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Tobi is a genuine, bona fide Arsenal fan, with the scarf above the bed and the Thierry Henry poster on the wall. He doesn’t get to that many matches – ticket demand, he tells me – but never misses a televised match. But he is a football fan, who watches Leyton Orient and Reading from time to time.
Yet like any fan of the perpetually successful clubs – Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal – weaned on nothing but success, he has no comprehension of supporting a struggling team. He told me that losing that game gave him the worst feeling he has ever had as a fan. I told him to be thankful for that.
I have often said to fans of those clubs that it is difficult for them to appreciate what being a football supporter is really about. For them, achievement is the norm. Success becomes expected; it loses its sweetness and the euphoria gradually dims. Instead of being elated by success when it comes, those fans tend to be disappointed when it doesn’t.
That, of course, is not a problem for any of us. Success has been a precious commodity down the years – over the past ten, we’ve been promoted only twice. Other moments of elation have come thanks to victories of critical importance, or the rare brilliant victory. We’ve had as many seasons of famine as we have of feast.
We aren’t used to achieving the same results, year in, year out. We aren’t used to starting a season knowing we will be in that division twelve months later. Over that ten year period – which starts with a glorious win at Wembley – there have only been about two which have been over by Easter. Otherwise it’s been either a relegation struggle which has gone to the wire, or a promotion race.
But I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m not sure how I would react if Burnley suddenly morphed into world beaters, sweeping away all before them. I don’t know how I’d feel if, season after season, we were battling away for a league title. I’m sure it would be great for a while, but after that it would become tedious.
Just now, we’d all give everything to be fourteenth, with 55 points and the future secure. I doubt any of us are looking forward with boundless enthusiasm to match day just at the moment. But the same rules apply – if Burnley were a solid, going-nowhere mid table club in any division, I’d soon get bored.
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The truth is that, as a Burnley fan, the uncertainty and the tension are essential ingredients in that addictive mix. We need them, and we thrive on them. If we do stay up this season, then the game we made it safe, and the man who scored the goal which made us safe, will go down in Burnley folklore. Just as Ronnie Jepson’s goal against Fulham did, just as Andy Cooke’s goals against Plymouth did. And I’ll have a bet with you that you knew which seasons, and under which managers, those results came. I bet you can remember roughly when they went in, at what end, and how it came about.
This week, the vital, vital games against Wimbledon and Derby will encapsulate exactly what being a Burnley supporter is about for all of us. Champions league quarter finals? Great, keep them. These are bigger, more important, and more seminal to our club’s future, than any European game. The quality might be better, but in our position the importance of the game increases by a factor of ten.
It will bring out all the emotions so central to being a fan: the tension, the powerlessness, the frustration, and hopefully the delight that makes it all worthwhile as well. Go and be a part of it; this is your club, fighting for its future.
Turf Moor is at its best when backs are to the wall. Adversity seems to bring out the best in the home crowd. It is an all too rare event these days, but when the crowd really get going, it can still be a venue to carry players to deeds beyond their usual capabilities. Victories against the likes of Plymouth, Bristol Rovers, Fulham and Tottenham have been achieved when the moment caught the imagination of the crowd.
We need that against Wimbledon and Derby, and we may need it against Sunderland. These games, all crunch games, encapsulate perfectly what being a Burnley supporter is all about. It is not glamorous. It is rarely pretty. It tends to be gritty, determined and immensely nerve-wracking – but in a perverse way, it is that which fires us all.
For what its worth, I think five points will be quite sufficient. It may well be that less will do. Walsall in particular are on a downward spiral, and may find points hard to come by during the run in. But all I know with certainty is that three points tonight against Wimbledon will make me sleep a lot easier.
But it’s rare for Burnley to do things the easy way, so I’m not holding my breath. Those games, incidentally, came against Plymouth and against Fulham, in the Waddle season and a year on under Ternent. But then, as I said, you knew that already.