Someone's been at the Christmas Sherry.....from twtd

They're not in our league - literally. What they've done is a freak rather fittingly, and fair play to them. But head to head they never have and never will be a patch on us.

We should be looking at the Forests, Derby's and Leeds' et al. of this world for a good measuring stick. Big clubs with a long and proud history and direct competitors to our berth at the top table in this league and up to the next one.

It's galling to see the scum up there while we languish so rudderlessly but let's be practical about it like any other spell above us it's a temporary sticking plaster over their recent years of decline. They'll be back to square one with the parachute payments cancelling out the debts they've racked up, but the car park is dwindling and when they go back to ?1 tickets to stop the attendances doing likewise they'll be nothing on us.

Looking at the Champ though we're one of maybe half a dozen or so clubs with legitimate claims to being a big club and we really need to look closer to home to rectify why that isn't being replicate don the field.

ME needs to review his PR and adjust it slightly, dampen expectations and adjust prices accoridngly.

He needs to cut the playing budget to a level whereby we are producing and nurturing talent not buying in from the reduced clear shelf of the Premier League's meat market. The category rating of our academy will have the biggest impact on our future as to whether he sees the tradition and sense of developing talent or not.

He needs to understand that football is not an exact science and accomodate accordingly. Like it or not Jewell will clearly be given far more breathing space than his predecessors, I think slowly but surely ME is learning lessons albeit the hard way. Whether he takes them on board in the future will obviously remain to be seen.

One thing is for sure there are plenty of decent clubs who have had it far worse than us in this modern Sky dominated era not that it negates our own woes but in the scale of things I think we're talking about someone who isn't going to give up on ITFC on a whim and condemn us to the Div 3 days of Leeds for example.

Posted By: BSE Canary, Dec 28, 21:13:29