So another rubbish season, slightly more rubbish than last as this year we were relegated. You look at the League 2 fixture list for good weekends away ‘Bournemouth has a good nightlife…oh no wait..they went up’. A depressing conclusion to an absolutely crushing year. This time last season we were the in-form team, if our run of wins started just slightly earlier we could have made the playoffs. How does this momentum turn so dramatically? I believe it all started with the departure of Peter Clarke, our player of the season for an outstanding year at center half. We’ve tried to replace him but just have not found anyone even close. Last year we also had a defender called Dervite on loan from Tottenham, who again seems to have been irreplaceable.
Let me tell you about a guy called M’Voto. He’s the guy that was brought in on loan from Sunderland to fill in this massive void. Unfortunately, his best spell at the club was when he was injured. This man was substituted after 12 minutes during a RESERVE match, having scored an OG and set up a second for the opposition. After such an illustrious start we decided to extend his contract for the remainder of the season. He’s now what you would call a regular.
Ok, I’m probably being a bit harsh. All the blame can’t be placed on this one player but it demonstrates the difference in quality from this year to last. Poor players with high morale should definitely be good enough to stay in league 1 (think Oldham). The morale of the team was probably a little bit dented by the fact they were always being paid late. The old ‘too good to go down‘ adage was banded about by quite a few of the faithful but I don’t know what games they were watching. Yes, we can keep the ball and play nice triangles and even play a great long pass every now and then. Can we keep a clean sheet …erm No! Can we score at the other end…scratching my head? A lot of teams can win dirty which sometimes is the key, especially at home. We may have been alright if our top goal scorer stayed, but you can’t seriously rely on a single person to get all of your goals.
So, the last game of the season Southampton away. A brilliant turnout by the blues fans, and the effort on the fancy dress front was great. I spotted a Father Christmas, a Darth Vader and the worst drag act since Tarzan went through Jane’s purse and ate her lipstick (kudos Blackadder). Amusing chants of ‘Where ever we’ll be we’ll be, we’re going to Shrewsbury’, after another wayward strike ‘that’s why we’re going down’, and the same chant again when our physio lost the race with his counterpart to the other side of the pitch. Southampton fans were applauding our crazy antics, twice we’ve been relegated at St Mary’s and celebrated like we’ve won the league. What must they think?
Looking to the future then. Well, I can’t see the situation changing at the club anytime soon. The economy seems more uncertain than ever, so loans for Football stadiums are not top of everyone’s agenda. So the aim for next year is to stop the rot. If we can hang on to our better players then we should try to do so. If we can’t afford them then we have to let them go. The turnover will be less next year so the player’s wages will be even more of a struggle with gates of just 3500. I remember a dreary cold Tuesday night loss at home to Boston thinking can it get any worse than this. I suppose we’ll see next year, won’t we 🙁