Boo-boys only help Tranmere’s opposition

Oct 24 2007 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

When Rovers last played at home, they were booed off by some of their own fans even though the result, a 0-0 draw with Walsall, left them at the top of the League One table and unbeaten in 10 games. Ahead of Huddersfield’s visit on Friday, Nick Hilton talks to an experienced player, and a longtime fan.

TO a seasoned professional footballer like Robbie Stockdale, the booing of a home team by their own fans is the kind of domestic difficulty that is never going to be helped by the neighbours getting to hear about it. The danger, says the defender, is that others will seek to profit from such family tiffs.

The view of Andy Doyle, a dedicated Rovers follower for decades, is that the negative reaction is coming, for the most part, from the younger elements of fans at Prenton Park, who have yet to fully appreciate that supporting a football team is a two-way relationship.

The two men agree that the problem, should it continue or grow worse, has the potential to make Tranmere’s promotion challenge that much more difficult.

Stockdale, 27, a full-back with around 250 games for Middlesbrough, Rotherham, Hull City and Rovers behind him says: “The booing at the end of the Walsall game was disappointing.

“I don’t know if it would affect our own performance. You have to be pretty thick-skinned to be a professional footballer.

“But perhaps the danger is that if too much is made of it, then other teams are going to cotton on. They may think they can come and frustrate us in games, the way Walsall did, and turn Prenton Park into a negative place. We don’t want that.”

Doyle also sees the self-defeating consequence of the boo-boys’ behaviour. He says: “Booing your own team does one thing – it tells the opposition that they are doing their job right.

“Word gets around football. If this goes on, people will come to hear that if you go to Prenton Park, string five players across the midfield and try to frustrate Tranmere, the crowd will get on their back.

“I fully agree with Robbie Stockdale. When we went to Swindon last Saturday our supporters were asking their fans about the demonstrations against the board, the financial difficulties and the takeover talk at the County Ground.

“The Swindon supporters came back and said: ‘Yes, but what’s all this about your fans booing the team when they are top of the league?’ It was quite embarrassing.”

Doyle, the chairman of the Tranmere Rovers Supporters Association added: “Everything I hear talking to fans tells me the booing is coming from the younger age group. These are kids who have been coming to Prenton Park for five years or less.

“They don’t yet understand all the complexities of football. They will learn in time and come to realise that opposition teams don’t come to Prenton Park to roll over in front of Tranmere. Walsall did their job very effectively at Prenton Park the other night.

“Older supporters have been through the highs, the lows and the false dawns and can look at things in perspective.

“The booing can never really help anyone. People always do a better job at work when they have the support of their boss and everyone around them. If they think people are working against them then it’s easy to go in the opposite direction, be less willing to help and support others and so give their best.”

Doyle hopes the more seasoned supporters will influence the younger element in creating a more positive atmosphere at home games.

Stockdale, meanwhile, says the team have to do their part by producing the performances that put everyone in harmony: “It’s up to us to make the fans happy. The supporters were disappointed we drew the last three home games and so were we. It can be difficult when the opposition get behind the ball and just try to stop you playing. We don’t have a given right to beat anybody.”