BHA 4p

Much of the fan cometary on public forums, like Twitter & NSC that I’ve seen this season has been split in half; one side is often voicing disappointment at throwing away games and under achieving, especially away; the other half is delighted at how well we are doing.

I’ve seen both sides and I believe I find myself on the side of the more disappointed more often.

I think that’s because when I watch the games I see the odd decisions that are sometimes made, the fear of losing possession and the often very frustrating movement decisions off the ball.

However, even with this we should be happy, infact delighted that we are in the top half of the championship and I am.

So why is there a big chunk of people who’s expectations are so high they seemingly cannot enjoy the adventure?

Well, here are a few theories:

1. Southampton: We beat them last year for the title but now they’re in and out of the top spot. Some people might see us as under achieving by not beating Southampton again.

2. Pretentiousness: This is probably quite an inflammatory speculation but worth considering as a part of or a contributory aspect. I’m from Brighton, I know la of people from Brighton, I’m proud of my town and what it stands for. We get compared to other bigger towns: “London by the Sea”; and come out on top for many ways. Albion has been the victim of thieving ownership but we survived, persevered and now we’re home and on the way up. It is very easy to get pretentious when the underdog grafts away and come out on top. This can give one an over inflated perception of one’s situation without realising.

3. Social Media: As you may or may not know, Brighton us the social media capital of the UK, maybe even Europe. Lots of people us it a lot, every where, especially about things they believe strongly in, like football. Also, as you may or may not know, the English way is that negative things are more remarkable than positive. Mainly because if we want to change something we perceive as broken we make a noise to try and fix it, if something ain’t broken don’t fix it, so we keep shtum.

Personally, I believe that there will always be frustrations and either way, we all really care and it’s important to remember that.

It’s also important to take care what we write on public forums like Twitter and NSC. Some venting is better off done with your mates at the pub rather than writing it to lots of people who don’t know you, can’t see your face or hear you say it, thus losing you control of the context of what you write.

Whether or not it helps, some of these nuggets were discussed with a Man Utd. Fan from Oxford after about 7 pints, a few Tuacas & a couple of JD and Cokes ;-)

Peace, love and Trust Gus.