Ok folks it has finally happened. I've cracked up. Pre match Tuesday night had me screaming at my car radio and I haven't done that since we won away at Millwall and I wasn't man enough to attend in person. Maybe when I clean the spit off I'll get rid of the footprints as well.
I listened carefully to an interview on BRMB between Brucie and Tom Ross and normally I stay quiet so I don't miss anything but the utter drivel spouted by these two so called experts had me dribbling with fury. The windscreen is still splattered with rage.
Firstly Brucie said that he had assembled a new fresh squad of young players and the expectation of the fans was too much and could damage them. Poor frickin' lambs! They are footballers for crying out loud not small children. Surely more important to the development of their careers should not be the occasional insult from a fan, who incidentally has paid cash to watch the rubbish on the pitch, but the inadequacy of a manager who is clueless about who should go where and how to win a game.
Do you believe that the Swede Sebastian's lengthy career will be bothered more by a bumptious bunch of berated Brummies or by being shifted all over the park from right back to left back to midfield in a variety of infill positions? Of course that is when he eventually gets a game as most weeks just lately he is warming the bench.
Let's pick someone else. Neil Danns. Big transfer, high hopes, bought into Birmingham as a free scoring central midfield player. Could we the fickle fans be affecting his game? Or could it be the constant playing out of position wide right, that is again when he is eventually shifted off the bench?
Cameron Jerome. Twenty plus goals for Cardiff last season and a real threat at this level. To begin with he isn't even first choice and then when he does play he looks hopelessly lost battling away on his own. Echoes of Heskey?
Mikael Forssell. As stated before, he is thinking of leaving the Blues. Why? He looks unfit, depressed, out of touch and rarely looks like scoring. Who would buy him? Actually many managers would like the Force in their team because given the right service, training and motivation he is a quality goal scorer. And they are hard to find.
Gary McSheffrey generally starts wide left but during the game gets pulled all over the pitch and in desperation ends up at the top end. Too often he receives the ball and has the eagerness to attack only to be guided to play a pass inside which eventually goes backwards before being hoofed up the pitch over his head. Pathetic.
Secondly Bruce said in a jovial thigh slapping exchange with Ross that it would be pointless dismissing him because it would take a new manager at least six months to bed in and where would the club be in that time and so logically it was in our best interests to stick with him. What utter rubbish. If he casts his mind back a few years he might recall the immediate change round his own appointment caused. Or else he could take a look up the road at Villa where Martin O'Neill has transformed relegation fodder into the only unbeaten team in the country without adding a player. Or he could take a peek at the Hawthorns where, since dismissing his old buddy Robbo, the Baggies have been in Dreamland. In fact on Tuesday night he could have looked five yards across at Peter Grant, whose Norwich team had previously won only three games and none of them away from home! So much for bedding in time eh Steve and Tom?
To be honest how could we make it any worse for ourselves? Jehovah, Jehovah ….
Bruce went on to criticise those who had questioned his tactical ineptitude and he wondered if those same people had been critical four years ago when he got us promoted or even in the first few years in the Premiership! Oh so that makes it all alright then does it? The fact that you had some minor success a few years ago means that you have a right to stay now? Apparently you have earned the right to be above criticism, a kind of papal infallibility. I will spell it out for you Bruce and type slowly in case you don't understand. We have no tactics. Actually that's wrong. We have one. It involves kicking the ball as long as high as possible and hoping something happens.
For pity's sake walk man. I do not want you to be sacked. You are a proud man, a nice man, I like you. But please don't drag the club down because of your own pride. You have plenty of money and will get another job very quickly. Go now and give the new guy enough time to influence this season before it is too late.
All the above is new to me and maybe when I read it back on line I might find I've scared myself a little. The performances need to be criticised and as Bruce himself said ‘If I had been a supporter and paid a lot of money (see even he thinks it's too expensive!!!) for a ticket I think I would have been booing as well'. He did also add ‘… it was shocking and as the manager I take full responsibility … I pick the team and I've got no excuses'. Unfortunately he was only commenting on the Norwich match rather than the previous twelve months.
I won't bother with match reviews for Luton or Norwich as the extremely capable Ron has provided reports of a quality I can only dream of. Go read them and feel the pain as Ron felt it and find yourself nodding in complete agreement with his own heartfelt pleas for change.
If there was hope then I would be pleading with you, my fellow fans, for patience but I think the last horse just left town. If we were playing well and were in ninth place there would be a glimmer of promise. If we were grinding out results but playing bad we could point to the league position and accept that sometimes ugly is effective, it's not done me any harm eh ladies? There's just too many ifs though.
I'm not sure a win at Derby will help. I'm still delusional even thinking we could win!!!
Maybe when Bruce leaves he can take Land of Hope and Bleedin' Glory with him.
Keep right on. The king is dead long live the king. I need a beer.