GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Printed in the Southern League Premier Division game v St.Neots Town on Saturday 24^th February 2018.We won 2-1 in front of 615

'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it' said the philosopher George Santayana, who no doubt had football fans in mind when he penned it.

You would expect most Brighton supporters, 20 years after being homeless and so nearly tumbling out of the football league, would just be happy to cling onto Premier League survival by their boot straps. But not with this new type of fan; one who would crash and burn the finances and doesn't understand that apart from maybe six teams everyone else has a good chance of being relegated. I try to stay away from football forums as they are not good for anyone’s mental health, probably because a lot people who frequently posts have questionable mental health. Or maybe we have all grown so used to instant gratification that we can't acknowledge the enormous amount of work that goes into even signing a player. You can't click your fingers and its done.

Unfortunately the same can be leveled at some Slough fans. Our managers have assembled the best squad we have had in years, playing attractive, attacking, passing football. So I was pretty taken aback when I recently heard criticism of them. Yes we've gone off the boil a bit, that last second Hereford equalizer was beyond sickening, but the first half of the season was so blistering, no one can be expected to keep that up. But how come the 200 of us that watched Slough lose 9-0 away to AFC Wimbledon in a season of horror, made more noise than I’ve heard at nearly game at Arbour Park? How the hell can that be?

SuperKev's wake epitomised everything that is brilliant about Slough Town. A packed church, £7,000 raised to pay for his funeral, a guard of honour from today’s team, a great eulogy from our mangers, so many old players mingling with supporters and a whole host of former managers with a coffin decked out in Slough Town insignia. But SuperKev was gone; another hugely important person in the thread of the club, that did so much to keep us going through the dark times. How do we honour his and others memories and make sure they are not consigned to history?

At the wake one of newest supporters was sitting next to Steve Daly, another Slough Town legend, who captained us from the dizzy heights of the Conference to the dog and duck or even worse playing and no doubt losing to our nemesis AFC Hayes. The young lad didn't have a clue who he was. And why should he?

Before every Brighton game there's a TV montage of various important moments in the clubs recent history and I would love to see something like that at Arbour Park. A two minute clip on the new electronic score boards that should be on their way. At the very least something in the clubhouse – a display featuring former players, managers, supporters and of course SuperKev. Capturing key moments that would give everyone a sense of our history and hopefully a sense of perspective.

Don't get me wrong, after years of being a football punch-bag, I love what is happening and the match day experience has got even better now the club is running the bar (yes I know I shouldn't have had the extra pint, but i'm only drinking it because half the profits go to the club.

But let's not be Year Zero supporters. We all have opinions but I trust our managers to get it right on the pitch. However, behind the scenes, the club will only grow if we all muck in. At the very least, let's back the team vocally when things don't always go to plan, cos I can tell you from season after season of bitter experience, it tastes all so much sweeter when it does.