We used to be known as the most intelligent fans in the game. How times have changed.
The gobshite fan base that have jumped on our bandwagon in the past few seasons are the cause but some longer term fans are also the problem. The gobshite fan base generally listen to the media and don't have an opinion of their own. This is bad enough but what makes it even worse is it has caused a new breed of fan, the superfan. To combat the media influenced idiots we've now got the exact opposite. If Benitez was playing man to man and we were all over the place looking panic stricken every corner and set piece, and the media pointed this out, there would be an exact thread saying man to man was great and the same people saying they love zonal would be saying they love man to man.
The superfan has now taken over the idiot in terms of number. You only have to read RAWK to see this. There is now an obvious police of people who jump on any comment which is in anyway negative to the manager which is to say unhealthy is understatement.
People might completely back the manager but disagree with one thing eg zonal marking, 1 man up front, Gerrard in midfield and instantly they are classed as an idiot who only listens to the media. So ironic when these people don't have an opinion of their own they just have Benitez's opinion.
You're talking absolute bullshit there Fowler.
If you honestly think there's more 'superfans' on here then idiots, then you can't fucking count. Sorry, but that's the truth. I'm not about to take a lecture on the horrible woes of superfans from someone who can't count - or if they can count, lets their own bias twist reality to the extent you have.
There is no way there are more 'superfans' than idiots on this board. No way. If that were true, every good result, the match thread would grow to inhuman proportions full of superfans blindly cheerleading the team and how great Rafa is.
Does that happen? Does it fuck.
Instead, the forum is relatively quiet while things are going well, only to absolutely explode, as it has recently. The majority of this new traffic then. What form does it take? After Villa, was the post match thread chock full of 'Superfans' going 'no worries lads, we'll still win the league, that was a fine, unlucky performance, no problems whatsoever, I love Rafa don't you?' Was it fuck.
It was chock full of people bitching, moaning, talking about how shit we are, how Rafa needs to sort 'it' straightaway - while there's at least 5 seperate groups all fixated on one issue all equally and loudly convinced that 'it' is 'the one true problem' - for some its Zonal, others it's Gerrard not being in CM, still others it's the basic existence of Lucas - plus a massive cheerleading chorus of 'I've been saying it'll all go horribly wrong since 20XX, you should have believed me - the signs were there throughout all the devastating football we've played recently, if only you'd watched with the trained eye of a died in the wool ignorant pessimist bore with a great love of saying 'i told you so'.
You're also talking utter bollocks about the types of debates people have. No-ones been shot down on this thread for doubting zonal marking. People don't get shot down for suggesting Gerrard in CM, certainly not if they explain reasons. The one person in this thread who really has been shot down was the one who got their support of man-marking, clearly and obviously, straight out of Souness' mouth. If you come on here spouting media cliches with none of your own thought backing it up then you fucking deserve to be shot down.
There is NO WAY that there are more cheerleaders on RAWK then there are pessimist moaners. That you even think that, Fowler, says a LOT about what type of mindset you have - because I have to say one thing I've really noticed about the pessimist moaners is that, just like right wing white men, they like to paint themselves as some kind of persecuted minority, though it's their voices that blare the loudest no matter what TV/Radio/Paper you watch/listen to/read.
And RAWK is one of the best - it clearly makes an effort to try and keep the tone constructive. Looking at TIA and Liverpoolway, for example, over the last season and a half has made me want to shoot myself at times.
Even on a good day, 5 of the top topics will be stuff like:
"Just how shit it lucas anyway"
"Rafa must fix problem x,y,z NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW"
"Is Rafa a fat spanish waiter, or a c**t?"
"Why can't Rafa see the obvious wisdom of what I, Fat Dave, 45 years old, unemployed, with a GCSE in metal-work, petty criminal record and severe problems with Alcohol abuse, am saying on the internet about picking his best 11 week in week out in a 4-4-2 like wot we dun in the old days wen we wuz class?"
The superfan has taken over the idiot in terms of number.
How I wish that were true, fowler. How I fucking wish. I long for the day. I'd love to come on RAWK, or listen to talkshite, or whatever, and bathe in a glow of people just singing Rafa and the team's praises. That didn't even happen after Istanbul or the FA cup though, sadly, and it certainly isn't happening now.
