So what did you do during the time off? I had plans to replace the feeling of dread on Saturdays with a bit of volunteer work. It never happened, though I am maintaining my other goal of going to the gym. I also managed to get tickets for the Wednesday during the first week at Wimbledon and whilst I had every intention of writing a blog on it time went by and it suddenly seemed a bit pointless to write one. Where has the time gone? I was at Lands End when I got the confirmation messages that Rodgers had finally jumped ship as the rumours had said he would for the previous couple of months. I wasn’t overly disappointed or concerned, and whilst I’d never warmed to him I gave him the benefit of the doubt and I believe he did a good job in securing our safety because personally I don’t believe Aidy or Malky would have done so (no evidence just a gut feeling). At that time we needed someone new to lay the foundations (e.g. improve certain players) and it appears Rodgers has done that however he was far from the finished article. When I was there in the press conference after Barnsley I genuinely believed him when he said he had no intention of joining Reading. However being the protégé to Jose Mourinho it perhaps should come as no surprise how it all turned out but then hindsight is a wonderful thing. Rodgers has continued to make himself even more deeply unpopular with the fans, and whilst Tommy is still with us at the time of writing Rodgers appears to be acting a bit immorally by using his knowledge of the clubs problems to his advantage, and surely appears to have broken a couple of rules by claming Smith wants to join him. How would he know that? It seems Mr Integrity is either incredibly na*ve, or he’s I’ll let you choose the words. Moving forward I’m now more than happy for Malky to be given a chance especially as Graham Taylor is back on board as he will no doubt be there to offer any necessary assistance. Danny Graham appears to be the rather standard struggling Championship club signing, an unproven player making the step up, though he appears to have plenty of determination and ambition. So to the first game of pre-season against Borehamwood. We seem to play them every year but this was the first time Chris suggested about actually going and as I had no other plans thought it could be good fun. Apparently Crystal Palace beat them 4.0 and whilst friendlies mean nothing, it was a useful yard stick to judge our performance, and anything less would have been slightly disappointing. The starting line up had a mixed reaction due to there being a number of shock inclusions including Sadler (where has he been…?) and Eustace who scored against us on the final day. Smith started on the bench as did Ellington and John-Joe O’Toole. In fact the second line up was mostly players we either don’t want, or who want to leave (or perhaps both). Choosing to stand behind the goal we were attacking we got a good view of Bryans goal, as he cut in I think the last thing we and the Borehamwood goalkeeper was a shot with the outside of his boot. The replay on Sky showed what a classy finish it actually was. Soon it was 2.0, Jenkins who looks to have grown in to a man over the past month battled in the box using his strength to win the ball and then picked out Graham; the new striker making no mistake from close range. A long kick from Lee then caused chaos for the non league defence and when the ball was allowed to bounce Graham managed to seize the initiative and calmly made it 3.0. It could have, maybe should have been more but Cowie wasted a chance as did Priskin who put the ball over from close range when it looked easier to score. Every pre-season match is the same, you get the usual pre-match adrenaline followed by a sudden burst of optimism prior to kick off. Reality is never the same and naturally this was no different because unfortunately despite the fast tempo positive start, the match soon settled in to the usual experience when you start wondering whether watching paint dry would be any less depressing. You forget the logical reasons why the players aren’t going all guns, why they aren’t closing down. The job was done, but at the time it’s fair to say I wanted and expected more goals. At half time there were wholesale changes and it seemed there was no longer any real creativity at the end we were standing - the end Watford were attacking (we’d walked to the opposite end of the ground). In fact the play was mostly in the centre of the pitch or down the far end and somewhat shockingly Borehamwood scored. It was a disappointing goal to concede purely because it should easily have been avoided; Richard Lee came off his line and in no mans land was lobbed with a very neat finish (maybe we should sign him up…) In fact the only bright part of the second half was when a defender was robbed of the ball by John-Joe and gave away a needless corner and in response called himself a ****. Ellington had been working hard upfront, whether to try and get himself a move or maybe he’s acknowledged that his career is quite literally on the line and if he’s stuck with us (and us with him) he needs to prove he’s worth the incredibly high wages he’s apparently on. He almost got his reward when he worked his way in to the box, but his shot was saved but the ball ended up in the net courtesy of John Harley’s knee. It was pretty much the last kick of the half and the 2nd team had salvaged a draw but most importantly all the players had had a run-out It’s far too early to predict what will happen over the next few weeks let alone the season (though another season of struggle looks more likely) and as there are fewer first team games in the U.K this year we might not get as much of an insight as in previous years. We can’t look back to where we were, we have to move forward.
