[EastYorksAlbion]

Something I have been pondering is the differences in the supporters of our local clubs. I am not including Walsall, purely because I can only ever remember properly chatting to one Walsall fan and that was before a pre season friendly at Fellows Park in 1986 (she was gorgeous too!).

Though the demographic of the support for supporters of Albion, B(lose), Vile and the Dogheads should be similar, I think it is fair to say that there are many differences.

Of the other three B(lose) seem the most similar to us, relatively realistic, always disappointed, and relatively level headed, though during the Fry era when they had money to spend they did change a bit.

Whereas Vile and the Dogheads seem to have an arrogance and sometimes deluded opinion of themselves and their club.

So my question is, is it the club that causes the fan to be like that or do the clubs react to the way their fans are? Vile and the Dogheads do seem to be more ambitious as clubs and always have been, even if it causes financial difficulty, the differences in main stand built at Albion and Wolves in late 70s being an example.

Would Albion be more ambitious if our support was as demanding and arrogant as our two main rivals?

Would our rivals be less ambitious if their support was as tolerant of failure as ours?

[chipperclark]

  Think we are all "closet" Walsall fans to some degree and yes we are not "arrogant" like the Dogheads and Vile which really makes me proud of our club.

[WBArgo]

In my experience the Villa are the most arrogant of the lot, but it may change with the Wolves and their new found success.

Whilst we are similar to Birmingham, I think their club has more violent fans from what I've experienced whereas ours are generally better behaved.

[FallOutBoy]

I can only speak on my experiences, but I don't think anybody in the region touches Villa for arrogance and entitlement. You'd have to hit Merseyside / London to match it.

Wolves have a bit of arrogance, but I think on the whole their recent lack of top-flight football have given most of their fans a humility that Villa just aren't capable of. You can banter with Wolves fans; you can't with Villa.

I genuinely haven't met a Blues fan, but as a fanbase they always strike me that they too have a higher opinion of themselves. They couldn't sell their ground out at home to Man United in the Premiership, when United were good, but think they're on a par with us / Wolves.

I have a few mates who support Walsall, and they're all good lads. Plus they hate Villa / Wolves as much as us, so that's good.

[divinewind]

Would our Albion be more ambitious if our fans were more demanding?
Absolutely, no question about it at all.
When Wolves were in League 1 their fans still thought they were on par with the Premier league top six.
We thought they were delusional, but look at them now. Top 7 in their first season, building a 50k all seater stadium, when a few years ago they couldn't attract 20,000.

I have always found our fans to be the most apathetic in the West Midlands, a "Oh well Cor be 'elped,
We ay got no munny an we, un Peace did well for us. Darren Moore was a luvly bloke un all, ay it a sherm we sacked 'im? We dow need a new stond, we cor fill this un. Lets get Mulumbu back he wuz a gud un an all. Derek McInnes anyone?"

Think small and you will stay small.

[TiptonThrostle]

Would our Albion be more ambitious if our fans were more demanding?
Absolutely, no question about it at all.
When Wolves were in League 1 their fans still thought they were on par with the Premier league top six.
We thought they were delusional, but look at them now. Top 7 in their first season, building a 50k all seater stadium, when a few years ago they couldn't attract 20,000.

I have always found our fans to be the most apathetic in the West Midlands, a "Oh well Cor be 'elped,
We ay got no munny an we, un Peace did well for us. Darren Moore was a luvly bloke un all, ay it a sherm we sacked 'im? We dow need a new stond, we cor fill this un. Lets get Mulumbu back he wuz a gud un an all. Derek McInnes anyone?"

Think small and you will stay small.

Great post and couldn't agree anymore.

as you say, think small and you will stay small. i would say out of Albion, Villa, Wolves we have the smallest ambition and demand as fans for success. Sometimes Wolves can be deluded but there is an expectation. we got relegated 2 seasons ago and a lot of us were saying they would be happy with a mid table finish.

yet we kept the whole squad except foster and Evans and that was our demand/expectation? many years ago i would have said most loyal but my opinion changed on that last year at home to Derby when the whole ground was screaming at the players 5 minutes in because Derby were pressing us and were struggling to keep possession. it was silly tactics but at one point we could have had 1% possession and the whole ground would have got behind the team. that no longer happens in my opinion. 

but then again, over the past 25 years for all the money and demand/expectation We have had more success than Wolves but believe that now they are back in the premier league they will take advantage of it more than we ever did.

