The disaster which any number of us saw coming a mile off, and feared like 50’s school kids used to dread the strap, arrived on cue today, signed, sealed and delivered.
Or not, as the case may be.
Because this morning we learned that Erik Sviatchenko is out of the Astana games home and away, which virtually destroys our central defence.
The manager knew this could happen, which is why he repeatedly and consistently begged the club to bring in reinforcements in that area.
The consequences of failure were highlighted, dramatically, in Gibraltar as Efe Ambrose – now virtually assured a start tomorrow – had one of his moments of madness, leading us to the worst result in our history.
So the central defence will probably include the one guy we didn’t want near it and it will be without the guy who has been our best player in that area almost since he was signed. Sviatchenko is out of three weeks, which means he misses both legs of this tie and quite possibly games in the next round as well, and crucial league games on top of it.
Having warned against this none of us feel any satisfaction at all that we’re here, only the leaden sick feeling of folk who’s worst fears have been realised. This was always on the cards; the people running our club can only play this game so long before the utter folly of it becomes clear. So whatever the problems were in getting deals done – and this issue predates Rodgers arrival; we’ve known we’d need cover in this position since the end of last season – there’s now no way to fix the problem.
Lawwell is supposed to be staying behind to see if he can negotiatie a deal before the window closes tonight.
Big deal. So what? Who cares, at this point?
Even if he can get someone signed that player is out of tomorrow’s game. Sign someone, don’t sign someone, it hardly matters now. At best we’ll have someone to cover for Erik. We’ll still be at least one player short. Lawwell might as well not bother his arse, and continue to drag his feet as he has been all along.
The people above the manager are a disgrace for putting him, and us, in this position. It’s not what people want to hear but I’ll say it anyway; they are hanging Brendan out to dry and he’s not going to put up with that for long.
In the meantime, our Champions League qualification hopes hang by a thread, and it’s not because of Brendan or the players or the fans; it’s because our board of directors are taking the piss. It’s because they decided to gamble, that saving a few quid on transfer fees was worth putting a reward in the tens of millions on the line, along with our footballing reputation.
Until some of these people are gone – Lawwell foremost amongst them – this will happen over and over and over and over and over again, as it has happened so often already.
I know some people still won’t accept that. I am past arguing with them. When they look at our central defensive pairing for this massive game tomorrow … I hope they are happy with our “well run” and “professional” club, run for profit and not to win football matches,
I am absolutely pig sick of this crap.
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