Just when I thought I was out....

you pulled me back in....

So he’s still here then? The club are holding their nerve and hoping for a turn around. And who knows, everything Preston fans told us about RL is that just when you thought he was out, he pulled them back in by getting a result.

Therefore, it is win-win for me, or is that “We” as in the wider fanbase on Saturday. If we, er, win then that is great news. We will cheer and celebrate and have a load of fun. We’ll see goals and excitement and cheer them off at the finish.

If we lose, then if we assume (and this feels conservative) that 95% of the fanbase is sick of the awful football, rigid formation and barbed digs at us for daring to criticise what we watch week in, week out. Well, we still lose but at least will feel that we are being justified in our grievances. There’s no such thing as a detrimental win. At best, a detrimental win is a very shallow one, a consolation prize at best because nobody really wants to see our side lose but it’s because we’ve lost so many, that people are so angry.

Or we could draw, and a draw against Lincoln would be a very decent result indeed. However, it would not materially help us climb the table and leave us stuck in the mire of uncertainty in which we find ourselves. Which probably makes it the most inconclusive outcome of the lot.

Either way, there will be drama, and don’t we love the drama, even when it comes from a position of hurt and anger. Come on, admit it, we all love it, don’t we? As I always say in these pieces, in the words of Andre 3000, I’m just being honest.

I don’t believe I am pushing an agenda, just voicing my opinion but I have admitted last time, for example, that my support for Maloney meant that I am forced to judge Lowe by a higher standard. That is justified however, because Maloney was sacked for arguably getting marginally better results with a slightly weaker squad. But I am by no means gloating, because nobody, absolutely nobody wants to see the club in a mess.

But, admit it, if you’re like me. Your screen time has taken a hammering this week. All the Whatsapp groups, Facebook posts, refreshing the #wafc timeline on X, reading the furious comments in the replies to official club posts, listening to podcasts and the radio, reading blogs and forums. It’s probably not good for your mental health, but then maybe it is, if our football club’s fortunes are already affecting your mental health. At least you know that others feel the same.

And let’s face it, we get dopamine hits when we read/see/hear something we agree with, and also something that we disagree with. It’s not a football problem, it’s a social media problem but if football is your passion or hobby, then that is the area where you are most likely to release the strong emotions we all have buried inside that bit of our brains that hasn’t evolved beyond caveman instincts.

I have said already, the outright abuse is out of order. I mean I run a fanzine, it is kind of my job (unpaid hobby) to poke a bit of fun at all and sundry, including myself but some of the online abuse is bang out of order. Yet even that consumes our screen time. We’re still reading it and sharing it, even if we think it’s disgusting “he posted that”, “She said that”, “this video is bang out of order” and on and on it goes. Tech companies have created this industry of outrage that we all get sucked into.

I’ve also been both an unwitting participant and also a keen spectator when an online spat takes place between two or more participants, and you know exactly what happens don’t you? It’s like a school playground fight. There’s plenty people stood around who could stop it and mediate, but no, they form a circle so the pugilists can’t escape and cheer them on, secretly enjoying it. And unlike the school playground, there’s no teacher to come along, hob nob still in mouth, to turn up and break it up.

And conversely of course, it’s no fun when it’s quiet is it? Not that it is ever is quiet, at the world’s most dysfunctional football club.

Where I am at now, is that I am over the drama and excitedly looking forward to Saturday. As the 13^th Earl of Pemberton said the other day “what else are you gonna do on a Saturday?”

Maybe, just maybe, we are all a little bit guilty of getting swept along in a tide of anger and outrage, over what is basically a football club going through a bad patch?

Who knows? Maybe Ryan Lowe could win the next three or four and this storm in a tea cup will be forgotten about? I can’t see it myself, given that the cracks have been apparent for several months and are now reaching San Andreas fault proportions. But that is the club’s take on it, and we’ve been here before. Sacked the manager and it’s all got a shitload worse. I don’t have a lot of faith in what I just said, but I feel I have to say it in the interests of balance.

It’s probably worth pointing out that, just like under Maloney, we’re not in the relegation zone yet, and never have been. Even discounting the fact that the objective this season wasn’t necessarily to just stay up. But even so, there’s no reason NOT to believe Gregor Rioch on that basis. Yet.

It is absolutely grim at the moment but come on, admit it, at least some of you admit please. You secretly enjoy it a bit. You actually go to football to let off steam, and there’s been times this season when the Brick Community stadium has resembled the Yellowstone National Park, there’s been that much hot air vented around the place. Being irate and being elated aren’t too different an emotion really, they’re almost spelt the same too.

I can take winning or losing in my stride, my only bigger concern is the future of the club as a whole. Yet I don’t think we’re going to get chucked in the bin at all under these owners. Perhaps left in a cupboard to gather dust for a bit. And it’s no wonder our fans scrutinise every little action (what action??) given what we’ve endured over the past five or six years.

I went watching the Ev before Christmas, when they got banjoed at home 4-1by Newcastle. I saw some old fanzine connections at half time and they were grinning from ear to ear. Because that’s what Everton too, they are a football club for masochists. See you same time next week for more of the same. , they’d joke as they walked off. And we are not even in their league, when it comes to being a let down, metaphorically or physically.

Things are grim at the moment, but somehow we need to embrace it. One, because it doesn’t last forever and two, because as I say, we love the drama. We can’t keep carrying on like this though, some of us have work to do….

Finally, just a note to say thanks for all the reads, comments and subscribes. I’m not normally this regular, but like I say, when there’s a bit of drama in the offing, why wouldn’t I pile in with my two pennyworth