Page 28 - 364645 LP243221 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 Aug22

For the first time in several years, I’m really looking forward to the season. I suppose it was always going to be that way after that glorious day 10 weeks ago when we finally got a win at Wembley, wasn’t it?
OK, there’s not been too much to rave about pre-season. Portugal brought a bit of farce
with a power cut and Jose becoming the highest profile person to get wound up by 09, then there was the Bradford defeat last week with a different line-up. Alex Neil spoke well afterwards, mentioning words like “realism” and reminding us that there’s plenty of work to be done. He also mentioned it wasn’t a bad time to
Off the pitch, I’m not complaining either. I’ll give the new shirt a solid seven out of 10, and although I’m more of a retro man these days, I might be having a bit of the away number though. Although I can’t help thinking we’ve missed the boat again, releasing it so late, but it seems we’re in good company and the desire to get one out for fans
to take on their summer holidays hasn’t been
so urgent with other clubs either. Give me a late
BY FRANCIS TODD MALONE
ME
IN THE SUMMERTI
lose a game. He’s on the money, we certainly shouldn’t read too much into it, I’ve never seen the importance of results before the proper stuff starts.
We’re at that stage now and there look to be a few strong contenders for the ‘Championship Basket Case/Busted Flush’ crown we romped
to in 2017-18. Equally, there are a few teams with tasty parachute payments and some other decent contenders who’ll be challenging at the other end. The bookies have us as 20-1 shots, contenders for the play-offs, and that seems about right. I reckon we should set our sights on mid-table and not get the hump with the gaffer when the inevitable tough result/iffy performance comes along. He knows us, knows the league, and we should trust him.
Sure, another arrival or two would be good but the business so far has been decent. Better than previous years anyway, where we’ve adopted the scattergun approach of getting the numbers in, regardless of whether they add anything in terms of quality, or could be trusted for anything more than five minutes of a Papa John’s tie with us 3-0 up. In the last few years, it’s seemed
that if we signed an ant it’d be a lazy one, or
one the manager would immediately try to turn into a crab, so the additions of Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts are particularly welcome. They played key roles in getting us out of a league we were starting to think we’d never escape and look happy to be a part of the rebuild.
release of a decent shirt, than an early release of a crap one, any day..
Talking of shirts, it was good to see someone rocking a retro 85 number in the front row at T20 finals day, even though Durham weren’t there. Top work. The Riverside is a great way to spend an evening and I managed a 100 per cent record this summer (one game) in the T20, when the weather was easier to handle than when England came to town last week.
Biggest smile of the summer? Reading the words “Palace goalkeeper Remi Matthews was soon picking the ball out of his net” last week. Far less believable was the fact it was against Manchester United, in front of 76,000 in Australia at a ground better known for hosting cricket. Like Shrewsbury, it was another day when he must have truly wondered what was going on.
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