Opinion: If only we could all go back to marching on together behind Leeds United

It’s a word that should be close to the heart of any real football fan, but some of these individuals appear to be utterly unfamiliar with the whole concept of getting behind a team, encouraging them, displaying some partisan fanaticism and always, keeping the faith.

The Leeds United support base, for me, is divided between the match-goers – still the best bunch in the game – and the non-attendees, whose number includes a significant minority of people who attach themselves to United with the apparent purpose of delighting in any setback and doing their level best to demoralise and dishearten the players the rest of us support through thick and thin.

Some of these will clearly be bogus online presences, but that doesn’t explain the sheer volume and levels of negativity out there.

Football teams thrive on support – how often have you heard the saying “our crowd is worth a goal start”? In the days before social media, you didn’t need to know any more than that – it was your incentive to get along to the game, sing your heart out and support the lads.

Those dear, simple days are far behind us now and while, as I stated earlier, the Leeds matchday support is second to none at home and away, the story on Twitter, Facebook etcetera, is markedly different.

The LUFC hashtag on Twitter is best avoided for any supporter with a history of high blood pressure, which is bad enough – but the actual players should certainly be banned from ever even looking at such platforms.

The point is that the insidious effect of this drip, drip, drip type criticism is well known and widely acknowledged. So the concerted effect on Patrick Bamford, to pick a not entirely random sample, of what he has doubtless read on Twitter, will inevitably be a lot less than positive.

Strikers, more than most footballers, thrive on confidence. Knock a lad’s confidence and, eventually, you will see deterioration in performance and output. It’s not rocket science, it’s simply common sense. Anyone who saw Bamford step up to take it would have been fearing he’d miss. The body language was not typical of confidence and self-belief, and it’s those qualities that have been drained away by these non-fans on social media.

If there’s one thing more than any other that can make me wish for the good old days pre-social media, it’s this.

In many ways, things were better back then, although the likes of Terry Yorath, Kevin Hird and George McCluskey among others, who suffered greatly from some minority terrace barracking, might possibly beg to differ.

But all that notwithstanding, there was an honesty about support in those days that is absent from large areas of the online LUFC presence. And what worries me is that this great club, which has always relied on the fanatical fervour of its support, may well pay a heavy price for the abominable attitude of some so-called fans.

If only we could all go back to “Marching On Together” solidly behind team and club – but seemingly, that’s just so much wishful thinking.