OK, we gave him the week, it clearly hasn’t worked.
I heard that the two performances this week have been an improvement on recent weeks. But it was hard for us not to improve against a side in the lower reaches of the league below us, and a mismatched out-0f-form Preston team. Even so, improvements in performances haven’t led to results, as we were dumped out of both competitions.
Since my move we have managed just one victory, the 2-1 home win versus Wycombe. Every Saturday/Tuesday night other than that, I have sat watching Final Score or the BBC Live Vidiprinter and the @officiallydale twitter feed, in despair and frustration. After 17 games, sitting 4th from bottom is not what we had expected to be honest. But further to that, it’s not what we deserve. Being only19, I feel very lucky to have enjoyed the last 4 years or so as a very happy Rochdale supporter, however frustrating the years before that were.
But for the older generation, who have had to sit through years of basement division football, the Barrow era, and the re-elections etc, this is so unfair. These are the people who have pledged so much time and money and effort into supporting this club, and after finally achieving that seemingly impossible promotion, they don’t deserve to have to get relegated and go through it all again.
A strange aspect of the messageboard this week has been the buzz around a certain Harry Bunn. After scoring our only goal versus Preston, the rumours were rife of the young lad being benched for the Bradford game, much to the outrage of many messageboard fans. Has it really got to the stage where an 18-year-old prospect who is yet to play a competitive league fixture is such a key player?
The players, the board, the finances all seem up to scratch. Surely that only leaves one thing that needs changing…
Next week at Deepdale will be very strange. It’s the first time I’ve managed to get to a match since leaving in September, and so I will be absolutely buzzing with excitement, though I have a feeling I’ll be the only one in the Dale end doing so. I have managed to get up to the Stadium of Light for what was a magnificently entertaining game versus Aston Villa, but there’s just something special about watching Dale. Though maybe not over recent weeks.
Still, I look forward to it. Sort of.