Boring, Boring County?

An often heard comment complaint round Firhill these days is that there is a lack of signing and a poor atmosphere inside the Jackie Husband Stand on match days. Well, yesterday there was one chant that was loud and audible, and was heard more than once. It went simply;

“Boring, boring County”.

Now I need to come clean at this point. Four times Thistle have played Ross County this season. Three times County have won, and on each of those occasions Thistle failed to find the back of the net. The only time Thistle did prise a point from County, and score against them, was after they had had a man sent off.

A fantastic run that has seen them lose just once all season in the league, in a game in which they again had a man sent off, has seen County establish a huge lead at the top of the First Division. It is but a matter of time before they are confirmed as champions. It will be a deserved championship, it would be foolish to deny otherwise.

 Yet even in acknowledging that fantastic run they aren’t a popular side. They are in the words of Thistle manager Jackie McNamara “not pleasing on the eye” or, if you prefer the less diplomatic assessment of the Thistle fans, “boring, boring”.

Thistle fans watching the "Boring" Ross County (pic by Tommy Taylor)

County’s popularity, to be blunt, isn’t helped any by their manager Derek Adams who appears to have few friends in football outside the confines of Victoria Park. He even earlier in the season took bizarre offence at McNamara’s comment that Adams’ had spent his budget wisely.

Leaving that issue aside, County’s lack of popularity does raise an interesting question.

Are we football fans entertained by exciting, attacking football no matter the result or are we entertained simply by watching our side win week in week out?

A few years ago I walked out of Victoria Park delighted with a point after a goalless draw. Thistle had at the time being struggling for form and had been guilty of conceding some soft goals. The shape of the Thistle side that afternoon, therefore, was set up to first and foremost make them hard to beat. The performance as I recall was as hard working a Jags performance as I have seen but, to use that phrase again, it wasn’t pleasing on the eye.

It did, however, get the job done and I travelled back to Glasgow afterwards a fairly contented man.

There are times then when it is laudable to do whatever you need to do to get the desired result. I doubt I would complain too much if, for example, Thistle defended in numbers at Ibrox but came away with a 1-0 win. No, chances are you would find me signing loudly ‘One Team in Glasgow’ before falling asleep, drowning in my own drool.

Football is a business and a profession, a precarious one at that, to those that play it and you can understand the attitude that it’s not how you get the result that is important but that you get the result. 

It is also an entertainment.

The vast majority of the 2,500 or so people at Firhill yesterday paid £17 to watch the game. Did the approach of a side 15 points clear at the top of the division, and well on course for the title, take the “the result at all costs” approach too far?

I guess it depends largely on the colour of the scarf that you were wearing. When the County fans are celebrating their inevitable title success it is unlikely that they will gave a damn that the Thistle fans thought their team were “boring, boring”. Derek Adams certainly doesn’t.