KwAcKy's Konfessional |
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Nothing of interest; just mindless links to bikes Birmingham City Football Club and useless junk  
  
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21 December 2005
Feel the pain - Dinosaur Jr I feel the pain of everyone, then I feel nothing I feel the pain of everyone, then I feel nothing I feel the pain of everyone, then I feel nothing I feel the pain of everyone, then I feel nothing Is it up to me ? You won't wait to see Screwed us both again About as close as you dare I feel the pain of everyone, then I feel nothing I feel the pain of everyone, then I feel nothing Is it up to me? You won't wait to see Screwed us yet again About as close as you dare Hey now, take it back Get off me You're sad trailin' on your scene Just try and keep it clean Relegation is calling. The fat lady has booked her hotel in Bolton for the night of Sunday 7 May and can be heard warming up. We're coming up Christmas and at this time of year the table paints a realistic picture of how things are going to finish. Sure, Wigan and West Ham are likely to be in the second half of the table and Arsenal will probably be higher up, but no one is going to bet on Chelsea not winning the title or Sunderland staying up. Blues are 2nd from bottom with just 12 points from 16 games. You don't need to be a genius to realise we're earning less than a point a game. There are 38 games in a season and you need at least 40 points to be sure of safety. The Board have stated that Bruce will be here until October 2006. A bold announcement. An announcement that has earned praise from the press and the Football Managers Association and shock and despair from the fans. At first I was puzzled by this show of solidarity. Granted, many clubs have sacked their manager when things have been tough: Southampton and Portsmouth have created their own Southcoast soap opera, Doug Ellis sacks a manager every 2 years to appease the creatures from t'other side of the Aston Expressway and even Chelsea and Liverpool have been known to get a new man at the helm when the previous pirate failed to bring in enough pieces of eight. Sullivan talks about loyalty. He's of the opinion that Bruce's decision to stick with us when Newcastle came knocking means the club owe him. Bruce and loyalty haven't been the friendliest of bed fellows. Regardless of the reasons, Bruce's managerial CV can politely be described as "varied". But, one thing is for certain, this Board went out of their way to get Bruce when it was clear Mr Francis was no longer going to be naming the squad. Bruce is a young manager. He took the Blues into the Premier League at the first time of asking. If this season had happened between 2002 to 2004 then no one would be moaning. We all expected to go down. Bruce took gambles on players like Upson, Savage and Dugarry. Those players each played their part in seeing us finish 13th in our first season and 10th in our second. Bruce then tried to take us forward but his lack of managerial experience let him down. He bought experienced pros in the hope that the seasoned premier league players would be able to take us forward in the way we played football. The problem is, most of those players don't have the heart or stomach for a fight. Things didn't go well last season and this season is looking disastrous. Players like DJ are having to show the household names how it's done and even DJ is starting to look jaded. Relegation means we lose a lot of players. Upson, Pennant, Heskey and Butt won't be wearing BCFC's royal blue next season. But that's a good thing. Any Leeds fan will tell you Pennant only plays well when Pennant has things going his way. Upson looks like he's forgotten how to tie his own shoelaces let alone make a tackle and if Butt is worth £45k a week then I have George Clooney's looks and bank balance. We've got a wealth of youth coming through. Your look at Ferguson's successes - they've been with lads who came through the ranks. You look at his failures - they've been names he's bought in. I'm not saying Bruce is another Fergie in the making. However, it seems clear to me that most managers have an easier time managing a younger player, a player who wants to play football, loves the game, is keen to impress and is an open book, than one who comes in having played his way for the last 10 years and has been coached and managed by a string of ex-footballers. This season has seen the emergence of Neil Kilkenny. A lad in years but a footballer on the field. There have been times this season when I've had to double take and remind myself which player is playing his first season in the prem and which has played in a World Cup or European match. Of late, Painter has joined Kilkenny in showing the old hands how football is played. In addition ot the youth, we'll be supported by the more professional players such as Clapham and Clemence. Okay, they might be invited to join another club, but I'm hoping they'll hang around and help us rebuild. That mix of youthful exuberance and seasoned footballer should do us proud in our promotion season. These players have been our unsung heroes since our arrival in this league. Bruce should be given a chance to show us that he's learnt from his mistakes. We have no divine right to play in the Premier League. We arrived, we gave it a good shout, it didn't work. We'll go back to the Championship, we'll lick our wounds, we'll regroup and we'll come back stronger and more experienced. |
