Receiving an invitation to the premiere of '79 Days Of Destruction' I wasn't too certain whether to attend or not. Painful viewing for sure, but also a real eye-opener as to the trail of devastation that can be left even after such a short time period.
I've always kept an eye out for the Robins results, having been a Cheltenham resident for the best part of 10 years. I arrived at roughly the same time as Jim Barron was taking charge and left just before the Cotterill era got under way. During those years, never did I imagine Cheltenham ever becoming a Football league club. It was a long hard slog to achieve that status, but it's an unpleasant thought that the legacy of a period of 79 days could be a return to non-league football.
Time for a picture, and one that will be appreciated by those who take a keen interest in the hair of Tom Cruise. Tom's luscious locks are good by modern standards, but I'd still insist Jim Barron had the better hair. I've never found out for sure whether Jim was in goal for Nottingham Forest on that infamous day in 1974 when Newcastle fans invaded the pitch to hold up their F.A Cup Quarter Final ? He was still at Forest at the time, although it wasn't long after that he made his move to Swindon.
But back to the screening, and after a few introductory words from special guest Steve Woods, we all settled back to 'enjoy' this docufilm. It starts of with the words:
“The line of negativity has now been crossed out and the way forward is positivity, togetherness and unity. We are Cheltenham Town Football Club and we can be Proud.”
Those big bold letters filling the screen and no one was under any illusion as to what the line of negativity that has been crossed out referred to. The quote is from the final line of the Statement issued by The Robins Trust in the aftermath of Bucks leaving CTFC. The Cheltenham Town Chairman had an early morning meeting with Clive Gowing (Chairman of the Robins Trust). A little later, at 10am, club Chairman Paul Baker was ready to face the media and announce that Bucks was leaving. The Trust naturally made capital from this, making reference to a:
'key development in the strong working relationship between the Robins Trust and the Football Club.
Part of the Trust’s remit is to ensure that views of the fans are heard by the board and Gowing welcomed the move to be involved in a key decision'.
We are then treated to atmospheric shots of a private jet taking off from nearby Staverton airport, accompanied by Elton John's rendition of the films specially commissioned theme song; 'Buckle is leaving tonight on a plane.....those 79 wild days sure were insane'
Then it's a quick flashback to Day One, and with the air travel theme still at the forefront, we see footage of Baker introducing his new manager Bucks with these words to the assembled media:
“I am delighted, we have our man,”
“And he’s just flown in from the States, how cool is that for Cheltenham Town?
From then on it's an excruciatingly painful trawl through 79 days, explaining how CTFC got to where they are today, a broken club occupying a relegation spot near the foot of League 2. I somehow managed to hold it together, but thankfully there was grief counselling available for Whaddon Road regulars to avail themselves of, at the end and before they left the cinema.
Anything but a 'feel good' film, and one to be avoided at all costs by Buckle Loyalists. I know there's the old argument that if the scales haven't fallen from their eyes yet, then being exposed to the evidence of one more catastrophe won't change much. It really is a case of thinking carefully and deciding what's best for you, while keeping in mind it's been given an 'PG' certificate for a reason.
Let's finish up by reminding ourselves that football is all about the fans. Back on 7th December (Page 12) we spoke to some of those loyal Cheltenham fans:
'Legend Watch has teamed up with the Gloucestershire Echo to bring you a selection of well considered opinions from Robins fans who are just getting used to life under PB'.
To bring the curtain down on 79 traumatic days, we've managed to collaborate once more with that fine publication the Gloucestershire Echo, to hear the parting shots of those suffering Robins fans who look back on that short but dismal episode in their clubs history that was 'Bucks79'.
A POIGNANT chant from 49 loyal Cheltenham Town supporters pierced the Essex air as the Robins were defeated 2-0 by Southend United on Tuesday.
“We don’t care about Buckle, he doesn’t care about us; all we care about, is CTFC.”
The message to the chairman and directors was simple. The fans of our football club were fully behind the players, but not manager Paul Buckle. Quite frankly, enough was enough.
Feelings among those at home were the same. In fact, relegation was beginning to feel inevitable.
Any sort of unity at the club looks to have disappeared over the past months; and this was all thanks to Buckle.
In my opinion, the tactics were farcical, popular players were allegedly frozen out, stalwarts replaced with the inexperienced.
And throughout, I felt that the manager approached the process with an attitude of smugness and nonchalance, something that frustrated me immensely.
More than anything, however, football is a results business, and one win in 12 league games as well as an FA Cup exit to a non-League side simply wasn’t good enough.
Warnings from Bristol Rovers and Luton Town supporters unfortunately proved accurate, as confidence and cohesion was virtually non-existent both on and off the pitch.
As supporters, we desperately tried to remain positive, but with Paul Buckle at the helm, it proved virtually impossible.
He didn’t even attempt to connect with the club’s fan base and was incompatible with the close-knit, family-orientated principles of Cheltenham Town Football Club.
The response to his reported departure from the club after the Southend defeat said it all, with an overwhelming majority of supporters celebrating his apparent exit.
-------------- ------------------ -------------
This was a man who managed to make himself deeply unpopular both within and outside the club in a very short space of time.
Buckle and assistant Rob Edwards spent the whole game in the dugout, not once coming to the side of the pitch to offer encouragement to the players, as if resigned to another limp defeat.
He was parachuted in from America after two years out of the game with ridiculous haste after the exit of Mark Yates in November.
As the results failed to pick up, Buckle seemed reluctant to take on any responsibility, preferring to blame his predecessor for ‘leaving him with a poor squad’ and ‘spending all of the budget’.
It was the players who took all the blame.
Had he stayed, there was a sad inevitability to Cheltenham Town’s relegation to the Conference.
----------------- ---------------------- ----------------
I believe the players he brought in were not of equal standard to those he got rid of.
We now appear to have a team of mostly untried youngsters, that do not appear to have the fight and determination to get us out of a relegation battle.
------------------- ------------------------ ------------------
Buckle's reign in charge won't be remembered fondly by Cheltenham supporters.
In fact, this whole sorry saga has not been pretty.
BUCKS - The verdict !
