This is my first post on CL, although I have been a reader for many years ever since the last forum I posted on died. I was a season ticket holder for 10 years, but been at Uni for the last 4 years so have only been able to get to games in holidays, but this season I will be back at the Valley... (although I missed last night). Anyway enough of a lifestory....
I am slightly concerned about our signing of Ricardo Fuller. I think he is a class player, if a little past his best, and the commendation he has been receiving from Stoke fans who have gone out of their way to come on this forum to comment tells us something. (How many other players have we signed that have commanded this level of respect and love from former fans??) So my concern is the crowd expectation, and how quickly this turns to frustration that is clearly voiced. Just about every striker we have signed since Bent, who has come with any sort of reputation or expectation seems to have been the recipient of abuse from our own fans if they do not score 5 in their first 6 games! It might start with moans and growns, but these quickly get louder until people are feeling the need to shout and tell them exactly why they are useless footballers. Varney, Mcleod, Gray, Hasselbaink are four that spring to mind, and I feel all of these players were hampered by the lack of support they received from the crowd. I no Hasselbaink never looked interested, but getting abuse from the fans was never going to make him want to work any harder. And the same excuse can't be used for the stick Varney got because he worked his ass off. You might say they were all cr*p for us, but I really think that especially with strikers, the reception they get from the crowd can have a real effect on their confidence and therefore their game.
We got lucky last season that all of our strikers got off the mark in their first few games (BWP, Yann, Hayes and DNG all in their first few games), but I really think that without a pre season, and having been at the same club for 6 years it might take Fuller a while to get going, and a while to even look effective let alone score. I read one Stoke fan say he was a streaky scorer, and if fans get on his back or start moaning and groaning after 3 or 4 games if he hasn't look great, I feel like their is a risk of us having another JFH on our hands.
Finally, again talking about impatience with new signings, I saw people on the match thread last night writing things like, "Oh no not Wilson", when he was bought on last night. How have people judged his this quickly. I understand he had a bad league cup match, but give the guy a few games before we start dreading his appearance please.
Last season there were so many new players and they all bedded in so quickly that we had a very unusual satisfaction. However, in teh post Curbs era, I feel like we are waiting for signings to fail, and let them no they are failing at every given opportunity. I hope now we are back on the up people will be in a more patient mood, and give our new signings the chance to become good players for us, instead of vocally playing our part in derailing their Charlton career.
This isn't meant to be a discussion about Fuller specifically, just about our attitude towards new signings.
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I think Ricardo Fuller is a good signing though. I know Stoke fans have been highly praising him on here, but it shouldn't really take that to convince anyone.
Ricardo Fuller has spent the last six years playing in a successful team that has made the Premiership, FA Cup Final and Europa League. If anything, we have really punched above our weight to get him.
When Fat Jimmy and the other examples you mention came we were on a big downer with first the prospect of relegation and second the aftermath of relegation.
Last season a combination of Chris Powell being Chris Powell plus signings recognised as "good at this level with potential for better" engendered a feel good factor.
We've started well this time, against probable top half plus teams, so hopefully the likes of Fuller etc will be given the time they need.
Welcome to the forum by the way.
There will always be a few impatient tossers but that's life. Cant see most having any issue this season as expectations are for mid table generally.
Confidence in the manager also helps fans to have confidence in the players and give them a little more time than otherwise. We have that in abundance
It turns out they were correct and he did turn out to be something of a dead loss.....but they were never going to give the fella a chance from the word go....which is the point I'm trying to make.
New signings and players who are not involved match to match need to be given time and patience
You are always going to get a few fans who have no patience though. You don't really have to be knowledgable about football to be a fan and you can't supress people expressing their opinions, even if they are wrong.
fans being impatient make a sound
definitely in the minority but I'd suggest that due to our history we still get fans who have the Premiership mentality and can't help but to compare these guys in the shirt now to the players 5-10 years ago