Drawing positives from a sea of negatives
12/05/05 | by Daniel Hawkins

I was reading the papers this morning and admiring Arsenals 7-0 demolition of fellow Champions League qualifiers Everton. Looking back at the highest score lines in the Premiership, I noticed we have been on the end of two of them, versus Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers. This brought me to thinking about the first name change of Division One and our relegation. Once again the First Division is renamed and we find ourselves relegated once more. Will we always be destined for Division One, no matter what they call it? I do hope not!

Now with the clear-out at the club underway, the sight of 17 players packing their bags for the last time being a welcome sight, what will next season have in store for us?

Rather than bleat on about this season, on how disastrous it has been and what went wrong, I wish to talk about the positives. Could there be any positives from this season? Well, yes – there is the much-needed clear-out and the reduction in our squad size, which was frankly a joke. There is also the positive news that we will not have to panic now when our goalkeeper gets injured as the ‘Kenco kid’, Barry Roche has drunk his last cup of coffee at the City Ground. The emergence of Perch, Gardner and quite possibly Fernandez into the first team set-up proving their worth and not forgetting the brilliant Kris Commons – a Red who has pledged his future for the up-coming campaign to help us to gain promotion back to the Championship. 

My main positive for this season came from the last twp games against QPR and Gillingham – the super sub in Eugene Bopp. Not since that horrific tackle by the sheep-shagger Rob Lee has he shown any sort of form. Rumours of a poor attitude and lack of interest have seen him go out on trials and he looked more than likely joining the list of players going out of the door come summer. Amazingly, however, he seems to have hit some form. With two well-taken goals in two substitute appearances, he looks to have had a mini revival. When he came on against the ‘caravan club’, not only de he score with his first touch, he wanted that ball and was desperately trying to make things happen, something the team has been lacking all season.

I, like many fans, like Bopp immensely. Memories of how we stole this kid from Bayern, who were touting him as their star of the future, still brings a smile to my face. The manner in which we did it was satisfying to say the least. Hopefully Bopp will flourish under Megson as other players have in the past under a new manager and finally that undoubted talent he has will shine for all too see. I also hope Bopp respects the fact that he truly has been lucky to stay at this club and repays us with the performances we know he can give. 

So my positive this season is Bopp – a phoenix that has truly risen from the flames and will hopefully destroy League 1 next season.