Lincoln City
Reaction and anger towards the Burton defeat
By theimps.tk
August 22 2009
It only took four games for me to have a rant this season, but unlike most of the other previous reactions, I'm not only focusing on the on the field stuff, but how the club has their priorities complety wrong off of the pitch, but most of all I focus on a manager who will hopefully soon be getting his P45. It's not often that I start a reaction by talking about a player but Lenell John-Lewis is one of the most bone-idle, lazy, unpersevering and tardy players I have ever seen at Sincil Bank. I am seriously starting to wonder what he has over Jackson to get Jackson to consistently pick him when he's fit. Maybe he's the only person who washes Jackson's car, maybe he does some favours of a rude nature, but let's make no mistake about it, it certainly isn't because of his footballing ability or work ethic, both of which are pathetically shit.
He showed absolutely no urgency and if he spent less time bulking up at the gym, and actually practicing kicking a ball, then he might actually be a good footballer, but it's clear that this young man has no interest in actually trying on the pitch.
However, Lenny certain isn't the only one and with our best outfield player injured, we were forced to play players who are not good enough, and much like John-Lewis, I really do wonder piece of information Jamie Clarke must hold over Jackson to be able to be consistently in the first team. He can't pass, or more to the point, won't pass as he is so far up his own arse as a player that he thinks he can beat four players at once. He's a bit like Dany N'Guessan in that sense, but the difference is that Dany could actually play football, so his arrogance was justified.
These two players are the ultimate example of Peter Jackson's crap management skills, and me calling them crap is certainly me being very generous. His ability to stay on the good side of some fans by having their brattish kids on the pitch, or going out of his way to say hello to anyone that walks up to him, means precisely fuck all when you look at his record of wins against loses. In 90 games as manager he has LOST almost half the games, losing 37 of the 90 games, winning just 32.
It's not just his whole "I am God" attitude, it's the fact that he brings in a crap load of his mates who are past it, or brings in players that are not even close to being as good as he is. Ben Smith, Geoff Horsfield, Jamie Clarke, Lee Ridley, Adam Smith, Alex Morfaw, James Bennett, Kevin Gall and Sam Mullarkey, all players that Jackson brought to this club who weren't good enough to be a Football League player, some of whom to the extent that he didn't even play them, although I will give him the benefit of the doubt on Horsfield. Don't get me wrong, he has brought in some decent players, such as Rob Burch
I'm sorry, but I was initially delighted with Peter Jackson's appointment at Sincil Bank and for a while I was deluded enough, like some fans still are, to think he could actually take out club places, but I started realising last year that he quite clearly isn't good enough to have us as anything more than just your bog standard midtable side, at best.
His tactics are just pure crap, how many times have we struggled to create anything, only to see Jackson not even do anything about it? The biggest worry is that not only does he not have a plan B, but the match against Accrington last season showed exactly what he is, a glory hound. We were one down, should have been four (Accrington had a goal disallowed and two cleared off of the line) and the fans were shouting 4-4-2 instead of his usual 4-3-3, Jackson subsequently changes the tactics and says he wasn't influence by the fans....WHAT A CROCK OF SHITE!!!!
Alan Buckley gave us beautiful football (although maybe not the results), Keith Alexander gave us hoofball BUT got us results, excitement, passion and belief, Schofield gave us wins, big wins, what has Jackson give us? At two poor performances out of every four games, a fair few thrashings and the Sharon Osbourne atmosphere from the X-Factor, anyone younger, more talented and more popular is automatically in the bad books
Then we get onto this club's small club attitude. Yes, we won at Bradford on Tuesday, but it's hardly like beating Brazil, Man Utd or Chelsea is it? It wasn't even a good performance because we could have been three down at half time. The way the club and some of the fans go on, you'd believe we'd just won the bloody Champions League, it was only Bradford fucking City. It's an attitude that has been at this club for several years and who remembers that 1-0 win at Hull City a few years back? Alan Marriott said afterwards that it was like winning the FA Cup, yes, beating a lower-midtable side away from home is exactly like winning the FA Cup. I'm sorry but this club's attitude is completely wrong.
