they are only human

the words of alex mcleish. "they are only human these guys" - its something all of us need to remember, before we criticise blues after what has happened over the last few games.


i suppose, like myself, you've lambasted blues for conceding goal/s in the first few minutes, which effectivinly meant the game was over before it had begun. we have a right to complain about it. as does alex mcleish. but its not the only reason were not playing as well as we did in the incredible unbeaten run a few months ago.


the simple fact of the matter is that those players are running out of steam. we all know they over-achieved, something which we greatly appreciate, but we knew it could come to an end some time, and now our form seems to be petering out towards the end of the season. which is a shame, but after what these guys have done this season; can we really hold it against them?


the answer to that is no, of corse we can't. no one believed we'd be able to do this. we didn't believe it ourselves. everyone wrote us off, us and the team were preparing for a relegation dog fight, with mcleish saying "were aiming for 17th or above!" and blues proved every one of us wrong - and in some style too, i must say.


sure, it's not nice to look at our last three results and see that weve only picked up one point. but in hindsight, those games have been at home against a very much in-form everton side, which was arguably the most entertaining game witnessed at st.andrews for a good couple of years. the next was against another in-form team in sunderland, which is always a tricky place to go to. and blackburn, who have only lost 2 games at home all season (that sound familiar to you?)


so really, although we complain, moan and criticise blues for this, did anyone think we'd get anything out of these three fixtures when we looked at them at the start of the season? the truth is, we've become so accustomed to blues getting the results for us, that now we expect them to get the results, rather than stepping back and looking at the bigger picture and realising what great teams were playing and what mountains we want these players to climb, after what they've already done for us. it is in a sense, asking too much of them.


we can't do it all in one season. i mean, coming up from the championship to then get to an FA cup final, qualify for europe, beating countless numbers of teams by big margins and out-playing the giants of this league that are manchester united, chelsea, arsenal and liverpool. it would be nice to, but it's just too much. one step at a time is how you build on something, and the step this season has been bigger than we expected; we've not just stayed up, we've (touch wood) finished in the top half. that is a massive step in the right direction. so, not getting to wembley this season or getting close to or qualifying for europe is disappointing after what we've managed to achieve this season, but it's been progress, and that's what you need to establish yourself as a fully-fledged premier league team: progress.


im merely trying to put things into perspective: we've had a great season, the best season in the clubs history in fact, and just because we're fizzling out abit now, and maybe gone into holiday mode abit because we were safe this early on in the season, that shouldn't dent what has been an incredible season for us, and one that no blues fan will forget in a hurry, nor want to forget, ever.