PLAYERS OWE IT TO THE FANS TO CLIMB THE LEAGUE

Much has been made of the disaster, and it was a disaster, against MyPa 47. It’s been looked at, dissected and analysed, and it’s true, we probably deserved, on merit, to go through. But we didn’t. I didn’t feel sorry for the players – you can’t feel sorry for the players – they are professionals, and are paid to play football, which includes getting paid whether they win lose or draw. Sure it will have been disappointing for them, and all at the club, but the people I feel most sorry for were the fans. They pay their money week in and week out to watch this team, and on top of that – many spent hundreds, took time off work etc to go to Finland, but still that’s not it. The fact is many had the time of their lives going to Europe to see United this season, and many had never been before. They would have loved to go again but were denied by, it has to be said – ineptness. On top of that, we have had less than promising displays against Dunfermline and Kilmarnock recently, and have won two games out of twelve, one against Livi, bottom of the league, and the other the 5-4 against Motherwell, where we obviously shipped four goals – this season has hardly been a Roy of the Rovers story.

The above sounds really harsh, and it possibly is, except for one thing – it’s all true, statistically speaking anyway.

I do get the feeling that United have turned one small corner – I think they’ve realised they have to work 100% of the time. They haven’t been, and I think they now realise they need to. Only hard work will improve their attitudes, and only hard work will improve their awareness, fitness, skill levels, in fact anything. If they want to beat these teams – hard work is the answer. It’s not rocket science, and it’s not ‘Escape to Victory’ where each player needs teaching the very basics of kicking a ball – these are paid professionals – they know how to play the game! Show us United – show us you can play – show us you can win games – because after the season we have had so far you owe it to yourselves and most importantly you owe to the fans who may now have to wait years for the second ‘time of their lives’ on another European trip – the least you can do is show a bit of backbone and climb this league – so at least we can be safe from relegation before the last game of the season. We have some very gifted players – it’s time to play!