uRRRs blogThe year our season ended in January... |
Posted: January 15th 2009
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...and that year is...2008/9!
No, I’m not really talking about our inevitable 3rd Round cup exit. I’m interested in the Cup when we draw a team from a different division. As soon as we drew another Championship team, I’m afraid I switched off.
No it’s the so-called bread & butter of the League that I’m talking about. We’re in the Championship, the division where the brochure promises excitement all the way, where the last kick of the last game could see you sneak into the 4-way lottery with the Holy Grail as the prize, or slip out the trap door at the bottom into the wilderness.
In 2007/8, with only 2 or 3 games left, I remember the media picking up on the fact that then 14th placed QPR were the only club which, mathematically, was safe from relegation but couldn’t squeeze into the Play Offs. Oh how we celebrated, having been stuck to the bottom for much of the early part of the season. Gigi’s charges had produced some flamboyant, swashbuckling performances that gave us great hope for the following season. If we could just cut out that habit of conceding injury time goals away from home, promotion would surely be ours...and we’d be ready.
Was that really only 7 short months ago? So much hooped water has flowed under so many W12 bridges since then, De Canio’s sudden exit, the surprise appointment of Dowie, the outrageous season ticket price hikes, the underwhelming summer signings, the promising start (arguably at the cost of the cavalier football), Dowie’s less surprising exit, Flavio’s alleged interference in team selection, Wild Thing’s mixed up stint at the helm, Sousa’s out of the blue appointment, trips to Villa & Old Trafford, the loss of our best player to a season-ending injury, no away goals in dozens of hours countered by (on paper) imperious home form...
Given all that...well arguably we’re doing quite well to be comfortably ensconced in the top half, having made 9th spot our own of late. 13 points off the relegation places, a mere 4 wins away from the magical 52 points mark, and with a host of average to poor teams below us, our safety is all but assured. But despite the fact that we’re only a measly five points off the play offs, with some pretty average teams just above us, I just can’t see a concerted Play Off push.
I’d like to point readers towards the excellent Blades blog on this site written by my friend and goalfood colleague Simon Harvey. In a recent posting, Simon waxed lyrical about how this just didn’t feel like a promotion season for Sheffield United. I reckon the same goes for the Rs.
In the board’s (in)famous 4 year plan, none of us will probably ever know if Luigi De Canio’s appointment was always meant to be a stop gap affair, the specialist in keeping teams up coming over to do just that before returning home to Italy. The legacy of Gigi’s brief tenure, however, has had a huge impact.
Under him, we played the best football seen at Loftus Road for many a year. De Canio clearly had the ability to improve individuals. Thus we were distressed by his exit...and were looking for a relatively identikit replacement. Which wasn’t Iain Dowie. However, when Dowie managed to instil a little more steel into the side, picking up points which arguably De Canio wouldn’t have done, we began to accept him...only to see him unceremoniously dumped...followed by a frankly farcical period in which we were seemingly managed by an Ainsworth / Briatore double act...then out of nowhere comes a Portuguese coach with a great pedigree, but zero management experience.
All the time, our ex-agent turned Chairman turned ‘Sporting Director’ still seems to be in charge of the company cheque book.
Clearly the 4 year plan has deviated somewhat from the script. However, the Board could very easily argue that this was always a consolidation season, promotion wasn’t the goal...and 9th place just after half way is definitely consolidation. Recent performances certainly don’t suggest a Play Off push, whilst constantly changing team selections suggest Sousa is more than anything prioritising squad evaluation. Shame he couldn’t start doing that in May or June...
So for all that “a run of 4 straight wins could see us right in the Play Off mix”, I don’t see it...and I’m not really sure I want to. We’re not ready...and I’d venture to suggest that though I’m keen to persevere with him, neither is Paulo Sousa. I like the cut of the man’s jib but, with our Championship position all but secured, he really does need time.
So, I’ve now got nearly half a season’s worth of home games left to attend, a 250 mile round trip each time for me, to see...what exactly? A work in progress...an experiment. I’ll stick with it, because though it’ll sometimes be woeful like the Watford game, at others it’ll be as pulsating as the Preston game. I have faith in Sousa, so it’ll be genuinely interesting to see him at work.
Others, of course, won’t share that patience. For all the Board talk of the 4 year plan, which I think we all suspect was really a 3 year one...the Year 2 price rises, and the accompanying spin from a PR department clearly not briefed by the board, have created a poisonous atmosphere at HQ where the first blunder of the game leads to catcalls, the first misplaced pass to jeers, the conceding of a goal to boos. And though I don’t join in, I sympathise. It’s all just not quite right.
Back to Simon’s Blades blog, though, and I urge you to read his latest entry. Sheff U are currently 5 points above us, with a far superior goal difference, leading the pack tucked in behind the breakaway 3 at the top. They have a recent season in the Prem on the CV, and a far bigger average gate than us. So read it...then tell me whether you’d rather be a Blade or an R right now...
Click here to read Simon’s Blades blog