Our Home Crowd - Asset Or Liability?

[RickMcD]

Wonder when the Supporters Buses wid have to leave.

http://www.unst.org/football/2009/index.html

Pretty sure there's an overnight ferry from Aberdeen. Sit in the bar all night. Bluto could probably arrange it. For a small fee of course.

[RickMcD]

Ban the riff raff and Oaksoft and all will be well.

Are you really suggesting Oaky ain't riff raff?

[bluto]

Pretty sure there's an overnight ferry from Aberdeen. Sit in the bar all night. Bluto could probably arrange it. For a small fee of course.

Dani Bongo likely to be MUCH more knowledgeable than me.

Unst is kinda quiet, (no pub) but I widnae mind going back there, at all.

I did look at doing bus tours to include Shetland, but pointless taking a bus to Shet. They have their own busses. Too far and too long to make it a worthwhile or easy journey.

I do Orkney, 60 or 75 minutes to cross with a bus. Not so bad. (And mibbe next summer, 30 Gills Bay to Burwick).

I like Orkney a lot, which is handy, having spent five weeks there thisSummer, and...

Cos I've just won 5 nights in luxury accommodation, with local Guide and free Ferry crossings to... Bloody Orkney.

Just got home on Saturday night and I'll be back there on... Saturday night..... Sigh...

Eta: correction.

Things have changed. Since I was last on Unst.

http://www.valhallabrewery.co.uk/web/

Edited October 6, 2014 by bluto

[Buffs]

Look at the stats of home v away. Same manager, virtually same players. The 'random' factor is the venue I.e. home or away. Away we perform much better. Why? Because the players are under greater pressure from certain vociferous fans who are all too ready to condemn rather than support. I feel this is also an image we have - hypercritical - that may deter players from signing for our club knowing that any mistake, error will result in verbals from the stands. It is part of the human psyche that we respond to praise and encouragement even though things may not be going to well.

It's not just a St Mirren thing. Every ground is the same when things on the pitch aren't good. I have a Killie supporting mate and when it was a shitfest at Rugby Park last season, he said that the abuse from the stands was horrendous.

[RickMcD]

Dani Bongo likely to be MUCH more knowledgeable than me.

Unst is kinda quiet, (no pub) but I widnae mind going back there, at all.

I did look at doing bus tours to include Shetland, but pointless taking a bus to Shet. They have their own busses. Too far and too long to make it a worthwhile or easy journey.

I do Orkney, 60 or 75 minutes to cross with a bus. Not so bad. (And mibbe next summer, 30 Gills Bay to Burwick).

I like Orkney a lot, which is handy, having spent five weeks there thisSummer, and...

Cos I've just won 5 nights in luxury accommodation, with local Guide and free Ferry crossings to... Bloody Orkney.

Just got home on Saturday night and I'll be back there on... Saturday night..... Sigh...

Eta: correction.

Things have changed. Since I was last on Unst.

http://www.valhallabrewery.co.uk/web/

Bugger football. We could just have a piss-up in the brewery.

[dani bongo]

Bugger football. We could just have a piss-up in the brewery.

I've had a piss up in that brewery when Sonny(the owner) used an agricultural shed next to his home. We just ended up in his house drinking. Unst fc are utterly shite and we would beat them with an u12 team but it costs a fortune to get here. I get an Islander discount through Flybe which gets me 40% off the cost of flights within the UK. On Saturday it still cost me £192 to fly down to Aberdeen and another £38 on the train down to Perth.

I'm flying down again for the Inverness game in a fortnight this time down to Paisley international for about £210.

I was in Unst last week and it is a magical place and I would recommend Shetland as a holiday to anyone if you can afford to get here. There is a pub in Baltasound as well as the brewery so no shortage of refreshments.

[RickMcD]

I've had a piss up in that brewery when Sonny(the owner) used an agricultural shed next to his home. We just ended up in his house drinking. Unst fc are utterly shite and we would beat them with an u12 team but it costs a fortune to get here. I get an Islander discount through Flybe which gets me 40% off the cost of flights within the UK. On Saturday it still cost me £192 to fly down to Aberdeen and another £38 on the train down to Perth.

I'm flying down again for the Inverness game in a fortnight this time down to Paisley international for about £210.

