A dose of realism

I've been out for lunch today. Nice plate of roast beef and Yorkshire at the Poachers, and at £6:40 you can't be robbed, not with the amount they give you on that dustbin lid of a plate. Me and the missus took our selves off to "Locomotion" at Shildon to have a look round the Co Durham arm of the National Railway Museum. Plenty of red and white stripes on show as you would expect in a SAFC stronghold. Interesting place and worth a visit. On the way back I switched on the radio to Metro in time to hear Newcastle take a 1-0 lead at Old Trafford and listen to Fatty Lowes and Jon Anderson go wild in the belief that the Mags were on the crest of greatness. Can't last this I thought to myself, and put it to the back of my mind as I supped a cup of tea and read the Sunday Sun in the sunshine.

Thinking to myself lets have a look at the blog, I was saddened to see that I had missed out on the quiz, but at least I'd had a go. I switched the radio to 5Live in time to hear Rooney hammer one into the back of the net for the equaliser. I left the radio on and read Jim's blog about yesterday. Some fine sentiment there.

Pessimistically, I think that we are all caught up in the emotion of promotion and we'll all need to take a reality check once the season is over and the planning for next season begins. Some things are obvious and Jim points out that this side is not as good as the last promotion winning side and I think also that time will tell if the likes of Lawrence, Whitehead et al are good enough for the big league. Arca, McCartney, Poom, Myrhe are undoubtedly premier material, though I always thought Arca looked ordinary amongst quality players, but quality amongst ordinary players. Stewarts legs have gone, he'll be two yards off the pace in the Premier and there is no room for sentiment inspite of his goals this season. I wouldn't re-employ him.The staff that they have now are not in the same league ( pardon the pun) as the squad Reid assembled during the first 2 seasons of our soujourn into the Premiership. You can't stand still at premier league level. You have always got to have better than what is there now. The Gulf in Class is enormous, and at present I don't think we can compete, with the Boltons, Boro's, Mags or Man City's. Like it or not they are established prem sides.

McCarthy will have his mettle tested come August and I wait with anticipation to see if he is given resources to build a squad good enough and capable enough of holding it's own in the top league. I'm sure we'll all settle for 4th from bottom in a years time. Jims observation about missing fans will take longer to slove. I honestly can't see SAFC pulling back the missing 22,000 on a regualr basis. It's gonna take time. Fans will need to see positives by the players, the management and the directors before they commit to a long term investment. I'ts certainly the way I feel at the moment.

So as I write this blog Darren Ferguson has given the Mags a reality check by hitting the winner for Man Utd, the final whistle has gone, the dream of a win at Old Trafford remains a dream and the Mags have been given a dose of realism.

Lets wait and see what's in store for us before we get carried away. Lets not think we can win at Old Trafford because we are 1-0 up at half time, and boys it's only half time.

Whoa