The Rebuild Conundrum and Inevitable Humdrum Written by BaltachaFanClub on Thursday, 2nd Feb 2017 09:34 Regular readers of my posts and occasional blogs will know a few things about me, firstly I am not a kneejerk reaction kind of poster, secondly I have progressed through all the stages of football fan and am now whatever is considered the final stage, where although I still love the game, I have seen it, done it and have gone all 'more important things'. As I stood at Portman Road on Tuesday, chatting with the anonymous people around my season ticket seat, these people whom have names which I know, and in some cases have sat near me for the best part of my adult life but are, outside of football, not connected to me I began to notice a different feeling amongst the (less than) masses. The big talking points at the time were Luke Chambers and his on-off transfer, as well as the slamming shut of the transfer window and our unlikely frantic signings in the next few hours. But away from the content of the discussions there was an obvious tension, and certainly a nervous worry, because for once our loyal fans (and we are a remarkably loyal bunch at Town, if you look at the amount of crying and protesting that modern football sees now) were showing their dislike for many aspects of ITFC. The manager is always a target when things are not going your way, and as much as I like Mick, he does love to say the most contentious thing possible, I don’t know if he likes to goad the reactive ones or whether he is oblivious to it, possibly it’s a defect of his mixed Yorkshire/Irish roots. MD Ian Milne also gets air time as the face of Corporation Town FC he becomes a target too, perhaps a little unfairly as the puppet he surely doesn’t have that much responsibility or perhaps he is the purse holding villain of the piece, maybe when Mick said, “I want that lad Ward from T’rotherham†Mr Milne is the one who decides the value is wrong, or not viable. I don’t know. Then kind of inevitably Marcus Evans is targeted as, it's claimed, the financial drain of our club. What an evil man he must be, taking us on with a level of debt that was about to see us expire, he has stripped our assets and pocketed the money, and not allowed Mick to spend, despite the now over coined 'Five-Point Plan' and “Money will be re-invested†etc etc. Suffice to say that all three can be held accountable in some way, and also can be excused for various parts, they are the triangle of Town's demise the sum of their parts are the issue, OK fine I am now getting the gist of it all. Since George Burley was dismissed, every manager has taken on an overhaul, a mission to rebuild and has subsequently spent a bit, sold a lot, terminated contracts, caused arguments and certainly divided opinions. We once more find ourselves in this situation, but with the added uncertainty of who is doing the rebuilding, will Mick be given another go, will someone be installed in the summer? Signing seven players for a total less than Wayne Rooney's weekly wage, and mostly on short-term deals suggests that the one thing we are not considering this time round is 'build for the future' more of a let’s see what happens kind of thing. July 1st could really offer a blank canvas for someone to decorate, lots of players out of contract, loans expiring and a handful of our more regular talent being available for sale, I mean you can’t tell me that Bart is not the best goalkeeper outside the Premier League, as he has certainly kept us alive at the back for a lot of the season, so surely the big boys are looking and the less big, but financially flush are also in the frame. At what point can we say “OK, we are safe so let’s figure out what next year’s plan isâ€. Fifty points is widely regarded as a safe point, although lower may see us stay up, but I can’t believe we are even talking of such things, we began August feeling hopeful didn’t we? Actually no it hasn’t it’s been a bit more like a bungee jump, we got relegated bounced up and down the Championship for a little while, and we are now hanging in the control of the operator, either about to be lowered to the floor or pulled back up (I admit, I don’t know much about bungee jumps). I don’t know how to get the seats filled, nor the atmosphere back and as that Liverpool fan said in the much watched YouTube clip football is becoming tourist-based, selfie sticks, the prop of the casual fan, and the opposite fans trying to be Danny Dyer about it all. I guess what I am trying to get to is we are not in control, and we are seeing a different thing to what we have become used to, but I am not going to get all protest level bedsheet about it, because if we have learned one thing in the last 15 years, clubs no longer listen to fans, ask Karl Oyston at Blackpool what he thinks of a protest, or Coventry's SISU group. They don’t particularly care. Anyway, I don’t know if I have written something worth a read or not, this could be nonsense, if so, I apologise. One thing is for sure, I am still and always will be a Blue. Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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