Uwe Rosler chose to use his post match Bristol City press conference last night to take a thinly veiled dig at Brentford’s home supporters.
Rosler told the press – “We always have very good away support, but I have also have to pay tribute to the Bristol fans. They are bottom of the league and 2-0 down but still the supporters were behind them. I wish we had that in our home games.”
Rosler was quite cleary annoyed on Saturday by the booing of his subsititution of Adam Forshaw and the subsequent singing of “sacked in the morning” as his team trailed Colchester after a fairly tepid hour or so of League One football. The song, whilst perfectly audible, was probably sung by a maximum of 30 supporters.
The good news for Uwe is that the song also irked what I would refer to as “the silent majority” of Brentford fans. Supporters that simply go to watch football, and who believe that support, not criticism, is vital within the ground itself. The vocal support for the team, if anything, improved following the song.
These same supporters have now, however, effectively been criticised by their team’s manager by Rosler’s broad brush strokes of distain last night. Uwe’s comments were simply not necessary and, to be honest, have more than a measure of petulance.
The point that irks me most is that Rosler was not even factually correct about events last night. When City went 2-0 down, their stands emptied and the supporters in the stand next to me started loudly singing a song to boss O’Driscoll. The song suggested that he would be “sacked in the morning”. Sound familiar?
I have a strong belief that the success last season was due, in part, by the strength of unity between the team and supporters. It was unity that started on the tour of Germany pre-season and lasted the entire season.
Without doubt there are increased expectations around Griffin Park this term – brought about by how close we came to promotion in May as well as continued investment in the playing squad.
Most supporters, however, understand that it sometimes takes teams time to gel, and that the most important league table is the one published at the season’s end. So far, though, we have had to put up with numerous unexplained team changes and a number of players playing out of position.
If Rosler really wants unity and empathy then perhaps he should use his time with the press to explain some of these decisions rather than taking a swipe against Brentford supporters.
Condorman
What do you think? Feel free to comment below
Think Uwe is showing he is on a huge learning curve in so many ways. It was an ideal opportunity last night to all pull together not to take a swipe at those who pay his wages.
I also believe it is time to get behind the team which includes me as well
The best way to move on from this is for the regular fans to get behind Uwe and the team for the full 90 minutes on Saturday, and encourage the ‘pay what you can’ newbies to join in. We’re all in this together!
Absolutely agree with article. Uwe clearly has no sense of the absurd, calling for unity and then using a blunderbuss to criticize the ‘home fans’. If he really wants to shut up the boo boys then nothing succeeds like success and he should concentrate on achieving that, not childish spats with supporters.
There is far too much criticism by a very small minority and most of the complaining is pathetic. It is easy to criticise, particularly by people ill informed. It is easy to to doubt and it is easy to find a reason to justify failure. It is not easy to lead, to build and be successful, therefore it is time for the faint hearted to get behind the Board, the Management, the Manager and the Team and work as a single unified force – and drive for a successful future at Brentford.
Tomorrow morning I am going to Condorman’s place of work and encourage his boss to sack him. I shall also hurl streams of abuse at Condor every time one of his colleagues fails to make a sale or dials a wrong number or puts a file in the wrong place. If at any point Condor makes any remark about this treatment I shall write an article in his trade magazine slagging him off for having the temerity to stand up for himself when he is clearly in the wrong.
Seriously though, it’s all got a bit personal and it must be a bit hard for Uwe to just sit there and accept it. There’s too much cult of the personality nowadays in football. I preferred it when we just wanted to “Sack the Board”.
Article spot on by Condorman. Uwe needs to build some bridges with us now
Up the bees,
These things happen. I saw a man under immense pressure trying to answer questions after Tuesday’s game. He may not have got everything right but he shows he cares. On Saturday as in previous weeks the vast majority of supporters will be rooting for the team. We are all in this together. So draw a line underneath what happened and support the team. In fact we all know that is what we will do.