Boleyn View

A little over a year ago, I posted this on BigSoccer on 2-15-05:

See I thought Alan would have been fired after Rotherham (even though we picked up a point thanks to the referee).
Now we have this debacle. I mean come on, how can you not score with a one man advantage? Or for that matter not take advantage of the oppostion by putting some new blood into the game (of course you are kind of limited when you don't actually put a forward on the bench, and your best player is Steve Lomas who was past his prime 5 years ago).
This was another joke loss for Pardew. The funny thing is if you look at Pardew's record, after his first season with Reading, every season has had exactly 5 less points earned than the previous. He is not good, he never was good and just hanging around praying ain't going to get it done. God almost did us a favor when he cause Roeder's head to explode, now we need for Brown to attone for that mistake (and the mistake of not paying McClaren more than Boro) and kick Pardew to the curb.

I truly thought that Alan had to go otherwise we would end up much like we did at the end of the Relegation Season. Like a ship without a rudder, the team was playing like crap. Since then the team has made it to the Premiership and has amlost as many points (1 away) as in the aforementioned Relegation Season. Most refused to actually blame Roeder for that season and instead blamed Brown. Well I think Brown deserved some of the blame but that blame should have resolved around the failure to fire Roeder early enough. I mean Harry walked out after the board refused to let him waste some more money (a Song or Camara anyone?). That was seemingly the right move. The hiring of Roeder was a clear mistake and it only came after everyone else rejected us. Then he got us into 7th, but our defense was the 4th from bottom so it should have been clear that either without more goals or a better defense we were due for a fall (thats why I think the offseason should resolve around finding a right winger comparable to Matty and a RB comparable to Konchesky, plus some general depth). So as the team played awful football, Roeder was clearly losing control, but still no moves. And that is why I have and always will believe that God almost did us a favor when he cause[d] Roeder's head to explode. People thought that you can't say that about Roeder thats just mean. Well look at what Brooking did when he coached the team and look at what Pardew did with the team in 3 seasons. Pardew has clearly gotten the most for his money out of his signings.
I now find myself rejecting most of my above statement. Its all about what have you done for us lately and Pardew has done amazingly well in his first season at the top. Now rinse and repeat and I might actually be a happy Hammer.