Insert crucified/Not-Very-Good Friday/hating crosses gag here.
At least something like that can gather a slight laugh this morning, because it’s officially not funny any more.
Your editor genuinely hates this lot masquerading as representatives of AFC Wimbledon right now.
So much for the “Just win, baby” pep-talk – I guess this team doesn’t want to stay up after all.
I can’t decide whether I’m stunned, angry, resigned, or a combination of all three. Probably the latter.
I’m stunned because, well, I didn’t expect that. No, I genuinely didn’t.
I honestly thought that we would win yesterday simply because that’s what teams who attempt to stay up do.
What was the pre-game stat? Crewe losing about 15 out of 16 or something, and just sacked their manager?
I just don’t understand why we put in what many seasoned observers have described as our worst performance in a number of years.
I know what happened – we did our usual collapse within 120 seconds of each other, and never recovered.
But against a side who one expects – not hope – to get three points from?
Mark Bowen had the same reaction as the rest of us, I guess, but he finally got to saw what so many of us have seen far too often this season.
He might have been wondering why we’re in shit down the bottom before yesterday. Now he knows.
Whether he can actually do anything else with this lot now I don’t know. Deep down, he probably knows he can’t.
I hope he stays if we go down, because he’ll have a much better idea of who needs binning off.
This quote of his intrigues me:
I heard players saying things at half time in the dressing room and meaning it, but that’s a safe place. It’s when they go onto the pitch that the spotlight is on them.
Managers with a bit of nous pick up on those sort of things. Once he gets over his own anger, and sits down to shift through this shit, he might be getting out his red pen already.
Anger is the most prevailing emotion right now, it has to be said.
Unsurprisingly, it manifested itself at the full time whistle**, and while some don’t like “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” – it’s not wrong to sing it.
** – I’m more annoyed at those who want to clap the team off after something like that.
Not just at AFCW, but there’s a certain type of supporter who believes backing the team only means praising them.
That’s not support, that’s being a mug.
Sadly, footage has been gone from t’internet for a good while, but I still remember the reaction at Doncaster, when Ardley left and Bassey took over.
I can only assume it was similar on the full time whistle yesterday.
This morning, people are still notably seething. It’s not a we-have-been-wronged anger, a sense of injustice.
Instead, it’s I-am-completely-fucked-off-with-you anger. One that has come from much more than a season of embracing mediocrity.
Our fans have some standards, even if the club doesn’t.
For those who like their comparison to 1999/2000, this was either the Sheffield Wednesday horrorfest or the game at Bradford.
Although if Bowen is Terry Burton, who are the players equivalents of?
People are pissed off not quite so much about losing a must-win game like yesterday, but that it was predictable after all.
When you think about it in cool hindsight – losing 3-1 yesterday in such a vital game is exactly par for the course.
We’re 95% down now, at least psychologically speaking. I know that if – if – we beat Wycombe it can all change again.
But I’ve got to the stage I don’t want us to stay up now.
Lose to Akinfenwa, Ainsworth et al, and both Gills and Morecambe win, then we’re relegated for the first time in the AFCW era.
It’s looking almost a certainty now, so let’s just get it over with. It’s not like we’re going to put up much of a fight.
OK, if we are in L1 next season I’d be very happy as I don’t want to go through relegation.
But this lot are nothing.
It’s not their fault, they’ve been put together by a setup that badly overestimated its abilities.
They were also hung out to dry by a Head Coach who left them to their own devices without any guidance.
Losing to a relegated team with a run even worse than ours is unforgivable though.
Somebody at the game yesterday said that our lot didn’t want to know. If that’s remotely true, let them go down to League Two.
Because whether it’s MB or somebody else in charge, most of them will be struggling to get a club outside non-league.
I know the whole idea behind “The Process” was so that we didn’t have a high turnover of players every summer.
But it’s no small irony that after putting it in, we’ll need to have the most fundamental squad clearout in some time.
I’ve no idea if I’ll be there Monday, or if I’ll be working instead.
I’ll be at Plough Lane if I’m arbeitslos that day, just as I will be at Fleetwood if I’m otherwise unengaged.
Yeah, I’m an idiot. I also don’t get to as many games as I’d like.
But your editor was at Leyton Orient v Scunthorpe yesterday (was due at Charlton but got switched late).
Scunny are out of the Football League after 72 years, and Orient went into the National League not too long ago themselves.
Both sides should serve as a massive warning to AFCW, and what happens when you fail to get the football/business side of things right.
Let’s get really depressing here as a sign-off – right now, nothing suggests we’ll learn any lessons from those two clubs.
After all, this whole setup is currently geared to us going out of the EFL…