Cardiff City RedBlueDragonBirds 2012-2013 season
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Clint Iguana
not an undercover cop
Shamelessly lifted from another board
1927
Funnier than he thinks he is.
A great post on CCMB today.
Let's start by establishing some credentials. I wore blue on Tuesday night; blue top, blue coat, blue hat, blue scarf, even blue boxer shorts. I have a Bluebird tattooed on my arm. The night before the 2008 FA Cup final, I travelled halfway across London purely for the pleasure of dining at the £100-a-head Bluebird restaurant in the Kings Road. That's that sorted.
As far as I was concerned, as soon as I walked into the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday, it was obvious that the red/blue debate was over. It seemed like the only other person who had turned up in blue was, ironically, Bartley the mascot's girlfriend. People had voted with their necks and it was a landslide. The place was a sea of red. People who I know to have been supporters for more than fifty years were proudly sporting red scarves.
Did that make them any less fans of the club? Did it diminish the fervour of Jack who once cycled all the way from Penarth to Ashton Gate and back because it was the only way he could afford to travel to the game? Of course not.
And that, I began to realise, was the point.
The shirt is not the club. I have supported my team in blue, red, white, yellow, red and black stripes, black and it hasn't affected my ardour before, so why should it now?
The ground is not the club. I loved the old girl across the road and I have always been hugely disappointed by the soulless plastic bowl that we now call home, but it hasn't affected my attendance one jot.
The manager is not the club. Tactical geniuses, incompetent berks, caretakers, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, English - none of them define the club. We are no more Jimmy Scoular's club or Fred Davies's club than we are Kenny Hibbit's or Phil Neale's club.
The players are not the club. How could they be? All but a sprinkling of them came from another club and abandoned us for pastures new. My favourite player of all time spent only a fraction of his career at Cardiff City. Even the man who played more times for us than anyone else finished his career elsewhere.
The owners are not the club. No born and bred Cardiff City fan has been the majority share holder in my lifetime and I'm old enough to remember trolley buses in Queen Street. They come and go. They buy and sell. The club remains.
The club is its supporters.
And, though I say it through gritted teeth, that means the newest, plastic johnny-come-lately as much as it refers to me. I have had a gutsful of the sanctimonious, holier-than-thou 'What have they done to my club?' bleating of Sugarman et al. It's not your club; it's not even our club; it's simply...us. We are the club. We define it. We are its soul. The shirt changes, the ground changes, the managers change, the players come and go, the owners sell up but we stay.
It is the same at every football club in the land. We even use the plural to refer to football clubs to emphasise the point. While Americans would say 'Dallas is playing at Boston', we say 'Cardiff City are bigger than Swansea City.'
I thought that sea of red was a low point but I came to realise that it was the opposite. It was a statement of the confidence of our supporters in our identity.
Though they may not have realised it, the message from twenty-odd thousand people on Tuesday night was, "We are the club. You can make us move home, you can change our shirts, you can even try and change our name...but we are the club. We'll thank you for your money, Vince. We'll even flatter you by wearing your cheap scarves because none of it changes the fundamental truth: the club is not defined by you, Vince, it is defined by us...because it is just that: us."
Let's start by establishing some credentials. I wore blue on Tuesday night; blue top, blue coat, blue hat, blue scarf, even blue boxer shorts. I have a Bluebird tattooed on my arm. The night before the 2008 FA Cup final, I travelled halfway across London purely for the pleasure of dining at the £100-a-head Bluebird restaurant in the Kings Road. That's that sorted.
As far as I was concerned, as soon as I walked into the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday, it was obvious that the red/blue debate was over. It seemed like the only other person who had turned up in blue was, ironically, Bartley the mascot's girlfriend. People had voted with their necks and it was a landslide. The place was a sea of red. People who I know to have been supporters for more than fifty years were proudly sporting red scarves.
Did that make them any less fans of the club? Did it diminish the fervour of Jack who once cycled all the way from Penarth to Ashton Gate and back because it was the only way he could afford to travel to the game? Of course not.
And that, I began to realise, was the point.
The shirt is not the club. I have supported my team in blue, red, white, yellow, red and black stripes, black and it hasn't affected my ardour before, so why should it now?
