The Silkmen – Cambridge (Away) 05.10.2019

Jen Kelly – a.k.a. Cheshire’s Revenge / The Word Nerd – brings ilovemacc her own take on the highs and lows of The Silkmen.

In a week where our Saviour Sol (The Times’ words, not mine!*) spilled the dirt on his time suffering down in the pits of football, our current manager is having something of a personality crisis. Forced to spend another week talking about almosts and maybes, he must be wondering whether he’s stepped right into Groundhog Day in the starring role.

But it is Groundhog Day over on London Road, isn’t it? Another week, another draw, another load of unpaid wages and another fat load of nothing coming out of the club. It speaks volumes that, although there was a small amount of uproar on the socials, the reaction was generally one of disgruntled acceptance. Because, if Sol and his expensive lawyers can’t get Amar to budge, it feels like us mere mortals are banging our heads against a smirking and solid brick wall.

“Sometimes I mentioned the problems to the owner, but it was to deaf ears or kicked into the long grass. It hit me big time. I wanted the guys to air their views. It was important they didn’t talk in cliques. I was almost the middle-man, taking all the flak.”

Sol, experiencing the Amar cold shoulder like everyone else (The Times, 2019)

Off to the boat race

Dazza made one change for Cambridge, swapping in Clarke for the injured O’Keeffe. I mean, I’m assuming he’s injured, as the club don’t seem to give us any hint of that sort of thing anymore. A few familiar faces popped up on the bench too. Fitz and Rose got a seat, probably doubling the average age of the team in the process.

Cambridge’s opener came after just 15 minutes, seemingly from their first real attack. Jack Roles had 2 attempts and fired home on the half volley from the rebound. Listening to the commentary it was hard to tell whether the goal fired Macc up or shot them down, because the first real thing of note came almost half an hour later when Archibald followed up a Gnahoua cross by leaning backwards and launching his shot sky high.

It all certainly felt like the usual story as we went into half time. Rumour has it that even Bob Trafford had not made it time for kick off – times MUST be tough!

ANOTHER game of two halves

Trading Gomis for Ironside at half time seemed to have the desired effect. And, I don’t want to take too much credit, but I DID say that Joe needed someone upfront with him to be really useful. Point proven, you’re welcome Dazbo!

Three minutes of madness saw Macc go 2-1 up. First Arch whacked in a screamer from the edge of the box, then Gnahoea bustled his way in on goal and got a deflection to take the lead. Ironside was involved in both goals, and everything started to look a bit more positive.

I’ve mentioned before that BBC Sport pings up with the goals about 30 seconds before iFollow catches up. So when my phone beeped from the other side of the room, I knew what was coming. Cambridge were on the attack and therefore it was inevitable what had happened. Macc thought they had cleared the danger but Sam Smith thought otherwise, bopping the ball over Evans and bringing things level. 

And that’s how it stayed. As the final whistle went it was hard to know how to feel. On the plus side, we’d gained another point against a decent side away from home. On the plus side, we’d scored 2 goals. On the plus side we’d crept up one place in the league. But on the less than plus side, we had failed to win yet again.

Another chance to pre-VALE

I’m not looking forward to the next game. At home to a resurgent Vale, who have just had their own saviour(s) step up and take over. They’ve already sold their 1600 tickets which pretty much guarantees they’ll outnumber us on our home turf. And the return of Sir John just brings about a “here’s what you could’ve won” feeling. And that’s all if the game goes ahead at all.

Because, and let’s be brutally honest here, the players could decide to not bother at all before then. And who would blame them? Yet another month with no money in the bank at the end of it. Promises that were made to Dazza when he joined have been shat out from a great height by our man at the helm. And a Supporters Trust that can pen an excellent email, but have about as much chance of getting through to Amar as the rest of us.

The EFL have released a statement that may as well have been written by a monkey bashing it’s head against a typewriter…

“The EFL has requested the club’s observations before determining, in accordance with EFL Regulations, what steps to take whilst also assisting all parties in reaching an amicable and appropriate resolution as quickly as possible.”

Yeah, cheers EFL. Really helpful…

I can’t quite get my head around what an ‘amicable and appropriate resolution’ could mean, other than for Amar to PAY THE FUCKING WAGES! It’s pretty simple, isn’t it?! Or is this part of the plan, to hold back the money from the players and staff to pay the tax man a few hours ahead of our next appearance in court? By then we’ll have made another tuppence ha’penny from the Vale game so the players can get their share. I don’t know what we’re all whinging about to be honest, that’s just how business works right?

Unfortunately, in this day and age, that seems to be the case.

With talk of a splinter supporters trust on the horizon, it seems Macc fans aren’t going to completely roll over and die. With the right approach and the right publicity, it could make a difference. It sure as hell beats sitting with our heads in our hands, waiting for the EFL to decide whether they deem us worth saving or not. 

Check out the latest Silkchat podcast for more on the splinter group, as well as news from our old mate Elliott Durrell and a chat with the lovely Gail Butcher.

#againstallodds

*The link is behind a paywall unfortunately. Because paying for your news is so 2019!!

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