A VIEW FROM THE GALLOWGATE

SATURDAY was a loooong day, it was like going back to my school days and receiving a summons to the headmaster’s office.

Sitting outside you knew it wasn’t to get bonus points for your house team. All I had as an amusing diversion was a headline stating that City had suffered a blow because Kevin De Bruyne wouldn’t be available, as if he was pivotal to their master plan and they’d be Walsall without him.

As it turned out it ended much like my visits to the headmaster. We had a couple of chances that statistically would have given us a chance, but usually that just annoys them, and the outcome was as unsurprising than the draw itself. Even if we’d pulled off a result, given our, ahem ‘bad luck’ with draws this season, the FA would probably just have invited Real Madrid to buy out Coventry’s spot and drawn us against them.

There have been some trenchant observations about selections, tactics, individual performances etc that had me scratching my head.

The same squad and manager who got us into the Champions League, where now apparently beyond the pale and should be got rid of. I know everyone is entitled to an opinion, but I think last season was almost Leicesteresque and not the culmination of seasons of work so in many ways it built a rod for our back. I accept it’s difficult to balance expectation and rationality, but we have to trust the regime and that’s not something we’ve had to contemplate for decades.

New financial limitations are being implemented almost weekly, and that is going to be harder to overcome than working out whether to play 4-4-2 or any of the other labyrinthine systems used these days.

City are an excellent team and thoroughly deserved to win, but we aren’t allowed the financial freedom afforded to them on their takeover. Saturday was an example of how far we, and the board, have to go. If all that wasn’t bad enough I had to watch Dirty Dancing in the afternoon, so on Saturday I certainly wasn’t having the time of my life.