Chris Powell said in his latest interview on the OS:
"It's important players relate to the fans and I think that's disappeared a bit in modern-day football. A lot of fans feel that players are unapproachable, and that needs to come back."
Bang on, Chris.
Wonder if other Charlton players would come out and say that - it would go along way to reuniting players & fans again at our club.
What do the rest of you think...???
0
Comments
I was just thinking of the jeers & boos, and individual player abuse that we've often seen at The Valley this season - and the way that many of the players seem to shrink from that - and won't face the fans after.
But credit to the players that give autographs & attend fans functions, especially in their own time.
Yes, i agree with what Powell is saying, but you also have to remember its a different era, and i believe the internet has played a massive part in that. The only real liaison between fans and players years ago would of been if fans bumped into players in shops, pubs etc. By in large, you would explain pleasantaries and be friendly.
With the internet, fans can savage players with comments until their heart is content. If you think players at all clubs don't read blogs, and forums like these for feedback then you are very naive.
Despite what you think about some of them, it can't be nice or motivating to read people constantly slagging you off, and the only motivation you would get would be to prove those people wrong. Its not conducive to tightening relationships between the two groups, but i can't see what can be done as the internet is very much here to stay.
Whenever I have waited around after games with my lad so he can get autogrpahs the players have been sound apart from Hasselwank who refused to sign so my son chased across the car park until he did.
Walking past the covered end if they managed to have a good game, probably thinking "fook you, you tossers" im not going to acknowledge you. Them and us mentality but of course they get paid lots so it is only our right we should be able to sit here and slag them off!!
Its the internet phenomenon, people that would not say boo to a goose face to face, use the impersonality of e mails to be aggressive and down right rude, but you take that email to them and "decide" to discuss it and they are soon hiding under their desks quaking.
I think its irrelevant if their paid lots or very little in comparison, at the end of the day we are paying customers, we are entitled to an opinion, and the majority of the time we can only show our contentment or discontentment via the stands/booing/cheering etc. Personal abuse is another thing entirely.
Some of the things i read on here during relegation season were just downright nasty and irrelevant to their playing abilities.
I slagged him until I was blue in the face when I was about 15/16
..............
I think money is the key factor, a generation back when Chris Powell signed his first pro contract footballers would merely have been well paid individuals, and would have lived in the community. Now they are very well paid, particularly in the Premiership, and even in the CCC. That level of financial remuneration means that they can afford houses that are behind gates and they have lost the interaction with their local communities. Moreover players seem to swap clubs have more regularly and with the money on offer the incentive is there to move around several times in a career. That means that they have fewer links to the club they play for.