The ground is not the club. I loved the old girl across the road and I have always been hugely disappointed by the soulless plastic bowl that we now call home, but it hasn't affected my attendance one jot.
The manager is not the club. Tactical geniuses, incompetent berks, caretakers, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, English - none of them define the club. We are no more Jimmy Scoular's club or Fred Davies's club than we are Kenny Hibbit's or Phil Neale's club.
The players are not the club. How could they be? All but a sprinkling of them came from another club and abandoned us for pastures new. My favourite player of all time spent only a fraction of his career at Cardiff City. Even the man who played more times for us than anyone else finished his career elsewhere.
The owners are not the club. No born and bred Cardiff City fan has been the majority share holder in my lifetime and I'm old enough to remember trolley buses in Queen Street. They come and go. They buy and sell. The club remains.
The club is its supporters.
And, though I say it through gritted teeth, that means the newest, plastic johnny-come-lately as much as it refers to me. I have had a gutsful of the sanctimonious, holier-than-thou 'What have they done to my club?' bleating of Sugarman et al. It's not your club; it's not even our club; it's simply...us. We are the club. We define it. We are its soul. The shirt changes, the ground changes, the managers change, the players come and go, the owners sell up but we stay.
It is the same at every football club in the land. We even use the plural to refer to football clubs to emphasise the point. While Americans would say 'Dallas is playing at Boston', we say 'Cardiff City are bigger than Swansea City.'
I thought that sea of red was a low point but I came to realise that it was the opposite. It was a statement of the confidence of our supporters in our identity.
Though they may not have realised it, the message from twenty-odd thousand people on Tuesday night was, "We are the club. You can make us move home, you can change our shirts, you can even try and change our name...but we are the club. We'll thank you for your money, Vince. We'll even flatter you by wearing your cheap scarves because none of it changes the fundamental truth: the club is not defined by you, Vince, it is defined by us...because it is just that: us."
Clint Iguana
not an undercover cop
Well, actually, I see a lot of words but having read it, it does not actually say anything.
The people have not voted. It really is that simple. There has been no ballot in which they could vote in the first place. On Tuesday free scarfs were given out and there was a bribe that if you get your picture taken with a red scarf on you might win a season ticket. Surprise surprise, lots of people who had been given a free scarf put it around their necks.
It will be interesting to see how many people will make the effort to continue wearing those red scarfs. But even then, it demonstrates precisely nothing when it comes to a ‘peoples vote’.
None of this is relevant though. The ‘people’ voted for a Tory government for 18 years. The ‘people’ voted for Blair despite his war crimes. The ‘people’ voted for a coalition government (well, sort of). Does this mean I have sat back and said, “Well, everyone else is happy so I suppose I had better get behind the government”? The single buying public ‘vote’ for a number one single every week. Does this mean I then like the number one best selling single in the country?
No, I have my own mind and my own opinions. I don’t feel the need to follow the crowd on any subject, whether it be my politics, my musical taste, my clothes, my diet or my football team.
Cardiff City fans have not welcomed the change of colour. I have yet to speak to one single person who actually pro-actively wants us to play in red. The very very best that can be said is that there are a lot of reluctant reds about that are scared of Tan walking away (even though he has never said he would). To suggest that people wearing a scarf they have been given for free (and given the incentive of a free season ticket) is in any way an indication of anything is frankly pushing the bounds of reality (to put it politely). The message from the fans on Tuesday was “Yay, a raffle ticket that looks like a scarf - and it’s free. Thank you”.
I hate to use twitter as a source of ‘facts’, but from what I can make out, not many of those red scarfs are heading to Wolves today.
Gromit
International Man of Misery
I see a proud lifelong supporter saying that he'll stand by side by side with other Cardiff fans no matter what changes the club goes through rather than run off sulking because the club has made changes that he does not like.
Kudos to him.
editor
hiraethified
So tearing up the club's heritage and traditions on the whim of a Johnny-come-lately foreign investor who is still to adequately explain the supposed benefits of these changes is something to be proud of?
I would have been far prouder if Cardiff fans had stood up for the club's heritage and flat out refused to go along with his modern football rebranding exercise. It would have sent out an important message to other investors and told the world that Cardiff fans weren't the sort to clap along to whimsical rebrands in the name of SUCCESS.
ddraig
kicking against the pricks...
do you believe chain letters will bring you luck too?
