I’ve tried to throw some crumbs of comfort into these
previews over the last month or so to prevent them from being unremitting slabs
of doom. This is becoming increasingly difficult, and I can only find two
crumbs currently. Firstly, it's reassuring to know that King’s Lynn’s number 5 wakes up each morning knowing that
he has to spend the rest of the day being him, which must be an awful prospect. What a ghastly individual. Secondly, the board seem to have resisted the urge to advertise a
‘spare part’ vacancy following Mr Tim Harris’s departure from the club.
Anyway, onward, ever onward, in search of some more crumbs.
Hereford FC host Farsley Celtic at Edgar Street on Saturday, kick off 3pm.
Celtic beat lower-graded Workington 1-0 in the Trophy last Saturday to progress
to the first round proper, but previously they’d been on a similar run of
league form to Hereford’s, and it looks to be a good time to play them, if any time's a good time to play anyone at the moment. Holme Lacy in the HFA Cup draw look ominous given current form.
Farsley is apparently in West Yorkshire, and a cursory look at the club's website suggests that their players are absolutely gigantic and as ugly as ogres from a Hansel and Gretel-flavoured nightmare. Fortunately, a 4-2 defeat at home to a Boston team reduced to nine men suggests that, as well as being absolutely gigantic, they're absolutely rubbish too. Prior to that, they drew with Gloucester but lost consecutive matches to Kidderminster and Blyth, which is pretty poor form in anyone's book. That said, they've impressively shot up the pyramid in fine style since going bust and starting again in 2010.
The Bulls go into this one looking truly ragged, with attendances
and league position both plummeting following some really quite awful
performances. The inability to defend a corner, a set piece, a throw-in – the
inability to defend anything really, leaves the players with a mountain to climb in
attempting to get back into matches.
It would be hard enough if chances were
being created and penalties converted at the other end, but there’s no incisiveness up front
either. Danny Greenslade showed more passion in his ten-minute comeback on
Tuesday than the rest of the players combined, with the exception of Tommy
O’Sullivan, who does actually look like he cares at least.
With morale at rock
bottom there’s absolutely no bite, or desire to, in football parlance, win
‘individual battles’, which could at least cover over some of the cracks caused
by a lack of ability.
Oh, there is a third crumb. Russell Slade has now been in post long enough to have to take
some responsibility at least for the current malaise. However, to his credit, he’s
actually undertaking that rarity for a club representative, a PR initiative.
The enthusiasm with which he’s spoken about his current and scheduled chats
with fans suggests that the idea was his, and also that he shares the pain and
is motivated to try to address and arrest this awful run of form, and share
openly his ideas for doing so.
This openness has to be applauded, but called out as unusual, and for such openness and honesty to be considered unusual from a club supposedly built on supporter-involvement foundations probably says it all.
Tim Harris has gone and of course that was quite right, but he was arguably not alone in being an unnecessary burden on the wage bill of a National League North club. Success in this division, and really in anything at all, is based on lean and keen rather than bloated and complacent. On and off the pitch Hereford FC currently screams the latter.
*Stop press* - Bulls News has now reported on today's 'chat' and Slade quite simply seems to be someone to get behind, the right man for the job.
Anyway, back to the match. The club have to get something from this one, and
even a draw would be pretty underwhelming. It’s just very hard to envisage how this squad is going to engineer a win. However, there was a palpable desire among the hardcore 700 on Tuesday, at least initially, to will the players to get through this crisis. Everyone will pull together similarly on Saturday to support the team and Russell Slade, I'm sure. The return of Dawson and Thomas would help, as would Greenslade starting. Liability turned saviour, who'd have thought it?
It is a crisis though, at least in a silly footballing sense, but unbelievably the Bulls are, despite everything, still just four points off the play-offs. Another crumb.
COYW