If Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday get to play each other next season, would the headline be “Barn Owl”?
As we head back from t’Yorkshire with a point in our pocket, and one of those what-the-fuck-was-THAT senses, I suppose we can be happy enough in the end.
It wasn’t three points, it could have been zero, and it was the best and worst of AFCW.
The worst of course was the first fifteen minutes when we went 2-0 down. I don’t like to use the Valentine’s Day Massacre cliche but…
Seriously, I didn’t go yesterday (obviously, if you’re reading this) and I had something else to do at 4pm so was going to miss all of the second half.
But I kind-of gave up on the game already. At least, until we started seeing the other side of this team as well.
Nice header for the goal by Bugiel. As it was for our equaliser too. And it seemed like we’d finally got into gear again.
It’s a shame that Browne’s strike didn’t prove to be the winner, although the way the game went it’s a surprise it wasn’t 6-6.
At times this season, we would have been licking our wounds after getting a gubbing from being two goals down so quickly.
Peterborough away, anyone? Sorry to bring that up again, perhaps you’d like to remember Notlob away too?
It was different yesterday, and I guess thinking you’d lost to thinking you’d won then realising you’d drawn gives a headfuck of emotions.
JJ seemed to think so, judging by his post-game comments. He might have wondered what the hell was happening after 15 minutes as much as anyone.
I’m never sure about the “great advert for the league” type quotes managers tend to make after these sort of scorelines, by the way. It seems to suggest that nobody can defend properly at this level…
The important thing here is that we didn’t lose, because there is a little buffer between us and the drop zone.
It’s nice that we’re finding just a little bit of form again, and I still believe winning at Port Vale in the manner we did was the catalyst for us.
Granted, our defence has gone from being tighter than a gnat’s chuff to being parted more than [censored due to public decency].
Though it’s ironic that this season, we’ve put six past Owen Goodman. Maybe we made him look better than he actually was?
So we need to score goals to compensate, and at least Bugiel and (especially) Browne know where the net is.
We could do with Stevens finding form again, ditto the new guy we got on loan from Switzerland not being a dud.
Seriously, I’ve forgotten his name and the OS doesn’t list him. Is he a signing for accountancy purposes, like Kjetil Waehler?
And yes, he’s Layton Stewart, and he’s probably not 100% match ready and/or hasn’t got international clearance yet.
I also assume the likes of Hackford will find the net at least once before the end of the season, and right now any goal is a good one.
But we’re getting better, and the likes of Seddon finding form, the return of Tilley making a difference, and – yes – dropping Reeves is no coincidence.
It’s a shame we went out of the ex-JPT in the week to Northampton, although I got over it about ten seconds after the final whistle.
And our upcoming game on Tuesday away to Cardiff is the free-est of free hits. We’ll have to learn to defend before then.
Although if there was a time to get a scabby winner in the 89th minute…
I suspect Bradford next weekend is more of a must-win than the league leaders, although knowing us we’ll win in south Wales and revert to type at Plough Lane.
The fact we can talk about (gasp) winning games by (shock) scoring goals is a welcome one. That hasn’t always been the case recently.
Even in our darkest period this season, I still believed we had more than what we were showing, and it’s good that we’re finally doing that.
There’s still a long way to go, of course, but I’d now like to think if we started looking uncomfortable again we’d haul ourselves up.
Finally, the transfer rumour mill is closed until the summer, but this intriguing story involving REMBE popped up in the Athletic.
The rumour mill had been churning a bit about a “former Wimbledon player” being involved in purchasing some of the club’s equity, and this is probably it.
At the moment, nobody can buy more than 15% of the club’s shares. Although I don’t know what is currently available and whether current shareholders can sell what they have to an interested consortium.
I do think that this is the first salvo in sweetening the 50+1 pill that some still find difficult to swallow.
REMBE is a hero to many of a certain age, he’s smart, articulate and well known in the USA to fans of the PL.
And while it’s only right to find out who else is in this possible consortium, this would be something tangible to “sell” to the DT voters.
Wonder if John Green is involved in this as well?
If you’re part of this consortium, even if you’re given the go ahead to buy the 23.6% that 50+1 is earmarked to do, you probably won’t have to spend too much money relatively speaking.
Some may be wary, uncomfortable even, of one or two people needing to put £x amount in each year to keep us functioning.
But a consortium of about five or six putting in a similar amount may be a better option for the immediate-to-mid-term future.
The financial power would be concentrated over five or six rather than two individuals or even just one. It wouldn’t be a perfect arrangement but we’ve kind-of got that already.
Assuming this comes off, REMBE would obviously be the figurehead and I’m in no doubt his business partner(s) will be the ones on the board having significant influence.
But there would be others with an obvious interest, and they have to be happy to keep them putting the money in.
If it’s not a great amount for any of them, that might work for us. Almost like what Nick Robinson does at the moment, although with a lot more clout.
After all, we need the money wherever it comes from, and we really can’t be too choosy.
Will it happen? I don’t know, if 50+1 doesn’t get voted through** then it won’t. But if it does, then you can’t deny it would freshen things up off the field.
** – my guess is that it will now. It’s telling how some people I thought were dyed-in-the-fan-ownership-wool are softening their stance.
Though the decision makers need to be much more open about how it would work beforehand. We literally can’t afford for them to fuck that side of things up.
The club is about to go through interesting times within the next couple of years, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
I think people like the idea of us being a going concern in L1, and I don’t think there’s any appetite in the boardroom to fall into non-league just to prove a point.
One more thing. If it is REMBE, we need to make sure he’s nowhere near the ticket arrangements…