All my supporting life (and yours), it has been one thing after another? Why? What is it about NUFC that attracts trouble like shit attracts flies?

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

Answers

And yet we never quite implode. Tough as old boots.

(rambling military diversion ahoy) Wellington used to say that the British army in the Peninsula war survived against the infinitely superior French Grande Armee because its weakness was its strength. He reckoned that the French army was like a perfectly balanced team of horses for drawing the French carriage while the British/Spanish/Portuguese coalition was like a bunch of old nags harnessed togather with bits of old rope. The difference was that since the Allied forces were such a hodge-podge no defeat of any one part affected the rest of the group, so you just reknotted the rope and carried on regardless, whilst if you ever managed to defeat the French it completely upset their whole rythym and through them into disarray.

Hopefully this complete lack of teamwork we are witnessing means that since they don't care about the whole picture, each of our players is capable of putting on a great display and not be phased if someone else has a bad one. It's one reason why we are so Jeckyll and Hyde: since it doesn't bother the players like it does us, they can bounce back and win the next week, whilst a better team would be devastated by a 5-0 caning.

Unfortunately, this means that I am advocating that if we ever want to be successful then we will have to become more like the French :-(

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

You have to blame Management at some level.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

I love that Wellington quote that you've (almost) got there Softie.

Didn't he also say that the British Army was composed of the "scum of the earth", and the Anglo-Allied Army at Waterloo the "sweepings of most of the gutters of Europe"? The point being not to insult them (as if!) but that with the right kind of leadership (or management if you prefer) they were the best.

Is there a moral there for us? No? Oh well, I'll get me bliddy coat then.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

"........You have to blame Management at some level".

Only if you insist DB! Are you trying to get me going?

coaches and players come and go, the only thing tha's consistent is Management. If you're consistently good it's down to consistently good Management. We've been consistently sh*te ..... so draw your own conclusions.

As I've stated ad nauseum, there is more to management than providing successive Coaches with blank cheques - until the piggy bank is empty.
The VITAL ingredient is leadership...leadership from the top that sets the agenda and the direction for the entire organisation. That's what we're really lacking, and have been since SJH walked away - IMHO of course.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

Quite obviously we need the team to go away on a self-discovery adventure course. Perhaps using live ammunition.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

Bob nice to see your temper has evened as the weeks gone on : - ))

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

I'm starting to turn into a right sour auld f**k aren't I!?!?

OK, happy Bobby from now on...

Anyone fancy playing hopscotch?

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000