Issue 1 - Reasons to be tearful...1, 2, 3...
We're back and unfortunately, it seems to be back where we belong, in the nether regions of football's basement. Sixteen years between promotions, sixteen years between relegations.
Looking at cutting's of people's predictions at the start of the season they seem laughable now. Suggestions by some that we would finish "midtable, safe by March" or the most comic of all, from a Mr. K. Wagstaff that he'd "be satisfied if we finished halfway, I really would. We're capable of more than that...so yes, for the first year let's consolidate. And then who knows?".
Actually one or two of Waggy's comments on last year's Open Day seem strange now, such as "If, after a few weeks, he [Lawsy] feels that he needs more players than money is available". Which it was but not until February which is quite a few weeks after the start of the season but right in the middle of all the problems with Comerford.
And here lies the real problem. The wrangling between the board and Des "I love Scunthorpe United" Comerford. None of us really know what went on in those board meetings, nor what happened in the dressing room against Bristol Rovers (and we thought that the most costly mistake in the game was by Ashley Fickling...) but the FA punished him accordingly.
The whole business seems to centre on whether or not Waggy and chums should have demanded Comerford's resignation, a stance which surely only hardened his stance against them. It seems to me obvious that the board wanted Des out and his actions in the referee's room gave what seemed to be a nice excuse to get what they wanted. This is a very selfish attitude which caused the mess, meaning that money and effort were spent on fighting court cases and not the opposition. It was only when they wanted to score cheap P.R points that they opened the purse strings to allow Brian to buy Torpey and Qualiey (Who almost certainly wasn't 'free').
However, it takes either a very arrogant or a very stupid man to dig his heels in and stick around when he's blatantly not wanted. Des has and in doing so has caused alot of problems which would have been better solved by him backing off and leaving the club to sort itself out. That's what he'd have done if he really loved Scunthorpe United like we do - he wouldn't have tried to rip it to pieces.
So we could blame Des Comerford for the problems but he's just one man, what about Forrester and Eyre? What about only one summer signing? What about Calvo's injury? What about losing 2-1 at home in the last 5 minutes to a team with only 10 men? What about Guinan walking out? What about changing a winning team that goes out to lose 3-0 to Cambridge? What about giving away stupid goals? At the end of the day we weren't good enough and there are about 15 reasons for that. We just have to make sure that next time, we're better prepared and we pull together.
Oh, and we don't pin our hopes on Steve Torpey.
George Young
Looking at cutting's of people's predictions at the start of the season they seem laughable now. Suggestions by some that we would finish "midtable, safe by March" or the most comic of all, from a Mr. K. Wagstaff that he'd "be satisfied if we finished halfway, I really would. We're capable of more than that...so yes, for the first year let's consolidate. And then who knows?".
Actually one or two of Waggy's comments on last year's Open Day seem strange now, such as "If, after a few weeks, he [Lawsy] feels that he needs more players than money is available". Which it was but not until February which is quite a few weeks after the start of the season but right in the middle of all the problems with Comerford.
And here lies the real problem. The wrangling between the board and Des "I love Scunthorpe United" Comerford. None of us really know what went on in those board meetings, nor what happened in the dressing room against Bristol Rovers (and we thought that the most costly mistake in the game was by Ashley Fickling...) but the FA punished him accordingly.
The whole business seems to centre on whether or not Waggy and chums should have demanded Comerford's resignation, a stance which surely only hardened his stance against them. It seems to me obvious that the board wanted Des out and his actions in the referee's room gave what seemed to be a nice excuse to get what they wanted. This is a very selfish attitude which caused the mess, meaning that money and effort were spent on fighting court cases and not the opposition. It was only when they wanted to score cheap P.R points that they opened the purse strings to allow Brian to buy Torpey and Qualiey (Who almost certainly wasn't 'free').
However, it takes either a very arrogant or a very stupid man to dig his heels in and stick around when he's blatantly not wanted. Des has and in doing so has caused alot of problems which would have been better solved by him backing off and leaving the club to sort itself out. That's what he'd have done if he really loved Scunthorpe United like we do - he wouldn't have tried to rip it to pieces.
So we could blame Des Comerford for the problems but he's just one man, what about Forrester and Eyre? What about only one summer signing? What about Calvo's injury? What about losing 2-1 at home in the last 5 minutes to a team with only 10 men? What about Guinan walking out? What about changing a winning team that goes out to lose 3-0 to Cambridge? What about giving away stupid goals? At the end of the day we weren't good enough and there are about 15 reasons for that. We just have to make sure that next time, we're better prepared and we pull together.
Oh, and we don't pin our hopes on Steve Torpey.
George Young