I was in Unst last week and it is a magical place and I would recommend Shetland as a holiday to anyone if you can afford to get here. There is a pub in Baltasound as well as the brewery so no shortage of refreshments.

I've always fancied seeing Orkney and Shetland so you and Bluto are preaching to the converted where I'm concerned. You both sell it well.

You shame me talking about your fares. Because of the shorter distance I can do it for about a hundred odd quid but by the time you throw in a few beers and a ticket it's climbing. Another problem from here is travelling along with the gruesome twosomes' fans. Even idiot Gers fans still do it. They're a pain in the ass on the ferry.

Do Orkney and Shetland teams get into the Scottish Cup?

[barney]

to be fair, if our players are buckling under the pressure of playing in front of 3,500 home fans in a fairly sterile environment, then they're in the wrong profession.

[Magic Monkey]

to be fair, if our players are buckling under the pressure of playing in front of 3,500 home fans in a fairly sterile environment, then they're in the wrong profession.

But to turn that around, how much better could they perform with some encouragement? I'm in the right profession for my skills, but having someone pick holes in my performance constantly and vocally would be grating and would be detrimental to my output.

It's a bit chicken and egg, really: fans want to be given something to shout about before they shout, while footballers would probably want to be encouraged to perform before they actually have done.

On the negativity thing, it's far from unique to Saints. I read something recently about a quite acerbic atmosphere at White Hart Lane this season; Arsenal fans are criticised for being quiet; I bet Celtic Park was pretty nasty yesterday - and they're the current Champions, FFS.

But that doesn't mean that a bit of pro-active positivity wouldn't go amiss. The performance of the fans at Falkirk that time is near-folklore now and you wonder how we'd get on with that level of backing every time.

[insaintee]

Asset

[Howard Hughes in BlueSuedeShoes]

The home fans are a bunch of fúcking utterly miserable cúnts and always have been. If anything it was even worse at Love Street. How many fans do you know would chant at their own centre forward to fúck off on account of missing a couple of chances despite it being against top quality players?

Unreasonable, two-faced, hypocritical bags of shite that many times are much more help to the opposition than they are to the club they "support".

As you can tell, I'm on the fence with this one.....

[saint in exile]

The home fans are a bunch of fúcking utterly miserable cúnts and always have been. If anything it was even worse at Love Street. How many fans do you know would chant at their own centre forward to fúck off on account of missing a couple of chances despite it being against top quality players?

Unreasonable, two-faced, hypocritical bags of shite that many times are much more help to the opposition than they are to the club they "support".

As you can tell, I'm on the fence with this one.....

Sounds about right.

[BIG BEN]

Liability. No atmosphere unless something major happens. For most its just going through the motions but players hear plenty of gripes

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

Extremely glad where my season ticket seat is in the main stand as you don't hear the kind of abuse I used to hear sitting in the northbank. However last home game a well oiled hospitality guest was in full abuse mode. Everyone around me was getting pissed off.

[whydowebother]

Extremely glad where my season ticket seat is in the main stand as you don't hear the kind of abuse I used to hear sitting in the northbank. However last home game a well oiled hospitality guest was in full abuse mode. Everyone around me was getting pissed off.

Aye , but Tommy is allowed over in the main stand area

[iTony]

Are you really suggesting Oaky ain't riff raff?

Yeah! I don't actually think Oaksoft is "riff raff" as such. More misunderstood I'd say. I bet in person he's as quiet as a house mouse.

[beyond our ken]

As I'm sure you all know, we have lost all 4 of our home league games this season, scoring only once in the process. All 7 of our points and 7 of our 8 goals have came on the road.

Is this a coincidence? Or is our home crowd playing a part in the teams poor home form?

We have such a young team, and as anyone who has ever been to a home game will know, it doesn't take much for the Paisley punters to get on our players backs. It isn't an easy place to play for an experienced player when things aren't going well, never mind a youngster.

I personally think our players seem to play with more confidence and freedom on the road. In contrast, they seem to play with a bit of fear and reticence at home.

We now have two important home games coming up - ICT then Ross County - and we really need to pick up more points. In these games, let's be patient with our young players and not get on their back so quickly.

Let's get right behind the team from the start. If we do I'm sure they will reward us with two big performances and hopefully at least one home win.

