One New Year resolution all football fans should avoid is trying to change our natural state of existence: hypocrisy.
It’s nothing to be ashamed about. Logic and reason are two very dangerous companions for those of us who love the game.
Former Hibernian boss Bobby Williamson once attracted the ire of Easter Rd supporters by telling them if they wanted entertainment they should go to the cinema.
As a former Bricklayer, Bobby was a straight talker: building sites are seldom fertile ground for fragile flowers.
Was he right though? Is it the job of a football team and manager to entertain or to win matches?
Hibs fans wanted to see the kind of football which the legendary Famous Five had played with a flourish, but in the final analysis Williamson was right, mostly they wanted to win.
After St Johnstone’s recent draw at Pittodrie some Dons fans fired a salvo at Saints boss Tommy Wright and his team. They felt that the visitors had shut up shop and were dire to watch.
While I’d rather see everyone play like Barcelona, not everyone can. In fact very few can, so the tools at a manager’s disposal have to be used effectively to keep his own fans happy.
That means that every weapon, mental and physical, has to be pressed into service. The psychological game is a particularly interesting one and it’s often played both on and off the pitch.
This week, Hibernian’s Dylan McGeouch publicly wondered whether Dundee United can handle the pressure of being leaders in the Championship.
It’s a perfectly fair question to ask, but anyone who thinks he’s doing it out of concern for the health of the Tannadice team is still taking the naivety pills.
It’s one of the oldest tactics in the football book of tricks, to try to get inside an opponent’s mind.
The equivalent of the golfing partner who mutters innocently ‘that’s harder than it looks’ just as you go to sink that five footer.
Entertaining and good flowing football which is easy on the eye is a great bonus, but the game is there to be won and whether it’s pretty or ugly, three points are what matters.
Appearing with Tam Cowan on Off the Ball last Saturday, the bold Thomas was still incandescent about a penalty awarded to Aberdeen’s Adam Rooney against his Motherwell side the previous night.
‘Cheating’ he called it, but immediately when I asked if it had been given to his side would he have taken it, he instantly replied ‘yes’.
Being a football fan means living a double life.
We all want consistency from refs, great attacking and entertaining football, and top sportsmanship, except of course when any of those qualities could lead to our team losing.
We can be patronisingly magnanimous and offer soothing words of sympathy to opposing fans over a pint after the match, but only after their team has been convincingly crushed.
That’s us football fans for you, and long may we remain the sanctimonious moaning faced lot that we are.
A Happy New Year to all of us and may we never change.