The times, they are a changing in the stands

In his own words – more than once – John Westwood refers to himself as ‘a dinosaur.’ His interview with Neil Allen, published today, paints a rather contrite picture of the man who is by quite some distance Pompey’s most well known, and most polarising, fan.

He is currently on his fourth ban of the season, and it is by far the most onerous – five months.

Mr Westwood’s mea culpa will be deemed by those who continue to love him as unnecessary while those who see him of a symptom of things that are wrong in today’s game may see it as too little, too late.

What he sees as passionate support of his team, others see as drunken boorishness. To give him his due Mr Westwood gives a reasonable account here of his actions, and when he claims he is ‘an easy target’, he certainly is that.

You remove John Smith from the ground for lewd gestures, very few are likely to notice his absence at the next match. You remove John Westwood and he is very conspicuous by his absence. It definitely sends a message, intended or not.

Perhaps the biggest part of the problem is here, when Mr Westwood says: ‘The world is changing around us so quickly and things we’ve been doing for years and years are no longer the proper way any more, people may get offended. I don’t want to offend anyone.’

This isn’t a problem that is limited to football by any stretch of the imagination. Acceptance of language changes, meaning of words move and social mores shift – what may have been tolerated 10 or 20 years ago is now beyond the pale. One generation’s banter is another’s hate speech. And yes, it can be hard to keep pace – even for those who want to.

Mr Westwood clearly has the self-awareness to see this, and acknowledges that he needs to change. We wish you well, John, and will see you back in the Fratton End come August.