After the initial "Honeymoon Period" when we went up to the PL (i.e., till Jan. ,09),which was roughly when the top teams found out we were a "one trick pony", and Brown showed he had no other ideas on how to "surprise" them, we died our slow death in the PL. Brown did not keep us up in the '08/'09 season other teams results (or rather, lack of!) kept us up there( ask any NUFC whining bastard!), which, come the '09/10 season was like watching a favourite family member slowly die from cancer. Brown had come to believe the hype, that had been spun about him in the media, or, he would/should have resigned earlier than when he was pushed. If he had thought more of the Club, than his own public persona, he would have stepped aside soon after it became clear, to the fans in general, that he did not have any way of combating the other teams in the PL from ****ting on us from a great height, week in week out till the last game of the season, when The Tigers left the top fight of football in the UK, not with a roar, but, with a whimper.
The decision to appoint Dowie will always be seen to have been a mistake, but who else could/would have taken on such a task at such a late point in the season? He was the Doctor brought in to switch off the life support machines. The management did not have a clue, the players did not have the impetus, to turn things around on the pitch during matches, and the Owner/s took too long to get rid of the failing management team, to give the Club a lifeline early enough to make a difference.
At least now, with the new owners, a new, and vibrant, management team, and, some young, hungry, and, exciting players we have started moving in the right direction now. Most fans have a new optimism prior to, and, after matches ( win, lose or draw!) on where the club is going in the foreseeable future, rather than an impending doom!
I, for one, would rather have the feeling that I have now, than the dread that last season filled me with.
Thus endith this lecture, assignments to be handed in this time next week!!!