replicate how we played against Northampton and the support, again, will be there. I think the game will be rather more attritional though, given the circumstances
James, the manager himself keeps referring to the excellent support. You're creating an issue that doesn't really exist.
Apologies that was never my intention. The original idea in my head was to ask the question, Does no fear football need no fear support? But wanting to avoid asking a closed question have ended up putting both feet in it.
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
Away Support has always been better at singing & banter than at home.
No secret I have been to one game this season so unfair to comment but I have read somewhere about home fans giving Eastwood stick...
I do agree with Kel though, the doom gloom has set in here a lot more recently, there are pages of match threads calling out individuals for performances.. It won't be long before we are inundated with Troll's and I told you so's...
TBH James, I do think your OP was a rally cry more than a open or closed question...
Getting behind a team is one thing but from what I read, there is not a lot of opportunities in games to do this playing tippy tappy cross & backwards passes and then frustration when it falls apart
No fear support. on 13:35 - Feb 15 by blackdogblue
Away Support has always been better at singing & banter than at home.
No secret I have been to one game this season so unfair to comment but I have read somewhere about home fans giving Eastwood stick...
I do agree with Kel though, the doom gloom has set in here a lot more recently, there are pages of match threads calling out individuals for performances.. It won't be long before we are inundated with Troll's and I told you so's...
TBH James, I do think your OP was a rally cry more than a open or closed question...
Getting behind a team is one thing but from what I read, there is not a lot of opportunities in games to do this playing tippy tappy cross & backwards passes and then frustration when it falls apart
The OP was a rally cry but it was born out of wanting to ask if no fear football requires no fear support? In the good old days I'm sure passes were misplaced, open goals missed and other mistakes made. But belief among the squad and the fans meant those mistakes didn't matter.
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
The OP was a rally cry but it was born out of wanting to ask if no fear football requires no fear support? In the good old days I'm sure passes were misplaced, open goals missed and other mistakes made. But belief among the squad and the fans meant those mistakes didn't matter.
If we had 11 Danny Lloyds in this team we wouldn't be where we are. It matters to him. You can tell. These aren't just throw away words.
If we had 11 Danny Lloyds in this team we wouldn't be where we are. It matters to him. You can tell. These aren't just throw away words.
Cracking lad and cracking interview. I get what he says about nobody going out to lose a game of football but I think the fans are more bothered that when we do it’s clear it doesn’t bother some of them given their body language. I really hope we can sign him for next season as he’s been a breath of fresh air in a dismal season.
“He was deliberately misleading the EFL”
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No fear support. on 15:11 - Feb 15 with 2832 views
The OP was a rally cry but it was born out of wanting to ask if no fear football requires no fear support? In the good old days I'm sure passes were misplaced, open goals missed and other mistakes made. But belief among the squad and the fans meant those mistakes didn't matter.
Even during the best of times people would be moaning about those misplaced passes though. You’ll always get a few, what’s surprising is how little that negativity has grown across the whole crowd. There’s very little vitriol and more of an acceptance as mentioned before.
No fear support. on 13:35 - Feb 15 by blackdogblue
Away Support has always been better at singing & banter than at home.
No secret I have been to one game this season so unfair to comment but I have read somewhere about home fans giving Eastwood stick...
I do agree with Kel though, the doom gloom has set in here a lot more recently, there are pages of match threads calling out individuals for performances.. It won't be long before we are inundated with Troll's and I told you so's...
TBH James, I do think your OP was a rally cry more than a open or closed question...
Getting behind a team is one thing but from what I read, there is not a lot of opportunities in games to do this playing tippy tappy cross & backwards passes and then frustration when it falls apart
Wouldn’t say we’re playing that football at all. It’s just poor with last week rising to average.
Think that the reason so little vitriol is around the support as suggested could well be that many of the older fans have lived with the fear and the expectation that one day it would be our turn to fall from the EFL particularly as our star has certainly been on the wane over the past 4 or 5 seasons You only have to look at all the "usual" teams we have played against season in and season out who have suffered the fate of relegation( many of them better supported and wealthier than we are) to realise that it is no surprise we are in the position we are. We were pre-season favourites with the Bookies for the drop and they don't make a living by being wrong too often. Accept they had Barrow to join us and but for their amazing run of results at the start of the season they may well have been right on that one as well. That said ,lets at least show some fight and if we are to be relegated know that the players at least gave it a go over these last 15 games.
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No fear support. on 18:23 - Feb 15 with 2548 views
Cracking lad and cracking interview. I get what he says about nobody going out to lose a game of football but I think the fans are more bothered that when we do it’s clear it doesn’t bother some of them given their body language. I really hope we can sign him for next season as he’s been a breath of fresh air in a dismal season.
