WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

It’s that time of year again, when Bristol City supporters’ minds turn to thoughts of last season.

As 2002 drew to a close we found ourselves up near the top of the division and on a nineteen match unbeaten run. Not only that, but we faced Wycombe Wanderers on the first day of 2003, a team we’d already beaten at a canter, twice at Ashton Gate. What could possibly go wrong?

We all knew the run of games without defeat would have to come to an end sometime, (and my preference would have been for it not to have been against a Wycombe team so intent on cheating their way to victory. They put the antics of Mansfield and Luton to shame.) But did it really have to happen on the first day of 2003?

Last season is still remarkably fresh in most of our minds, following our slump after heading the table at Christmas. A New Year’s Day defeat has served only to rekindle those bitter memories and put us all on tenterhooks again. Suddenly, following the Leicester game, from nineteen without defeat and looking certain for a play-off place and possible automatic promotion contenders, we find ourselves on the back of two straight defeats, with Wigan and Tranmere next up.

Don’t get me wrong. I think we’ll beat Wigan. And that, followed by a draw against Tranmere would see us back on track with confidence restored. But as a City supporter, I can’t help but hear that little voice in the back of my head telling me history is repeating itself.

Brian Jones has come in for much praise thus far in the season, and seeing our ‘never say die’ spirit, I have to say there is a backbone and will to the team which was sadly lacking a season ago. However, now is when we need his training techniques to come to the fore. We can pick up the pieces from a good performance against Leicester (the best side to visit the Walkers Stadium, according to some Foxes fans), and kick on through January. Or we can dwell on two defeats, start to question ourselves, and slide agonisingly down the table, as we did last year.

The Wigan game has now become vital on two fronts. Yes, the three points are important and would be very welcome. But with such a young group of players, they need to get back to winning ways quickly to silence any doubts that may be creeping into their minds.

In addition, this was the stage of the season last year when we should have brought in a player to kick us on to the end of the season. Eventually, Steve Robinson arrived, followed by Christian Roberts, but it was too late to turn things round and we all know what happened next.

So, with that in mind, I am hopeful that Danny will look to bring somebody in to freshen things up and exert a bit more competition for places within the squad. I have no doubt it will be a loan signing, if it happens at all, but it is still vital that any player brought in is the right player for us, in a position where we need cover. Not just an arbitrary signing to appease the fans who don’t want to see a costly lack of transfer activity, as we witnessed last season.

For me, that would have to be a big target man capable of scoring goals. And, bearing in mind Wilson made an approach for Dichio earlier in the season, perhaps this is the area he also feels needs strengthening. My reasoning would be that Peacock, for whatever reason, is not leading the line like he can and should (though it doesn’t help when every long ball to the front two is hit to Rosenior, as happened at Wycombe). Beadle is a good man to bring on from the bench, and can cause defences trouble for the last twenty or thirty minutes of a game, but he doesn’t look fit enough to play 90 minutes on a weekly basis, to me.

I hear that Dichio wants to leave WBA because he does not want to move from London to Birmingham, so whether he would be willing to play for us and travel (as Tony Butler does from Nantwich) is open to question. Certainly, he is the sort of player we could use right now, and maybe a fresh approach would be worthwhile.

The trouble with bringing a player in is that, frankly, there are very few players who fit the bill. Anyone brought in needs to be a player who will fit in with our squad, and not disrupt what is clearly an excellent team spirit. They need to be affordable, and better than anything we currently have on our books. Tony Butler was an excellent signing, and proved that the right players are out there if you look hard enough. I only hope we are as lucky in finding someone to push us on to the end of the season, and promotion.

We can do it, and I still think that we will make the play-offs at the very least. But a couple of wins now would certainly go a long way towards silencing that little voice in the back of my head, which has started to whisper: ‘Remember last year?’

Of course, as regular readers of The Incider will realise, if it all goes wrong we can blame it on Robbored’s pants (I apologise to those of you of a nervous disposition, for the lack of warning that his undergarments would be mentioned in this article).

edson