As I am rather bored I feel compelled to join the cut and thrust of this debate.
The first thing I will comment on is this:
Well done on taking a good following to Workington on a Tuesday night. But we’re well aware of our limitations when it comes to supporters. When it gets to four or five months since the last win, it can tend to drag. I go, but a lot don’t. Some people have drifted away from home games. Fair enough. You’ve got us on that. Enjoy the hollow victory that gives you.
Against the accusation that Macc have crap crowds (in comparison to many other football league clubs) our Macclesfield friend admits that this is true, and quite admirably holds his hands up to the charge. Normally one would be forced to say well done old chap for realising your limitations in this area, however he then goes on to tarnish this commendable action by claiming that what has been achieved is a 'hollow victory'. This struck me as fairly odd, as what is hollow about it? Silkyman doesn't explain why it is hollow, just defines it as such. Macclesfield have been accused of having poor crowds and he himself admitted that this is down to their smallish fan base, in terms of victory it seems a solid straight forward one.
To illustrate this point further I thought that perhaps it would be an idea to provide a real example of a 'hollow victory' and by pure chance silkyman has provided me with this opportunity (what luck!).
Many of his retorts up to now have focussed on Altrincham never having played league football and the fact that Macclesfield have. This is evidenced in the following posts:
1,400 against Rochdale with about 300(ish) Rochdale .. WELL DONE
1,400 more people watching a Football League game than you will EVER have. EVER.
and
might be a printing error but the paper says your attendance yesterday was 1992??
Yes it was.
1992 people watching two football League sides.
The thrust behind these comments is that Altrincham have never played in the Football League. Fair enough, we haven't and one cannot argue too much against this devastating charge. But the question we have to ask is when fans of teams playing higher up the period use taunts regarding what level of football their opponents or rivals have played at, what exactly is the basis of such a jibe? Well, quite clearly it is along the lines of 'Ha Ha Ha, you have never been good enough to get promoted to this level'. And it is here that the retort breaks down. It breaks down because as we all know the Altrincham side of the early eighties was good enough to play league football and it was only due to a corrupt and deeply unfair system that they were not able to do so. What this means is that the basis of all retorts and jibes based on Macclesfield playing in the Football League and Altrincham not is merely a reference to how we were unfortunate enough to be denied by a corrupt system and Macclesfield weren't (when they were promoted). Therefore when we really boil things down, such as in this instance, it is clear that 'the Football League issue' is a hollow victory as the reason why it should be insulting simply does not apply to Altrincham, as such it is a victory in nothing but name.