So, out of the blue, Liam decides to "step down" as Poppies boss barely 7-days before the season starts. Cue pandemonium on social media. Cue calls for Brad Piercewright to renew his interest in the club. Cue calls for George's exit. So far, so Kettering. I don't know if other clubs are run in such a random fashion, but somehow I doubt it. I doubt many could survive it!
The reasons we are slipping into yet another shit-show? I don't know the full ins and outs of our current / latest calamity, but I do know this -
PERCEPTION IN FOOTBALL IS ALL
If people perceive a club is having problems it doesn't really matter if they are or not. The perception is there. A couple of seasons ago the Poppies were PERCEIVED to have a racism problem over a couple of incidents that, in at least one of the cases, 100% did not happen. We have a PERCEIVED hooligan issue because a couple of pissheads stumbled onto the pitch, and when Telford fans come here, their teen-burberry brigade want to dance with OUR teen-burberry brigade. We're PERCEIVED to be trouble, so start finding ourselves being segregated home and away.
PERCEPTION
Presently the perception is that the current Club ownership are stumbling from one f*ck-up to the next. From the outside looking in all we can see are amateur-hour mistakes. The club has shed a load of volunteers and helpers - why? The club seemed to care more about some random community hall than their own football ground - why? The club seems to shrug off sponsors and food outlets all the time - why? Any upgrades around the club look like they're held together with cable-ties and hope - why? Our social media output looks like it's being done by toddlers - why? Despite repeated attempts, still nothing can be done with pitch - why? Our Manager departs on the eve of the new season - why?
Well, we all suspect the "why" in Liam's case, by why NOW? Why not at the end of last season? Why not if and when his case comes up? It's perception again. If the club ownership knew Liam was about to quit why pretend everything in the Poppies garden was rosy? If this is the case, you've seemingly lied to the players, the sponsors and the supporters about the situation.
If the club hierarchy DIDN'T know Liam was about to jump ship, in many ways this reflects on them even worse. If this came as a shock you have to ask what is going on with the club and it's officials. How does such shattering news somehow entirely escape the notice of those in charge? Perhaps it is better to be seen as a calculating hard-arse who deliberately kept quiet about the manager's imminent departure while signing players, sponsors and season ticket holders, than be perceived as being totally out of the loop in your own club.
In our previous article we offered George the sound advice and a warning -
"For George's sake we need to hit the ground running. A stumbling start, on or off the pitch may see the pressure for regime change rekindled after such talk had abated during the World Cop".
Well, the World Cup is over. The part-time World Cup fans have all gone home. No-one's queuing to get into the Fanzone anymore, which without a big screen and a big match is just a glorified parking area. You're left with Poppies fans now and we demand more than a bit of flash and the occasional rabbit being pulled out of a hat. You're not running a summer carnival of an event - you're running OUR club.
Who knows what the knock-on effects of this weekend's news will be? Players wriggling out of contracts? Supporter's boycotting games? Loads of Stourbridge fans telling us in painfully squeaky Brummie accents, "We told you so?"
The Club ownership have not just dropped the ball. They've dropped it and then kicked it into next door's garden which is thigh high with stinging nettles and they have an angry sounding dog. Perhaps this will prove fatal for their tenure. With Brad Piercewright presumably still interested in acquiring the Poppies, George and his crew, presuming they still want to be the club owners, couldn't have chosen a worse time to reach for the "self-inflicted cock-up" button.
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| When the fun STOPS stop |
