I still don't understand this embarrassment at losing to opposition in the same division. It's as if we're being subjected to a giant killing. We're in the same division. Teams have come from the non league over the past few years and up as high as the Premier league. Bloody hell, a team that went into administration a few years ago might also win the Premier league.
We can be embarrassed and dismayed at the fact that, despite having a relatively large pot of money from the Premier League, cup revenues and investments, we're still in mid table of the third division, whereas poorer clubs have risen above us. Football is driven by money, but success isn't necessarily.
It's not just that these teams are tiny, with barely the resources of United, have no tradition etc. These 'smaller' teams are now beating us on a regular basis and that's cause for concern. TWDILM (The Worst Display In Living Memory) last Tuesday was excused (by some) because 'Burton are top of the table'. Anybody who went would tell you that Burton were ordinary at best and the Mighty Crewe managed to get a draw with them yesterday. These 'small' teams who beat us are usually near the bottom of the table because they're shit. Until they play United.
We're witnessing the crippling disease after approx. seven years of ignoring the symptoms. Adkins - though plainly out of his depth - isn't helping matters and neither are people calling to 'chuck the kids in'. The days when our 'kids' were the likes of Maguire are gone, and though it would be reasonable to gently introduce one or two over the course of a season, several in the same team at this level would be eaten alive.
I think we're exactly the same as Newcastle. The bloke at the top got his fortune by being in 'the right place at the right time' and now has no idea how to progress. Newcastle - like us - have made some poor managerial choices, bought a load of dross and the players no longer want to play for the manager - be it Adkins or McClaren. This results in both of them trotting out ever-increasing loads of shite in post-match interviews. Large and intensely-loyal fan-bases are left wondering 'what more could
we have done?' The answer is 'Nothing'. The decision-makers, players, managers etc. are the guilty parties.
I loved a lot of Warnock's time here, producing some of the best times many of us have seen. However he's at Rotherham and you can never go back - be it a manager, job or bird. We see the past with rose-tinted glasses, forgetting the bad times. And there were plenty under Warnock. I wouldn't see the eminently sensible decision to recall McNulty as 'going back'. Without the often-injured Sharp (often selected though obviously not 100%), Done has missed a large part of this season and Sammon isn't worth a mention. So our strikers are struggling. Not getting McNulty back is criminal.
You can't live in the past. However I noticed Shaun Miller and
Craig Beattie both scored yesterday. Could they 'do a job'?