[bradleysrocket]

I’m not sure there’s that much difference between them all to be fair, Villa probably have a higher level of ‘entitlement’due to the recent history of all the clubs putting them some way ahead. Obviously wolves have leaped ahead now but I think if you have a conversation with fans of any of those clubs away from the heat of a derby match we’re all much of a muchness.

[sing on our own]

Our fans at Palace the last game in the prem summed us up. Instead of mass protests about the complete farce and embarrassment of a season it was like a party and people were proud of it 🙈 I think that was the moment Lai laughed and knew he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it.

[gazberg]

Yep, our fans are weirdly content to sit back and be pooped on. Will stand for almost anything.

[divinewind]

Jenkins and co must look at boards like this the same as Peace did. If they see no demand they give us no ambitition. Why should they, why waste money if we are happy in the Championship?
It must give them joy to see us pleased with the likes of Moore, Shan and HRK.

On the other hand i think our fans are the most knowledgeable, wittiest, and reasonable of the big three. But we should show a bit more impatience than being excited with a promotion every few years.

[alex1]

Speaking as someone from the south, I've generally found all West Midlands fans to be genuine football fans compared to say what you found alot around London especially in the 70's and 80's. I'm talking about football related violence and hooliganism. And insofar there was any hooligan element in the Midlands, I'd say it was mainly Wolves and Blues. I'm sure there were a few headcases calling themselves Albion fans, but (maybe I've just been lucky) I've never really come across them.
Anyone unlucky enough to come across Chelsea, Spurs and, worst of all, West Ham fans in that period will know what I mean. There were alot who seemed more interested in the violence than their team's result. All seater stadiums obviously changed alot, but I think the rivalry here in the Midlands, is almost entirely verbal banter, and nothing more.   

[Albionic]

Speaking as someone from the south, I've generally found all West Midlands fans to be genuine football fans compared to say what you found alot around London especially in the 70's and 80's. I'm talking about football related violence and hooliganism. And insofar there was any hooligan element in the Midlands, I'd say it was mainly Wolves and Blues. I'm sure there were a few headcases calling themselves Albion fans, but (maybe I've just been lucky) I've never really come across them.
Anyone unlucky enough to come across Chelsea, Spurs and, worst of all, West Ham fans in that period will know what I mean. There were alot who seemed more interested in the violence than their team's result. All seater stadiums obviously changed alot, but I think the rivalry here in the Midlands, is almost entirely verbal banter, and nothing more.

Zulu's / Section 5 / Subway army / The steamers all the midlands clubs had their "firms" back in the day, they just were not glamorised by the media like the london firms

[divinewind]

In the last decade or so we have been voted the best fans in the Premier League and the most intelligent in football, also the atmosphere generated at the Hawthorns can be the best in the land considering the size of the ground. Alan Green said it reminded him of a Turkish ground.
These are the reputations we should be proud of, not a reputation like Chelsea or Millwall.
Most neutral fans like us.
I had to laugh when we played Norwich about 15 years ago and we sang Stand Up If You Hate The Wolves, and the Norwich fans stood up as well.

[Dexy]

In the last decade or so we have been voted the best fans in the Premier League and the most intelligent in football, also the atmosphere generated at the Hawthorns can be the best in the land considering the size of the ground. Alan Green said it reminded him of a Turkish ground.
These are the reputations we should be proud of, not a reputation like Chelsea or Millwall.
Most neutral fans like us.
I had to laugh when we played Norwich about 15 years ago and we sang Stand Up If You Hate The Wolves, and the Norwich fans stood up as well.

Started with Muscats tackle on a young Craig Bellamy.

[baggie82]

Would our Albion be more ambitious if our fans were more demanding?
Absolutely, no question about it at all.
When Wolves were in League 1 their fans still thought they were on par with the Premier league top six.
We thought they were delusional, but look at them now. Top 7 in their first season, building a 50k all seater stadium, when a few years ago they couldn't attract 20,000.

I have always found our fans to be the most apathetic in the West Midlands, a "Oh well Cor be 'elped,
We ay got no munny an we, un Peace did well for us. Darren Moore was a luvly bloke un all, ay it a sherm we sacked 'im? We dow need a new stond, we cor fill this un. Lets get Mulumbu back he wuz a gud un an all. Derek McInnes anyone?"

Think small and you will stay small.

