Bengaluru FC and Mumbai FC: A view from the fan's end

A CLUB IS DIVIDED INTO TWO SETS OF PEOPLE. One is a professional lot and the other is the fans. The players, club management and coaching staff fall under the professional people category. The other half, an equally important one, belongs to those who are associated with the club by interest and passion -- the fans.
 
Over the years, a fan base is developed and it continues to grow with the popularity of the professionals in the club among the faithful. Also, it is unlikely the fans change the club of choice. Once decided, it stays forever. But for the professional lot, it is not the same. They are bounded by contracts and if the professional incentives does not suit them, they are on the way to find a new home at another club.

Fans association with a club is the only constant in sport. If the club is performing well, there is no shortage of praise from fans. But on the other hand, even if the club fails to perform, fans are the first ones that come out in solidarity to show their backing for the passion. Fans have the right to voice their opinion on what they feel for the club. Fan's voice resounds the feeling of the general audience, the viewers and judges of the club's performance.

Bengaluru FC, who are also the defending champions, their recent form has seen them winless in seven games. After Saturday's loss to East Bengal, it was expected the fans to lose the hope of a title contention. 

After the final whistle, Albert Roca reached out to the fans and apologised for a disappointing show.

Wanted to thank our fans for sticking by the club through thick and thin. You were fantastic that night and we will fight till the end. pic.twitter.com/txIL3yfRns

— Albert Roca (@RocaDT_Oficial) February 27, 2017

The lack lustre performance even had the owner of the club, share the following tweet to explain the fans that the club sentiments are also hurt.

I apologize to the thousands of @bengalurufc who showed up for the game today - this is not how champions play

— Parth Jindal (@ParthJindal11) February 25, 2017

As a responsible gesture, even the team captain expressed his hurt feelings and a promised a fight back. 

Cannot be sorry enough for our fans for last night and the phase we are going through. We will work our socks off to bring back happy times.

— Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) February 26, 2017

Even hours after the game,Bengaluru fans kept social media abuzz expressing their faith in the club.

Whether or not, Bengaluru FC win the title, they sure have the belief and support of fans untill the very end, without whom the club will never be known.

The other side of fans

Anything done to tarnish the club's image, fans are never shy to put it out in the open. Be it any external force or even if the source of trouble is internal. Mumbai FC have been on the losing side on six consective occasions this season along with three back to back draws. Mumbai FC had a major facelift of sorts when the club let go of long-stayed coach Khalid Jamil and brought in Santosh Kashyap to get Mumbai is better position than all the years that Jamil was in charge.

Many changes went through the camp from mentality to squad shuffle. The new aim for the club was set at finishing in the top three of the league. The start was great, two out of two wins with an all-Indian squad. But from the third game onwards, the dreamed finish was starting to turn into a nightmare of a season. It was not just the poor form but something much deeper that had started to bother the fans.

Their favourite players were missing from the line ups and were resorted to mere cameo appearances that too, not very often. There was news about some players being released and even being downgraded which had the fan's started to take stock of the situation. Although the coach clearly denying the rumours, the social media was buzzing with the fans, in an uproar in unision. Appeals to the club management to have the coach replaced and bring back to favourites to the ground having been growing louder and gathering attention.

Among all these, there have been no reaction from the professional lot (at least the management side) for the alleged controversy. Even for the fact considering the consistent slack in performance, no remorse shown for the worst form in history and possibly dashed promises.

The difference in the club cultures of Bengaluru FC and Mumbai is clearly visible in the way the professional lot has interacted with fanbase at the club. Bengaluru have created a bond between club and fans that has probably got more and more fans flocking the stadium even in the darkest days of the club and who promise to stand by even in the toughest times.

The growing indifference of the officials at Mumbai FC club towards the faithful seeking answers and solutions to their growing woes, is like a landline phone with a caller identification screen that keeps ringing in a room filled with people but nobody wishes to answer.

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