Unfortunately should we be relegated Llloyd will exit and rightly so.
What hes doing is making a statement for possible potential suitors..
Good luck to the fella
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No fear support. on 16:25 - Feb 16 with 2190 views
The thing is James, Rochdale folk are realists for the most parts and see things for what they are.
In too many games this season, we haven't turned up or turned up too late. To try to pretend otherwise would be delusional. This is the biggest Jeckyl and Hyde team I've seen, but Mr. Hyde comes to the fore too often. We are too nice, too easy and a pushover. To think that it is the crowd's responsibility to change that is @rse about tit. The crowd can cheer - 100 fans made a lot of noise last night after the goal went in and the team started playing, but to think the fans will determine our survival is wrong. In my view, it has to come from inside the players, as I posted on the Bentley era thread. It has to come every game and it has to become attritional and a battle for absolutely every ball, every yard and every point. Anything else won't do.
At risk of looking even more like a fruit loop than normal, I'll reply to Shun's excellent new thread in this one, for fear of lumping this squad in the "most under-performing" annals.
It hadn't occurred to me, when I posted the above, that the perception might be that this could be considered an underperforming bunch, so allow me to elucidate my views further.
Firstly, I agree with the widely accepted view that this squad has little first team threat, consisting of a largely toothless attack, a void in midfield, a suspect defence, 2 keepers who now have nerves shot to pieces, our strength in depth is horrific which all but prevents any kind of plan B most of the time and more often than not, we put up as much resistance as wet tissue.
Overlaid on this background, we have serially "spotty" players. EEL II isn't the EEL we had first time around. Swiss-army Jimmy is a country mile off his best. Quigs came in and looked like he'd do a job for us. He's starting to look a little more like the pre-injury Quigs who first arrived and still might yet? Rodney had a spell of scoring a few and now doesn't see the field (could be injured)? Dodgson looked really good when he first arrived, but was beaten like a drum a couple of times vs Orient. Graham looked like he was carving out a niche in the first team and has now disappeared (again he might be injured, but has he regressed)? Then we have the "curates eggs" as I refer to them. Kelly, Ibbi and Ball. When playing well, all look good. Ibbi has speed to burn, but his final ball is dire, he trips over the ball and seems to be drawn to dead ends like a moth to light. Ball looks good in attack on occasions, but too often drifts out of games, has no physical presence for such a big fella and gives the ball away too much. Kelly can put the ball in the top corner from a free kick and pick a perfect pass, but he gives the ball away so often you'd think he played for the opposition midfield sometimes. Our defence, on occasions, has also looked at least competent, with players marking and throwing their bodies in the way to defend with last gasp challenges but most of the time, teams know if they keep bombarding our box, we'll part like the dead sea eventually and concede.
Then there's putting players where they belong. I won't dwell on that - it's been done to death and I do acknowledge that Doney would never been such a prolific scorer with Hendo if Hilly hadn't put him in position to do so, but the overwhelming feeling is that EBJ is still looking for his best X1, still shuffling the pieces around to find it (including square pegs in round holes) and still making subs way too late to affect games positively, all of which have made the walls of the hole we find ourselves in a lot steeper than they should have been. Don't even get me started on the on-field leadership.
The final piece of the jigsaw is L2 itself. We've been treated to some proper dross this year and it hasn't always been dished up by Dale. In a league where we got 3 points against Bradford, more or less kept pace with the Orient on Tuesday in the 2nd half and have had some other half decent performances in other halves of matches, I'm still not convinced we are one of the two direst teams in this division - just that for most of the season we've played like one.
I'm a fan, so I also accept that my blue-tinted glasses also get the better of me too often and I tend more towards optimism than pessimism by nature, with a view that things will always work out in the end. This has been tested beyond breaking point this season though. There is a point where all the potential in the world is just potential if it is never realised. All the good performances, individually, as a team, for a half or for an entire 90 minutes suggest we shouldn't be where we are to me. But they are never built upon or repeated with any consistency. On balance, therefore, I've decided I probably have quite a bit of fools gold if anyone needs any?
If we had 11 Danny Lloyds in this team we wouldn't be where we are. It matters to him. You can tell. These aren't just throw away words.
A shoe in for player of the season, not that he's had much competition but easily the best we've got and the hardest working. He cares, he gets it and unlike a few players, it matters to him.
At risk of looking even more like a fruit loop than normal, I'll reply to Shun's excellent new thread in this one, for fear of lumping this squad in the "most under-performing" annals.
It hadn't occurred to me, when I posted the above, that the perception might be that this could be considered an underperforming bunch, so allow me to elucidate my views further.
