No time for fans who don't play the endgame

Mick Dennis13 April 2012

Why do so many football spectators (you can't call them fans) leave before the end of matches? Wherever you go and whoever you watch, there are always some half-witted, half-hearted punters who can't wait to get away.

They push their way out, forcing others in their row to stand up, which forces the row behind to stand up and then the one behind that. Then, alerted by the oooohs of the crowd, the early leavers lurk by exits to see a bit more action and obscure the view of the real fans who want to stay until the finish.

Those who pile out after 85 minutes can't all have urgent appointments to keep and, if shuffling along in crowds and then crawling along in traffic queues like the rest of us is too much hassle for them, they should stay at home.

If your team is winning easily, don't you want to savour every minute and then clap the chaps at the finish? If your team is losing heavily, isn't that when they need you and isn't staying until the bitter end part of the exquisite masochism of supporting a crap team? If the score is close, how can anyone bear to go before the final whistle?

Whenever there is a late goal anywhere in the country, it always cheers me to think that the early-leavers have missed it.

That was the only good thing about the 92nd-minute goal with which Tottenham burgled a victory at Orient on Saturday.

Orient didn't do enough to win but they certainly did not deserve such a brutally cruel slap in the face. Still, it was fun to think that all those Spurs fans who had stomped out five minutes before the end missed seeing their team's first away win for yonks.

I watched the game among the Orient fans standing behind the goal on the north terrace. They came up with some of the funniest shouts and chants that I've heard this season and had some of the funniest haircuts I've encountered since Abba broke up.

But then the whole day was a throwback; a real FA Cup third-round tie when the alleged aristocrats of the top division were made to look mediocre by a team who refused to behave like second-class citizens.

It was also a day which confirmed my view that you don't get a proper view from a crowded terrace and substantiated my prejudices about Tottenham's so-called supporters.

They provided no real encouragement all afternoon. Of course it's hard to get behind a team who are under-performing dismally but that's a chicken and egg argument because genuine support lifts a team and sullen silence or carping complaints make players edgy.

So many Spurs punters left before the end that it looked like there was an emergency evacuation going on. How could anyone leave early when a Cup-tie is nilnil? It's not as if they had a long journey back home ahead of them.

Those proper Tottenham fans who stayed long enough to see that cruel goal celebrated by singing: "Spurs are on their way to Wembley."

So if Tottenham get to the Final they won't have to worry about their whingeing fans, because they won't be there. They haven't worked out that Wembley's shut.

Making a dog's dinner out of match-day menu

They may serve prawn sandwiches at Old Trafford but at far too many grounds it's a flaccid hot dog or a spot-the-meat pie.

Yet it doesn't have to be like that. There are clubs who have proper fast-food outlets, where the grub is edible, where the queues move quickly, where the staff really do hope you have a nice day and where you do not begrudge spending time and money

Queens Park Rangers, who could and should be attracting floating fans who can't get in at Chelsea or Fulham, ought to be one of the clubs making an effort and not insulting people with shoddy service.

That's why, last week, I wrote about the appalling facilities at Loftus Road on Boxing Day which, while not being able to produce proper refreshments for punters at the away end, certainly provided food for thought.

I thought the experience said something about the state of QPR and of football generally at the start of the 21st century. What it said was: "Eeaaaarrgh!"

Since the piece appeared, Rangers supporters and officials have been getting their teeth into the issue via a correspondence on the internet which was considerably more heated than the allegedly hot drinks on sale before the game.

Quite a few Rs fans have staunchly defended their club. They deserve full marks for loyalty but nought out of 10 for their ability to acknowledge that there is a problem.

Jim Frayling, who acts as a sort of ombudsman for QPR, is one of those who seems to be in denial. He wants to challenge me to a duel on Shepherds Bush Green but doesn't want to accept that it is simply not good enough to say: "It is very difficult to get staff in on Boxing Day morning on public transport and to get all your supplies before Christmas."

It's not that much of a challenge really, Jim.

Dave Thomas, the editor of the fanzine A Kick Up The Rs, said in an e-mail to other Rangers fans: "It's never nice hearing criticism of your club from outsiders but let's not lose sight of the real issue here.

"It's about the lack of will from those on high to address what the match-day experience is like for rank and file fans - of the home or away variety."

Quite. Many, many QPR supporters produced their own depressing tales of how Loftus Road fails to cater for them, not only on Boxing Day when, apparently, things were exceedingly grim at the Loft Upper bar, but regularly and consistently.

You may believe that it is just froth to complain about the beer at the Loft but I think it's important. I don't think I've made too much of a meal of this.

QPR's facilities are no worse than scores of clubs and better than lots but they should be striving to be better still.

And there's a bigger issue. Within the next few years, with the proliferation of websites and cable TV channels, a generation of fans will get used to the idea that you can watch top quality football whenever you want at home - with a drink in your hand and a snack in your microwave.

To lure supporters out into their grounds in the real world, smaller clubs will have to make real improvements to their facilities or they will lose punters, lose income and lose the chance of keeping up with better organised clubs.

Those who scoff now about complaints about catering will find themselves living on a diet of disappointment.

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