Everyone’s Entitled

It Is, Always Has Been And Always Will Be

Phil Crocker summed it up for me on the Message Board tonight with his words "If you cut me I bleed black and white" They are his words but they work the same for me as well. Swansea City have been a massive part of my life for over 25 years now and it does seem that with every passing year for some reason they get bigger and bigger. This web-site takes more and more time to administer as the years go on and it seems that more and more people want to talk to you about the Swans. Don’t get me wrong on that front, I will never complain about the number of people passing comment, because with more comment you hear more opinion and more sides to an argument. From my point of view (and to quote Kevin Keegan!) "I love that"

However, everyone’s opinion is a valid one as far as I am concerned. I don’t agree with many of them but I respect them. Different people will see different things in different ways and that is the way that things should be. If we all sat on this site, or any other, and agreed with everything that would be written it would be a very pointless world?

But it is the statement at the top of the article that makes me laugh. Just because someone disagrees with something that has happened or wonders about a certain person within the club there is a faction of the support that believe the individual cannot be a true fan and the club can do without them. Don’t very often swear in an article but what bollocks.

Does someone want to pick up the phone and ask one of the directors of the club "can we do without someone who doesn’t like Brian Flynn" as you will probably find that they will say no. It may only be a small percentage of the support (say 5 or 10%) but that would equate to around 300 fans or to put it another way £3300 worth of income every two weeks or £70k per annum in gate money alone. Pardon me but when did we put ourselves in a position to throw that kind of income away.

The whole point of web-sites, message boards, mailing lists, guestbooks and any other open medium is to put views across of the fans. I’m opinionated, always will be, but I never claim my opinion to be right but what is right is that I am entitled to say it. Why should I fall into line and say that "so and so is great" just because many people are saying it. If I don’t believe it then I am doing myself a dis-service by not saying so. And so is everyone else.

If 95% of people believed the manager was wrong, but you believed him to be right would you say ‘he’s wrong’ just because the bloke next to you says he is? If you would then I pity you I really do.

Everyone needs to face facts that people are entitled to an opinion. Mine differs from some of my best friends from time to time but we don’t argue over it, we just discuss it because debate helps pass the time between games. The one thing that unites all the different opinions is a will to see the Swans win their matches week in week out.

So next time someone says something that differs from you, put the soap box down, and remember that we are all Swans fans. Therefore you do not become a ‘better fan’ or a ‘truer fan’ or a ‘more committed fan’ you are the same as the rest of us and also remember that Swansea City will be here longer than any individual that is at the club at this moment, or any moment, in time. There’s your common bond – differences inside that common bond will always happen.

Now if you’ll excuse me this ‘true fan’ has to go for now but, as usual, JackArmy.net remains "Supporting The Swans All Day Every Day"

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