What a roller coaster of a day. Once again our flags have been flying at half-mast while we remember our great Billy Nick. There is a memorial service for him at WHL on Sunday morning at 11am and the ground is already prepared with ‘in loving memory’ banners all around.
Again we, the fans, are reeling from the next blow as news broke yesterday evening about the loss of our manager, Jacques Santini, who has decided (!) to return to France ‘for personal reasons’. Rumours of a bust-up with Frank Arnesen abound, as do ones of a huge ‘pay off’ for him. I so hope that neither thing is true, as a share holder and a season ticket holder I want my money to go towards buying good players and creating excellence within the team.
The team came out with their spirits broken and were 0-3 down just after half-time. At that point I nearly walked out. Not because of the score line but because the stadium resounded to the chants of ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’ – now how is that going to help? I feel sure that even highly paid footballers who should be giving their all anyway because of the honour of playing in the top flight don’t respond well to that sort of criticism. I doubt whether that sort of chant would motivate anyone.
But a small miracle happened at that point. The caretaker manager decided to bring on Michael Carrick and the crowd got fired up to support the team. We cheered, roared and sang until the dying moments of the game and helped pull the team back to 2-3 as a final score. Not enough to win the game but certainly enough to make me believe that at least some of these players care about the club (Robbo, you are my new hero) – for the last half-hour of the game we pounded their goal, giving it everything and were so close to nicking a point back from the jaws of defeat…..but it wasn’t to be. We were thwarted by the passing of time and the final whistle blew with us still a goal adrift.
In the post-match analysis in the pub, the views were mixed. I think there is hope. We need to resolve the manager issue once and for all and get a bit of stability back at the Lane. Santini was our thirteenth manager since Billy Nick so maybe just ‘unlucky for some’. So, my message to Daniel Levy today is ‘no Gooners and no second best, get us a manager of the calibre we deserve, someone who can motivate these gifted players for the full ninety minutes, someone who can make us win.’
Olly and Tom wear their Billy Nick shirts with pride and Stacey looks over their shoulders! Oh and yes, this is another pure snap shot - how terrible is that?
