Cyprus. I want my club to do well. In doing so I am trying to feel good about it. I wanted Bruce 2.5 years ago but events since have changed my stance about him. However, throughout this shambolic management I have a club to support as do we all. You can mock that support all you want and call it what you want but its not important. What is important is the success of the club. I don't share your support of Bruce and want rid of him as soon as possible but if we can limp along picking up points until he is gone, then so be it. It means a decent manager will not have to far to go to save us.
I couldn't give twopence for what Newcastle do or how we finish in relation to them. They're no more important to me than Torquay. The issue facing us is getting enough points on the board before February. Every club hits problems around then - injuries and suspensions start to catch up then. And Bruce has proven (twice over) that he cannot solve a problem. His only answer seems to be to shuffle and unsettle his available players - which to my mind adds to the unsettling effect of the injuries and suspensions. If anything, he makes matters worse than they already are. I feel the crux of this season will be the four games following Man. U. They are, on paper, easy games and we have to get as many points as possible from them. If we don't, we're running bare-arsed into the wind come Spring. It's no good the optimists saying 'Of course, we'll win all four games - they're easy'. Remember the seven game 'easy run-in' we had last season? Won 3, lost two home games by three clear goals, etc. I don't want dreams. I want Bruce to field a settled side with two up front and deliver results. And, given his Spring-time record, he'd better do it in those four games. I can't see a better opportunity coming all season.
Certaily not how this optimist looks at it, I go into games expecting to win rather than looking at defeat and know that no games are easy. If we do well great, all is well, if we do badly I then reflect on it. My view is and always has been if you expect to win you might, if you expect to lose you are often right. I see no point in spending days or weeks in anger and depression about the coming game we will lose, if we win its a week wasted, if we lose we can have a day or twos depression. May not be explaining this well and I know the realists will find fault with it, realism is the safehouse of the deafeatist, just my long standing view on life, its served me well so far.
Nothing wrong with being optimistic...People with a positive attitude tend to be more content with life than pessimists in my experience...
Not with you on that one, Syd. Realism is the safehouse where optimists and pessimists meet to suss out the logical probability. Those who don't meet in that safehouse aren't optimists - they're escapists. The fact is Bruce has had two seasons here and produced two terrible Springs. We can't just write that off and say he won't do it again - all teams hit problems in Spring, and the available evidence suggests that he cannot solve them. Bruce's problems are always long problems. We must safeguard ourselves against that, and I don't see a better opportunity coming up than the four games after Man. U. Taking the most balanced view I can, I think November and early-December will define our season.
