Bluenose Andy Munro remains a typical football supporter – worried yet optimistic.
They say it’s always darkest before the dawn and, on that basis, the Chinese cartel will soon be bought out by a consortium of local millionairres and we’ll go on and win the Europa Cup.
As I previously wrote, we made a decent fist of the game against Braga without playing particularly well, and could have easily have earnt a draw. But it’s been rapidly downhill from there.
I listened to the Southampton game on the radio and it was a bit like the good ole (?) Premier League days of listening to Blues away in terms of the depressing one way traffic and the inevitability of a hammering.
Manchester City was another accident waiting to happen although it could have been a pile up and a write off at the same time – luckily we escaped with just a few dents. Of course, the newspapers were typically dismissive of Blues and I am beginning to wonder whether Manchester is the new London in footballing media terms?
Still, all Bluenoses were consoled by the thought of a comfortable three points against Barnsley but unfortunately they played just like Brazil while we played just like Bolivia. In truth we were lucky to share the points thanks to Chris Burke’s late leveller, although the arrival of Big Zig made a difference. It will be ironic if the players that prove to be our saviour are from the McLeish clan. However, as one London based blogger rightly put it, let’s stop thinking that we have some sort of divine right to win Championship games. Chrissy Hughton has had to put together a team of waifs,strays and reluctants, something Steve Claridge pointed out on the Beeb. Fair play to him in emphasising that BCFC have been hammered since the Carling Cup triumph… Relegation, wholesale loss of key players, no investment, criminal allegations and a board that would make the three wise monkeys look like candidates for the Jonathan Ross chat show.
It is, of course, the fans that must keep the faith and a steady ship as they are the heart of the club but Chris H definitely needs a supportive board who will invest, and this investment needs to translate into a midfield leader and somebody with some genuine pace as another option up front.
Having said all that, I will be watching the Maribor game in a pub somewhere with the usual Bluenose hope and expectation and I’ll be queuing (no doubt overnight) for one of the 5,000 tickets for the Bruges game. It’s a major consolation to be living the European dream during the Championship nightmare.