Saturday 25 August 2012

Poppies fans, meet John Beck, John Beck, meet Poppies fans.

Most of us are concerned more with the survival of the Poppies than individual performances.  Attending games these days, you need a steady nerve, plenty of gallows humour, and preferably a good book to read.  The actual football hasn't been up to much.  100% effort, but substantially less guile.  Just like last season, albeit with 90% more effort.

You'd think that a mixture of Southern League standard players and John Beck in the dugout would give us all sufficient indication as to what to expect, but no, there's still a few left on the terraces who can't get their heads around the fact that the Poppies aren't playing like an all time Barcelona XI at a testimonial.

One of the moany old gits near me spent fully 85 minutes today raging about the ball being on the floor, better passing, better shooting, better movement and better haircuts.  The only time he wasn't griping about the football was when he was stuffing his face with chips.  Now, there he should have had a cause for complaint, as the ones I tried today tasted like they'd been cooked in year old grease - awful!

If we are getting an education as to what football is like under John Beck, then he is also getting a bit of an eye-opener as to what it is like to manage a team in front of a Kettering public.  We may only attract tiny crowds these days but when we moan, boy, we make up for the lack of numbers with maximum whinging.  Anything less than the total football we have grown used to over the years (!) is greeted with "hoofs" of derision. 

The difference between Beck's Poppies and Mark Cooper's Poppies?  Other than winning games, and several thousand quid per week in wages - not much.

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