Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Down and out?
After City's disappointing draw away at Tamworth last night I feel like letting off some steam......
Its certainly been a depressing couple of weeks to be a City fan - in fact things have been pretty tough since the turn of the year. I think what has made the second half of the season so hard to bear is the fact that we started off the season so well on the back of so many positive developments last season.
We had received such a boost from the Man U games and while we just missed out last season, many were looking at the season ahead as a great chance for us. We sold a huge number of season tickets and there seemed to be a generally positive attitude amongst the fans. This feeling was only added to by the great start we made.
However, I think that draw at home to FGR was a sign of things to come - not necessarily on the pitch, but in the stands. The players were booed off despite the fact we had made such a great start. The first dodgy result lead to the fans jumping on the players back. Sadly, home atmospheres haven't improved much since then with far to much negativity around (I won't bang on about this here as I've had a rant in my article for Saturday's programme).
Despite the disappointments of the season, we have to be patient and not panic. Exeweb is a depressing read at the moment with people calling for AI's head and wishing for a sugar-daddy to come in and take us over. I think this is very short-sighted. We have to take a long-term outlook and not look to try the quick fixes - the club tried these for most of the 90s and look where we ended up.
I hate being non-league and would love to get promoted back to where many feel we should be. However, promotion would be so much sweeter if it was done with fans' ownership and control rather than because some rich bloke decided he we should be the fortunate beneficiaries of his millions for the moment.
I fully believe that the club can and will get back in the league under the Supporters' Trust and that AI can be the man to get us there. Patience is the key here. We have no divine right to promotion just because we have the largest crowds in the division.
I guess I've given up on this season - I hate to do this with so many games still to go but considering the gap to the playoffs and the run we've been on recently its hard not to. I'll be there on Saturady (and every home game til the end of the season) wishing for a City victory, but I just think we've left ourselves too much to do. I'd love to be proved wrong.
Up the City.
Its certainly been a depressing couple of weeks to be a City fan - in fact things have been pretty tough since the turn of the year. I think what has made the second half of the season so hard to bear is the fact that we started off the season so well on the back of so many positive developments last season.
We had received such a boost from the Man U games and while we just missed out last season, many were looking at the season ahead as a great chance for us. We sold a huge number of season tickets and there seemed to be a generally positive attitude amongst the fans. This feeling was only added to by the great start we made.
However, I think that draw at home to FGR was a sign of things to come - not necessarily on the pitch, but in the stands. The players were booed off despite the fact we had made such a great start. The first dodgy result lead to the fans jumping on the players back. Sadly, home atmospheres haven't improved much since then with far to much negativity around (I won't bang on about this here as I've had a rant in my article for Saturday's programme).
Despite the disappointments of the season, we have to be patient and not panic. Exeweb is a depressing read at the moment with people calling for AI's head and wishing for a sugar-daddy to come in and take us over. I think this is very short-sighted. We have to take a long-term outlook and not look to try the quick fixes - the club tried these for most of the 90s and look where we ended up.
I hate being non-league and would love to get promoted back to where many feel we should be. However, promotion would be so much sweeter if it was done with fans' ownership and control rather than because some rich bloke decided he we should be the fortunate beneficiaries of his millions for the moment.
I fully believe that the club can and will get back in the league under the Supporters' Trust and that AI can be the man to get us there. Patience is the key here. We have no divine right to promotion just because we have the largest crowds in the division.
I guess I've given up on this season - I hate to do this with so many games still to go but considering the gap to the playoffs and the run we've been on recently its hard not to. I'll be there on Saturady (and every home game til the end of the season) wishing for a City victory, but I just think we've left ourselves too much to do. I'd love to be proved wrong.
Up the City.
