Hindsight being 20/20 and all, I’d say we are in this position due to a mix of our inability to spot young talent and maybe just a lack of identity.
The talent that’s gone out the door in the last 5 years or so (Dools, Erskine, Nisbet, O’Donnell, Taylor-Sinclair, etc) hasn’t really been replicated and neither has the unified team feel from the promotion season when you had young, hungry players who visibly believed in themselves and each other. Kids v Experience - the idea that we are outsiders and nobody believes in us, but us (but that’s all we need). I haven’t really felt like that as a fan in some time. When you keep losing and no one has any answers, chemistry is often part of it. With Dools and Erskine, you had two pros that embodied the club and personified our identity - we’re a smallish club punching above our weight in a large city (in possibly the dumbest football league). I don’t think we’ve since had such players who personify the team in the same way.
In the time since I think we’ve made some dodgy decisions with management, lack of consistency with the first team, and at board level (e.g. those monthly comms) that’s all come together to leave us feeling “So who are we, again?” Every season lately has felt like a rebuild and we can’t get out of first gear.
Given recent league developments, I’d like the club to try re-establishing a bit of that outsider, “us against the world” mentality, both on the pitch and off. We have a toothless yellow sun for a mascot, after all. We are, on some level, a club for weirdos and outsiders by design.
And maybe with this relegation McCall 2.0 will unearth some gems and the cycle will stop.