The Richard Micallef Column

Monday 29 July, 2002

"A sense of death"

I remember during Sheff Weds' last top flight season, a pundit referred to the club having a "sense of death" about the place. In our case, we could have a death sentence to be carried out on Thursday.

On August the 4th, the club will be shut down (probably restarting in who knows what league), allowed to stay operating (though in terrible shape for the new season), or a new lifeline may be thrown.

I do not see how a new BCFC could generate real interest in the lower leagues. The hardcore will stay, but there will be no other interest in the club at all. Imagine it, the 7th largest city in the county with no pro football team. People will simply go elsewhere. We have trouble attracting fans in Div 1. We wont attract any at the bottom of the football pyramid.

If we do stay in business, then what? Most of the players clearly couldn't care what happens; they know the club wants rid of them and their contracts are up in a year anyway. I hear people who say we can finish top half, but how can a squad that is even smaller than that which started last season do any better? We don't have 1 fit recognised striker at the club and most positions have no cover at all.

Then today we hear the players are not going to Hull, as "they are not in the right frame of mind". Well, if I could be bothered to turn up to the countless half-arsed performances last season and help pay their wages, turning out for a friendly is not too much to ask. It's a hard life, wondering how to spend your hundreds of thousands of pounds.

My mum is a part time nurse. She has to put up with long shifts, complete idiots, drunks, smackheads, people who are on the run from the law and generally, the most obnoxious patients you could imagine, all for a small wage. Yet she doesn't complain, she likes it. I see how exhausted she is after a shift, so to me, these players to say they are not in "the right frame of mind" are talking a complete load of crap. They may not have been paid since May, but most will be set up for life, and if not, they'll have enough to see them through to getting a new contract here or elsewhere.

I read Nicky Law will take a team of trialists and young players to play tomorrow. Well, maybe he should play them in the rest of the friendlies. They'll be desperate to earn contracts and get a shot at playing, unlike players who have trouble lifting their wallets.

So even if city do come out of Thursday alright, then what? The squad will not be strengthened; only a few bodies will be brought in. As I said above, they know the club doesn't want them, and after last season's performances, ill they give any more? With Wethers saying pre-season doesn't have the usual "buzz" about it, you wonder if the squad will be up for it come the new season. It's no good starting at a slow pace, you have to hit the ground running. Look at Barnsley last season; thumped 4-0 by us on the 1st day then eventually relegated. As you look at the table, it's hard to see any teams that are really worse than us.

If the CVA is or is not passed, the future on the pitch will be bleak indeed. As pessimistic as it sounds, I find it hard to believe the club that comes out of this mess will be able to compete in whatever division. Right now, you can feel the noose being tightened around our necks.

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