lost that loving feeling - The axeman cometh

The axe above the manager’s head is once again hanging tentatively, it’s familiar gleam tainted by the blood of countless previous incumbents who have met a similarly sticky end to that which Gary Megson might soon be introduced to. Strength is building behind the alarming rumours that the Forest manager has lost control of his squad, leading to ‘player revolts’ and ‘walkouts‘. Meanwhile, with the fans baying for blood after an – to use an understatement – inauspicious start to the season, it can’t be too long before the board – once again – lose patience with the man with whom they entrusted the task of turning the club around.

It seems pointless to talk about whether or not Gary Megson should be sacked. No matter where else the blame may lie – either with players who don’t listen to instructions and only put in feeble levels of effort, or board members whose laughable incompetence has seen this club fall apart under their noses – tradition dictates that it will be the manager who pays the price and at the moment that occurrence looks to be forthcoming.

It’s not hard to believe that the dressing room is in chaos. It’s happened before at this club and if fate wanted to play yet another cruel joke on us then this would seem the perfect material. However, if the players are indeed on the rampage, is this necessarily Megson’s fault? After all, we have more than a few players whose attitude problems are well documented (they know who they are, and you probably know too). If they cannot learn to behave themselves and respect the authority of one of the game’s most famed disciplinarians, isn’t that their own fault?

Surely the players know that Gary Megson’s previous successes have been built on strong discipline, both on and off the pitch. If they want to spend games wandering out of position or ignoring orders, and if they don’t fancy the idea of a good bollocking every now and then without throwing a hissy fit in return, then what on earth are they still doing at the club?

Of course, they know only too well that their own contracts are much harder for the club to terminate than the manager’s. They also outnumber the boss many-fold, so if Megson has lost control of his squad, the players are safe in the knowledge that collectively they are protected – almost impunitively – while the tension holding the quavering axe above about Gary’s precariously-positioned neck builds with each poor result.

In the past the board – ever wary of being accused of not giving the manager support, or perhaps their motives are more cynical and finance-driven – have always stuck by their man until the latest possible moment. This is perhaps commendable as means not yielding to the masses’ every knee-jerk whim, but in the case of Joe Kinnear it seems they held onto their convictions for too long – the situation had gotten so bad that fans were planning mass protests outside the ground and, as we know only too well, the Reds had already sunk so low in the league that there was no escaping from relegation. I doubt they will want to make the same mistake again.

So it seems inevitable that – unless Forest’s form improves rapidly in the next few games – we’ll be saying goodbye to yet another manager, the third in as many years. Sadly, history has taught us that this rarely makes much difference when problems run as deep as they do at our club, but what really makes the possibility of Megson getting the chop tragic is the fact that he was so perfect for the job. A gritty, determined manager with a record of tough discipline and straight-talking and a pedigree of success in the lower leagues was exactly what we needed and still need. The question really being begged here is, if Megson couldn’t sort out this mess, who on earth could? If he does go, that will be a question the club might themselves struggling to answer.