On May 18th, 2015, the 35th anniversary of Ian Curtis's death, I used the titles of ten Joy Division songs to sum up what it was like being a Chonburi fan at the time.
Atmosphere
In spite of the impressive attendances at home so far this season (up on previous years), there is a distinct lack of atmosphere at Chonburi Stadium on match days. Maybe the fans have finally realised that all is not well round our way. We'd also appreciate being able to take food and drink inside again (yes, that old chestnut!), surely we can be trusted now?
Atrocity Exhibition
This neatly sums up some of our performances in 2015. Particularly the laboured home win against Rajapruk Muangnont Utd in the League Cup. My word, we did make hard work of beating a bunch of part timers. This is also a good description of Thai refereeing standards and players who feign injury - you know who you are.
Candidate
Was Jadet the only candidate for the job after Wada's shock resignation following last year's disappointing FA Cup final defeat? What a shame we didn't take more time in making the appointment - or persuading Wada to stay. Even though our star is fading, there are surely a number of top coaches who would jump at the chance of working at our club.
Decades
Under the current regime, and the way we are playing, it will be this long before we win anything again.
From Safety To Where...?
So, we'll stay up this season - there are (thankfully) at least three TPL teams worse than us (ToT, Navy, Saraburi)- but where will we go from here? It's clear to anyone with any understanding of football that we need a major shake up at the club in order to keep up with the top sides.
Heart and Soul
Something we'd like to see a bit more of on the field. It's never easy to accept that we don't quite cut the mustard anymore but all we ever ask is for the players to try. There are one or two who have been cruising for a while now, or who are living on their (highly inflated) reputations. Get out there each week and prove yourselves. Who knows, you might actually enjoy it.
New Dawn Fades
All the optimism that accompanied the brave choice of Masahiro Wada as our head coach at the beginning of 2014 - and the success that brought - has long since evaporated. Reappointing Jadet (who is someone I personally like) was a huge step backwards and it's difficult to say where we go from here. Downhill?
Novelty
All those lovely t-shirts and other quirky items that we are constantly plugging in the shop and on the official website are all well and good but we'd much prefer a decent team. Message to the club - it's what happens on the field that counts, please concentrate all your efforts on that and not flogging us cheap tat. Thank you.
These Days
Going to the match is more often a chore than a pleasure these days. Please try and make it the latter again. We just need something to give us some hope and something to entertain us. It's not a lot to ask. Is it?
Wilderness
Where we'll remain until the senior management realises that we can't go on living off our (fading - that word again) reputation. Serious investment is needed and a complete overhaul is required to make us competitive again. Most of the long term fans can see this, why can't they?
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