The Moaning Brigade Must Get Real

Pre-season isn`t about results, it`s about fitness, shape, assessing your players and most of all, preparation. So why do a minority (or what seems like a majority on Blues` Facebook wall) moan when we lose to Shrewsbury or draw with Walsall?

Gary Rowett tried to mix his squad with experience and youth. The two games last night were a great opportunity to assess the young player`s credentials before making a decision on their immediate future. And the more experienced first team players are starting to loosen up and get into a pattern of games which is crucial ahead of the new season.

Why the moaning?

One Blues fans commented on Blues` official Facebook post and saying “Same excuses as last season, missed chances! Not rocket science”. Another wrote “Gary is tactically inept, his substitutions are often woeful too”.

Let me backtrack for a second. Gary Rowett is tactically inept? A man who has led Blues to two consecutive 10th placed finishes despite the budget and wage bill suggesting we should be in the bottom four, is tactically inept apparently. Well, don`t cry into your pillow when Rowett is lured away by a bigger club and Blues end up with another Lee Clark type because after all, Rowett is tactically inept.

Then the moaning turns to the striker situation. “We need a striker, sort it out Rowett” wrote on fan. Do people honestly think he isn`t trying to sign a striker? Do people think he is sitting on his arse thinking ‘this will do`? The fact is, Rowett has been trying to bring in a striker since June and for one reason or another, it hasn`t materialised?yet.

Would fans rather he signed the first one available or bide his time until the right type of striker rears his head? Trying to sign a player who can improve the squad on a tight budget is a difficult task for any manager. We`re not Villa or Newcastle, we can`t throw five or ten million at a club and say ‘give us your best players`. That is the harsh reality of the market Blues are currently in.

To finish this article (or rant) I would like to point out what a fantastic job Rowett is doing. He doesn`t get every decision right – no manager does – but he tried to build a competitive side in strict financial parameters. To say he is ‘tactically inept` is a laughable statement.

When he took over the reins, Blues were at rock bottom. Rowett has helped the players regrouped and steadily improved us. Last season, Blues were in the top ten for the entire Championship season – an achievement in itself. Yet all some fans can do is moan and whinge at every little thing from the friendly results to the font on the back of the kit (yes, one fan really did moan about the font on the back of the shirt).

Instead of moaning, instead of thinking you could tactically outsmart the manager because you led Gillingham to the Championship on Football Manager, instead of criticising everything the club does, try supporting Rowett and the players who all ran through a brick wall for the cause last term.