It’s not quite going according to plan is it?
The defence which has normally been our stronghold is as porous as a bucket with no bottom, our midfield has more absentees than a school in Lozells and our forwards couldn’t score even if they were in Amsterdam.
Our pre season aims of finishing in the top six are now only matched by a similar ambition of not finishing in the bottom six.
The Villa came, hit us on the break and were probably slightly the better of two struggling teams. My gripe is that with Pennant, Heskey, Pandiani, Forssell, Gray, Dunn and Jarosik on the pitch they collectively failed to trouble a goalkeeper who must have had nightmares on Saturday about making a fumble. Sorenson celebrated at the final whistle like a man who had been exorcised. Speaking of celebrating I was most disappointed by the whining of the Blues fans regarding O’Leary’s Pleatesque dance across our hallowed turf.
We can only imagine what it has been like to support the Orcs from Lozells for the past three years. Not only have they had to endure our abuse but they have had to suffer some of their own slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. They too are in the wrong half of the league and their fans are far more belligerent to their own team than we are to ours.
O’Leary has carried this weight along with his ‘good honest bunch o’lads’. They scored at St Andrews, hung on, without really ever looking in danger and secured three points and a ton of pride. I don’t care if he had done cartwheels across the pitch. I like to see some emotion from these over paid and under worked popstar wannabes. It’s a shame our own heroes didn’t want it as bad.
I agree with the Golds and Sullivan that in the context of the rivalry it was perhaps inappropriate but so what? Let him and them enjoy their moment. It’s a shame it nearly overshadowed the most important aspect of the day. At Villa Park when we have been ahead the Holte End has been deserted as the chav boys skulked off but the Blue Noses earned fantastic respect for their tear inducing rendition of Keep Right On after the final whistle. It was a magnificent sight to see the arms raised and voices hailing the club, if not the players. Well done to everyone who stayed and sang. There is a lot you can learn about people both in victory and defeat. Be proud.
I won’t harp on about the game itself. You’ve all read plenty and no doubt had a mobile phone as busy as mine these last few days. For a minute I thought I was actually popular. Shame it was only amongst that other bunch!
The match has passed. It’s history now and there’s nothing anyone can do to change it. The Villa have won one in seven which ain’t the best return ever. And if they gloat that our previous wins were history and therefore not worth discussing remind them never to mention anything they’ve ever done in their history. It’s only fair.
Blackburn Rovers have almost developed into a rival club. The sale of our midfield dynamo created an enormous amount of press and an inane amount of interest. Never can one player so untalented be so talked about. I admit that without Robbie we are not the same outfit. I would love to say that was a better state to be in but looking at the league table it clearly isn’t. I don’t miss him from a footballing point of view but believe that as yet none of his successors have the same ability to dictate the tempo of the match. Robbie might have been an average player but with one hugely committed challenge he could rouse the passions in the crowd and demonstrate to his team mates that he had not given up the fight.
His departure was sad. There was no need for him to treat us so badly. I have no problem with him leaving but would like some honesty. Ha some hope eh? Honesty in football? It just isn’t going to happen.
Rovers are a small club with a passionate following and to be truthful we are pretty similar. Although we have the capacity to grow and they have plateau-ed.
Our ground was not full against the Villa and we will probably not take all our tickets for the Rovers’ game either. Forty six pounds was a touch steep, like Everest is a bit of a mountain. We need our heads examined for accepting the cost of football, no wonder thousands are being driven into their armchairs. It’s comfortable and cheaper. And you don’t encounter idiots like the brain dead amoebas down Saltley way after the game. The only redeeming aspect about their tete a tete was that neither set of neanderthals were wearing colours, I wished they charged into each other and then afterwards said ‘I thought you were Villa/ City’.
Keep Right On and worry only about the things you can still change. Everything else is irrelevant.