If that is true then the players lack professionalism and desire, they need to learn to cope with the pressure of the game and our stadium is far from intmimidating even when full. True there are some young players in the team, but it's hardly a primary age side. I dont think the crowd are putting particular presure on the team

[Froggie]

At the last home game, where we lost yet again, the crowd was rather pathetic in the home end. I put it down to very bad form and the decision to charge £25 to watch an almost guaranteed defeat. How do you tempt fans back in these circumstances ?

Lets face it, since the move to the new ground, its been pretty dire results since day one, with the odd exception. Hope it can change in the future.

[Vambo57]

^^^^^^^

That last sentence is MINCE!

[Froggie]

^^^^^^^

That last sentence is MINCE!

No one asked for your comment, sir.

[Howard Hughes in BlueSuedeShoes]

If that is true then the players lack professionalism and desire, they need to learn to cope with the pressure of the game and our stadium is far from intmimidating even when full. True there are some young players in the team, but it's hardly a primary age side. I dont think the crowd are putting particular presure on the team

So you think that fans chanting "what a load of rubbish" will only affect players whose mentality is not up to standard....?

[pod]

FFS! Blame the customers!

The only liability is the fecking manager!

Tommy Craig must go!

Who happen to be the supporters. Who apparently support the team more away from home more than they do at home.

So lets get behind the team from the onset.

[TopCat]

Theres so little between most of the league that the tiniest of advantages can be the difference. A supportive and noisy home support may only add 1% to a players performance level, but that 1% can win you games.

Example, a young player could receive the ball and have a choice to either run at an opponent or play a safe pass backwards. If he's got it in the back of his mind that running at the opponent and losing the ball will result in a tirade of personal abuse from his home fans - as has happened at SMP - he will be more likely to take the safe option.

Away from home where the boo boys are out of ear shot, he is more likely to get his head down and go at the opposition player. Look at Ross Caldwell's run for our winning goal on Saturday. Ross seems a confident guy so I don't think he would be put off by our boo boys, but that's an example of a young player having the confidence to get his head down and drive at a defence, and it won us the game.

I don't think this 'boo boy' issue has got better or worse in my time supporting St Mirren incidentally. I remember the abuse Gary Bowman and other Saints players use to get from the North Bank.

I do think that this years side is being effected more by it than other more experienced teams we've had though. Hopefully at least some fans bite their tongue before getting on our youngsters backs in the coming weeks.

That, along with the introduction of our singing section, and St Mirren Park might actually become a nice place to play!

[iTony]

Theres so little between most of the league that the tiniest of advantages can be the difference. A supportive and noisy home support may only add 1% to a players performance level, but that 1% can win you games.

Example, a young player could receive the ball and have a choice to either run at an opponent or play a safe pass backwards. If he's got it in the back of his mind that running at the opponent and losing the ball will result in a tirade of personal abuse from his home fans - as has happened at SMP - he will be more likely to take the safe option.

Away from home where the boo boys are out of ear shot, he is more likely to get his head down and go at the opposition player. Look at Ross Caldwell's run for our winning goal on Saturday. Ross seems a confident guy so I don't think he would be put off by our boo boys, but that's an example of a young player having the confidence to get his head down and drive at a defence, and it won us the game.

I don't think this 'boo boy' issue has got better or worse in my time supporting St Mirren incidentally. I remember the abuse Gary Bowman and other Saints players use to get from the North Bank.

I do think that this years side is being effected more by it than other more experienced teams we've had though. Hopefully at least some fans bite their tongue before getting on our youngsters backs in the coming weeks.

That, along with the introduction of our singing section, and St Mirren Park might actually become a nice place to play!

Great post TC.

Regarding the bit in bold, I remember zoomers who would sit beside me shouting extremely nasty stuff at Davie Elliot. I was just a youngster at the time, very young and just didn't understand why guys paid money to go in and shout abuse at one of their own players.

[Howard Hughes in BlueSuedeShoes]

Friend of mine took his son to his first Saints game last season. Afterwards the wee fella was asked if he enjoyed it and wanted to go back. The reply was that yes he DID want to go back but next time could we sit amongst the St Mirren supporters. When informed that he just had been he asked "well why were the being nasty to the players?".