Whether it is on the Internet or in the stadium, people are entitled to their opinions and so is Charlie.
Most of our opinions (valid or otherwise) dont matter to anyone but ourselves but Charlie is in the unfortunate position that every opinion he espouses can be reproduced, republished, used both in or out of context, and generally mangled in ways he perhaps didnt intend. He is also somewhat of a novice at dealing with the press so unless under the wing of the likes of Messrs Bannerman or McAllister he may say something he didnt intend to or in a manner he didnt mean.
He is not the first manager or player to have expressed frustration at certain parts of the crowd and I am sure he will not be the last.
I may not have had as much press coverage as CC, but I did have to literally watch every word I published and sanitise any comments I made on the message boards when the site was official as I was quoted and misquoted frequently by (some of) the press and taken to task by both supporters and club officials if i seemed to favour one opinion over another. Thankfully, I can now say whatever the **** I like and let my true opinions flow out because no-one cares about comments on an unofficial site .........
When I was in the fortunate position of being able to attend games every week, there were always a fair few 'constant whingers' in amongst those of us who tried to encourage the team. I think my frustration with the whingers when we were playing well was about the same as my frustration with the team when we were not playing well.
The only times I ever recall booing the team off the park was a certain game against Ross County (nuff said !!), and a cup game in Ayr. We got gubbed in both and just didnt look interested in the slightest. Most of the time, myself, Stewartie, Calum and the others around the tunnel would stay to the very end (sometimes the bitter end) and stand and applaud the team as they went down the tunnel .... not because they won or lost (although doing it when we won was easier), but because we knew they had given 100% ... In the meantime, the whingers would slope off to put the rest of the world to rights over a 'hauf and a hauf' in the legion or Caley Club ...
As I said in a thread a month or two back, we seem to have a 5 point scale that both stadium and Internet fans seem to fall into ....
1. Nothing is ever right. Criticism is the only option and anyone who doesnt criticise has their head in the sand
2. Not much is right but we will occasionally give praise as a last resort.
3. Praise and criticism in equal measure - credit where its due, criticism when appropriate.
4. Not much is wrong but we will occasionally criticise as a last resort.
5. Nothing is ever wrong. Praise is the only option and anyone who doesnt agree is anti-ICT or a bad supporter
People are entitled to their opinions but if you see yourself as a '1' or a '5' I will probably disagree with you a fair amount of the time. I like to think I am a '3' but will admit to being a 2 or a 4 depending on my own mood on any given day.
In the stadium it is easy to point out the constant whingers or take them to task face-to-face, and I did that a few times over the years when the likes of Paul Ritchie (for example) couldnt do right for doing wrong in some fans eyes, but on the Internet, those who choose to remain anonymous can do so (on the surface at least), and it has been mentioned to me literally hundreds of times by Grassa, Charlie, Steve Paterson, Tommy and quite a few of the players that they never pay much heed to those who make comments or moan and groan while hiding behind a pseudonym. However, all criticism hurts and I dont believe they ignore it completely, just like they are happy not to ignore the praise when it comes.
Many of the posters on here post under names that dont hide who they are, or have been happy over time to introduce themselves to others by their Internet name - I can always respect those posters whether or not I agree with them or not. I have difficulty however in paying any attention to those who do their damndest to remain totally anonymous while slagging off the club whether they deserve it or not, or on the other end of the scale, slagging off those who have the audacity to criticise the club or the team when they do deserve it.
For my own sins - here is my opinion (if it matters).
Charlie Christie is still 'learning' to be a manager (not that any of us ever stop learning as the end of learning usually co-incides with the end of breathing !!). He has done plenty of things right, and he has also done things wrong. Thats called life. His selections/substitutions have earned us points in some games and have cost us points in others. Overall I think he is doing a good job and I am still confident that he is the right man for the job. I hope when he does make mistakes that he learns from them and tries not to make the same mistake again and has the balls to admit to them rather than look for excuses (or exc-useless-es as someone I know calls them).
I like most of his honesty in the media but sometimes think the mindset is wrong when he makes comments like 'club of our size' ... a comment that was made about 4 weeks in a row. It may be true in some respects but to me it smacks somewhat of the 'small team mentality' that has been talked about elsewhere and makes me cringe almost as much as Bill McAllister's puns in the 'Highland League Roundup' later on in sportsound.
I cant remember where the comment was made but someone mentioned something about Celtic last week that made me note two things - firstly, Celtic came up to Inverness two days before the game - not something an opponent who is taking you lightly would do, and secondly, when asked whether he had any sympathy for CC after the late goals, Strachan said 'NO' - again showing the rest of the nation that he considered ICT as a team he had to beat and not some small team he could have sympathy with after humping them. I want the manager of my favourite football team to be as confident that ICT have 'arrived' as the manager of Celtic is ......
On the other side of the coin, I think we as fans also have to be realistic. We are a 'developing' club who have made an incredible journey to the top over the last 12 years. In terms of resources, finances, fanbase and many other things we are definitely a small club in comparision to the rest of the SPL but perhaps not when compared to (most) lower league teams but if we are to progress we have to develop those resources both on and off the park.
I would like to think we are 'holding our own' in the SPL. I dont think we are punching above our weight (although that may very well have been true in our first season) but it is unlikely we will ever regularly finish in the top 6 unless and until we develop further. As fans we have tasted the sweet ambrosia of success over these last 12 years and have never known the bitterness, fear or heart-wrenching disappointment of relegation ... over the years we have had a habit of being promoted to a new division, having a half decent season in the first one and then looking like promotion contenders each season after that until we did go up.
What we are experiencing now is the realisation that there are some clubs above us who have been there for donkeys years and who have the resources, finances and fanbase to pay far more than us to sign players that we cant. Because of this we are going to have a few more dodgy results than we ever did when we were the gung-ho conquerors of the lower divisions, but if we can hover somewhere between 7th - 10th for the next few seasons, then there should be no reason why we cant continue to make further progress and be a club that regularly finishes somewhere in the top 6 ...........
anyway, this is now a book instead of a posting so I will stop and let someone else have a turn .......
