oxblogger A well argued case.
The thing for me is that Manning came after over four years of having an incredibly complicated relationship with my football club because I had a deeply ingrained mistrust and dislike of the manager for reasons I have documented excessively elsewhere... a complicated relationship that was sliding towards me falling out of love with going to the football even before the results went catastrophically south. And Manning represented the diametric opposite of that, he was a blank canvas in the manager's seat; a neutral avatar that got results and allowed me to look forward to coming to the football again, and really care about the results for the first time in a long time. I don't think it's overly dramatic for me to say he gave me my football club back, and it's so utterly deflating to have that withdrawn. Yes, there are positives vis a vis us being a more attractive proposition starting from a much higher base etc. etc. but for now, I can't get past being desperately disappointed and disheartened about our prospects that somebody who was showing us that there is light and opportunity bailed out on us at the very first opportunity.