Gromit
International Man of Misery
Question is irrelevant to my post.
Gromit
International Man of Misery
Relevant post.
Standing by the club* through adversity is, even if that adversity is at the management's doing. The pride is in still being there when its over.
I agree, on a scale of pride it would have been prouder but there is still pride even if its less than it could have been.
* the club in this definition being the supporters who make up the club.
Gromit
International Man of Misery
Yes. I've heard Ali say the word 'Bluebirds' only once this season.
editor
hiraethified
Seeing as that would suggest that the name 'Bluebirds' may well be the next to go (it does, after all, make little sense seeing as we play in red with a red dragon on our badges), how do you feel about that?
Gromit
International Man of Misery
The redscarves had a red bluebird. Blue supporters scoffed that this made it a robin but I hope it proves that the club are going to continue to make that one concession to changing the brand and keep the bluebird somewhere as a nod to history.
If they don't we'll deal with that when it happens.
editor
hiraethified
The Bluebird is about 10% of the size of the red dragon on the badge. It is but a tiny dot compared to the fucking ridiculous 'Fire & Passion' corporate strapline.
Oh yes. 'We' certainly dealt very strongly with the complete colour change, the new badge and the total rebranding, didn't 'we'?
And who can forget the howls of outrage when a red dragon suddenly replaced the bluebird as the focal point of our badge with no consultation?
Oh, hang on....
Gromit
International Man of Misery
by going "ah well, Tan's loaded eh, get us some good players "when" we go up" ?
We can't force him to design the merchandise how we want. He can't force us to stop shouting bluebirds at matches.
Other's in the future might wonder for why do we chant bluebirds (not knowing the history), but then they do that now when we do the ayatollah, its not on the crest or the shirt or anything, and it doesn't have to be.
editor
hiraethified
You seem to be saying that it's just fine by you if the bluebird is completely removed from all Cardiff's colours, merchandise and marketing if that's what Tan wants - but that's OK because we can still chant the name if we like!
Have I got that right?
Gromit
International Man of Misery
The question I was asked was 'how will we deal with it'.
The answer I gave was 'By continuing to chant bluebirds, irrelevant to whether it is on merchandise or not.
p.s. Not that anyone cares but we are 1 nil up. Common on bluebirds.
How crap are you? We're winning abroad.
How crap are you? We're winning abroad.
The answer I gave was 'By continuing to chant bluebirds, irrelevant to whether it is on merchandise or not.
p.s. Not that anyone cares but we are 1 nil up. Common on bluebirds.
How crap are you? We're winning abroad.
How crap are you? We're winning abroad.
editor
hiraethified
But what you do if Tan announced that we weren't going to be called the Bluebirds any more? Would you care or is it not important when there's SUCCESS to be had?
Gromit
International Man of Misery
What a bizarre question. No one declares nickames. They just happen through common usage.
The bluebird of happiness on the crest led us to this nickname.
The club might hope that the bigger dragon on the crest will lead us to start calling ourselves the dragons but as its too cliché beyond belief I can't see it happening. God help any pundits who try to lead the way by nicknaming us so.
editor
hiraethified
Clubs have official nicknames. The Bluebirds is our official nickname and has been for many, many decades.
But can you answer this straightforward question please: how would you react if it became official policy to take the Bluebird off all elements of the club's branding and merchandise?
Gromit
International Man of Misery
Question has already been asked and answered.
If you are asking if I will stop supporting the club I love then no I won't. I support it because its in Cardiff and not Manchester or London or anywhere else. The only thing that could make me stop is if they moved the club from Wales.
Gromit
International Man of Misery
On another note its sad to see Darcy Blake dropped from the Wales squad. Apparently he isn't even fit enough for the Palace reserves according to Coleman.
My mate says that his problem is attitude, friends leading him astray off the pitch. Partying etc. and thats why we ditched him.
Its sad when someone with talent forgets that they still have continually earn their rewards with hard work and sacrifice.
My mate says that his problem is attitude, friends leading him astray off the pitch. Partying etc. and thats why we ditched him.
Its sad when someone with talent forgets that they still have continually earn their rewards with hard work and sacrifice.
