Now maybe fate gave us a good hand here, maybe it was all part of a plan, but had George Boyd not failed his eye test, maybe Alex McLeish may not have walked so readily. We discussed and explored before the possibility that all of this was a cunning elaborate scheme of Fawaz to scurry his way out of a costly sacking of McLeish after soon realising it as a horrendous mistake. But due to the slightly bizarre weaselling out of the Boyd deal, we have ended up in such a positive happy position that on that fateful deadline Day seemed a million miles away.
The divisive atmosphere at the time was quite poisonous with many fans angry we didn’t sign a player most never wanted anyway. I remind you all that the same players we had before then are now making the need for a deal for Burke or Boyd look completely negligible. McLeish targeted the midfield as an area he needed to improve, that same midfield is now, admittedly only for 3 games or so, now ripping it up in the Championship. Yes I am getting carried away, and I don’t hide my shame in doing so.
Lansbury, Majewski, or perhaps Reid would have made way for Boyd to have to be included. Extra completion may have stifled some performance in that regard. It may have made Lansbury shrink into shell even more. Perhaps it instilled a backs against the wall mentality that a lot of the football world were decrying us for pulling out of a deal on wholly legitimate grounds.
But that day more than any made McLeish feel unwanted and in an untenable position, and save for wanting face his old demons at Birmingham, he’d have gone then and there. The team was in awful form, creativity stifled, and a general feeling of despair, coupled with Fawaz wielding his sweeping brush on all and sundry in his path.
That was all less than 4 weeks ago. People claimed we were doomed. Relegation was on the horizon, financial meltdown a possibility. A general feeling of doom and gloom. Now look at it. Playoffs discussed with increasingly seriousness, previously fringe players looking quality, and no need for any new attacking left footed midfielders who aren’t all that pacey. Precisely the opposite of Deadline Day. Even Peter Odemwingie got back on the field for West Brom, it seems like Deadline Day was a weird parallel universe not quite related to the current situation.
If, and I mean that loosely, as it was clearly the straw the broke the camel’s back, if it was George Boyd’s vision that freed us from the prospect of McLeish then I say whoever that eye doctor or optometrist or whatever he was, even if he was being told to make a dodgy report is a bloody genius. We may well have still been stuck with McLeish, and the players themselves have spoken how under Davies they have new belief, which makes you wonder what the hell Big ‘Eck was doing. Clearly he was doing something fundamentally wrong. Right now I would think we’d be 4 points worse off, putting us doing in 13th or so, but also without this good feeling, without this good form. Without the hope. Without A hope. Kudos to you, Eye Test Person. We may never know who you were, but you played an integral role in turning our season round.
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| Boyd in his Forest days |
The divisive atmosphere at the time was quite poisonous with many fans angry we didn’t sign a player most never wanted anyway. I remind you all that the same players we had before then are now making the need for a deal for Burke or Boyd look completely negligible. McLeish targeted the midfield as an area he needed to improve, that same midfield is now, admittedly only for 3 games or so, now ripping it up in the Championship. Yes I am getting carried away, and I don’t hide my shame in doing so.
Lansbury, Majewski, or perhaps Reid would have made way for Boyd to have to be included. Extra completion may have stifled some performance in that regard. It may have made Lansbury shrink into shell even more. Perhaps it instilled a backs against the wall mentality that a lot of the football world were decrying us for pulling out of a deal on wholly legitimate grounds.
But that day more than any made McLeish feel unwanted and in an untenable position, and save for wanting face his old demons at Birmingham, he’d have gone then and there. The team was in awful form, creativity stifled, and a general feeling of despair, coupled with Fawaz wielding his sweeping brush on all and sundry in his path.
That was all less than 4 weeks ago. People claimed we were doomed. Relegation was on the horizon, financial meltdown a possibility. A general feeling of doom and gloom. Now look at it. Playoffs discussed with increasingly seriousness, previously fringe players looking quality, and no need for any new attacking left footed midfielders who aren’t all that pacey. Precisely the opposite of Deadline Day. Even Peter Odemwingie got back on the field for West Brom, it seems like Deadline Day was a weird parallel universe not quite related to the current situation.
If, and I mean that loosely, as it was clearly the straw the broke the camel’s back, if it was George Boyd’s vision that freed us from the prospect of McLeish then I say whoever that eye doctor or optometrist or whatever he was, even if he was being told to make a dodgy report is a bloody genius. We may well have still been stuck with McLeish, and the players themselves have spoken how under Davies they have new belief, which makes you wonder what the hell Big ‘Eck was doing. Clearly he was doing something fundamentally wrong. Right now I would think we’d be 4 points worse off, putting us doing in 13th or so, but also without this good feeling, without this good form. Without the hope. Without A hope. Kudos to you, Eye Test Person. We may never know who you were, but you played an integral role in turning our season round.
We know Billy didn't like Boyd, so I think the plot is a little deeper than we will ever know.
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