The club spends money on things that simply aren't important, such as improving the atmosphere or replacing Poacher's head every five seconds, rather than putting that money into the squad and getting a half decent manager and/or players that actually give a crap every now and then. I could list clubs that have won promotion without an atmosphere of any variety without even thinking about it properly, this club will not win promotion until they sort of the priorities of where the money goes.
Atmosphere means precisely fuck all when nothing is done on the pitch. THE ONLY TWO clubs in recent years that have won promotion with a decent home atmosphere were Yeovil and Stockport, everyone else has had an absolutely silent atmosphere, and it pisses me off that the club is quite clearly now in the view of the fans in the Stacey West deserve ultimate praise because they want to sing, pretty much ignoring the commitment of the rest of the fans elsewhere in the ground, so much to the point that the word "Passionista" has been put on the back of Poacher's shirt and they have him carrying around a flag in front of the CO-OP stating "STACEY WEST PASSIONITAS, IMPS BLOOD IN MY VEINS", I'm sorry but the fans in the Stacey West are not more important than those anywhere else in the ground simply because they want to sing. Treat the fans the same, or risk alienating the fans in the four other stands.
This club is just your bog standard League Two club with non-League quality to it. We have a manager who wouldn't look out of place in the Conference, a squad full of players who would struggle to even get in Lincoln United's team
Anyway, you've now been reading for 1,130 words, so it's now probably about time to talk about the match against Burton. I don't even know where to begin really but it is no evident that if Oakes isn't playing then we can't create. The aforementioned John-Lewis and Jamie Clarke are just crap, Shane Clarke tries his hardest but doesn't do anything and Richard Butcher is under the impression that his former glories will see him through, but lacklusture performances are harder to forget than what happened five years ago.
I just really can't put across how rubbish today's performance was, it's not even like Burton were that great. They just came and did what they had to do to win the game and in that aspect, they did it better than virtually anyone I've seen in recent years. They looked dangerous when they went forward, but I'm not sure whether that is because our defence, which some fans seem to think is brilliant, is a bit rubbish. Janos has developed a habit of just aiming his ball randomly at the ball, it occasionally going straight into the path of an attacker. Infact, Janos' distribution is very questionable as well, booting it 60/70 yards up field to Chris Fagan, the smallest man in the team and watching as a defender quite easily claims the ball first.
The main worrying factor that was revealed today was the distinct lack of depth that is at the club when one or two players get injured. The bench consisted entirely of youngsters (well, other than Musslewhite), only one of which can be considered a serious first team contender (Hone), one looks like he could easily break into the first team at some point this season (Hutchinson), one looks a bright prospect for in a season or two's time (Adams), but the rest was a bit worrying.
It's another worrying thing about this club that there is an assumption that any young player that appears on the fringes of the first team will automatically be good, recent history suggests otherwise. For every Danny Hone, there's a Phil Watt, for every Lee Frecklington there's an Ollie Ryan, I could go on but I'd run out of youngsters who have done well in the first team, still having many poor youngsters left.
If we continue to play like this then we'll be screwed, but the one thing I would say is that Rob Burch is fantastic. The goalkeeper is the one player who has been consistent in all the games so far and although he did appear to slightly duck under the header today, he has been the one player who has been the difference between us getting 6 points the 0 points that our performances have actually deserved. He, and he alone, was the reason that we won on Tuesday night, we should have been three or four down and would have been if it wasn't for Burch. Let's not kid around the fact, we were awful and should have been miles behind by the time we did actually score.
If we lose Rob Burch then that's it. Any semblance of hope that we have of even challenging the Playoffs will go with him. He (and Oakes) are the only two players we have that are capable of influencing the game and he doesn't get even close to the praise that he deserves.
I'm not going to do player ratings today because I don't want to wear out my 0, 1 and 2 keys, I would have given Burch an 8, but other than him everyone else would have been under a 5, that's how bad it was. I turn 25 in three weeks, spending £200/300 on a weekend down in Bournemouth and I just know already that the trend of us losing around my birthday will continue, unless Jackson gets his deserved P45 before then.
