My mouth is sore from all the tongue-biting I’ve done…
Your editor was at Norwich v Stoke yesterday, which is one reason why I didn’t do an update on Friday as planned.
It’s funny (and not in a hilarious way) how even being 123 miles away from Plough Lane doesn’t prevent that feeling.
I’m not sure what made it worse when I saw the Twatter update in their press room, that stated the following solemn words:
Goal for Crewe. 2-2.
The actual knowledge that yet again, we fuck up a lead, or the very fact that it was even more predictable as the sun going down in the evening.
Sky Sports News was on in the background and it wasn’t updating with the scoreline, so I tried to believe it was chalked off…
That positive vibe we had only a couple of weeks ago has properly disappeared, hasn’t it?
It would be a kick in the balls as it is without knowing this has been de rigeur for the past couple of seasons.
It seems you can change the squad, the manager, the coaching staff and anything else you can think of, but the same mental weakness remains.
That feebleness, that lack of belief. That failure.
It doesn’t help when you play well and fail to convert the chances you create though. If we’d made it 3-0 or 3-1 then today becomes a much different story.
I suppose it’s a good thing we’re actually doing that, instead of looking like a bunch of eunuchs, but if anything it makes it harder to swallow.
Yes, we’re a League Two side with League Two strikers who have League Two levels of accuracy. If they were any good they’d be higher up.
But are we underperforming up front for this level? Probably. And one wonders if we’d spent what we had on a good striker this summer after all…
Unlike a couple of people this morning, I’m not blaming JJ. And to be fair, the ones calling for his head are the same ones who want him gone regardless.
What he can do is consider getting in a sports shrink just to work out why it’s almost guaranteed.
Now, we’ve used them in the past to varying levels of success, and under both Ardley and MR we ended up over-relying on them to the point they became ineffective.
But every little will help, and even just a tiny mentality change can make it the difference between three points and not.
Plus, don’t forget the very real issue of losing both Reeves and Little. I don’t think it’s a coincidence we’ve not been as good since both were injured.
I don’t know when either are back, or indeed if they’ll be as effective on their return, but we do need them more than we think.
But that’s for the future, and our immediate past feels glum.
As we look back at yet another weekend ruined by our own incompetence, I can only think there’s some culture thing that runs throughout the whole club.
Not just the side, but AFCW itself.
While idly browsing the post-game reaction last night, I noticed a couple mentioned how flat it was at the beginning of the second half, when Crewe struck back.
Almost like there was a “job done” attitude from the spectators as much as anyone.
Whether that’s the case, or a sub-conscious feeling that being two goals up (and playing exceptionally well) means nothing, we don’t really know.
But it was interesting reading about people meandering in and missing the Crewe goal – just at the time when the team itself needed lifting.
Maybe it’s because the concession stand staff are slower than Drewe Broughton running in concrete, and last week I gave up on a cup of tea because service was so poor.
No wonder many are looking to eat and drink elsewhere before the game. It’s far cheaper as well.
This isn’t new, it’s been the case at KM as well, and there’s a bit of a smug complacency around AFCW.
That’s got worse since we returned home, as though going back to Plough Lane was the last thing we ever need to do.
I’m sure many have that now infamous Mirror interview with a couple of high profile supporters last week in the back of their mind.
I can’t be arsed to find it and link to it, although I bet it manages to grate even more this morning than it did when first published.
The opinions in them aged like milk, and those interviewed can’t complain when they get their views thrown back at them after a bad game.
I don’t think they were being malicious, but instead it was an almost dangerous romantic view of AFCW, and one that doesn’t really exist.
They’re idealists, and the club has always been worse off when the idealists are in charge.
There are a couple of valid reasons for Kris Stewart to take over the MD role on an interim basis, but his very appointment has made even some club loyalists uncomfortable.
Replacing Danny Macklin is going to be the most important non-football appointment we make for some time, and it must be somebody who does the nuts and bolts of sponsorship.
It’s not a Job For The Boys. But you’re right to be nervous about it becoming exactly that.
Anyway, not for the first time this past three years we’re kicking ourselves for throwing it all away again.
It doesn’t get any easier to handle, and you just have to hope it finally gets looked at and sorted.
Because if it doesn’t…