Is it time to forgive Imraan?

It's been great seeing some of the old games recently hosted on YouTube.  I'd not seen the full Blackburn and Fulham games since standing on the terraces and watching them live.  Both games were pretty much as I remembered them.  Blackburn could have scored 10, and Fulham got off lucky!

I've come away with two overriding thoughts from watching these and other re-run games recently.

Firstly - it was a really good idea to bring in the amended back-pass to the goalkeeper rule all those years ago.  The first time the ball was passed back to the 'keeper from a defender during the Blackburn FA Cup game I'm sure, like me, you exclaimed, "Wah!  He picked the ball up!!!"  And probably frantically gestured for an indirect free kick?  OK, that last bit was just me then.

After the fiftieth time the goalie picked the ball up I realised just how much this killed the flow of the game back then.  No tension.  No chasing down the goalkeeper.  No fear of the dreaded Burton bobble.  Now I think back, I dimly recall the few live games on the television back then when Liverpool got an early goal, and then passed the ball back to Ray Clemence for the next 85 minutes.  Yawnsville.

Secondly, and this one even surprised me - Is it time to forgive Imraan Ladak?

If you were around during the last years of Imraan's tenure as owner you will remember the complete horror show he presided over.  If not, click on the right of the screen and read almost any article we wrote between 2009 and 2012, and read, open-mouthed at how he "ran" the Poppies.  It was an insane time where 99 times out of 100 the club would and probably should have been wound-up.  Promises.  Contracts.  Commonsense.  All alien concepts to Ladak.

And yet......the other side of the coin.

There can be no doubt that for a couple of seasons Ladak backed the club to the hilt.  Just take a look at the teams playing in some of those FA Cup matches.  A strike force of Westcarr, Rawle, Seddon, JP and Christie, joined by Elding.  And behind them, players like Darren Wrack and Guy Branston.  These guys weren't on peanuts.  Did we truly believe they had all bought into the "Poppies Project" and played for a mixture of love for the club and travelling expenses?  Of course not.  They played for the enormous wedge Imraan was handing out. 

Or do you think we generated sufficient funds on our 1200 gates, to pay for these players?
You see, this is where the problem of the potential rehabilitation of Ladak strikes.  Does the excitement of Gazza, big signings, promotion and a couple of fantastic cup runs outweigh losing Rockingham Road, Non Park, non-paid players, George Rolls and multiple relegations?

Is it possible to recall enjoying the good times under Ladak without feeling guilty about how he left the club at the end of his reign?   If you claim the Fulham game as your favourite Poppies memory are you validating Ladak?  The big FA Cup runs certainly wouldn't have happened without access to the DRC Locum's chequebook.  And we all know that the closing of that chequebook had us dropping three divisions and hanging on to our club by our fingertips.

On balance, I doubt Ladak's reputation will be rehabilitated in these parts any time soon.  I see watching those FA Cup games with his expensively assembled teams as akin to watching a good movie produced by Harvey Weinstein.  You can enjoy it as you watch, but are left with a slightly bad taste in your mouth if you pause to think too much about what went on behind the scenes!

Sorry Imraan.  We'll look again at your case in another 10 years.