[PartisanBaggie]

It rather comes down to what they regard as being unacceptable then and how reasonable it is for them to feel that way?

Going back to the start of the season, remember that Valerien was talking about wanting the fans and players to combine to make The Hawthorns a fortress and an unpleasant place for opponents to play at. I'm sure he didn't have in mind the team being booed off at half-time and him being booed when making substitutions. It's also pretty likely that he's not experienced it before, as I very much doubt it happened at either LASK or Barnsley. That might explain to some extent why he was clearly miffed about the booing, despite us winning in the end. That we were unbeaten in our first 8 games prior to this one might also have been in his mind.

That made me chuckle when you quoted Val saying he wanted the Hawthorn’s to be an unpleasant place. I remember him saying that and no I don’t think that was quite what he had in mind either haha 😆

To answer your original point though, I’m guessing it comes down to the standard these fans expect from West Bromwich Albion.

Personally speaking, I haven’t booed or been overly critical towards Val or the players this season. But I will say this; at times what I’ve seen against Bournemouth, Luton, Arsenal in the League Cup, Peterborough, Milwall, Derby, Preston and QPR last night hasn’t been to the standard I expect from WBA. Not playing in the second tier of English football having just been relegated from the Premier League.

Right now we’re second in the league after 9 games and still unbeaten. No, I don’t personally find the football itself brilliant. But I’m more interested in how we overcome the challenges which will come our way between now and the end of the January 2022 transfer window.

[seteefeet]

Football is a passionate game and boos are a manifestation of that, take that emotion away and the atmosphere and the game itself becomes sterile.
Boo on boys, if that’s what your heart says.
Val has big shoulders and, instead of sulking, should be asking “why are these lifelong supporters not happy and what can I do about it?”
I’ll admit that my in game emotions were anger and frustration. Until we scored. But I am fickle and I make no apology for it, I have 40+ years invested in this club so I’ve earned the right to express whatever emotions I feel.

As it turned out, it was a fantastic result, so the evening ended happy 😃

[zippyandbungle]

I cant work out what some of our fans want?  We are still unbeaten, we are 3rd in the League, only 3 teams have scored more goals than us, only 2 teams have conceded less than us and yet some fans cant stop moaning.

If after 28 games we are 23rd in the league, and 23 more teams have scored more than us, and 22 have conceded less than us then start to moan and I will be with you, but to start moaning after only 8 games is beyond me.

If you brought a car in Bristol expecting it to get to Manchester , it flew up the m5 past glos ester , Cheltenham and Worcester …..but started to really judder and misfire around Birmingham….are you really going to say “it’s ok because the first 40 miles were 3xcellent”, or do you pull in and perhaps make some fixes ?

[TAFKATMNo1Fan]

Vals wife on twitter 'liking' lots of tweets of fans criticising the booing

[Adder]

Football is a passionate game and boos are a manifestation of that, take that emotion away and the atmosphere and the game itself becomes sterile.
Boo on boys, if that’s what your heart says.
Val has big shoulders and, instead of sulking, should be asking “why are these lifelong supporters not happy and what can I do about it?”
I’ll admit that my in game emotions were anger and frustration. Until we scored. But I am fickle and I make no apology for it, I have 40+ years invested in this club so I’ve earned the right to express whatever emotions I feel.

As it turned out, it was a fantastic result, so the evening ended happy 😃

Thing is they booed the substitutions particularly Diangana. Val may have a plan in his head as to how many minutes to give certain players given the intense style and 3 games in a week. Those booing don't know the reasons or thinking behind the decisions whether it's a tactical decision or there is some slight injury being managed so I can understand a manager feeling frustrated with the reaction given that we are not exactly in wheels falling off mode.

[liverbaggie]

What is a fan supposed to do?
If his her team are not playing well no effort etc etc
We cheer them on and on
But if the team  continues to not play well etc a supporter is allowed to criticise surely?
How does one criticise?
It's a bit weird to not criticise to just keep on cheering them on to lose?
Ah well how sad never mind we start again on Tuesday, doing the same thing all over again then suddenly we're In division 3
Boo if you want it doesn't mean you don't love our club just those particular players at that moment in time the trouble is how long do you wait before you boo?

[TAFKATMNo1Fan]

It's not so much the booing, the supporters rarely get behind the team from the off other than the folks in the Smethwick. Atmosphere shocking until we score has been for years
Better atmospheres when we were losing to the likes of Grimsby and Crewe sadly

[BaggieNick]

What is a fan supposed to do?
If his her team are not playing well no effort etc etc
We cheer them on and on
But if the team  continues to not play well etc a supporter is allowed to criticise surely?
How does one criticise?
It's a bit weird to not criticise to just keep on cheering them on to lose?
Ah well how sad never mind we start again on Tuesday, doing the same thing all over again then suddenly we're In division 3
Boo if you want it doesn't mean you don't love our club just those particular players at that moment in time the trouble is how long do you wait before you boo?

