Antti Heinola gets a little misty eyed after Neil Warnock rolled back the years with a hard-fought, scrappy, late 1-0 win at Reading on Thursday night.
We may be the only fans left in the country who can stand the sight of him. We're certainly the only ones left who love him. An annoying, arrogant, pain-in-the-ass, one-eyed, argumentative 'Colin' when he's at another club. A warm, irresistible, enthusiastic, joyful, old-school bastard when he's one of your own.
The interview after the game almost had me demanding he get the job full time for one last run. He was like late-era Ric Flair - his best days are behind him, but fuck me, the guy can still talk a bloody good game and make you *feel*. He knows which buttons to press: 'This is a fabberlous club, it really is.' Who else ever says that about us these days? We know Olly and Gerry and Gaz and Derry and even Trevor Sinclair still love the club. But they all know the issues, they all know the problems, they all know that we're a circus (a good, old circus, mind, that makes you gasp as well as laugh) and they're love is couched in a weariness. Warnock's love, though, is infectious and you can see it in the players too, and the fans, who chanted his name at the end of the game.
He deserved this victorious, if untidy exit, to make up for the shambolic way he was treated last time around.
His exit this time doesn't seem particularly kind, either, but Warnock knows the game. He certainly knew when he was brought in as an adviser that the chances were it was going to lead to something else - and there's little doubt that he would love Les's job. It's a dog-eat-dog world, this business.
But once you get past the nostalgia and the giddiness of an away win, in the end, reality has to set in. Yes we looked more solid. Yes the back four has improved a lot. But we didn't score a goal from open play under his reign - and rarely did we look like doing so, really, apart from a spell when we were one-up against Leeds. The decision not to play any recognised strikers at all (or even have any fit ones on the bench) looks odd. And if you look at both this game and the Leeds game, where we faced pretty poor teams playing nowhere close to the way Brentford or Fulham played against us, we were fortunate not to be a goal down in both. Almost identical chances for Wood on Saturday and then Robson-Kanu last night, when our back four failed to make the offisde trap work, saw us saved only by some diabolical finishing.
And what would we gain from letting Warnock take over until the end of the season? There seems little likelihood of him and Les working in tandem, so that means more upheaval. And if he did really well and miraculously got us in the play-offs, even promoted, then what? We all know in our heart-of-hearts that he's not quite good enough for the Prem. If we tread water and come 8th-12th (the most likely scenario), then have 6 months not been wasted when someone else could have been starting to get to know the squad? And if things go really wrong that would be worst of all: another great memory ruined.
I think last night was just right for Warnock. He made his point and hopefully made his peace with what happened last time. "I said to the wife, I said, you know, I'd love one last crack at it...”
There's very little to say about the rest of a profoundly turgid game of football, but the return to form of Chief, first under Ramsey and then more positively under the guidance of Warnock and Blackwell, has been a blessed relief. Partly, I think, it's because he and Hall are becoming quite comfortable together. Despite repeated accusations that he's 'not a leader' I thought last night he showed great leadership qualities. Defending desperately and bravely at times, bringing the ball out of defence when he needed to, a threat at set pieces (when not heading over from five yards) and getting the crucial goal. Proper captain's performance.
Two games, two decent performances, and definitely signs last night that he was growing in confidence, particularly in the second half when he risked one lovely double-kick that sent two Reading players the wrong way beautifully. It will be interesting to see if he gets a run in the side to build his confidence, but he certainly has a good touch, awareness and a trick. The only thing last night was several times he failed to get a cross in from a good position - although that was partly because Reading were actually very good at stopping all our crosses at source.
I thought at the start of this season that our over-reliance on Austin was finally being dealt with. Goals were coming from elsewhere, JET and Polter looked like players who might be able to deputise for him well enough. But here we are again - when he's not around we look toothless. Onuoha might be the captain, but Austin is the talisman. His presence galvanises the team, gives them belief, and also allows Phillips to breathe a sigh of relief and get on with playing the position he's most comfortable in. He's as important as he ever was and JFH will have a huge job on his hands replacing him next year, whether that's January or the summer.
A second 90 minutes in a row and another effective performance. He and Faurlin are forming a good partnership, which would be exciting if it weren't for the knowledge that one or the other or, more likely, both, will receive some sort of debilitating knee injury sooner or later. Sandro worked really hard, snapping at Reading heels and, as usual, willingly running forward into half-decent positions... to very little effect. You could hear Warnock and Blackwell shouting at him a lot (which sounded slightly comical, like someone calling their pet in for dinner late at night), but Warnock was clearly very pleased with the shift he put in. Probably because Warnock knows exactly how to get the best out of Ale Faurlin and how he can be used to the greatest effect - and Sandro helps him do that.
I want to like him. I do like him. Could not see for the life of me what he was offering last night though. Would rather have Chery playing that role.
Players you have not thought about in years - No.3 in an occasional series: Chris Bart-Williams.
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