FREAKY FRIDAY

What would Danny do?

By Jamie Summers

And so another season is upon us.

Once again the denizens of Stockport County will be brought together for the spectacle of another campaign.

The Holy Grail is the Conference North title. The leader of the pack is Ian Bogie, the kingmakers are Alan Lord and Terry Mitchell and the pilgrims (Boston united pun quite possibly intended) are set to descend on the Mecca that is Edgeley Park.


Oddly, this is the second time in a week that I've written an article with a title relating to an early 2000s film. Somehow though, it seems quite apt. The Friday before the first game, the 'Season Eve,' is the occasion when the anticipation start to build and the excitement bubbles away for the journey which is about to begin.

The purpose of a lens is to bring light into focus. It takes the seven different colours of the spectrum and channels them into a single strand of bright white light. In many ways, I guess that 'Season Eve' could be considered a lens; one which brings the different strands of pre-season together and binds them into a single strand of footballing expectation.

The 'Freaky Friday' tag might well be appropriate for that experience which only seems to develop prior to the first matchday of the season.

Many times over the last few seasons, I've felt a degree of optimism and hope before a season starts, only to have that hope mercilessly crushed as we've walked down the road towards another relegation. Eventually it becomes easy to no longer hold out any hope and only be pessimistic about what has become of us and where we are - but that's self-defeating really, isn't it?

The optimism I feel going into this season is different to what it has been in the last few years. In spite of everything to have happened here since the turn of the year, I can't help but feel cautiously optimistic about the team and what could happen.

Of course, we're at an entirely new level and it really is do-or-die time now. But for the first time in years we seem to have a well-balanced squad and a sense of belief about us.

That optimism has to be tempered. I don't think we're going to walk through this league to the title, but we are in with a shot. The prospect of winning more games than we lose for the first time since we were last promoted in 2008 is a brilliant tonic. Being seriously considered by our opponents as a team with a genuine chance of success is a feeling that we've become used to not experiencing.

Ian Bogie has impressed me since he came into the club. He's spent the summer urging caution and restraint; he hasn't seemed able to stress enough just how difficult the season is going to be for us. Given his experience of winning promotion from this tier, we should respect his warnings. However this morning, he also issued a statement to County fans where he pledged to help bring success back to Stockport County.

Some people have understandably argued that it is just words, the type of rallying call that we should come to expect from the manager before the season gets underway regardless of the circumstances.

Yet there was one line in Mr Bogie's statement that stood out for me. "As County's manager, it's my job to halt the decline and play my part in giving you a team to be proud of. That starts now, and the buck stops with me."

By stating that the buck stops with him, Bogie has potentially set himself up for a large fall. That alone suggests to me that he has confidence in where we are. Couple that with his messages of restraint, and the picture is a bit clearer. It certainly won't be the stroll in the park that some people think it will be, but we are in with a chance.

I'm a huge fan of print and a few days ago I was flicking through a collection of programmes from the last 20 years or so. Reading the programme notes of managers with the benefit of hindsight is always really interesting. For me, a few quotes from a certain ex-manager from Uruguay brilliantly sum up the midset that we should be carrying into this campaign.

In November 1994, we faced Scarborough FC in a Football League Trophy match. Danny was communicating his message after a barren spell of five successive defeats without scoring a goal. He wrote: "I suppose it is fair to say that we are experiencing, apart from the disappointments at Wembley, the worst time since I joined the club. It is absolutely imperative and it is our number one priority that everyone at the club stick together through thick and thin as we all know, everyone will find it comfortable and worthwhile to be part of the 'thick'; call it success, call it good times, but it is not as easy to give a hand when we experience the thin or the bad times".

The message there is obvious, and it will apply just as much this season as it did in 1994.

We have to strive for success, and if we win the Conference North then it will be an enjoyable experience.

But there will inevitably be times this season where things go a bit pear-shaped. We will have the token loss against the side that we've never heard of with less money than us, and we'll go on a bad run of form when we don't win for a few games. But in those tougher times we've got to focus on the end-goal of winning promotion and not let adversity cause us to lose too much faith.

Tied in with that is another sound-bite from Danny, which he wrote shortly before his dismissal in March 1995:

"In my country we say 'after the thunder there is the calm". 

Another simple but effective message from one of the greatest managers in this club's history perhaps helps us to square where we are and put our position into perspective.

In all of the last five seasons we've had a say in relegation scraps. It's been a turbulent time to be a County fan, but eventually we will turn the ship around. If we strip things down, take it back to basics and focus on the task in hand then this season can be the first step back towards where we were a few years ago.

On that note, I finish this piece with one last quote from Danny, written in September 1993 ahead of a clash with the Dingles:

"It's like I always say, Directors direct, supporters support, players play and I manage with the help of my staff." 

Such a simple, short message demonstrates that everyone involved in Stockport County has a part to play in the season. Every group of people mentioned is one component of a greater system which has to run efficiently if we're to get that promotion we crave.

Of course, it's really anyone's guess as to how this season goes.

We could walk the division after all. On the other hand, a poor start will shatter a lot of the optimism which County fans have at the moment. We could just miss out, or even struggle to adapt to life in the sixth tier. But at the very least, let's try to enjoy ourselves this season.

After all - if there is one man whose words can be used as inspiration for a successful season, then it is Danny Bergara.