dongonzalos
Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Thinking: Stayaway City fans lead into temptation - Villa Park!
13 February 2014 10:14 AM By Andy Turner
Some Coventry City fans would rather watch Aston Villa get hammered than go down to Sixfields
I know some people, friends in fact, who are missing their regular football fix so much that they are about to take desperate measures.
They’ve thought long and hard about it, even been troubled by it; perhaps woken up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, shuddering at the mere thought of what they are about to do.
And before you jump to conclusions, no it’s not a trip to Sixfields although, as fully paid-up members of the stay away crew, they did have a little wobble a few of weeks ago.
The couple in question – a man of the cloth and his good lady – were seriously thinking about going to the Walsall game, which would have been their first home fixture this season, but the weather put paid to that – divine intervention perhaps, in their moment of weakness.
These are passionate people whose Sky Blue faith is being tested by forces outside their control preventing them from going to their chosen house of Saturday worship.
They’ve had their football removed from their parish and have taken the difficult decision to join another flock albeit, at this stage at least, on a one-off basis.
It’s what most City fans would think as the unthinkable. Many would rather stick needles in their eyes than set off down the M6 on the road to perdition. Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen, they have bought tickets to the Villa!
They’re going to watch them against Mourinho’s little gee-gee next month, and who can blame them? At least the quality of one of the teams on show will be guaranteed to be of a high standard. And as shocking as the prospect of going up the Villa sounds it could, actually, prove to be a quite a cathartic experience.
Although they will be putting money into the Villa Park coffers they will, in all probability, be paying to watch them get thumped. And that, in some books, would be money well spent.
It may be a one-off at this stage, but what if they enjoy their matchday experience back in the big time? What if they go again... and again?
It may be a bit perverse but it may actually be the perfect antidote to City’s frustrating off-field stalemate; to watch Villa’s demise, to see them suffer and, ultimately, dance on the Holte End when they go down – if not this season then surely next.
But in all seriousness, it is a clear case of desperate times require desperate measures.
It may not sit well, it may go completely against the grain, but they will be seeing top-flight football for the first time since their own club dropped out in 2001 and slipped further and further away from the likelihood of that ever being a tangible prospect again.
Voting with their feet, of course, is the only voice left for the fans who continue to travel in numbers to watch their beloved team and make their plight heard.
The paper protests at The Emirates and again at Meadow Lane at the weekend spoke loud and clear at a time when the club, incredibly, continue to choose not to listen to their customers’ pleas to return home.
And why, for the sake of a bitter row over rent that has developed into the most acrimonious stone throwing exercise that has lost sight of what is important, what is right, and boiled down to bloody-minded principles and a stubborn refusal to budge.
At a time when Leicester are playing Under-21 games at the Ricoh – which must be the best surface in the country given its lack of use – City are having first and second team games postponed at Sixfields where, by all accounts, the pitch has taken a real battering in recent weeks and is likely to be in a dreadful state for the rest of the season.
If we get more rain this week, as is forecast, then Saturday’s game with Bradford will be under threat.
The reality is the club could go back this weekend. They could show willing, make a huge conciliatory gesture to their business adversaries as well as their customers, and win back thousands of fans in body at least, if not in mind.
Some will always be bitter and probably continue to protest against the owners as long as they have two s’s, an i and u in their name. But many will come flooding back, just happy to see their team return to Coventry.
Being big enough and bold enough to take that first step to overcome the distrust and animosity could open new doors to their ultimate aim of ownership, in whatever form.
If they went back and started working with the stadium rather than against it, became good tenants, then who’s to say that further down the line the council won’t be more amenable to do a deal, to reach a compromise that suits all parties.
Unfortunately the words conciliatory and compromise haven’t figured too highly in this sorry mess .
But if they did then perhaps it might stop a few more defecting to pastures new, not to mention the lost generation currently, no doubt, tossing up between Chelsea, Man City or, Heaven forbid, Villa for their next replica kit.
