Interesting few days again at our wonderful club.
There has been the most abysmal 45 minutes I've seen in a long time, a bizarre injury incident, some short sighted aggressive chanting, a wonderful comeback and then more injuries.
A common factor in these incidents is passion, or at times lack of passion. We demand effort, determination and passion and quite rightly. We give passion and quite brilliantly at times, but there is also the reality that sometimes this spills over and has a negative effect and sometimes its a positive, either way it needs to be handled with care.
Take Ikeme, a horror mistake yes and clearly a passionate exchange in the changing rooms and he has foolishly broken his hand, crazy
Take he fans chanting at Morgan and hunt. Passionate in the sense that they are hurting and deeply care about our club. But negative in the sense that who would fund our club if Morgan pulled out (venkys anyone ?) and secondly negative in the sense that a lesser man than hunt would not have been able to cope.
Take our league position,at times this has been made worse by a lack of passion and a lack of desire and this isn't helpful and has had a negative impact to our season.
If we Take the positives from the performances
From the players hunt, Siggy, seb etc all showed real passion, real desire and they care, this resulting in digging deep and essentially given us a chance to stay up.
From us fans, the roar, the passion and the belief we can give the players is at times immense. When we equalised on Saturday it wasn't just the players who believed, it was also us.it wasn't just the players that improved their performance, it was us. No longer playing the heroic victims, no longer self depreciating and no longer abusing the players. But being truly positive, passionate and inspiring.
So my message. Well my message is that passion can be the difference. It can save our season and it can be a truly positive catalyst to survival. On the flip it can result in tension, negativity, injuries and jeapordise the long term of our club.
So it's a natural reaction, its often rightly instinctive, but on other occasions we all (fans, players and owners) need to take a step back and think about our actions, reactions and how we want our passion to manifest itself. I want more desire yes, more heart, more belief. Ultimately it can save us, so passion yes but not if it results in damage.
Passion yes but not if it results in damage
posted on 20/3/13
In summary:
more noise from us = more passion from them
More passion from them = more noise from us
more abuse to Hunt = better performance from Hunt (oddly)
Less idiocy from them = less injuries
posted on 20/3/13
Passion is a double edged sword.
It leads players to give more than they thought they could give and to make decisions that cannot be defended when the heat of battle has cooled.
It leads fans to turn up week in and week out knowing they’re likely to leave sad, angry & disappointed and it makes them treat Hunt and Morgan how they were treated on Saturday.
It intimidates the opposition and lets them know when they have us on the ropes.
Passion can be an incredibly powerful tool to achieve your aims and it can lead to crippling pressure.
It lets you know you’re alive and it can lead you to your doom.
But when all is said and done what is a life without passion?
posted on 20/3/13
Good article Floyd. I agree with your sentiment which is passion, but it does need to be channelled correctly.
The 'passion' from the South Bank in abusing Hunt before he had even kicked a ball was not right. Whether that actually had a positive effect on Hunt to say to himself 'f-em, I'll show them' is immaterial. It was wrong!
Also, Ikeme punching the tactics board in a fit of pique and injuring his hand was also wrong.
I have long advocated that we (management, players, coaches, fans etc...) are all in this together. That's why I deplore the scapegoat mentality that some fans have at Molineux. Players make mistakes, however we all need to stick together and show passion as a group.
That is the only way that we will get out of the current situation and ultimately succeed.
posted on 20/3/13
It wasn't all of the South Bank Cyp. There are plenty of people who were in the South Bank on Saturday that we disgusted by the treatment he got.
posted on 20/3/13
Appreciate that Tatter. Just used the South Bank generically for all of those morons who did.
posted on 20/3/13
The most unbelievably part of the Ikeme story is that Saunders has got a tactics board.
posted on 20/3/13
Nobody is as passionate about this club than me. I work my heart out so that you actually have a club to support in the first place.
We won't do a Portsmouth
posted on 20/3/13
At half time Deano would be very aware they were bottom of the league, shamefully losing to the worst side there is because of a ridiculous mistake. His managerial career was embarrassingly spiraling downward so it's understandable, rather than acceptable, that he let his passion cloud his judgement which presumably led to 'handgate'.
Obviously the correct thing would be have been to calm Carl down & insist he put's it behind him & moves on... reassuring him that he's been excellent all season & that its nothing more than just one of those things that happen from time to time.
posted on 20/3/13
There were plenty of arguements and scraps breaking out in the first 70mins saturday!