Will the tide turn against Lincoln?

Northampton Town Podcast – Lincoln City Preview. Matt Salmons takes over the hot seat for this week’s Preview Show. He’s joined by Lincoln fan Jake Tonge from The Stacey West Blog to look ahead to Northampton Town vs Lincoln City on Saturday.

A Bad Week For Everyone

It’s not been a nice week for anyone who has a stake in Northampton Town Football Club. An infuriating performance at Gresty Road did nothing but make Keith Curle’s critics louder. The hope was that The Cobblers would dampen those critics against Oxford United on Tuesday, but it wasn’t to be.

If anything, the 4-0 hammering the U’s dished out only pushed the knife deeper through the heart of the Cobblers fanbase. After an okay start, the Cobblers reached half time level pegging with an Oxford side who didn’t look much better. But that all changed in the second half as the Cobblers reverted back to being the nervous, maybe even scared set of individuals they had shown themselves to be at Crewe.

In what was the longest 45 minutes I think I’ve ever witnessed, the team were torn apart and so were the fans.

Let me start by stating the obvious: Everyone has an opinion and is entitled to share it. Secondly, allow me to point out that I have no problem with anyone who does share their opinion. Be it different to mine or similar. Thirdly, I think most fans on Tuesday night were all in agreement. It wasn’t good enough. How bad it was will differ from person to person but overall, I doubt you’ll find anyone who would say the performance was in any way good.

My problem is this.

Whenever things start to go wrong on the pitch, there are always those who seek to take advantage. In previous years the brunt has been directed at the lack of redevelopment of the East Stand at the stadium. The club’s standing as a 4th tier player, as it has been for most of its history, is often thrown back in its face too. This time around though, neither seems to fit the bill though.

Playing in League One this season maybe makes the 4th tier argument more easy to oppose at this time. The fact that The Trust are now publicly onboard with the club perhaps leaves a lack of scaffolding to hold it up. Maybe it’s just that these views have been aired so much in recent times that no one is listening anymore and the people who hold them are no longer getting the reaction they are used to.

Whatever the reasons, the detractors have moved on and began to cast the blame at the hands of the media and their fellow Cobblers fans.

I’m not sure what these people hope to achieve from their comments but it certainly isn’t unity. Personally, I am of the opinion that the local media in Northamptonshire are pretty good at giving the population of the county an unbiased overview of how things are going at all three professional sporting clubs. I know others will argue with that opinion but I won’t be swayed.

We, at It’s All Cobblers To Me, have a good relationship with the football club. We are close enough to be able to have players, the manager and the chairman appear on the podcast. But we are also far enough apart that we can still call a turd a turd. We accept that we would never be able to have Ash Taylor appear on the podcast. We may not ever have Sam Hoskins say yes to having a chat with us. But I’m okay with that.

We are in a different position to that of the Chron or BBC Radio Northampton. We are here to serve you, the Cobblers fans. We aren’t here for Barbara in Corby or Joe in Towcester who have no interest in the Cobblers other than the latest result. We will tell it like we see it.

And right now, the way I see it is that there are some people who aren’t interested in supporting the team. They are only interested in their own agenda, whatever that may be. It’s not a problem to say if you don’t think Curle is the man for the job anymore or that Sam Hoskins should be dropped. That is part and parcel of being a football fan.

But shouting off at the people who ask the questions on your behalf isn’t. Accusing people of not caring as much as you do simply because they weren’t there during the dark days of the early 90’s is pathetic. A whole generation of supporters have no idea what that was like, just like there are those that have no clue what it was like watching Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool rocking up at the County Ground.

And what’s with blaming other supporters for what is happening on or off the pitch at the club. How is that fair? That kind of thing is nothing but pure attention seeking. To say that the reason the club are not in the Championship (or higher) is due to a lack of ambition from the fans is an insult to every father, mother, son and daughter who has ever cheered a Cobblers goal or boo’d a terrible performance.

I’m sure this will roll on and on over the weeks and months to come. I just hope that the majority of people do what they do best and get behind the team on match days before having a good old debate on whether Clarence would have been a better pick at left wing back than whoever the next striker is that Curle brings in to the club.

You can listen to The Preview Show right now.

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It’s All Cobblers To Me is a Vibrant Sound Media production for the fans of Northampton Town Football Club.