Tommy Mooney: Bringing the club closer to its fans

Champions League / Tommy Mooney / 17 September 2008 / Leave a Comment

Spainish clubs lag far behind their English counterparts in terms of community spirit, says Tommy Mooney.

In England, it's not all about the football. A lot of clubs, the majority in fact, have a focus on their local community with all kinds of different activities and commitments.

That's certainly not the case here in Marbella and I doubt it is at other Spanish teams either. Clubs aren't really set up in the community style although it's free for children under 16 to come and watch the games.

Perhaps that's why clubs don't try too hard engaging with local schools or clubs, but of course if you can get them coming early they'll probably keep coming when they've got to pay for a ticket - that's how football draws you in.

From my days at the original family club, Watford, it's been ingrained in me that football is all about the local community. Never before or since Watford had I completed so many community-based hours. Graham Taylor was right on top of that - and it generated a warmth of feeling between players and fans.

At Birmingham, by comparison, a lot of time was asked of us as players but I always felt everything was a bit forced and that it didn't come quite so naturally.

If Marbella do want to get things up and running, in terms of their reach into the town, I'd be happy to be part of that once it'd been thought through. Initiatives always have the effect of bringing the club closer to its fans.

When I think about English fans, though, they are a different breed. It'd be hard for me to pick a 'best' group of fans to have played in front of but certainly, at St. Andrew's, even when things weren't going too well, Blues fans would always turn out in their numbers. We were averaging nearly 30,000 at the start of a Championship season.

Even at smaller clubs, like Swindon Town, the passion was still there if not the numbers. Their away support was especially loyal and vocal and that was something all the players there really noticed.

But from a purely personal point of view, I have to mention the relationship I had with the Watford fans. I think any player who lasts for eight years at a club will probably get on well with the supporters but they were special times in my career.

I'm hoping to enjoy a similarly successful season here with Marbella but, as I wasn't involved at the weekend, I managed to squeeze in an extra 18 holes of golf. All the talk at the club was of the Ryder Cup this weekend and, unlike the England games a week or so back, I definitely won't be missing this. Although that rather depends on sorting out television pictures for myself which is what I'm trying to do at the minute. The local bar down the road will be my back-up so I'll not be missing much - only Saturday's play as we've got a game in the evening that day.

It's on at a great time here too, about a 1pm start. We normally finish training around 45 minutes to an hour before that, so it couldn't be timed much better. I have no great individual favourites when it comes to golf, I just particularly like the build-up and all the mind games ahead of the Ryder Cup. I mean, sit Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo at a press conference in front of some microphones and you're going to be entertained. Azinger is committed to throwing his rookie players straight in on day one while Faldo is trying to be his confident self.

I think it'll be closer than many are suggesting. On paper, the USA have got their weakest team for years. That'll make them clear underdogs and will surely ease their nerves a little bit. Perhaps it'll bring them more together as a team too, something the Americans often struggle with.

Of course Faldo's got the fun task of trying to be nice to some golfers that he's given a pasting to on national television in the States. There's some great sub-plots away from the golf but that'll all be forgotten when it starts.

I think the only golf I'll miss on Sunday is when my son Kelsey, who's an avid Chelsea fan, tries to flick over to the Chelsea-Man United match.

If Liverpool hadn't beaten United last Saturday I'd have been quite sweet on a Chelsea win. But United don't lose two in a row very often and they'll be a reaction from the Anfield defeat.

So my tip this week is to lay Chelsea, at odds of about [2.3]. While I'm not certain United will win, Fergie won't want them to lose two in a row to title rivals and drop nine points behind as a result. Chelsea are really strong at home, so if you're going to back anything, it'd have to be the Draw for me, which is priced at [3.15].