Exactly how I feel, a sizeable proportion of our fan base have no ambition for the club and a small time mentality. One of the reasons I moved out of West Bromwich to start with and haven't looked back, football club aside which cheered me up the place was a depressing dump.

[albion59]

Exactly how I feel, a sizeable proportion of our fan base have no ambition for the club and a small time mentality. One of the reasons I moved out of West Bromwich to start with and haven't looked back, football club aside which cheered me up the place was a depressing dump.

I am born and bred West Brom and proud of where i come from. I have done ok for myself and West Bromwich is not a depressing dump it's people like you who will make it a depressing dump by running off I will never leave West Brom and we have some if the best fans in the country who happen to come from West Brom.

[NJS]

Would our Albion be more ambitious if our fans were more demanding?
Absolutely, no question about it at all.
When Wolves were in League 1 their fans still thought they were on par with the Premier league top six.
We thought they were delusional, but look at them now. Top 7 in their first season, building a 50k all seater stadium, when a few years ago they couldn't attract 20,000.

I have always found our fans to be the most apathetic in the West Midlands, a "Oh well Cor be 'elped,
We ay got no munny an we, un Peace did well for us. Darren Moore was a luvly bloke un all, ay it a sherm we sacked 'im? We dow need a new stond, we cor fill this un. Lets get Mulumbu back he wuz a gud un an all. Derek McInnes anyone?"

Think small and you will stay small.

I disagree.  Sunderland fans are demanding but it didn't stop them dropping two divisions.    I think it has to do with the affluence and size of the catchment area.  The Black Country was a manufacturing area and as that has shrunk so has the potential number of investors.  Being demanding cuts no ice with those types.  (I've always thought we should attract more fans from the area going south down the M5 and going West to the border). 
I agree that Villa fans are the most blinkered, self-entitled and arrogant in the West Mids - like Arsenal in London.

I think from the bulk of comments posted here that Baggies supporters are even-handed, intelligent and realistic.  That translates to loyalty and staying power .

BTW: isn't the cod black country accent a little outdated and maybe  a touch condescending.  Aren't all the young speaking East Enders / Estuarine now ?

[divinewind]

Well, i'm a sixty fower next munth un it's a bit lert fer me ter start a torkin proppa now, ay it?

[divinewind]

I love all things Albion including our fans, i just wish they would demand we show a bit more ambition. I'm not talking about going mad and bankrupting us, just pay a going rate. The time it takes to sign a player is embarrassing.This board will try and get by with spending the least amount of money if they can.

[ronnie_allen]

I love all things Albion including our fans, i just wish they would demand we show a bit more ambition. I'm not talking about going mad and bankrupting us, just pay a going rate. The time it takes to sign a player is embarrassing.This board will try and get by with spending the least amount of money if they can.

I want us to go back to the days of Ashworth. On balance, find the players that are undervalued and seek to maximise our potential that way. While utilising our funds smartly 

[the other AJ]

Speaking as someone from the south, I've generally found all West Midlands fans to be genuine football fans compared to say what you found alot around London especially in the 70's and 80's. I'm talking about football related violence and hooliganism. And insofar there was any hooligan element in the Midlands, I'd say it was mainly Wolves and Blues. I'm sure there were a few headcases calling themselves Albion fans, but (maybe I've just been lucky) I've never really come across them.
Anyone unlucky enough to come across Chelsea, Spurs and, worst of all, West Ham fans in that period will know what I mean. There were alot who seemed more interested in the violence than their team's result. All seater stadiums obviously changed alot, but I think the rivalry here in the Midlands, is almost entirely verbal banter, and nothing more.

Notwithstanding the reputation of London firms, my first Albion derby experience in the 1983/84 season against Wolves at home was when 40 ish dog heads stormed the Brummie at half time ( mainly down the front and sporadic fighting). That said and as a child unable to scale the huge perimeter fence and escape the rumble, it was pretty intense. The funny thing was my Dad was at the back of the Brummie, saw what was happening, came down and waded in to look for me, much to the old bill’s chagrin.

Not much verbal banter, more disgust that the scum waded into the front left where mainly families and kids were watching the match.  Typical wolves. Hated them ever since

I love all things Albion including our fans, i just wish they would demand we show a bit more ambition. I'm not talking about going mad and bankrupting us, just pay a going rate. The time it takes to sign a player is embarrassing.This board will try and get by with spending the least amount of money if they can.