Most of you will either remember or will have heard of a player
called Stuart Bimson. For those who don’t he was a combative full back known principally
for his corner kicks. In a modern game where few players can usefully put a
ball in the middle he’s something of a throwback. In fact he was that even when
he was playing. Then, as now we had a reputation as a rowdy and partisan crowd,
we had the siren and together we, players and crowd, struck fear in many a defence.
Bimmo as he was known was certainly not the sort of chap to
have his pint spilled after the match, in the days when players had such a
thing. You’d want to be pretty quick with a replacement, that’s for sure.
Anyway, in my working life I had dealings with Bimmo or
rather his solicitor who had obviously had plenty of experience heading out Bimmo’s
corners. Something went a little wrong with the transaction we were dealing
with. Not a lot but the great man was not best pleased. “My clients usually
sunny disposition has temporarily deserted him” His lawyer stated, with supreme
irony. It all got sorted out but that stayed with me and it occurred to me last
night.
I do normally have a sunny disposition. Maybe Bimmo did when
playing with his children or taking his wife out to dinner (in the days when we
did that). Last night it deserted me too and it occurred to me that this time, maybe, the bounce back is not going to come and this may
be the end of the promotion push. We cannot, after all, complain about the
repast we have been given, even if we did have to watch it on TV.
We don’t know that of course. It does really depend on how
many players recover from their injuries and how soon. There’s no doubt in my
mind we have a team capable of getting promoted, probably as champions. That
team is visibly depleted, other teams know it and at the moment we struggle to
even score let alone win a game. As we saw on Saturday the margin between
winning and losing is slender. For some time against Plymouth, City looked as
if they would coast the game. That old habit of finishing games strongly,
seeing out the match, last minute goals, it’s all a memory though.
At the moment I’d settle for any old tat, boring nil nil,
anything to break this cycle. Morton is back, sort of. Jackson is back, sort
of. Add in Bridcutt and Grant and maybe we could be back in it. Frankly we
could do with a good old snow storm and a couple of games off, to get some
freshness back. Even that though brings it's problems, such is the lack of time available. I look out of my window however and see the snowdrops and crocus’s
and, yes the daffodils to follow. I’d got in the habit of looking skywards and
saying somebody up there likes us. If there’s is anything up there the message
surely is, that’s your lot, you’re on your own now.
No comments:
Post a Comment