kent-blade
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
- Messages
- 60
- Reaction score
- 18
The Morgan appointment is so banally predictable that the only real outrage here is that they probably wasted some money, and certainly wasted everybody's time, by holding a press conference to make the announcement. It would have been much less patronising and condescending if the club had simply announced 'Wilson's gone', and left us to piece the embarrassingly simple jigsaw together. The introductory interview writes itself, the journalist and Morgan actually physically going through with it just creates unnecessary extra work:
- Morgan is introduced to the chummy tone of 'this man needs no introductions'. All of the local press perversely chuckle along like they have a crush on him.
- Morgan is stony-faced and solemn about Wilson leaving, pays respects as if he had died.
- Morgan, suddenly more chipper, says some short simple sentences including words like "determination" and "graft"
- Morgan says something that makes him sound like he's optimistic before stressing that we have to take each game at a time. For full effect he might refer to them as cup finals.
- Then, I dunno, they probably all go to the pub or something.
There is a troubling element to this development though. When we hired Wilson it was on the back of an embarrassing season that left us in a mess, at the crux of which was the boardroom decisions that allowed the instability to escalate. In the press-conference at the start of last season McCabe quite rightly addressed this in his condemnation of the protesting fans. It was the same knee-jerk mindset that had gotten us into this position in the first place, he astutely noted, and becoming too involved in the moment - not canvassing the bigger picture - was a foolish approach to running the club. I can't find the quote, but I seem to remember him specifically stating that he wouldn't let the mob outside (and therefore any dissenting fans) manipulate him into stunting the clubs stability and long-term development. He seemed to be shifting the blame a little, but at least we wouldn't have to watch our club sack itself into oblivion. Regrettably, we can now see that McCabe was simply lying.
In sacking Wilson with six games to go, and spearheading his 'save the season' campaign with a totally unproven manager, who would not have gotten the job if he wasn't tediously seen to represent the 'grit and determination' that forms the soul of the club (between the lines - in the long run we're losers, we know our place as losers, so instead we just try as hard as we can), McCabe is showcasing the exact same reactionary attitudes as the protesters he dismissed: he may not be a hulking brute waving a banner painted with something that suspiciously resembles blood, but, nonetheless, he too is foaming at the mouth.
Sometimes the South-Yorkshire clubs are almost anachronistic. The unique character of our crowds, and their shared values, have for some reason - whether by what they genuinely demand or what chairmen like McCabe think will sate them - stopped us from evolving with modern football. Wilson was the closest we've come to having a manager who speaks in a measured and articulate way, and even he couldn't resist the odd footballing cliché - you almost get the feeling that McCabe might not have realised Wilson likes his sides playing from the back, and just assumed that he was another pugnacious battler because he was from the north of England. Our fans clearly do have a shared desire to see players express commitment on the pitch (I remember a friend, who has a season ticket at Chelsea, finding it bizarre that we applauded strong tackles) but we can't let craft and a more technical and researched approach to the game become the antithesis that does not represent 'what the club is about' and is therefore rejected, or we'll probably end up with a dressing room that resembles a seedy working-man's club from the seventies.
- Morgan is introduced to the chummy tone of 'this man needs no introductions'. All of the local press perversely chuckle along like they have a crush on him.
- Morgan is stony-faced and solemn about Wilson leaving, pays respects as if he had died.
- Morgan, suddenly more chipper, says some short simple sentences including words like "determination" and "graft"
- Morgan says something that makes him sound like he's optimistic before stressing that we have to take each game at a time. For full effect he might refer to them as cup finals.
- Then, I dunno, they probably all go to the pub or something.
There is a troubling element to this development though. When we hired Wilson it was on the back of an embarrassing season that left us in a mess, at the crux of which was the boardroom decisions that allowed the instability to escalate. In the press-conference at the start of last season McCabe quite rightly addressed this in his condemnation of the protesting fans. It was the same knee-jerk mindset that had gotten us into this position in the first place, he astutely noted, and becoming too involved in the moment - not canvassing the bigger picture - was a foolish approach to running the club. I can't find the quote, but I seem to remember him specifically stating that he wouldn't let the mob outside (and therefore any dissenting fans) manipulate him into stunting the clubs stability and long-term development. He seemed to be shifting the blame a little, but at least we wouldn't have to watch our club sack itself into oblivion. Regrettably, we can now see that McCabe was simply lying.
In sacking Wilson with six games to go, and spearheading his 'save the season' campaign with a totally unproven manager, who would not have gotten the job if he wasn't tediously seen to represent the 'grit and determination' that forms the soul of the club (between the lines - in the long run we're losers, we know our place as losers, so instead we just try as hard as we can), McCabe is showcasing the exact same reactionary attitudes as the protesters he dismissed: he may not be a hulking brute waving a banner painted with something that suspiciously resembles blood, but, nonetheless, he too is foaming at the mouth.
Sometimes the South-Yorkshire clubs are almost anachronistic. The unique character of our crowds, and their shared values, have for some reason - whether by what they genuinely demand or what chairmen like McCabe think will sate them - stopped us from evolving with modern football. Wilson was the closest we've come to having a manager who speaks in a measured and articulate way, and even he couldn't resist the odd footballing cliché - you almost get the feeling that McCabe might not have realised Wilson likes his sides playing from the back, and just assumed that he was another pugnacious battler because he was from the north of England. Our fans clearly do have a shared desire to see players express commitment on the pitch (I remember a friend, who has a season ticket at Chelsea, finding it bizarre that we applauded strong tackles) but we can't let craft and a more technical and researched approach to the game become the antithesis that does not represent 'what the club is about' and is therefore rejected, or we'll probably end up with a dressing room that resembles a seedy working-man's club from the seventies.
