Hmmm… There’s another common denominator and that’s us (the fans). We seemed to perform at our very best when the Stadiums was completely empty during CoViD.
Since the fans and their high expectations, the moaning and groaning, booing players off, calling for managers to be ‘sacked in the morning’ and getting on players backs, slagging the owners etc.. has returned, we’ve been shyte.
We just don’t seem to be able to get our shit together as a fanbase anymore. We’re constantly slagging something about the club off and just can’t seem to collectively get behind the owner, the manager and the team without feeling the need to chip away at what they are trying to achieve.
I think it may take a period in L2 for a sense of grounding and appreciation to return and in order that we can actually get back to enjoying and supporting our team again. However until fans learn to create an atmosphere that is conducive to success, rather than the current ‘blame culture’ which is putting everyone at the club under too much of the wrong kind of pressure, we are going nowhere fast.
League 2?! You've changed your tune since the weekend.
I dont think the fans have much if any thing to do with us not scoring for 9 hours tbh. The first moment of concern for me was when Andy Bayes asked Critch in Cork about how we looked well equipped in defence in midfield but was there a need to strengthen the forward line. Critch looked surprised and said not really, a little maybe, but we've got Lavs and Bees!
I won't criticise the spending of an owner who puts his own money into Blackpool FC and never takes any out. That will do me just fine, after 30 years of being pissed off by the Oystons.
But he is struggling to run the club effectively with the resources he does have. We lost all the key people last season, which indicates problems. I guess the fans were a factor in that. I've heard bits and pieces about Gerrity and MSG and fall outs. BM was hounded out, it seemed to me. Mob style. Male egos clashing. Relegation. What a surprise.
We've now appointed another load of suited people, but KO used to make better key decisions on his own, quite often, by accident or design. Maybe cos he cared less. McMahon, Grayson, Holloway. Maybe that's what Holloway meant! KO doesn't care so the pressure is off, I can manage however I like. Our key decision making now seems poor. We could use our resources a lot better than we are doing. I guess Karl worried less about risky manager appointments cos he knew they'd get no money and he didnt care what division we were in! Maybe Sadler needs to let go. Stand firm on finance, get a less safe manager in, more interesting football, and let it all find its own level. Be straight with the fans. This is our budget. We are going to entertain as much as possible but it may not be in the league of your choice. Basically cos we don't have a Championship budget. Cos we don't sell enough tickets.
So yeah, the fans are a negative pressure, and nobody would really want to work with that pressure. But Sadler keeps changing his personnel all the time and doesnt seem to have a clue what works and what doesnt. And critch seems to be great at coaching out of possession football but has no idea what an attacking threat looks like and chooses to add midfield players instead. Just in case we need them. Very little done about the wide and forward positions. Bizarrely. And he doesn't seem to know who his genuine wing backs are. That's baffling to me. Rhodes seems knee jerk and suggests zero scouting goes on.
Its like we are trying to be a Poundland version of Brentford or Brighton without the knowledge of how to do it. Maybe stop trying? Stop straining and worrying. Make it fun.
Maybe everyone is to blame. Fans, coaches, scouts, players, the board, the owner. Maybe we all just take it far too bloody seriously and consequently screw it all up. Suck the pleasure out of it all. It's much more fun in the lower leagues where it's not life or death, its just an afternoon or evening with mates watching some lads play football a lot better than we could ourselves.
Its supposed to be fun and it's just a game.