We haven’t bought a player, and I’m happy. We have sold or let go several players, and I’m happy.
Truth to tell, I’m very happy about the way Lerner and McLeish are setting the club up for the season. There’s an air of calm and deliberation about B6 that fills me with happiness.
One of the reasons I’m so happy is that the two men on whose shoulders everything depends have been through the mill. There’s no substitute for it. Generally speaking, men only learn from their mistakes – which means you have to make a few to learn anything. Do not fear mistakes. Fear the men who learn nothing from them.
Lerner’s been there, done that. He was nicely tucked up by O’Neill who sold him a bill of goods, and then watched an internationally respected manager undermined in his own dressing room by players who figured they were too big to take orders from the likes of anyone but themselves.
Lerner saw how some men in football simply don’t have the ambition or the cojones to take the job on when it’s theirs for the taking; and without this inner steel and self-belief, an enterprise will turn to dust. I refer, of course, to Kevin MacDonald, whose courage hesitated when put to the test.
So is he any the wiser for all this? I would say “Yes”, and he’s demonstrated that with the appointment of McLeish. Remember how it started? Just a rumour in some grubby tabloid. We were incredulous – to a man. The very idea. McLeish? Behave.
But it wouldn’t go away, and the more it persisted the more I began to wonder about the state of Lerner’s mind and, more particularly, the thoughts that were going through it.
I began to speculate at what point he would let go. The weight of hostility to the appointment was so profound, I supposed that, even if he believed McLeish was the correct choice, he would, eventually, concede to the general discourse – the rabble – that’s us. But he hung on in there, and I was impressed.
To be fair, fellas, he showed some bottle. As did McLeish. His determined inner spirit never failed him. He wanted the job, he thought he had the tools to succeed and he would show us. I’m warming to this man; I think he could be a great manager, perhaps in the manner of the greatest of them all in my lifetime, Ron Saunders.
Trust me on this – do you think the likes of Dunne and company are going to step out of line on McLeish’s watch. Do you think half-baked commitment to the cause will be tolerated. I think not.
There you go… Jerry’s colours nailed firmly to the mast. I’m not hedging my bets – if I’m wrong, you can hang me out to dry. But I have faith in my judgement and, in matters like this, a man must make a commitment. Sitting on the fence invites disaster.
In my heart, the colours I sail under are the skull and crossbones and I don’t give a damn for the opinion of the mealy-mouthed and faint-hearted. We’re Villans – we were born that way and we’ll die that way. You can sign up as free-men or be press-ganged.
The Author
