Yellows 2 Crewe 1

“Ken” is an idiot. I didn’t catch all of his expansive diatribe on Radio Oxford relating to our ‘failed season’ but it seemed to involve listing a series of players (Bulman, Creighton, Deering) who were unceremoniously ejected at the expense of clearly ‘inferior’ replacements (McLean, Worley, Hackney, perhaps).

This may have been a joke, it may have been ironic, it may have been provocative, but it didn’t sound like any of these things. Subsequent callers quite rightly treated him with derision.

The dismantling of the Conference squad was the hot topic in town despite the perfectly adequate 2-1 victory over fellow play-off botherers Crewe. Jack Midson is off to Barnet with Simon Clist, Ben Purkiss and Wee Stevie Kinniburgh all available for loan.

Both Clist and Midson’s contracts are up in the summer and we have to think whether we envisage these players making a challenge for League 1 or even higher in the next 2 years (the tenure of a typical contract). As much as I would love for us to be able to run a living museum for our Conference squad, the answer is surely that there isn’t a place for them in the long term.

Midson’s situation has become increasingly embarrassing. Every home game he will appear on the touchline in his high visibility tabard to a smattering of sympathetic applause from the South Stand Lower. Like Red Rum being paraded at the Grand National, he skips purposefully as though he’s about to be thrown into the action only to find that he isn’t. The Miracle of Plainmoor was a mere aberration; the reality is that his time has come.

Like Midson, I have a huge amount of sympathy for Simon Clist, they are both good professionals who we owe a lot to as a club. They were a massive part of the promotion campaign and demonstrated huge strength of character to get us over the line at Wembley. But now is now and Clist has slipped behind McLaren, Heslop, Hall, and now Burge for a starting berth. Clist does what he does very solidly, but it’s difficult to see his game changing to the point where he’s challenging the others.

Purkiss and Kinniburgh have had uneventful seasons. Purkiss has been a perfectly able stand-in and despite Wee Stevie enjoying the kind of paternal sympathy normally afforded to a new lone arrival in a village church community, neither look set to mount a sustained challenge on the first team.

“Ken” is probably rolling around on the floor convulsing in disbelief at the latest news but many will simply take it with a gentle shrug of the shoulders. Things move on, but I for one look forward to welcoming back the likes of Midson and Clist as part of any Legends of Wembley Reunion.