This is a single post from deeden.co.uk made during the period May 2002 to April 2009. During a previous grand redesign I decided to make a break with the past and consign the old entries to history. This entry is from April 2004 and lives here forevermore.

The Suffering of the Long-Optimistic Fan

It’s near the end of the English football season and it has been a tough season. As I previously mentioned I was fairly realistic as to the course of the season. I hoped for something really good, but expected it to fall short of that. I haven’t been disappointed. Early season success quickly turned to ashes as City have slid from the top of the table to sitting just one place, and 3 points, above the relegation zone. We’re in danger of going down with all of the problems that that entails.

There have been only 2 bright spots this season. The 4-1 win over United which I actually attended, a fantastic result, and the performances of Shaun Wright-Phillips who has been magnificent all season. The sustained rumours I hear that both Arsenal and Liverpool are planning to bid for him are worrying, as is the rumour that City are willing to see due to our financial difficulties. We’ve got a large debt, something I’m not happy about and something which probably wouldn’t have happened if David Bernstein was still chairman.

I’m a very worried man. I’ve seen enough relegations in my shortish time supporting City and I could really do without that again. There are now 3 games left in the season. We have tough games to go, against Newcastle, Middlesborough and Everton. 2 wins from those should see us safe, but it’s hard to see us getting them. It’s going to be a hard 3 weeks.