Whilst I don’t think Alex McLeish is the greatest manager we have ever had, or even a particularly good manager at all, I just wanted to look at the whole situation in a different way – this is because I feel it is McLeish taking the blame for everyone’s faults.
Making Sure Everyone Accepts Responsibility
A lot of finger pointing has been going on in recent times, and everyone is blaming everyone else. So far the manager has blamed the players, the fans have blame the manager, the fans have blamed other fans – the list is endless.
Looking at the players, no matter where these people are earning their money, for us or any other club, for their country, or for any manager in the world, the basic premise of what they have to do is the same. Players have to defend, attack, and create chances – it’s nothing new.
Players are given tactics to enact by the manager, but if how player are playing isn’t working for whatever reason, and these footballers are professional standard, surely the can change their game to win points during the game? Or are players just not bothered?
If they did apply themselves and just put their necks on the line, the players would have a chance in changing things. What happened to putting your neck on the line for the club? What happened to passion? I can remember players like Laursen, Mellberg, or even McGrath, who would constantly go the extra mile just to win the ball and put the effort in. Why is there no effort nowadays?
It seems, although I may be wrong, that our current squad do not have the ability to change the game, or to press on and make our opponents work. Either they have tried to do it and failed, or they haven’t tried because they didn’t realise the benefit of doing it. I can’t imagine for a second it could be the latter though, as us fans know that and we aren’t even professionals.
This isn’t to say that McLeish is getting off scot-free (pardon the pun), but why the players get away with it is beyond me. I can count on one hand the players that I would happily allow the money I spend on my season ticket to pay their wages, and that isn’t good enough. It’s also nothing to do with McLeish as whilst I think he is a poor manager, players should at least have pride and decency in getting the job done.
McLeish’s appointment was always going to be an issue from the start, but let’s not look at the situation like the players have been model professionals week in and week out. McLeish has made errors, sure, but some of the application of players and their commitment to the cause has been severely lacking. I’d put in more effort for a normal wage, never mind the tens of thousands that players are currently paid. Hell, as a fan, I’d play for free and put more effort in.
I can’t understand, or even believe, that despite repeated training drills and ball work, these players either don’t have the ability or the common sense to change the outcome of a game by adapting themselves to a tactic. Surely a player who has spent their adult life (and youth career) playing football competitively can change things? Or are we seriously telling people to believe that they don’t have that ability, or even basic common sense?
The manager sets the team out, and he tells them to play, but surely to McGrath, I mean God, players must realise booting the ball up field isn’t working? Surely they must see possession being lost and want to try and do better, if not for the manager, for their own professional pride?
When we are at work, if we saw something wasn’t going to work, or that something wasn’t working, we point it out to those around us, and try to change things to adapt. Nobody is saying that every tactic “just works”, but sometimes the players seem too inflexible, too interested in just picking up their wages and not looking bothered. It’s not good enough, I’m sorry.
If you can’t change to play in a different formation, or a different style, and not be able to make it work, then are you really a professional football? I mean, most of our team are internationals and have played different styles and formations for different managers, as well as different managers at our club and their earlier ones. So why can’t they just follow instructions? I must honestly be missing something, as otherwise I don’t believe these players are professional, as professionals do what they are told and adapt themselves accordingly. I can’t imagine I can find a single fan who considers workrate to be acceptable in our team, and for good reason – the workrate amongst many players is far too poor.
Our list of faults is long, and everyone needs to take their responsiblity. The important thing now though is for people to just knuckle down and get on with winning points. I don’t care about the manager, and I don’t care about the players who play, I just expect commitment. Anything less is an insult to our proud history as a football club.
So together we stand as fans. Let’s just hope that we can manage to get the players to unite too as otherwise dark days are ahead.
The Author
