FACE OF THE FANS

Watching a group of Norwich City fans waiting at Sheringham railway station for the Bittern Line train to Norwich, and the match, I was struck by how much things have changed for football enthusiasts since the 1940s and 1950s. Nowadays, in-vogue fashions demand close-cut hair, a surprising amount of bare skin - even in cold weather - a coy glimpse of the corner of a yellow and green scarf, hoodies or thin shirts, possibly an iPod or something of a similar ilk with bits in each ear, and most certainly a mobile phone.
In my youth it would have been a rosette, wooden rattle, raincoat or greatcoat, a coloured scarf and quite often a 'pirate' or unofficial programme.
However, the changes are actually much wider and deeper than this. Today, fans tend to get to the match by train, car or coach, whereas once it was bus, bike, or a lot of walking. And there is also much more commercialisation, while amateurism (remember, in the 1950s the FA Amateur Cup Final could lure a 100,000 crowd to Wembley) is confined to a much smaller fringe. There are thick, glossy magazines to buy, too, instead of a few flimsy pages of match programme; a place to sit and a roof over your head instead of a standing space on an open terrace; and pounds in the pocket rather than shillings and pence.
The money is important, of course. Take the cost of admission to Carrow Road. Even as late as the 1960s, when the club still had only two revenue streams - season ticket sales and cash taken at the turnstiles - the price of an average standing terrace ticket (complete with Entertainments Tax postage stamp) stayed more or less in line with the cost of admission to the Odeon. It was a warm seat versus standing on a cold square of concrete. And it was a dilemma for many. Nowadays, however, the price of a seat at Carrow Road might cost as much as the best part of a row of seats at the cinema.
Financially, therefore, something somewhere seems to have got out of kilter. Mind you, football is not a team game any more, but a squad game, so I suppose someone has to pay for all the extra players sitting on the bench!
There are many other differences, of course. In the 1940s/50s fans were more stoical, relaxed and good humoured and in possession of considerably more patience and realistically lower ambitions than today. Then, a manager did not always get the sack just because his club was relegated.
If I have judged things correctly, today's fans seem to be much quicker to criticise (as opposed to just moaning) and they are certainly more edgy and confrontational. All brought about, no doubt, by higher expectations, shorter tempers, and a know-all veneer created by ceaseless TV-inspired tactical and managerial chat.
By and large, though, levels of enthusiasm, and levels of grumbling, seem about the same as they ever were. Nowt's changed in that respect.