It feels very odd to be able to sit back at the end of March and review matters unfolding above and below without too much fear of becoming involved in the action. The last few weeks since the appointment of Alan Knill have thankfully been a revelation with players playing in their best positions, useful loan signings coming in and, best of all, a straight talking boss who doesn't use 'gaffer speak' but says it as he finds it.
The final few weeks of the Casper reign were a complete misery, awful to watch and depressing to discuss because we knew that we were drifting ever downwards into the end of season lottery that is the relegation scrap, suddenly with AK in charge there's a skip in the step of Shakers people again and positive noises coming from everywhere.
The fact that Knilly still lived in Bury and likes being in the town maybe sets him apart from other bosses that there's a little bit of the fan in him too. He quickly knew he didn't like what he saw in the five at the back defence, and the strange tactics and made our football simple to watch, play and understand.
He has a good idea for who needs a kick, and who needs a gentle arm around them and has got the lads playing in a way I feared was impossible. It goes to show that the cynics who say "there's no money, you have to make do with what you can get" are wrong. The same players are suddenly looking quicker, stronger and happier and consequently playing better football.
Hopefully we can look forward to next season with confidence that the Casper pattern of awful start, october recovery, christmas blues, spring panic which had become too regular will be banished to the memory, and a bit of Knilly normality return to life at Gigg.
Welcome back to WWYATS?
The last printed Where were you at the Shay? was a celebration edition following Stan Ternent's championship in 1997. It was never meant to be the last one, it just sort of happened that way. We'd laughed and moaned through several seasons and when all of a sudden you've been to Wembley and then had two consecutive promotions it seemed a little churlish to keep complaining.
Of course if we'd known what was to follow we'd have probably kept going, two seasons in the (real) 2nd division - now the Championship to those of you under 15 - the fall of Hugh Eaves, SOS, administration, BASE (remember them?), relegations, not to mention the combined mismanagement of Messers Warnock, Preece, Barrow and Casper have all gone without the barbed but considered comment of WWYATS?
In the world of the internet it is difficult, if not verging on the impossible, to produce a football fanzine that is reactive to current issues and come up with a different view, as dozens of people will have posted their thoughts on the message board(s) of their choosing within moments of them becoming common knowledge.
Hopefully this blog will allow the old team to sharpen its claws again, without the need to stand outside Gigg Lane in all weathers working out if we've broken even on the latest edition, and maybe even allow a new contributor or two to raise their head and have a say. The old favourites will be resurrected and a few new ones developed, and there'll be an opportunity for some WWYATS? gold with some classics from the old fanzines posted up for your enjoyment again.
Thanks for visiting, please pop back regularly and enjoy the blog.
Up The Shakers.
Of course if we'd known what was to follow we'd have probably kept going, two seasons in the (real) 2nd division - now the Championship to those of you under 15 - the fall of Hugh Eaves, SOS, administration, BASE (remember them?), relegations, not to mention the combined mismanagement of Messers Warnock, Preece, Barrow and Casper have all gone without the barbed but considered comment of WWYATS?
In the world of the internet it is difficult, if not verging on the impossible, to produce a football fanzine that is reactive to current issues and come up with a different view, as dozens of people will have posted their thoughts on the message board(s) of their choosing within moments of them becoming common knowledge.
Hopefully this blog will allow the old team to sharpen its claws again, without the need to stand outside Gigg Lane in all weathers working out if we've broken even on the latest edition, and maybe even allow a new contributor or two to raise their head and have a say. The old favourites will be resurrected and a few new ones developed, and there'll be an opportunity for some WWYATS? gold with some classics from the old fanzines posted up for your enjoyment again.
Thanks for visiting, please pop back regularly and enjoy the blog.
Up The Shakers.
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