Maybe I’m biased, but I think City fans have suffered more than the average set of fans over the years, there’s been some that have had it worse, but a lot more have had it significantly better. When Newcastle fans tried to explain just why they’d had it so bad most the of non-Geordie football Twitter wet themselves a bit. Coming 12th in the Premier league is not any sort of example of poverty and even though we could all see their owner wasn’t a good one, it made them look melodramatic and childish. We know we’ve had better times in the last 20 years than most of us ever dreamed of but it doesn’t do much to cheer me up currently.

 

I don’t need to go through the recent history in huge detail, in essence… two relegations, a shrinking budget, players sold, good players leaving for free, talent lost, attendances plummeting, communication poor, an infuriating manager, media fall outs, a division between the vision for the club and the desire of the fans, the worst run of form in recent memory.

 

To be fair on the flip side you could also say… some very good young players, an improved and hard-working social media team, some ace kits, a back down on stupid ticketing rules, a title winning team for the first time in 50 years.

 

It isn’t Sunderland, Bury, Macclesfield or Bradford City levels of misery… but currently it’s about as rudderless, divided, repetitive and non-functional as I remember in my 40 years of going. Especially if you consider that the 1995-98 embarrassments were simply because we were poorer than Kerry Katona and in a ground that was falling apart. The particular brand of misery you’ve all been going through currently isn’t just to do with money, it’s a factor but there’s several more at play.

 

Which takes us to now. After the club’s short and sweet update Sunday telling us the worst kept secret we’ve had in some time most fans I know were either very pleased or pleased with cautious optimism. Some of the younger fanbase were very enthusiastic and Turkish flags are appearing on bios, and on replies to City posts and even at the ground (when those dastardly stewards aren’t taking them). There are a few, let’s use somebody else’s term and call them a “vocal minority” who say “Be careful what you wish for” and talk about frying pans and fires. And…bear with me… there’s some validity to this line.

 

Because we should remember that Fish led us to Wilby and Lloyd who led us to the Sheffield Stealers (my word they pop up a lot in these blogs) and therefore almost to liquidation. This did eventually lead us to better places however. We all know the rules for selling clubs and passing the fit and proper owners test has more holes in it than Terry Dolan’s undercrackers so we need to approach with caution. Things might get better, they might get bonkers worse and let’s all be honest here… knowing the current owners, they might not change at all because it might not happen.

 

However I would counter this argument with one simple point. The Allams don’t want to own us, they don’t like owning us and the feeling is mutual. They want to sell us because they’ll be significantly better off by doing it and they are generally bright enough to know that this is probably the optimum time. They are going to sell and try to make as much money as they can and it’s going to happen next month, or next year or eventually (unless they really do run us into the ground and although they don’t need to burden themselves with much debt to do that, they’ll make a lot more by selling us at a time like now). So, it’s going to happen, we didn’t control them buying us, them owning us and we won’t control them selling us. Could it get worse? Of course, it could and some will say it’s more likely than not, however there’s only one way of finding out.

 

One of the biggest added bonuses of new ownership is that it should see the end of the reign for perhaps the most frustrating manager since Terry Dolan. The title win is only 6 months old, but his stubbornness, thin skinned outlook, tedious soundbites, favourite picking and arrogance have made him almost impossible to like. Mike White’s mastery in interview earned him many plaudits on Saturday, however the best part for me was where McCann forgot to acknowledge that the fans mattered after saying “I’m only interested in the team and the staff” It’s not often McCann gets flummoxed as he rarely actually engages within his interview but Mr White did a marvelous job at exposing him.

 

It couldn’t be worse at the moment under Pennock and Dawson and even if it was just as bad, what have we lost? Nothing at all in my personal opinion and I think many players will be clamoring for a new start as much as we are.

I recently had a couple of very tedious interactions with a “self-appointed expert” who couldn’t seem to grasp that Millwall weren’t prime Barcelona, and a “data analyst” who believed Blackpool have a much bigger budget than us because they have Josh Bowler, I really should learn not to interact with them. Now, I’m not saying we should be winning the league, I’m saying a better manager could have 9 more points with us this season, which puts us in the dizzy heights of 17th. That isn’t reaching for the stars, it’s realistic and we shouldn’t be as predictably poor as we have been.

 

So back to the ownership change… get on Amazon to buy a Turkish flag if you fancy it, but remember once Egyptian flags were all the rage in West Hull once and temper this cautiousness by knowing that we are leaving the frying pan one way or another, are we jumping into the fire or to a crystal-clear Turkish swimming pool? Who knows? (and no, the self-appointed experts don’t either) but it is as inevitable as it is necessary and even though the ride could be bumpy, it’s one we’ve simply got to make.  So, let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later.

 

UTT.