Our man at St Andrews, Andy Munro, intends to do just that.
We’ve reached a stage in the season when things have gone a little flat. Out of the cups, the magnificent European tour a distant memory and some recent Championship performances which can, at their most kind, be called mediocre.
However, I think us Bluenoses need to take a reality check from a season which started with the question as to whether we could just survive both financially and Championship-wise. I’ve always said getting to the play offs would be a great achievement in the circumstances and I believe we’ll still make it (just).
The game against Coventry was one we should have aspired to win, not least to balance out a couple of nondescript home performances, but our following of almost 6,000 fans made it seem like a home game anyway. The side that Chris H named looked capable, on paper, of winning comfortably but maybe in saying that I’m falling into the same trap as some of the players. Yet in this league nobody lies down. Certainly with it being a local derby, the King/McSheffrey factor and the Coventry manager a graduate from the Wimbledon School of Hard Knocks, a feisty affair seemed on the cards.
Feisty it might have been but the standard of the actual football in the first half was poor and Blues never really got going. Up front continues to be a source of concern with nobody looking particularly lethal and the defence needs its natural fullbacks restored. However we did start the second half a lot better although it was Coventry who scored predictably through the ex-Blues player goalscoring syndrome. In fairness, we hit back almost immediately when Marlon King returned the compliment with a superb volley.
In the middle of the park, the current pairing of Townsend and Burke look the business. However, N’Daw has yet to recover his pre-Africa Cup form while Mutch tends to be over-flashy without being convincing. Maybe his enforced rest following that moment of madness may bring him back in a more focussed state.
Back up top, Ziggy looks dangerous at times but unfortunately just looking dangerous isn’t enough. Husekleppe also looks the part at times but neither really quicken the heartbeat of watching Bluenoses. Maybe it’s time to give Caleb Forlan a punt. I understand he has some decent pace, which we definitely lack down the middle. Incidentally there has to a footballer’s brain involved so this doesn’t mean that we want Cameron Jerome back.
So there’s a decent number of options available overall and I trust Chris H to juggle them in the right way to hopefully lead us back into the top six. Either way, he’s doing a great job in very trying circumstances and, if we don’t go up this season, I think he’s still the man who will eventually lead us back to the ‘promised’ land.