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22/08/2009 19:46
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It has taken a lot of effort to get that going and hats off to Neil for acheiving an atmosphere.
I sit in the co-op and its a pants atmosphere , it needs a central figure who will give up his or her time and put some effort into creating an atmosphere and will join in with those in the SW.
Otherwise its same old same old.
I did the Peter Moore march because i could and if any of you want to create a rocking Sincil Bank then cut the jaw jaw and put some effort in contact the club because beleive it or not they will work with you.
A perfect example being the ticketing for last season's trip to Grimsby. The club said that 500 seats in the centre of the away end would be specifically reserved for the Passionista group. So in other words, if you wanted to turn up, just sit down roughly directly behind the goal and watch the game without having to have people singing for long periods around you, you couldn't because the club had given all the members of this group special treatment over the rest of the fans.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:08:22:22:05:06 by Nathan Jackson.
Why not take up the mantle and create a co-op section.
Thats all that they have done put in alot of effort and created the passionistas.
They sing till they lose their voices can anyone in the co-op claim that?
I am prety sure the club would back up any efforts anyone wants to make, everytime i have approached them they have helped.
You only have to look at my Grimsby example to see that they are prepared to go out of their way to do things for the Passionistas that gives them advantages over the other fans.
All fans are equal, but the club are giving off the impression that they think that the 70-100 fans in the Passionista section of the SW are better than anyone else in the ground.
Every fan is equak if these lads/lasses want to sing/cheer/chant for 90 mins let them get on with it.....If they want the centre 500 seats fine let them get on with it they are no better than anyone else and i am sure they know that...
You raise a number of 'spot on' points on your thread but the s/west one is a bit off the mark
JACKSON OUT
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:08:22:23:02:07 by Rob Peel.
Right, I'll dumb it down seeing as most of you don't seem to be able to understand it during my first four attempts
1) Passionistas were formed
2) Club receives tickets for Grimsby
3) Club puts statement on the O/S that the tickets that cover the central 500 seats in Grimsby's away end will be automatically reserved for the Passionistas.
4) All who aren't a member of the Passionistas are, in theory, cast aside to allow the Passionistas to have the best seats.
although the view is ultimately @#$%& anywhere you go in that grimsby away stand i dont think its right that happened.
makes it sound like you need a membership to join this 'passionistas' group.
should be one group, the lincoln city group.
I am very pleased to have made that move (to the Stacey West, from the Co-op) and have found the atmosphere there to be very pleasant. If the Club then decides to show its appreciation by trying to get such fans together at away games, then so be it. It is actually a good thing. I remember at Cardiff, both times, when I wished that I had been able to purchase a seat amongst such like-minded fans. Who knows, perhaps with a more co-ordinated support at the Millenium both times, we might have actually won one of those games.
Not worth falling out about
JACKSON OUT
Lincoln City fans are simply that; fans of Lincoln City. Who really cares whether or not they are the 'vocal' ones?
I have recently learned that an old guy who sat across the aisle from me, in the Co-op (seven years we were there) died the day before our last home game of last season. He had been following the Imps since the early 1930s. He never sang, but, boy did he give certain players, or officials, what for when he felt they needed it. Did that make him any different to any other Imps fan, singer or not? Of course it didn't; it was his passion, his reason for living on Saturday afternoons!
My point being? For whatever reason, we all follow the Imps. Let's continue so to do...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:08:23:00:03:35 by PoshImp.
Quote:Which is Nathans point. Why just because you sing a song should you get preference?PoshImp
Lincoln City fans are simply that; fans of Lincoln City. Who really cares whether or not they are the 'vocal' ones?
We are all Lincoln fans so should be treated as one.
Cheers Keith47424 - Hinckley Imp
theimps.ka Best Newcomer award winner 2007-2008 season.
The idea was to get the singing section together for once and the club helped out anyone could have sat in the central seats.
The club are backing the 12th man thats why poacher has the passionista on his shirt and if anyone wants to get the co-op going the club would help out in the same way it has with Coddy.
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