I didn't make it to Shrewsbury last night, I have been there far too many times midweek . It was mainly through choice after one too many poor performances tipped me over the edge a few weeks ago and partly down to having other things to do (apparently). Still, credit must go to the 37 (T-H-I-R-T-Y S-E-V-E-N) who did make it. A hastily rearranged fixture, I'm pretty sure most of us were in no rush to quickly swap holidays and go out of their way to get to this one.
Though thinking about it, that is pretty awful isn't it. 37! I thought it wouldn't get much lower than the 42 I was part of at Grimsby a few years ago, but no, there it is, 37 at Shrewsbury. It is reflective however of very low turnouts across the board last night, Dagenham had 29 at Rotherham, 67 Accrington at Northampton, 114 Macclesfield at Bury (for the distance, the worst of the lot), 80 or so Lincoln at Darlington and so on and so forth.
How has it got to this? People just seem to be bored of it. Five years of sitting in League Two's middle ground can do that to even the hardiest soul. I really can't see an end to it. We're not going to challenge for promotion until our budget is increased. We're not going to increase the budget until the crowds improve. We're not going to improve the crowds until we play better football. We won't play better football on such a tight budget. It's a vicious circle and it makes the Barnet managers job an unenviably difficult task.
So how are the likes of Accrington staying up there? How did Dagenham come oh so near last season and keep themselves at the top for a fair proportion of this season? They must be on the same sort of budget as us, or thereabouts? Perhaps it's down to the style of football they play, and I can include the likes of Morecambe in this too. They seem to be teams built to get out of this league, full of big cloggers who stay solid together, with one half decent striker up front who will bang in the goals when another long ball ends up at his feet.
On the other hand, we try and play football the 'right' way, playing attractive passing football on the ground using two out and out wingers who can entertain a crowd and win football matches. Unfortunately that formula has never quite come right for us. I'd love it if we could do that, but the aforementioned budget is what I feel hinders us. The club's income is not enough and that is down to the ground we reside in. The training ground is a big step, however the stadium needs to be a massive source of income to really kick us off the ground, in my humble opinion.
Strange then that last night we opted to leave the two Alberts on the bench. I can see how the line-up fielded at The New Meadow (or The Prostar Stadium, whichever you prefer) was designed to stifle Shrewsbury's threat, or so it appears, though that clearly has not worked. As I didn't attend, my views and opinions of it really are mere conjecture. However, looking at the statistics and with updates from the ground from the slightly mad Rupert Remington, it seemed like it could be added to the list of away performances that lacked, well, everything.
We're back at home on Saturday in what is a very important game against a fellow struggler. Lincoln and Torquay have left with points but Cheltenham can't, otherwise we'll be back looking over our shoulders again. Three more points will give us plenty of breathing space before two more tough away games.
I really hope we attack them and smash them. We owe them one. Going by the game in November, they are there for the taking as they looked very very frail when we went anywhere near their final third. Then again so did we, in one of the worst defensive performances of all time. So let's get both Albert's back on the wings, Adomah showing more of the excitement he did on Saturday and Jarrett performing like he did in the second half. I hope he continues to prove me wrong.
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