Over the past week as it became more and more evident that Glenn Roeder would be appointed manager, I have been thinking of how this would affect the club I have supported since 1969, from the tender age of 6 years old.
Today’s appointment should, if we’re honest, come as no surprise to us bearing in mind our current Board. Let’s face it, it was a cheap and easy option – no paying off contracts, no treading on other Boards toe's etc.I am as disappointed as the next man in that we didn’t appoint someone with a higher profile who would in turn raise our profile and our hopes of going ‘onwards and upwards’, yet I for one hope that none of us slate Glen off in public - for example, at the first home game. Any criticism should be directed solely at the Board.
It was no coincidence that the whole thing started after the last home game of last season. It is the Board that appears to have approached only one other candidate. And it is the same Board that have waited all this time only to appoint from within the club itself. It is they who have dug themselves a very large hole and if and when they fall in it I hope that they do not drag our club with them.
Their only hope is if Roeder proves everyone wrong and we do
progress as a side over the next 12 months. If we don’t then I feel the Board will have little option but to go as the unrest of us, the fans, will only get worse.
Obviously a mass protest would have been an option at the last home game but I feel that if we protest at the next, it will not do any good to Glenn Roeder’s confidence. He has been placed in this situation, again by the Board (although some might say that he needn’t have accepted the post), and is now caught in the middle. By his comments he seems well aware of the circumstances so please cut the man himself a little slack.
Several things could work in Glenn’s favour. The fact that he supported West Ham should mean that he has the same desires as ourselves and will therefore be fully committed to the team.
I have said in the past that we should only have players who WANT to play for the side so I suppose the same could be said for managers. He has nothing to prove as generally, it would appear, few think he is the right man to take us forward, hence another reason – the desire to prove us, and the Board for that matter, wrong.
Against him is his lack of experience at the top level. His record in his previous management jobs is not too good to say the least. Also, it seems he doesn’t have the Board’s total vote of confidence otherwise he would have been appointed much sooner and would have been given more than a year’s contract.
Personally, I wish Glenn Roeder all the best and sincerely hope that he proves to be a worthy appointment. Personal preferences aside, I like most of us on here will continue to support the team as always through the good times and bad times. My support, along with thousands of others is not business related unlike some Board members, it is because it is in my blood and I have no desire to support anyone else.
I do hope that the Board are aware of how we feel – that they have not been acting in the club’s best interests, and are not just living in their little cocoon, oblivious to the outside world. If not and things do not improve, they will be in for a rough ride!
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