13 February 2014 10:14 AM By Andy Turner
Some Coventry City fans would rather watch Aston Villa get hammered than go down to Sixfields
I know some people, friends in fact, who are missing their regular football fix so much that they are about to take desperate measures.
They’ve thought long and hard about it, even been troubled by it; perhaps woken up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, shuddering at the mere thought of what they are about to do.
And before you jump to conclusions, no it’s not a trip to Sixfields although, as fully paid-up members of the stay away crew, they did have a little wobble a few of weeks ago.
The couple in question – a man of the cloth and his good lady – were seriously thinking about going to the Walsall game, which would have been their first home fixture this season, but the weather put paid to that – divine intervention perhaps, in their moment of weakness.
These are passionate people whose Sky Blue faith is being tested by forces outside their control preventing them from going to their chosen house of Saturday worship.
They’ve had their football removed from their parish and have taken the difficult decision to join another flock albeit, at this stage at least, on a one-off basis.
It’s what most City fans would think as the unthinkable. Many would rather stick needles in their eyes than set off down the M6 on the road to perdition. Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen, they have bought tickets to the Villa!
They’re going to watch them against Mourinho’s little gee-gee next month, and who can blame them? At least the quality of one of the teams on show will be guaranteed to be of a high standard. And as shocking as the prospect of going up the Villa sounds it could, actually, prove to be a quite a cathartic experience.
Although they will be putting money into the Villa Park coffers they will, in all probability, be paying to watch them get thumped. And that, in some books, would be money well spent.
It may be a one-off at this stage, but what if they enjoy their matchday experience back in the big time? What if they go again... and again?
It may be a bit perverse but it may actually be the perfect antidote to City’s frustrating off-field stalemate; to watch Villa’s demise, to see them suffer and, ultimately, dance on the Holte End when they go down – if not this season then surely next.
But in all seriousness, it is a clear case of desperate times require desperate measures.
It may not sit well, it may go completely against the grain, but they will be seeing top-flight football for the first time since their own club dropped out in 2001 and slipped further and further away from the likelihood of that ever being a tangible prospect again.
Voting with their feet, of course, is the only voice left for the fans who continue to travel in numbers to watch their beloved team and make their plight heard.
The paper protests at The Emirates and again at Meadow Lane at the weekend spoke loud and clear at a time when the club, incredibly, continue to choose not to listen to their customers’ pleas to return home.
And why, for the sake of a bitter row over rent that has developed into the most acrimonious stone throwing exercise that has lost sight of what is important, what is right, and boiled down to bloody-minded principles and a stubborn refusal to budge.
At a time when Leicester are playing Under-21 games at the Ricoh – which must be the best surface in the country given its lack of use – City are having first and second team games postponed at Sixfields where, by all accounts, the pitch has taken a real battering in recent weeks and is likely to be in a dreadful state for the rest of the season.
If we get more rain this week, as is forecast, then Saturday’s game with Bradford will be under threat.
The reality is the club could go back this weekend. They could show willing, make a huge conciliatory gesture to their business adversaries as well as their customers, and win back thousands of fans in body at least, if not in mind.
Some will always be bitter and probably continue to protest against the owners as long as they have two s’s, an i and u in their name. But many will come flooding back, just happy to see their team return to Coventry.
Being big enough and bold enough to take that first step to overcome the distrust and animosity could open new doors to their ultimate aim of ownership, in whatever form.
If they went back and started working with the stadium rather than against it, became good tenants, then who’s to say that further down the line the council won’t be more amenable to do a deal, to reach a compromise that suits all parties.
Unfortunately the words conciliatory and compromise haven’t figured too highly in this sorry mess .
But if they did then perhaps it might stop a few more defecting to pastures new, not to mention the lost generation currently, no doubt, tossing up between Chelsea, Man City or, Heaven forbid, Villa for their next replica kit.