That almost reads like a poem ^^^ 

[Adder]

What is a fan supposed to do?
If his her team are not playing well no effort etc etc
We cheer them on and on
But if the team  continues to not play well etc a supporter is allowed to criticise surely?
How does one criticise?
It's a bit weird to not criticise to just keep on cheering them on to lose?
Ah well how sad never mind we start again on Tuesday, doing the same thing all over again then suddenly we're In division 3
Boo if you want it doesn't mean you don't love our club just those particular players at that moment in time the trouble is how long do you wait before you boo?

Do you think 'no effort' has been the case for any prolonged periods of play ? If the wheels are falling off and there's no effort then booing is understandable but we are not even close to that at the moment.

[WorcsWBA]

Boo if you want it doesn't mean you don't love our club just those particular players at that moment in time the trouble is how long do you wait before you boo?

I wonder how many occasions there have been at other clubs when a so far undefeated team in 8 games (that's third in the table) got booed off at half-time?

Although not there in person for much of it, perhaps the booing fans are still dizzy from our marvellous performances and dazzling style of play from last season that led us to concede more goals by some distance than anyone else, with only 3 clubs scoring fewer goals than we did, resulting in us ending up with a goal difference of -41?

We've already won as many games this season as we did in the whole of last season. It actually took us until April 3rd last season to accumulate as many points as we've already got this season. Different division I know, but to be booing the team in these circumstances is unfathomable to me.

[Albertbaggie]

Took a mate, who is a Sheffield United fan with me last night. He couldn't believe the booing at half time.
Honestly, some of the comments I read now, like Ismael would be facing a 'massive two games' had we lost. We are unbeaten.
As middle aged fan, find the gap between myself and fellow Albion fans growing every season, expectation wise, which is really sad. Think I have started to feel that way ever since we first got promoted to the Prem.
For me, as soon as Ismael got job, I thought 'this guy needs at least 2 years to build something'.
And here he is, getting judged after a handful of games he has won or drawn.

[VANDERLEI]

Took a mate, who is a Sheffield United fan with me last night. He couldn't believe the booing at half time.
Honestly, some of the comments I read now, like Ismael would be facing a 'massive two games' had we lost. We are unbeaten.
As middle aged fan, find the gap between myself and fellow Albion fans growing every season, expectation wise, which is really sad. Think I have started to feel that way ever since we first got promoted to the Prem.
For me, as soon as Ismael got job, I thought 'this guy needs at least 2 years to build something'.
And here he is, getting judged after a handful of games he has won or drawn.

100% agree. How people can complain when we are unbeaten and in the top 2 spots is beyond me especially as it's plain to see there is room for much improvement in the squad

[hardtobeat]

It is becoming increasingly difficult to know what our fans want ? We get rid of a bloke who tried to get his teams to play a passing type game , replace him with a much more frugal , defensive type coach who didn’t fancy stopping , replace him with a very pragmatic type who has guided the team to an unbeaten start and still the natives are restless . Too many moan about certain players ok fine but if we get rid at least give a manager / head honcho time to replace and rebuild . To be after a manager after the start to the season we’ve had is so ridiculous it’s not true except it is . Some fans need to give their heads a wobble and either get behind team and manager or else stay at home and off the keyboard

[alex1]

I wonder if this issue of booing is getting blown up out of proportion on here. It would have been only a small minority of fans, but in an otherwise quiet stadium, those few fans are enough to be heard. 

[WD40]

As a fan I want my team to entertain me by playing football
I do not care what league we play in
I don’t mind if we win or lose or draw
Even a loss can be great game
It doesn’t matter how many points or wins you have if it’s not entertaining
Even people defending VI admit the football isn’t great
If the football isn’t great what’s the point?
People are booing as they do not enjoy watching the game
If the result was all that mattered why sit there for 90 minutes to wait for it?
Just read about it online or turn up five minutes before the final whistle
The result is meaningless it’s how the result was achieved that were all addicted to

[boinging_along]

... especially as it's plain to see there is room for much improvement in the squad

That's what people are complaining about.  It's the fact that we struggle to adapt to the opposition and, as you say, it's plain to see.

When we've been beaten and we're outside the top 2 are we allowed to complain then?

[Atomic]

We barely won a game for a year under Bilic and a large percentage of our fans were distraught when he was sacked.

Now our fans are moaning and groaning and have knives out for the manager when we're one of only three unbeaten teams in the whole pyramid.

You couldn't make it up.

