Wall planners, eh? What would we do without them? Apart from use a diary, of course. Got to say that gazing at the one here at SW19 Towers, it’s quite eyebrow raising to think that after tomorrow, we will just have three games of the season left.
And quite simply, your editor will be glad to see the back of this campaign.
I get the impression I’m not the only one, either. Last Monday, when Southend went ahead, we seemed to just stare at our watches and waited for the full time whistle to go. Thankfully, we got the extra few points that barring a miracle should keep us up now. Although I’m not sure whether that shows how fortunate we’ve been or how truly shit the teams still below us are…
It’s funny how we were all so full of life just before Bristol Rovers at home. This season was supposed to be an adventure, wasn’t it? Well, it certainly has provided its moments, but it was supposed to be a relaxing one, not tearing up too many trees but still comfortable enough to survive in before the real rebuilding work started in the summer.
This season wasn’t supposed to be as difficult, or as soul grinding as it’s proven to be.
That’s not a bad thing of course, providing the club properly learns from it and starts to remedy that properly in the summer. And apologies for using “properly” twice in that sentence, but it’s a term that will need to be in the back of the minds of the boardroom when it starts planning for the next campaign.
And the need to get it right has become even more apparent with last week’s bombshell (?) that the ex-JS is going to need redoing this time next year. Not before time though, I know it’s not “our” ground but it’s still embarrassing to put away fans in something that wasn’t even suitable for the Conference South. How the hell did they build a (relatively) new ground with such lousy banking?
The budget is likely to be tighter as a result, and we need even more pragmatism than before – there’s no room for sentiment next season, but there’s just as little room for idealism.
Even if TB does stick around, it is mandatory that we will need at least two full time assistants. And not the bailiff and the cab driver either, but instead two assistants who know a lot more about what the Football League is really about than most of AFCW put together. That would be around the cost of 2 players, but it would be a step in the right direction.
While we’ve almost secured survival, it’s pretty clear our squad has gone backwards – even with Billy Knott and Pim’s cameo. Your editor watched Fleetwood v Wrexham this week (and no, I didn’t pay for Prem Sports), and our current side probably wouldn’t have got in the Conference playoffs this season. Which considering much of the current squad was indeed there for that glorious run last season is pretty sobering.
It proved that it was a squad that got promoted from being a unit, and with an immense self belief that conquered better opponents in Luton. Now? We look painfully short on confidence, and it shows. For many, it’s been a step too far and a Learning Curveâ„¢ too steep.
The stats don’t lie.
Still, as we await the post-season backslapping fallout we have the little matter of Crawley tomorrow. Your editor won’t be there tomorrow (cue Simon Bassey) as I’m at Millwall, but it has suddenly become less of a bait-fest for some reason. Can’t think why.
Have to admit though, it was a bit of a shock to hear that Steve Evans had waddled up to Rotherham almost within a blink of an eye. Rumours of boardroom shenanigans there, and he reportedly applied for the Northampton job when it came up. Not to mention this video which is apparently genuine.
Personally, I could never quite get into the whole Steve Evans circus, because that’s exactly what it was. He was very good at attention seeking, and he usually got it. Especially from our lot. And to be blunt here, he usually got one over on us. In reality, he was extremely tedious and his histronics hid the fact that without the cash he wasn’t that good as a manager.
Yes, we will probably get to face him next season, but with due respect to Crawley and Boston, Rotherham are a bigger club who won’t tolerate narcissism. Like Westley at PNE (and quite possibly TB with us this season), it might be a step too far for him. Not that anyone is going to cry if he does fall flat…
Tomorrow, we come up against the far classier, far more measured Steve “don’t call me Charles” Coppell. Somebody who might actually take Crawley up, and maybe win them a few friends in the process. People might think that we now stand a better chance of getting a result, it’s quite possible it’s become harder – even with their suspensions.
It would be indicative of how this season has become when one considers we’ve lost our big major motivational factor tomorrow. I know that TB has said (or has had written for him) the usual bon mots about winning tomorrow for the fans on the OS. We’ve all heard that before. But had Evans been there tomorrow, both squad and especially supporters would have been a helluva lot more fired up for it than they are now.
One cannot deny that getting a good result and/or performance tomorrow will be a nice little break. It will certainly not alter the fundamental issues we face in the summer, but if this season is dragging on another month we might as well get a twinge of excitement. Christ, we don’t even get the faux-moral outrage from seeing one of our players sent off these days, which means we can’t even use that excuse for another crap result.
But imagine us getting riled up tomorrow and somebody like Sam Hatton finally breaking away from his introverted self and decided to chin the opposition #7. It would be something to joke about during the summer, anyway. Perhaps it may yet happen?
And perhaps that’s what we’ve really been missing this campaign. Some fight, and literally too. We’ve learnt many things about the Football League, but it’s suddenly dawned on me – we’re too nice. We (collectively) want to be the Noble Gentlemen, the old fashioned stiff-upper-lip. It’s almost as though we’d rather go down as long as we’re considered honourable decent people and not a bunch of ruffians.
Fuck that. I want to be a Football League club forever and want us to be a bit more cuntish next season.
Not neanderthal cuntish, but more subtle than that. Clever cuntishness, not the naive-but-honest approach that other sides have exploited too often this season. Other sides don’t care about the halo above our heads, and how “noble” we are. We might think we’re being righteous, they just think we’re three easy points.
Go into, say, tomorrow with a bit of subtle snideness and we would stand a better chance of getting something that we do at the moment. When places like this mention about doing things “properly” (that word again), it’s not just things like tactics that suit the division, or full time coaches, but little bits of gamesmanship and knowing how to play the ref. Something we haven’t shown this season and to be honest I don’t think we’ll see much of next campaign too.
Is it wrong to think that? Probably. But what you wouldn’t have given for one of our players to have been the snide cunt who “sorted out” Ryan Hall last Monday…