(Ebbsfleet United, 28th March 2015, Vanarama South)

Football, the beautiful game, it’s the sport we love which provides us with a never ending rollercoaster of emotions and feelings. It also provokes opinions, and in many cases vastly differing ones between fans, players and officials alike.

I’m lucky enough to be able to voice my opinions here in the matchday programme and on the official website, and I try not to take that for granted. By putting my opinions (positive or negative) on show in these forms I am representing the club, so whilst honest, I wont be swearing or using some descriptive terms that I may use on a face to face basis!

Of course we also form opinions on opposition clubs and their fans, and that’s what has got me typing today. We’re a small, niche club with our loyal band of followers, we thrive on that and the fact that opposition teams underestimate us when they hear the name Concord Rangers. When the inevitable upset occurs and our “small club” pick up a result, it tends to bring us a lot of animosity from fans. Now being upset at a loss is understandable, we all do it, but losing to us, or even a late draw to one of our customary late goals, seems to bring on so much more!

Is it because of our small stature that we seem to provoke so much hatred? Because we revel in being the underdog and proving doubters wrong? Or because our 20 (at times) away fans can make more noise than the hundreds at some of our league rivals? Who knows, but you only have to look at some of the club internet forums around this league (and still some in the Ryman Premier actually) to see that we are a hated club by some!

It’s a shame, as personally I believe we should be given credit for the success we’ve achieved as a club, we do from media outlets and people around the game that know how we work and what we do here though. The main thing is though that we ourselves appreciate the support we get, the regular fans that cheer the lads on week in and week out, the fact that a lot of the work done around the club is done by volunteers (including editing the programme), and that the boys on the pitch work their backsides off every time they wear the shirt.

I’ve got opinions on other clubs, but I will give credit where it’s due and have a lot of respect for some sets of fans around this league, it’s just a shame some others don’t have that outlook! Anyway, on to todays game, it’ll be a tough test but I’m sure we’ll all get behind the lads and cheer them on to victory!

#YAMC