SUPPORTING Darlo, you get used to chaos. If there isn’t some sort of existential crisis lurking on the horizon, then you’re not doing it right. It feels like there’s been something brewing for a couple of weeks and sure enough it reared its ugly head.
Whether it was the disgraceful scenes at the end of the Nuneaton Borough game or the incredibly sobering online Q&A on Friday, it feels like the club is once again teetering on the brink. I’d love to be told it’s not that bad, but it feels like we’re right back to the vitriol and accusations which surrounded ‘seatgate’.
While most fans will accept the atmosphere at Blackwell Meadows has never been amazing, the deterioration in recent weeks has been stark. It goes hand in hand with the abject performances on the pitch.
What worries me is we might now be in a position where Tommy Wright and his players need the fans to get behind them in order to break out of this run of questionable performances and poor results, while the fans need to see something positive on the pitch to try and lift some of the gloom hanging around the terraces. It’s a conundrum that is difficult to fix.
As we saw at the end of the Nuneaton game, fans want someone to blame for the situation. Whether it’s booing or taking part in an impromptu, horrible protest, people want to hold someone accountable. It sounds so simple and yet it really isn’t. Trying to keep this club running smoothly is far from simple.
We don’t have a benefactor to chuck money in at the drop of a hat. We also don’t have diversified revenue streams that can do some of the heavy lifting if the turnstiles are quieter than hoped.
If people stay away because they don’t like what they see on the pitch or they are miffed at how the club is run, the sticky situation we find ourselves in will only get stickier and could ultimately find us reacquainting ourselves with the sticky glue league.
What’s happening on the pitch is difficult to watch. Like many, I’m pretty sceptical about how Tommy turns this around, especially under the circumstances we have become more aware of the in the last couple of weeks.
Under normal circumstances at what I would class a normal football club, I think he would probably consider himself incredibly fortunate to still be in a job. We are not a normal club. Our circumstances mean we are pretty much stuck with him and as such we need to try and give him and the players some encouragement.
I’m not against fans expressing their feeling towards the manager if they feel they’re not getting what is reasonably expected, but it appears Tommy is going to be here for the foreseeable future so we are going to have to move on and get behind him.
Even more importantly, the fans need to get behind David Johnston, John Tempest, Chris Stockdale and the DFCSG board. The scenes at the end of the Nuneaton game were ridiculous. I’d love to know what people thought they were going to achieve turning on those who have stepped forward, given their precious time and their hard-earned money to run our club.
If any one of them steps aside, the club will be worse for it. Yes, they have had to take tough decisions and yes, we don’t know every detail of how the club survives on a day-to-day basis, but it is what it is.
I wonder what people want from their football club. Do they want something akin to FC United of Manchester where their AGMs have hundreds of motions on the smallest detail concerning the running of the club and every fan feels like they played a part in the decision? Or, do they want to abandon fan-ownership and become a normal football club?
The reality is that without our current ownership model and approach to management, we probably wouldn’t have a club to support. There isn’t a queue of wealthy businessmen lining up to plough their money in. The reality is we struck gold when David Johnston became involved and we should be grateful for his efforts alongside those of John Tempest and the DFCSG board. They are deserving of our appreciation and – much more importantly – some respect.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here