| Through the looking glass - it's not a wonderland |
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| Thursday, 20 September 2007 | |
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Interesting to hear manager Paul Cook’s remarks in the TV3 post-match interview following the victory over UCD last Saturday night (15th September) writes Conall Collier.
Operating with a relatively small panel, Cook rightly credited the players with some fine achievements so far this season. The team has moved away from a potential relegation position after the first series of games and an improved set of results saw Sligo Rovers in contention for a top four finish after the second series ended. A top four place is still within our reach, but the Sligo public do not deserve a team near the top of the table. Paul Cook was ‘spot on’ in his assessment about the apparent lack of support for the team. Not too many months ago I was scathing in my criticism of the players after they squandered a 2-0 lead in the League Cup against Finn Harps. In the past I have tried to be diplomatic in my understanding of the Sligo public and their apparent apathy towards the club - at the moment. It appears as it there is a hard-core of about 1200 supporters and that is probably just about okay for a promising First Division team. To have a team, which we have at the moment, capable of mixing it with the best, the entity which is Sligo Rovers FC needs a hard-core of about 3,000 supporters who will attend the home games. If we could muster 1,000 for the away games, we would certainly be much more formidable opposition. Playing in The Showgrounds now is just too easy for opposing teams. It’s fine if we are playing well and we win the game, but if we are struggling, we need the supporters behind the team. And we need more and it’s not happening. And the supporters are staying away in too large a quantity for Sligo Rovers FC to maintain the current momentum into the future. There is only a small window of opportunity – not unlike the transfer window – to deal with this anomaly. Indifference locally (i.e. in Sligo) will lead us down the road to the First Division again. No doubt, if that happens, we will recruit some new players and a new manager and will return to go through the same process all over again – win the First Division title in front of 5,000 ardent fans only to see the majority of them drift away because ???????- well that’s the real question – Why does the soccer public in Sligo show so much indifference towards the team? Forget about next season or the season after. We have no home game for a month. That’s another issue entirely. Can anything be done to get the message across to all those people who have stayed away for too long to get back to supporting the team? We must show this manager and these players that we are behind them. Forget about the previous managers and former players and let us place some value on what we have. If we don’t we will lose it and we will only have to look in the mirror to see who is responsible. By Conall Collier |
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