Mark Robins (3): An Early Reflection

Or A Reasoned Point and a Bit of a Rant

Firstly, it was nice to see one of my fellow bloggers here contribute - always nice to get other informed opinion, which it is, and his piece is well worth a read, though in the two games since then things have snowballed a little.

The reasoned point I wanted to make was about the time Mark Robins has had to change anything at the club thus far.

After being installed as manager, he had very little time before Town played Wigan. Following that, he had very little time before they travelled to Forest. To suggest his team were worse than they would have been under Mark Lillis is, I would say, a little unjust. Mark Lillis' team were no match for Derby, crumbling at Pride Park in a way Mark Robins' team did not-so-far-away last night (much the same fate as Simon Grayson's team also suffered not-so-very-far away on New Year's Day, too). So I don't put too much weight in that result. It was the latest in a series of embarrassments and will have been an education to the management team about the myriad failings of the team. Hopefully Saturday, after a touch more time, we will see an improvement.

Right, then. Rant time. Tin hats at the ready.

I'm reading a lot about Mark Robins' appointment and a lot of people use the phrase 'backing'.

I don't comprehend how a supporter can give their 'backing' to a manager. They don't give him funding (directly, or to any great level), they don't see him one-to-one on a regular basis, and they don't have any direct contact with the team. So what are they giving?

Is it just a way of saying 'I won't turn up at games and actively boo the team while trying to sabotage their efforts'? No supporter would do that, surely, which makes 'giving a manager your backing' from the stands something of an empty promise. You can do nothing else. In attending the game (or not) and hoping your team win, which is a fairly generic state of affairs, albeit enacted differently in different people.

I give my backing to Mark Robins because I want him to succeed. It doesn't matter whether I think he was a good or a bad appointment, he seems to be a reasonable chap and he is the manager of the football club I support. I want them to do well, ergo I want him to do well.

Does that make sense?