Firstly, I agree with the widely accepted view that this squad has little first team threat, consisting of a largely toothless attack, a void in midfield, a suspect defence, 2 keepers who now have nerves shot to pieces, our strength in depth is horrific which all but prevents any kind of plan B most of the time and more often than not, we put up as much resistance as wet tissue.
Overlaid on this background, we have serially "spotty" players. EEL II isn't the EEL we had first time around. Swiss-army Jimmy is a country mile off his best. Quigs came in and looked like he'd do a job for us. He's starting to look a little more like the pre-injury Quigs who first arrived and still might yet? Rodney had a spell of scoring a few and now doesn't see the field (could be injured)? Dodgson looked really good when he first arrived, but was beaten like a drum a couple of times vs Orient. Graham looked like he was carving out a niche in the first team and has now disappeared (again he might be injured, but has he regressed)? Then we have the "curates eggs" as I refer to them. Kelly, Ibbi and Ball. When playing well, all look good. Ibbi has speed to burn, but his final ball is dire, he trips over the ball and seems to be drawn to dead ends like a moth to light. Ball looks good in attack on occasions, but too often drifts out of games, has no physical presence for such a big fella and gives the ball away too much. Kelly can put the ball in the top corner from a free kick and pick a perfect pass, but he gives the ball away so often you'd think he played for the opposition midfield sometimes. Our defence, on occasions, has also looked at least competent, with players marking and throwing their bodies in the way to defend with last gasp challenges but most of the time, teams know if they keep bombarding our box, we'll part like the dead sea eventually and concede.
Then there's putting players where they belong. I won't dwell on that - it's been done to death and I do acknowledge that Doney would never been such a prolific scorer with Hendo if Hilly hadn't put him in position to do so, but the overwhelming feeling is that EBJ is still looking for his best X1, still shuffling the pieces around to find it (including square pegs in round holes) and still making subs way too late to affect games positively, all of which have made the walls of the hole we find ourselves in a lot steeper than they should have been. Don't even get me started on the on-field leadership.
The final piece of the jigsaw is L2 itself. We've been treated to some proper dross this year and it hasn't always been dished up by Dale. In a league where we got 3 points against Bradford, more or less kept pace with the Orient on Tuesday in the 2nd half and have had some other half decent performances in other halves of matches, I'm still not convinced we are one of the two direst teams in this division - just that for most of the season we've played like one.
I'm a fan, so I also accept that my blue-tinted glasses also get the better of me too often and I tend more towards optimism than pessimism by nature, with a view that things will always work out in the end. This has been tested beyond breaking point this season though. There is a point where all the potential in the world is just potential if it is never realised. All the good performances, individually, as a team, for a half or for an entire 90 minutes suggest we shouldn't be where we are to me. But they are never built upon or repeated with any consistency. On balance, therefore, I've decided I probably have quite a bit of fools gold if anyone needs any?
[Post edited 16 Feb 2023 16:30]
Your final paragraph is something I've spoken about before DL, both here and on the podcast.
Because we've seen Quigs come in and do a job, because we've seen EEL have a great previous spell on loan, because Dodgson put in a decent first couple of performances, we think there's 'potential' there.
Because we've seen Ball pop up with a few goals, because we've seen Kelly play some tremendous passes, because we've seen Odoh go on a few mazy runs, we think there's 'potential' there.
Unfortunately, in both cases, the problem is that for everything we see that make us think there may be 'potential', there are countless reasons to think there isn't potential there as for every brilliant performance or moment, there are so many poor ones and the good moments become the exceptions to the rule. Kelly might make a fantastic pass once in a while - but if he makes one good pass and five bad ones, then that's not a good footballer. At the end of the day, they're good enough to be professionals, so of course they're capable of great moments and great performances. The problem with this lot is that they're too few and far between for the players themselves to be effective, especially as a group.
As fans, we're guilty of looking desperately for shoots of hope and recovery so we will ourselves to see the best in players at times as a means of finding some hope to cling onto. I think it's why, pretty much every signing we've made this season, has looked so good to us in the first few games - we're willing them to look good because we're desperate for them to be the player that saves the season.
I watch Sunday League football every weekend and there are lads on Firgrove who are capable of doing sublime things with a football at times - but they're a million miles away from being good enough for professional football as they can't replicate that on anything near a consistent basis - and nor do they have the fitness, or the mentality, or the attitude to apply themselves at a higher level. Now I'm not comparing our team to Sunday League players, but the same principle applies that a few great moments don't necessarily make them a player underperforming their potential, they make them players who may have the technical ability to do great things - but not the consistency, or mentality, or application, or whatever it may be. Unfortunately, that's the category that the majority of our players fall into for me.
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