After Saturdays game :
Conclusion No.1 – The referee was a disgrace, why did I forget to take my baseball bat/sniper rifle/rocket launcher. I won’t make that mistake again.
Conclusion No. 2 – Our rotten form continues. Whose fault is it? Whoever’s fault it is they need to be punished. It’s the talentless team, the clueless manager and/or the inept board. Yes! Punishments need doling out and must ensure the offenders are never allowed near the club again.
Conclusion No. 3 – Is the subject of this article.
The first two conclusions have a basis in the facts. Every football fan, including myself might draw those conclusions. The first conclusion might lead to a prison sentence, and the second one leads down a dangerous path we’ve been down before. I am little worried about us getting stuck at conclusion 2. It’s where every set of supporters get stuck at one time or another. If you are a fan who pays to be entertained and get pleasure from a winning team then that’s fine. But a lot of us are not just fans are we? A lot of us are owners. A lot of us are custodians of a club with a wonderful history. We’re responsible for what goes on, and it’s worth reaffirming how our responsibility arises.
Firstly; we owners have an equal right to vote for our club leaders. They act in our name if we voted for them, they act in our name if we didn’t oppose their election (and resigned as an owner), and they act in our name if we couldn’t be bothered to vote at all. When Joe Clarke misplaces a pass, Neal Ashton misses a tackle or Bish misses a sitter we are ultimately responsible. If we get stuck at conclusion no. 2 we’re not taken our precious responsibility very seriously are we?
Looking at the path that we could travel along from now: We may well lose against Maidstone. They’ve beaten Stevenage, our player’s confidence won’t be great, and Maidstone will be buzzing. Their fans will come full of hope and will sing their hearts out. We will start expecting the worst and our crowd will be nervy and ready to turn at the first missed pass. If we lose, the pressure for some sort of change will get greater, our search for scapegoats will intensify and we will go home thinking negatively. Crowds may drop, our season may fizzle out and the casual supporter could become ever more disinterested. As owners next Saturday we can only have the tiniest of influence on the game. We can have a huge influence on the clubs long term future, but we need to reach conclusion no. 3.
Whatever happens this season we have already secured the club’s finances for next season from season ticket sales, and one-off additional revenues. We chose the right leaders. Our leaders have chosen a manager who brought us Manny Smith, Blaine Hudson, and Louis Moult who have been near instant successes. Our leaders cannot be proven right or wrong yet, but they are owed a lot slack. Kevin Wilkin has been brave, innovative and honest. He hasn’t been proven either a success or failure yet, and our decision to recruit him still looks to make long term sense. Conclusion no. 3 for responsible owners is: ‘We’re doing a good job, we need to show the courage of our convictions in difficult situations.’
Once we’ve reached that conclusion, we can sit patiently at the Maidstone game, give some support and if we lose, think ‘hey ho, a bit of money in the bank, and we’ll get it right eventually’.
DragonHeart 