Harwood Bull was at Gigg Lane yesterday. Below he gives his view of the game and also comments on the present financial problems at Edgar Street.
I’m a long time Bulls fan (1st game a 1-1 draw
with Cambridge City in 1965) now living in Lancashire. I live in a small (about
the size of Leominster) town called Great Harwood which is near the famous
footballing towns of Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley. I don’t see so many
games these days, just when on visits back to friends and family, and away
matches in this part of the world. So far I’ve seen the game at Hyde which was
embarrassing, the home game against Braintree which was frankly dull, and the F.A.
Cup visit to Gigg Lane which was mainly a relief.
When F.C. United of Manchester was conceived I thought, nice
idea, but it won’t go anywhere. Looks like I was wrong. They have a reasonable
side and the fans, if the level of singing, chanting and flag waving on
Saturday is anything to go by, are having a great time, and put a lot into the
club. However, my more cynical thoughts are that they’ve gathered supporters to
a fashionable bandwagon, including Manchester City Council whose support for
their new stadium would be unimaginable for most clubs of that size.
Saturday’s game was no classic but the Bulls got the job
done. Bowman was cool with the penalty, and finished well for the second. In
between he worked hard and chased everything. Stam played calmly despite a first minute
yellow card hanging over him, and Bittner dealt with endless high balls with
confidence. On the downside there was little bite or creativity in the midfield.
The referee infuriated the home crowd
with many of his decisions, particularly the sending off, which Martin Foyle
didn’t think was deserved either. But we’re through.
Towards the end there was a brief burst of ‘Peters out’ chanting.
While he is an easy and obvious target I’m not surprised that he doesn’t want
to do the decent thing and leave. If your boss came to you and said, ‘the
company isn’t doing too well, do you mind awfully resigning?’ would you oblige?
I don’t think so. Some people seem to think
that the normal arrangements of employment contracts don’t apply just because
it’s football. Also the idea that he is ‘minted’ as some have said on Bulls
Banter seems improbable if you look at his fairly modest playing and managing
career. However he is obviously, as others have said, a luxury we can’t afford,
so Keyte needs to negotiate with him and come to some sort of compromise.
Like everyone else I’m stunned by how quickly things have
gone bad financially. A drop in crowds isn’t hard to explain, but I’m really
surprised that they’ve fallen so far, so soon. A cup run could be a life saver,
but it relies far too much on luck to be a strategy for survival. At least the
next round should bring some more people through the turnstiles. Maybe some
imaginative pricing deals for multiple or family group tickets, or bring a
friend schemes could boost the support without losing revenue.
Before that it’s back to league action. Southport next week,
which is another local (ish) game for me.
Come on you Bulls.