Festive crumble?

Wow. What can I say in my first blog post since Christmas?

I should start by extending my best wishes and hoping that you all have a fantastic and prosperous New Year. 2011 has been incredibly difficult for our football team, so alongside a successful year for each of us personally, here's to a good year (at last) for Bristol Rovers. In order for 2012 to be a memorably year at Rovers for all the right reasons, league safety must be ensured primarily. I'd see it as an achievement after the debacle we've experienced so far this campaign - that's how poor things have become, we're fighting for football league survival. Unreal. After that and with whoever may be in charge, I'm hoping for a summer of strengthening and a push for promotion in the first half of next season - not unrealistic or over ambitious in my book. Off the field and positive UWE Stadium news is what all Gasheads will be hoping to hear about. To me, the project seems scarily viable compared to our other clutches at pipe dreams in the past so hopefully we can get planning permission on the site and kick on with building a stadium to make the city of Bristol proud.

We lost to Plymouth on Boxing day. Ouch. I'm not going to go in to detail about my thoughts on the game in fear of coming across suicidal. And it's not just me I'd be worried about killing, having to torture you all by recalling our 3-2 home capitulation would be horrendous of me! The sheer volume of boos and chants at Paul Buckle at the final whistle was totally deserved and lead everybody in to thinking he would be relieved of his duties imminently. The Blackthorn End chanted to the board of directors, hounding for Buckle to be axed. So far that's not happened and it won't before the weekend, however Nick Higgs looked directly at the supporters when they were pointing at him to act - he knows how bad things have become.

In a rather scary thought I had earlier today, we could have an attendance on Saturday against Crewe Alexandra 50% less than the one we got vs the Argyle on Monday. Staggering, but you can fully understand the motives behind stay away fans. What is there to get excited about? Predictable, negative, defensive football for 90 minutes. It's like dropping 20 quid down a drain. People work damn hard to earn their money and should spend it on necessities and things they will enjoy. Rovers is a luxury but a bloody awful one at that.

4000 fans on Saturday will tell the board in no uncertain terms that fans have had enough. Loyalty from the majority of Rovers fans has ensured that our attendances have always remained relatively high, despite the shambolic football produced over the past couple of years, but 'the most hated manager in our history' - as dubbed by Gasheads on the official forum - has put pay to a lot of diehard Gasheads from attending The Mem whilst he's in charge. Such a sad state of affairs but Buckle has brought it on himself with his actions and egotistical spouts through the local press. Deary me.

I'll be there for the Crewe game. Hell I'll be at Barnet on Monday too, but I'm not happy with the football club. I'm not proud at the moment nor am I optimistic that things will get turned around any time soon. We're in the mire and anything other than a victory on Saturday will see Buckle lose his job, surely? The lucky chancer will get away with it, in my opinion, and pull off a win versus the Alex. It'll keep him his job for the time being but he doesn't deserve it. Never want Rovers to lose a game, but every cloud and all that...