25 January 2017 at 8:59 am
Steveclancey says: ‘Happy clappy clap’
This was a comment on an excellent article from Stewart Lewis published this Wednesday, and it really got me thinking.
Stewart has recently crossed a divide, and had written that he no longer feels Alex Neil is the correct person to be in charge of our squad. However, Stewart will be renewing his season ticket and will be continuing to ‘enjoy’ supporting our beloved Norwich City, he wrote subsequently.
Just the same as me. That’s what being a supporter is all about: the thick and the thin, you go through it. Especially at Norwich.
What really gets my goat is the oft-used phraseology. These days, and particularly on alternative websites to this one, some folks are defined as “happy clappers” or at the other end of the on-line scale, miserable old gits (Mogs).
Every single supporter who attends a game is entitled to their opinion and does not deserve to be shoved into one of these small-minded categories.
If anyone is bored enough to look at any of my previous articles, it is plain to see that I can find loads of faults in the present and future direction of NCFC. That speaks volumes for MFW, which is not a hive of Delia Smith aficionados as some have suggested. Gary G would hardly allow me to write on here if that were truly the case.
Yes I can be negative – Jeff at least appreciates that – but I like to think I have a sense of fairness, as do all of us who write on here. We write about our Club because we all love it. In our own individual way.
And that neatly brings me back to the phrase “happy clapper”. People who blindly accept everything the Board chuck at us, shrug their collective shoulders after a defeat and look forward to the next time.
I sit next to one, an unwanted incomer into our little group in the Upper Barclay. His opinions may well get on my threepenny bits, but I pay lip service to them. No point in being rude. However, if he ever bothered to learn the squad numbers and stopped asking who’s playing where it might help.
It wasn’t his fault, but when the clap banners first appeared he beat one into my left ear for around half an hour. A fantastic experience unless you’ve only got ninety per cent aural capacity in that lug due to Roger Glover (Deep Purple), Lemmy and Geezer Butler. Geezer finally did for me, I think.
Then there’s the “Mogs”. My mate Keith, and the rugby-orientated lads who sit behind us. Comically miserable to the core, but diehards to a man. John next to me on the other side was a professional keeper (with Reading) and I so enjoy talking through a game in progress with him. Bonus.
After nearly 30 years, our large group has become a smaller one. Passage of time and natural wastage. And Gran Canaria being warmer than Brundall.
But why is this Happy Clapper and Mog terminology being used? All the people I have referred to go to Carrow Road because they want to be there – even the guy who cannot pick out which player is which. And he’s younger than me and doesn’t appear to need glasses. He might not know who the players are, but seems to enjoy himself nonetheless.
What we need to do between now and this season’s end is to stick together. Happy Clapper? Mog? I couldn’t care less. We are all at Carrow Road and going through a very difficult period. Sure we’re stuck with Alex Neil – we’ll all have to get used to it for good or ill.
So, please, big please, even pretty please, no more references to Mogs and Happy Clappers.
Otherwise I’ll get Geezer Butler and his mates from Marshall amplification to come and blow your lugs away, too.
This is a far wider issue in society based on political viewpoints that has, unfortunately, spread into football because of media agendas. I’ve done it myself in frustration and let myself down too (but it’s hard and you can’t win an argument with an idiot as they say). Give someone a label and you shut their debate down so we don’t have to hear or quantify their opinion as correct.
Personally, the one that really winds me up is someone using the term ‘fan’. You’re not a fan if you say anything negative or controversial. You’re not a fan if you boo at half time. Again, shutting it down because some don’t agree with those actions. For me, if you say you’re a fan that’s exactly what you are – even if you ooze negativity or once wore a blue rosette…
Hear hear. Well said Martin. I must confess I find it difficult to relate to people who are relentlessly one way or the other. Who approve or disapprove of everything. You can dislike the board but like the manager, or vice versa. And you can like the formation but dislike a player being squeezed into it. People who are all doom and gloom or all sweetness and light are the ones I struggle with and I find dull to engage with. But it’s increasingly important to keep differences of opinion in perspective. We’re all a little fractious and frustrated right now but the vast majority share the same reasons for this.
Really interesting post. I seriously considered whether to renew or not – before the match against Wolves, I really didn’t want to be at Carrow Road and never sung On the Ball City with less enthusiasm – but, when push comes to shove, I can’t stop supporting a club that I have loved all my life and have brought me some amazing times. You don’t stop loving your kids when they go through that horrible adolescent, yobby phase, you just wait for them to come out the other side. It doesn’t mean you don’t moan and grind your teeth in frustration, but you don’t give up either. So I will be renewing, but probably grinding my teeth in frustration for the foreseeable! OTBC
Not sure my article deserved to called excellent, but this one certainly does. Part of the proof is that it’s struck the chord that links Jeff, Andy, me and no doubt many others.
Jeff and I have had a go at each other, sometimes getting close to the acceptability line (though hopefully not crossing it). As Jeff says, it’s born of frustration. A guy who sits two rows behind me in the City Stand keeps up a remarkable torrent of negativity throughout games, and I did once let him know it wasn’t helpful (perhaps not the actual words I used).
Some may be surprised to hear it, but the uncritical fans are just as baffling and frustrating to me. We’re thinking people, not robots.
But as Martin so eloquently explains, the emotion comes not from what divides us, but from the powerful thing that we have in common.
OTBC
I agree with Jeff.
Now I’m going to have a lie-down.
You and me both, Mick.
#1, #2 Jeff: the great point you make is the one about labelling. Give some folk an unwanted monicker or reputation and they will do everything in their power to live up to it.
Check out Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”, so wonderfully covered by the Manics. It says it all.
#3 Andy: thanks mate. I think the vast majority of us are on the same wavelength.
#4 Jill: as a father of two who were never much hassle and are now in their mid-twenties I could not agree with you more. You don’t give up; you never give up.
#6 Mick and #7 Stewart: we’ve just got got a new puppy, so I think I might (metaphorically) join you – two sleep-deprived nights in succession:-)
Well said Martin, and great feedback as always on MFW. I’ve followed City for more than 50 years, and for the first time, was seriously considering whether to renew or not. For the past 15 years since we’ve been married my wife has accompanied me, prior to which she had little/no interest in the great game. She was absolutely shocked when I spoke of possibly not going…..so yes, we support (and will continue to do so!) the club – regardless of who the custodians are.
O T B C
#9 John: yes, my “dear lady” accompanies me to the occasional game as well. She particularly enjoyed the Youth Cup matches against Forest and Chelsea, and was at Wembley in 1985, also Cardiff – I deliberately forget the year, the Birmingham match is the one I refer to and quite a few others.
We’ve had some good times with City on the road, and for a woman of nearly 60, she sure knows her right foot from her left.
I have to watch out for both of them when she comes home in a bad mood!