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The fire sale of anyone worth a bob or two, Saunders, a budget blown on iffy signings, injuries, embarrassing performances, debts continuing to rise inexplicably, critical reports in the national media, visits from film crew accompanied bailiffs, Turner and Sutcliffe...
A recipe for relegation if ever there was one.
However amidst all this chaos a certain Mr D Wilson arrived, kept a calm head and guided us to safety.
Yeah some games left us begging for a shot on goal whilst points dropped to relegation rivals were like kicks in the knackers (ladies choose your own metaphor) - but then who can argue with the job eventually done? Who can complain at fist-punching wins at the likes of Gillingham, Southend and Barnsley? Who can deny he's dragged 'The Powers That Be' out of a huge hole of their own digging?
Especially when we remember the mess and mistakes he inherited whilst losing players at regular intervals.
The turning point?
Let me take you back to a cold Tuesday night in February when ten man Town were a goal down to a Colchester outfit who'd not won since God were a lad. It seemed like everything that could go wrong was going wrong, an almost tangible inevitability to our demise, however out of the blue U's defender Richard Brindley felled Lee Novak as he was actually exiting the area leaving the ref no choice but to award us a penno. Novak converted to level things whilst our depleted side found new purpose and hung on for a desperately needed draw.
Since then it's been a steady, albeit stumbling journey towards a survival few would have predicted prior to dastardly Dick hacking at 'super' Lee's ankles.
Yesterday?
We turned up, Bury didn't; simple as that. Infact if ever a side played in flip-flops it was them. That's not to detract from our lads' effort, mind, as they did exactly what they had to do. Kinda ironic that a Dan Gardner wearing a Bury shirt this time last week scored the goal that clinched the result, too. Arriyibi had one of those games that'll no doubt have the CEO touting his name before insisting '...but he's going nowhere!', O'Shea tormented, Banks continued the improvement that's come with time on the pitch and on the ball (and winning, oooh, I dunno - at least three headers!), Liddle looked like a new signing whilst Hird...well, the man just oozes class and it'll be a criminal miscarriage of justice if he's not POTY by some distance.
No dramas, no nervous nail-biting, no need for Hurst-esque euphoria, just League One football secured with a game to spare. Who thought we'd be saying that six months ago.
Perhaps the final word should go to a visitor to our forum who seems to've gone strangely absent over recent times - 'Wooly'. Y'see back in those dark days of doubt some nondescript nobodies from North Notts were enjoying remarkable success by their lowly standards, giddy heights that left their tiny band of followers fantasising about something not witnessed in a generation or more. Unable to help himself our friend 'Wooly' giggled like a kid at Christmas before declaring 'Remember we've been down and had our bad times but we're on the way up. Now it's your turn. Starting with certain relegation this season and from there administration. PS Crewe will batter you Saturday. Going down going down going down.
'.Oh dear. If there's one thing guaranteed to stir the Gods of Football into action it's a Staglet yet again predicting their little club somehow eclipsing us. Indeed maybe we should offer all those doing so a big vote of thanks - cheers boys and girls; we couldn't have done it without you.
And hey - if Donny go down who'll your chairman be cheering for when you play them; the Club he's spent decades sponsoring and supporting...or Mansfield Town?
This post has been edited by MDCCCLXVI: 01 May 2016 - 08:48 AM
