Away from the game, well-known lovable rogue and City superfan Neil Broom, aka Razor, who now lives in Sheffield, was in attendance at the game on Saturday despite allegedly having a ban from attending games at SJP. To be honest, his antics on the bank were more entertaining than the game itself on Saturday! Despite getting himself into trouble now and again, normally due to drinking too much, he’s a lad that loves his club, and I hope that his ban if still in place can be rescinded, provided he behaves himself of course. I think there’s enough people around him that can try to keep him on the straight and narrow if he returns to home games again.

Anyway, I digress. At the end of the game, GC seemed to think that it was a ‘minority’ calling for his head at the final whistle. I left SJP right on the final whistle but as I was leaving I could clearly hear the chants calling for the manager to go, and it certainly sounded like more than a minority. Of course there will be those in the fanbase who want him to stay and have faith that he’ll turn it around, which of course is their right, but as the winless run continues the discontent amongst the fanbase grows. I’ve spoken to numerous people in the last few weeks who wouldn’t normally call for a manager to go actively state that they feel that GC’s race is run at ECFC.

He also states that he’d know if he’d lost the dressing room and that he was confident he would turn it around. We’ve scored 12 goals in the league all season, haven’t won a league match for nearly three months and nothing seems to be changing. Additionally, Saturday’s loss ensured that we are now on our longest winless run for 28 years, before yours truly even became a City fan. Surely GC can see that his role at the club is now untenable? I’ve seen a lot on social media this week from Chesterfield and Partick Thistle fans stating that we should let him go sooner rather than later. Chesterfield of course slipped into non-league not long after he left them and only now are they starting to come out the other side, currently sitting top of the National League. Hopefully for their sake they can take their place back in the EFL come the end of the season.

We have two away games coming up before Christmas, visiting Stevenage on Saturday and then onto Cambridge United the following Friday, who may experience the new manager ‘bounce’ having recently appointed ex-Millwall, Cardiff and Gillingham manager Neil Harris. Considering how well Stevenage are doing this season under the experienced and controversial Steve Evans, I’m not expecting us to get anything there. However, Cambridge should be a winnable game – however, due to the new manager ‘bounce’ that I just alluded to, it may be easier said than done.

After those games, we’ll have two games between Christmas and New Year at home to Wycombe and Portsmouth. Normally those games obtain decent attendances due to the time of year, however with our current form it may deter people from coming along. Personally, I’m currently down to be away for the Portsmouth game and although I could head back for it if I wanted, as things stand if nothing changes I’m not sure that I can be bothered to change my plans, even though I’m a season ticket holder.

With all the negativity, let’s add a positive in to balance things out a little. To give the club some credit though for their community work, the players and staff went for their annual trip to the Bramble Ward at the RDE last Thursday along with Grecian the Lion to dish out presents to children who were likely to be in hospital over the Christmas period. During my years of playing the role of Grecian, this was one of the days in the calendar I looked forward to the most as it made a huge difference to the lives of others in the community in the name of our club, and I was always humbled and proud to play my part.

Now, having had my long hospital stay 18 months ago, it gives me more of an appreciation as to what those children must be going through, being away from their family and friends in an unfamiliar location. Therefore, receiving a gift from the players would hopefully give them a welcome boost mentally and may well end up speeding up their recovery.

Onwards we go – we live in hope. UTC.