Great Expectations

So this is it then, this is our season. This is the one where we get promotion to Division One and, with a young, improving squad, actually manage to stay there, consolidate and then who knows…

That sounds straightforward enough, then. We have a good squad which I believe, despite the loss of Murray and Rosenior, is stronger now than it was last year (a bit rash I grant you, bearing in mind I haven’t seen Miller or Wilkshire play for us yet, but all the reports on both sound very positive and exciting). So having finished third last season it stands to reason that we’ll go up this year, surely. If only life and football were that simple…

The main difference between this year and last year is the level of expectation that the players will feel from the supporters during the course of the season. Last year I think the general consensus was that if we made the play-offs we'd done well and anything beyond that was in the lap of the Gods. That’s precisely how it panned out and, despite the desperate disappointment that comes with play-off defeat, we were all pretty united in our belief that the team had done us proud, and but for a bit of luck here and there we could have gone up. I even managed to convince myself that promotion last year would have been too soon for our young side anyway and that with another year of improvement in this division we’d be a far stronger proposition when promotion was finally achieved.

However, staring at the fixture list suddenly reminds me of exactly why we have to get out of Division Two and what a long haul it is once again going to be if we are to achieve our goal. Colchester, Rushden, Wycombe, none of them names to set the pulse racing but all of them places we have to visit, keep our concentration and professionalism and come away with points. Perhaps it won’t be quite as easy as some of us are hoping after all.

Expectation is fine. We should expect the best from our team. Why not? We pay a lot of money to watch them and they get paid a lot of money to be watched by us, so the least we deserve is the chance to expect victory. But what we must guard against is allowing that level of expectation to turn to anger and negativity when things don’t go according to plan.

With expectation can come the fear of failure which, in turn, can lead directly to doubt, loss of confidence and ultimately defeat. It happens all the time but if this really is to be our season then we too have a part to play in making it happen.

Quite rightly, I believe even the most battle-weary Bristol City fan has renewed hope this season and, equally justifiably, nearly all of us expect great things over the next nine months. I am confident the team will deliver but I don’t expect it to be easy and I don’t expect it to be painless. If we carry those expectations with us as well as those of victory then I truly believe this will indeed be our year.