Stanley would be lying if he was to say that he was 'over the moon' at the news of Glenn Roeder's appointment as the new City manager.
Frankly, Stanley can't, at the moment, escape a deep sense of foreboding at the news that Roeder is the man in whose hands the immediate, and quite probably long-term future of the club, lie.
However whether Stanley, you or any of the other 23,000 City faithful who will turn up this Sunday, like it or not we all need Roeder to succeed. Failure and, well, we all know by now where that will take us, for the first time in Stanley's lifetime… tier three of English football.
So why the glum face, Stan?
Well, Stan has four problems with this appointment. Firstly, Roeder's record is pretty mediocre. Every club he's managed have enjoyed good spells, but his reigns have always ended in a sense of disappointment.
A cynic might suggest that's why he's ended up with us.
Secondly, Stanley felt, that if nothing else, the club need a leader figure, a charismatic manager for us all to rally round the flag with. A 'Mad Dog' Allen figure to get everyone metaphorically, and in the case of the players literally, swimming across the Wensum for him.
A leader to sound and lead the bugle charge, confident in the knowledge people would follow. In Stan's eyes, Roeder isn't that type of figure.
Perhaps Roeder might prove to be our Wenger, all professorial thought and detachment. Perhaps.
Thirdly, what about the other candidates? More precisely how close did we get to getting Jewell? Jewell was the one sure-fire candidate to get us out of this mess, so if Jewell turns up at somewhere like Leicester then there will be grumblings a-plenty.
Finally, Stanley has always feared that this appointment is almost irrelevant, the key one was a year ago, which we got so badly wrong. The horse has bolted, leaving Roeder, or who ever it might have been, with nothing to do accept shut the gate.
Oh come on, Stan, give the man a chance. Yep, a fair point, can't judge a man before he even begins…
So, in an attempt to be fair, four reasons why Stan shouldn't be so glum. Firstly, all successful managerial appointments are about timing.
Who knows he might be the right man, in the right place at the right time. It all clicks and hey presto, it's Roeder spoken of in the same company as Saunders, Brown and Worthington rather than Megson, Hamilton and Grant.
Let's face it, who thought Walker was right the man when Chase appointed him back in '92 and when Delia appointed Worthy?
Secondly, Roeder must have some good contacts in the game by now. If he can bring in three good, young, big 'uns from the Newcastle and West Ham academies, then he'll be half-way to turning things around.
Third, the man's got plenty of experience and seems the kind of bloke capable of putting into practice what he has learnt from past mistakes made in previous jobs – let's hope man management is one of them.
Finally, more often than not new managers enjoy a bit of a bounce, so what better way to start that getting a bounce off beating the Binners? There you go, Stanley has almost convinced himself.
Stanley was going to leave the final word to his Everton supporting, but Chester-born, brother-in-law who happily texted Stanley just after the news of Roeder's appointment had broke: “The Chester are waiting, see you in August…”
But, with a derby nearly upon us, and three-quarters of the season still to go, the time for being resigned to a very watery grave should be postponed for the moment.
Instead the final word goes to Stanley's footballing buddy, the legend that is, Belfast-born and Liverpool supporting, Jimmy Jones. Jimbo's line was: 'Give it till Christmas, then if your still bottom start to worry…'
And that dear reader is as optimistic as old Stanley can get right now. Ten games in which to put a smile back on old Stanley's face, so over to you Glen. Good luck, you will need it…
Leave a Reply