[skyclad99]

It is becoming increasingly difficult to know what our fans want ? We get rid of a bloke who tried to get his teams to play a passing type game , replace him with a much more frugal , defensive type coach who didn’t fancy stopping , replace him with a very pragmatic type who has guided the team to an unbeaten start and still the natives are restless . Too many moan about certain players ok fine but if we get rid at least give a manager / head honcho time to replace and rebuild . To be after a manager after the start to the season we’ve had is so ridiculous it’s not true except it is . Some fans need to give their heads a wobble and either get behind team and manager or else stay at home and off the keyboard

I don't see that anyone wants him gone, I think that many of us are just frustrated with the style of play. Take the game on Friday night, first seventy minutes was poor, followed by 20 minutes of really good football and a superb outcome. For me the frustration lies with the quality of players we have and the boards lack of financial backing for VI. I sat there on friday and thought to myself 'this team is crying out for someone like Pereira who can run the game from the centre'. VI wants them to play one touch and he was a master at that. I get what VI is trying to do, but he needs the players to do the job, and you don't find them in the bargain buckets.....

For me the acid test will be in January to see if the board back VI financially. 

[tommcneill]

For me the booing is totally unacceptable.

I really don’t get it.

Unbeaten and in the top 2 is not the time to be booing but to be supporting and encouraging.

Booing substitutions that come about due to a team that currently wasn’t beating a team we should be beating is expected I thought?? And the fact those substitutions gave us a huge platform to go on and win the game shows the booing was absolutely unnecessary

[hardtobeat]

I don't see that anyone wants him gone, I think that many of us are just frustrated with the style of play. Take the game on Friday night, first seventy minutes was poor, followed by 20 minutes of really good football and a superb outcome. For me the frustration lies with the quality of players we have and the boards lack of financial backing for VI. I sat there on friday and thought to myself 'this team is crying out for someone like Pereira who can run the game from the centre'. VI wants them to play one touch and he was a master at that. I get what VI is trying to do, but he needs the players to do the job, and you don't find them in the bargain buckets.....

For me the acid test will be in January to see if the board back VI financially.

The line you have highlighted refers to Bilic

[hardtobeat]

As a fan I want my team to entertain me by playing football
I do not care what league we play in
I don’t mind if we win or lose or draw
Even a loss can be great game
It doesn’t matter how many points or wins you have if it’s not entertaining
Even people defending VI admit the football isn’t great
If the football isn’t great what’s the point?
People are booing as they do not enjoy watching the game
If the result was all that mattered why sit there for 90 minutes to wait for it?
Just read about it online or turn up five minutes before the final whistle
The result is meaningless it’s how the result was achieved that were all addicted to

If you aren’t enjoying it don’t go simples ! But to go with the intent of booing as soon as something goes wrong or god forbid the opposition don’t roll over in the first twenty minutes  which is the case with some of our support is not only wrong it’s nuts !

[skyclad99]

The line you have highlighted refers to Bilic

Sorry, misread it, my bad

[skyclad99]

I wonder if this issue of booing is getting blown up out of proportion on here. It would have been only a small minority of fans, but in an otherwise quiet stadium, those few fans are enough to be heard.

It was very loud at half time Alex, from all around the stadium.

Not good really - what sort of message does that send to the players?

[Oldbury24]

As a fan I want my team to entertain me by playing football
I do not care what league we play in
I don’t mind if we win or lose or draw
Even a loss can be great game
It doesn’t matter how many points or wins you have if it’s not entertaining
Even people defending VI admit the football isn’t great
If the football isn’t great what’s the point?
People are booing as they do not enjoy watching the game
If the result was all that mattered why sit there for 90 minutes to wait for it?
Just read about it online or turn up five minutes before the final whistle
The result is meaningless it’s how the result was achieved that were all addicted to

Best kind of football is winning football.  Nobody on Friday came out of the ground moaning, the place was buzzing.   If we'd played wonderful football but hit the bar/post/keeper plays a blinder and lost everyone would have been frustrated and miserable.

I'm a child of the 70s who missed the golden years.  I turned up at the Hawthorns for Buckley, Little, Gould at al.  Only bright spots were Ossie and 6 months under Talbot until SGM arrived.   Believe me I have seen much, much worse football.

Strikes me that the fan base of today would have been booing Sir Gary by now as his teams were VERY pragmatic in approach.   Our years in the PL seem to have left a bizarre feeling of entitlement, teams should just role over and let West Brom tikka takka through them to an easy promotion.   Not the real world.

[Oldbury24]

It was very loud at half time Alex, from all around the stadium.

Not good really - what sort of message does that send to the players?

The boos on the substitution were loud enough to be an embarrasment.   Don't think Val was sulking, more giving those booing the middle finger.  Fair play.