Good, bad and 'toxic' crowds!

Having read Liam Hoden's thoughts regarding the atmosphere during recent games at the Keepmoat Stadium, it's got me thinking about the different crowds which I've experienced during two decades of watching professional football.

I 'grew up' watching Doncaster Rovers in the glory decade of the 2000s, spent four seasons working at Mansfield Town, and have also experienced many games abroad (which is a vastly different culture and experience altogether). Last year, I had a season ticket at Newcastle United and I've dabbled in watching Sheffield United and Notts County, intermittently.

Therefore, with 1,000 games under my belt at 300+ stadiums, I'm well-rounded and have experienced enough to know what constitutes a helpful crowd and what doesn't.

First things first, regarding Liam's article, whilst not everyone might echo his sentiments, it's his opinion and he should be thanked for creating the conversation on it. You can pretty much guarantee the usual suspects who'll always grumble about something will still be prominent at the next home game though as every club attracts folk who are that way inclined.

Personally speaking, the moaning, grumbling, whinging or whining as a 'collective' doesn't bother me and I take it with a pinch of salt. Granted though, it doesn't help create a vibrant atmosphere and I suspect this happens just as often at clubs not mentioned in this article where I've not spent a great deal of time.

What properly rankles with me is when players are singled out, within ear-shot, and receive verbal abuse. Not constructive criticism - verbal, unjustified abuse!

Such an incident (the only one I've witnessed this season) occurred during the 1-1 draw with MK Dons in December. Ben Sheaf was substituted and went off at the nearest touchline (which was in front of the East Stand). He received applause from those who were in the South Stand yet was singled out with 'F**k off, you're s**t' from some idiot in the West Stand as he got closer to the dugout. I'm sure that he heard it and it certainly doesn't help in any way considering he's a young player, on loan from another club, and this was one of his own supporters berating him. If he had a bad game then he definitely won't have intended it. It's just part of football yet this idiot's reaction was too far and way over the top.

Nevertheless, this incident pales into insignificance in comparison to some of the incidents which I witnessed during my time at Mansfield where the 'sense of entitlement' and vitriol from vociferous parts of the fanbase (and not just isolated idiots) was on another level altogether.

Where Mansfield's angry sense of entitlement comes from is a mystery. They're a lower-league club by history - that's their place in football. They haven't been higher than the fourth tier since the 2002/03 season yet they have this weird expectation that they have a divine right to be competing higher up. I don't understand it and I spent four years there. Surely, anything other than an obscure 'making the numbers up' type finish in League Two constitutes a success?

At Doncaster, at no point can I ever recall the fans collectively chanting for a manager to be sacked - granted I didn't see Paul Dickov's reign where it may or may not have happened. At Field Mill, booing, heckling and chanting for the boss to be sacked happened frequently with Paul Cox, Adam Murray and, most recently, John Dempster all subjected to it. They were all hounded out by a bunch of over-expectant fans.

In my time there, if the team either didn't play well or had a bad result then fans would gather close to the players tunnel and dish out abuse from a few yards away as the players came off the pitch. Also, if any player had a pop back (which did happen - most memorably after a 3-2 defeat to Accrington where the visitors scored twice in injury-time), then it was the players who were 'unprofessional' or 'in the wrong' in the minds of the same idiots dishing out the abuse who sometimes also spat at the players too.

When I was there, it was always a toxic atmosphere - barring the late-season run which saw the club win the Conference Premier and the first few months of the season afterwards. In September/October 2012, the fans chanted for the manager to be sacked. A year later there was the Accrington incident - plus lots of other bits including a situation where there was a pitch invasion after the final home game with Torquay and one of the coaching staff was involved in a physical altercation. In 2014/15, there was more unpleasantness - yet the fans knew fine well the budget had been slashed so it was amongst the lowest in the division! After a 3-2 win over Carlisle, the team was booed off, verbally abused as usual and it riled everyone. It wasn't uncommon that players explicitly stated they preferred away days to home games and it was because of how abusive, toxic and stupid the crowd were.

By all accounts, it's the same now (possibly minus the spitting); yes the budget is larger but Andy Cook still got abuse before he went back to Tranmere Rovers on loan and experienced player Neal Bishop, only last week, gave some back after being targeted during a game only to then be trolled on social media by the precious morons.

The abuse doesn't help in so many ways - young players may not be able to cope with it, managers think twice before throwing a youngster onto the pitch with a toxic crowd watching, it affects players' confidence and wanting to play at home, it helps the opposition (e.g. they might adopt a game-plan along the lines of 'If we keep it 0-0 for so long, the crowd will get on their back' and then we pick them off) and word filters around in the small world of professional football that the fans are a bunch of idiots. The player-fan relationship essentially becomes non-existent and goes past the point of no return for many players.

It just doesn't help!

So, in comparison to Mansfield, Doncaster's fans are well-behaved angels. Yes, they moan and groan and wallow in self-pity sometimes (e.g. we're a little club and nobody in the media cares about us so lets feel sorry for ourselves). They have their moments, however, they aren't remotely as toxic as some other fanbases which exist and, in my opinion, there isn't a strong 'sense of entitlement' mentality which just becomes destructive apart from the odd moaner which you get everywhere. If things are going well, they'll just moan about off-field issues instead.

Moving onto Newcastle, in my one season watching the Toon Army, they had Rafael Benitez as manager and there wasn't much moaning or groaning - even after the team lost their first five home games. Instead, they were very supportive to the team/manager; realising this 'product' were trying their best and forced upon them by the way in which the owner, Mike Ashley, operated. The feeling towards him was united dislike and there were odd chants and protests during the season, but not as much as you might expect. Also, the theory that Newcastle fans are booming and boisterous and spout 'We're a massive club!' at every opportunity (as if to compare themselves with Liverpool or Manchester United) is a massive, massive myth. My impression was they know the club will be better one day, as a collective they'll support those in a black and white shirt, but they'll not expect much until the ownership of the club changes hands. If they were to struggle, Ashley would possibly get miles more abuse/criticism directed his way than any of the players themselves.

Notts' supporters, from my experience, generally aren't that great and a lot of them (because they're older and remember the 'glory' days under Neil Warnock or, further back, Jimmy Sirrel) will get on the team's backs when they fail to live up to expectations. Rewinding several years, I vividly recall some early-season matches at Meadow Lane in 2007/08 against Morecambe and Dagenham & Redbridge and then-boss Steve Thompson got dogs abuse (amongst the worst which I've witnessed) with multiple sections wanting to see him sacked as they'd deemed him to be not good enough. Both their opponents were newly-promoted to League Two at that time and the games heralded a return of four points for Notts County - which wasn't bad. It was a classic case of 'expectation vs context and reality' and the wavelengths of the fans and club being on entirely different pages. If they were like that most weeks (which I suspect they were) then I'm sure that anyone playing for Notts at that time would have preferred away days to home matches.

These are just my own experiences and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But again, for me, there are far more temperamental fanbases in existence; the sort where it doesn't take much for them to turn, than the moaners and groaners in the stands at Doncaster Rovers.