Match tonight

Quote: knockersbumpMKII "But you aren't a player and I guess you've never being an athlete in an elite situation or have had to perform multiple tasks in front of a live audience that is judging you at every moment? Your post is just inaccurate & wrong.

If a player [ineeds[/i vocal support from fans to somehow play better then there is something wrong! if you're listening to what's going on in the crowd you aren't focusing on your job 100%. And whilst in RL a player can turn to the crowd/hear the support that's at a down time. It actually has little if any effect on how a player then plays, you might have an instant feeling of being buoyed but when it gets down to the nitty gritty it means naff all, you don't hear the crowd/audience, you're concentrating on what's going on around you, focusing on what you're meant to be doing...or at least you should be!

Telling the fans they MUST actively show positive support because it will make us perform better is just inaccurate, as much as you and indeed athletes/players might think it does.
studies done in the US have shown that sports with vocal fans, teams often play better without the fans at all than with fans cheering (not that we've had much to cheer about this past 1.5 years anyway). The greatest effect is in fact when sportspersons are being boo'd or jeered, this has a negative effect on performance (So bullying tactics by coaches/parents DO NOT WORK)
Despite the evidence, both fans and athletes believe cheering/positive support helps, the hard facts show that it just doesn't.

That said getting fans to cheer/give vocal support when things aren't going well is a difficult thing to do, I'd say Hull fans have done more than most over the years but that effect is just primarily on the fans themselves. Of late the fans aren't cheering, they are so fed up with how things have gone backwards that it seems futile to even raise a rendition of 'old faithful'.'"

Fair enough if evidence is that it doesn't impact directly on performances on the day. However, there are some qualifiers.

One report showed that the density of support is important and home advantage is actually increased if the crowd is more densely concentrated. Which it obviously isn't at the KC, quite the opposite.

As you say, booing has a negative effect, and there have been pockets of this at both the last couple of home games. So rather than supporting, the crowd are detracting.

I think you're suggesting that silence/zero attendance would be as effective on impacting the team as having a packed vociferous crowd which may be true on matchday. But beyond that, to feel a connection with the club, surely a positive relationship with the fanbase is a good thing? We're part of a club, right? For quite a lot of fans that goes deeper than a third party transaction with a leisure provider like Odeon cinemas. Fans demand of players effort and passion/pride/commitment to the shirt regardless of form and we know there are players (at all clubs) who play with injections/against medical advice etc. My personal view is that, hard yards as it is, players demonstrating effort don't deserve booing, or slating on social media, and with that effort we should "have their back". Not blindly defending the indefensible, but demonstrating some basic respect when they're spending their lives training and playing to represent the club many of us have belonged to for months/years/decades and putting the effort in.

At a bit of a tangent, it's quite interesting to think about the segmentation of our fanbase and the proportions that sit within it. I guess the spectrum runs from those who are supporters but don't attend games (I'd count my pensioner mum in that group), to those who go if we're in good form and have nothing else to do, to those who go to the majority of games, to passholders, to those following home and away. I get the sense that the last group holds up reasonably well in terms of numbers over the last few years, but there's been a slide through the the rest. The primary reason is performance (and a promise high-deliver low record under AP) but is there also something around the way the club interacts with the fans? I'd put myself in the last group, but am I just a "loyal customer"? I feel a greater connection than that as it's been my #1 non-family/work interest of the past 26 years, but is there any reciprocity? Tbh I'm not sure what this would even be as I don't hear about great things other clubs do, but to regain fans whilst performances need fixing as top priority a more sincere relationship and realistic communications are also needed.