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Blog: More torture for loyal fans
Monday 29th March 2010, 10:09AM BST.

Jake Robinson of Shrewsbury Town is tackled by Paul Arnison of Darlington
You know things are bad when the Football League’s ‘worst’ side do the double over you, writes Shrewsbury Town blogger James Pugh.
The sound of boos at the end of games is becoming a recurring theme for Town as they made it four games on the trot without a goal and a win after losing 2-0 to Darlington at the Prostar.
Some people hit back at those fans who decide to boo the team at the final whistle, but for me every fan has the right to express their views.
At the moment with the team playing so badly and lacking any fight and passion, the players and the manager need to know things can’t go on.
It is hard to accept we are not good enough and we shouldn’t be satisfied with our season petering out ending in a mid-table finish.
Serious questions will need to be asked of the manager and players at the end of the season if it ends in disappointment as we are evidently going backwards rather than forwards.
I am a Simmo fan, but we have to judge him on where we finish at the end of the day and will have to think about replacing him with someone who will take the club in the right direction.
I am not writing of our play-off chances completely, but think it would be wise for the club’s bosses to start planning for next season sooner rather than later.
Earlier in the week the board of directors called on fans to roar the team to promotion. Knowing the Town fans they will continue to do their best, but the board cannot be surprised if there will be some more boos along the way if we continue to put in poor performances.
Anyway the board has nothing to worry about – Early Bird season ticket sales have been going well, meaning the club will still have good support next season even if we are still stuck in League Two.
Time after time this season we have struggled against some of the division’s worst teams, meaning Saturday’s away trip to Torquay will be another tough game.
Quite simply, we can’t buy a win at the moment and don’t even look like scoring goals. I am sure many fans would take a repeat of the reverse fixture in November when we drew 1-1, although it won’t do much good for our slim play-off hopes.
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Simpson was so wrong to criticise fans on Saturday. The performance was abysmal. We pay hard earned money to hopefully see at least some endeavour. This was so lacking against Darlington and I was one who applauded Darlington on scoring their second goal. They showed some grit even though they are doomed. What a liberty for Simpson to appear on Sunday on TV to suggest that the Carlisle manager needed to lift his team at half time. I fell about laughing. Time to go.
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I remember Gary Peters apologising after a 0-1 home defeat to Brentford. Town got booed that day. Even the East Stand was annoyed! Gary Peters’ reaction is something Simmo could learn from.
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I never agreed with the appointment of Simpson from day one. On the day we have a side good enough to win this league but losses against the bottom clubs suggests they lack character and motivation, this has to go down to inadequacies within management. Simpson’s droll dialogue reminds me of Gary Peters, enough said. We need some soul back in this club, is Steve Cross available?
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so the board are imploring the fans to roar their support of the team, any
chairman and board of directors with vision and an element of compassion should recognise the signs of their manager as being a burnt out worn out husk. they the board have allowed simpson to run himself into the ground as a one man band manager over 2 and a quarter seasons.
the chairman and his board should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves as the buck for towns recent run of 4 defeats rests firmly at the boardroom door. if roland wycherley cannot provide the cash for an assistant manager then he and his board should clear off and makeway for men of vision.
just how well is our club financed? allegedly 550k for grant holt albeit in stages yet paul simpson has 80k for the whole season to manage the club. as a one man band he has been subjected to the taunts of the fans and hung out to dry by a most parsimoneous board of directors.
it is time for fair minded fans to recgnise paul simpsons achievements on a “shrewstring” and try and see where i think the blame lies for our downfall. floreat salopia. and yes let us roar our lads on but please give our wornout manager some tools to win with. if roland and his board are reading this then i can give them some more advice, change that ruddy badge, town will never win promo with the lenny the lion badge. floreat salopia and 3 loggerheads on the tesam shirts would at least instill a little pride removed from the club by the cretinous decision to abandon their old badge. even northampton town are reverting to their old badge. so think on roland over your corn flakes this morning, go and rescue your manager from a possible breakdown, it is that serious!! y
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