The Wild Lower West: Boredom Kicking In

Another week, another performance that left us all scratching our heads and wondering how we ever ended up flirting with the playoffs. The second half against Stevenage was embarrassing, not least because we had zero shots, but also because we played in a manner that never allowed us to create anything in the opposition’s half. I’m going to leave analysis of the Stevenage game for this week as any swear words will be omitted, and plenty of others have already picked the bones out of a strange but sadly not uncommon performance.

So, my last word on the game is a quote from a Stevenage supporter, who summed up our performance brilliantly when he said we played football like an average League One side in the first half, with the execution of a struggling League Two side in the second! Comments like these would normally provoke some sort of defensive response, or at least a counter-argument as to why said Stevenage supporter may be incorrect, but the fact is, I totally agree with him. Football is an entertainment business As far as watching this side is concerned, I AM BORED!

I am bored with watching such negative dross week after week, and then somehow reliving the same boredom listening to Leam Richardson’s post-match analysis, which never seems to include the line: “I got it wrong. ” Much of that post-match analysis is focused on “we didn’t do this correctly” – but they were your tactics, Leam. “We had no width and therefore found it difficult to create chances” – but you picked the team and formation, Leam.

Or “we found it difficult to break them down” – so have more than one way of playing then, Leam. You see, many people will want to believe football is purely a results business, a phrase that was originally reserved for managers who had just been handed a P45 and wanted to provide a veiled answer as to why they had been sacked. While the argument that three points is all that counts sits slightly easier with me, I still offer a counter-argument that football is as much an entertainment business as it is a results one.