Well folks the dust has settled - we are back at the Ricoh - the fans are in a frenzy - expectations are high and people now have smiley faces.
Many of my cynical friends/family etc openly criticised me personally during the last 12 months stating that all the silly marches/banners/petitions etc would not sway the dreaded SISU movement arriving at a "return to the Ricoh" agreement.
I strongly beg to differ - but let us look at the facts:
* numerous fans forums
* two memorable 7,000+ fan marches into Broadgate
* Jimmy's Hill stand off at sixfields
* 90% fan boycott of Sixfields
* SISU London offices fan representation
* CET encouragement
* excellent pressure/organisation from Sk Blues Trust
* constant rapport and support from our Sky Blues Talk forum
* individual fan support through our local paper
There are more obviously
So the question is did all of this really play a significant part in the "final solution" or would it still have happened had we remained belly up with just token resistance ???
Thoughts ???
Just my opinion, and it's not worth much:
I believe the lost legal cases had the most with the club's owners finally wising up and seeking a return to Ricoh.
I do believe, however, that the protests were effective in that they kept a sizable portion of the City fanbase engaged with each other and to simply show that there was a passion. Additionally, the outreach from other clubs' fans during the ordeal should be prominant in everyone's thoughts moving forward. When all is said and done, the solidarity shown between supporters groups of Coventry City, Cardiff City, Hull CITY, among many others was not only encouraging but inspiring that the focus of football is the community.
Did all the protests force SISU FC back to the Ricoh? Maybe, maybe not... But, it did prove that there is a fire in the belly of the Sky Blue Army.