Monday Musings - End of an era and end of a season
Monday, 19th May 2008 21:01 by Paul Redfern

The Green paper is no longer with us.

The Derby Evening Telegraph Saturday edition was one to be treasured by us exiles – especially those of us at boarding school where we had to read the national press. For national – read London. And as always, they were skewed towards the rich or the glamorous. And so for the likes of us cooped up in boarding school, supporting teams like Ipswich Town, or in my case, Derby County, our local paper was to be treasured and pored over for a week until the next one. It was our one article of faith against all these prats who supported the big clubs – I still remember the 2-5 defeat by Manure in the FA Cup and being teased mercilessly for weeks after by people who had never even been to Old Trafford, never mind receiving the Manchester Evening News Saturday edition – which if I remember rightly was pink – now no longer printed.

The Green paper reaffirmed my roots, reminded me that I came from Derby, that I supported this crappy second division team and, then of course, Cloughie came and changed everything. My father sent it to me every week – rolled up. And when I was at home from school, we waited for it to arrive in Ripley, usually after a match at home.

It seems symptomatic and poignant that in a season where we have witnessed an alarming lack of will and resolve from our football team, we should also see the closure of the Green paper. It's almost as if we are seeing some sort of last rites being administered here.

Certainly, there is a sense – for me and those I've talked with – of sadness and depression about what's happened this season. My father – for instance – has been a supporter since the 1930s and he says he's never been so disinterested. He couldn't name half the team if asked. I think that's partly because of the number of players we've used – but it's also partly because of the relentless debilitating effect of losing week in week out.

The renewal of season tickets almost defies belief. It is as if after the funeral, we all go on a jolly, thinking whatever has passed – has passed. Now let's look to the future. There's also a sense - as so often at funerals - that we should try and forget the bitterness generated by those departed from us.

The difference of course is that nobody has died. The Green paper is not a person – just a vehicle for news that will be provided in a different way from now on. The players who have so grievously let us down haven't died either (although some fans may well have desired their demise), just moved on to other clubs or the nearest dole queue. I doubt very much that they will move on to greater and better things given their performances this season. Most will slip down the divisions or find their own levels. Their chances of ever getting into the Premiership again will have gone for good.

It has been a season in which nobody associated with Derby County emerges with much credit. Not the players, not the management, not the Board. One day, someone may break ranks and tell the story of why and how everything collapsed so catastrophically and why the morale was so low. Until then, it will be left to us, the fans, to mourn over our hopes of having a halfway decent season – a season where we won some games, fought hard every game, kicked a few showboating stars, and generally gave some teams a tough time along the way to being relegated again.

That didn't happen and it is only right and proper that we should have a complete overhaul and start afresh. It's the only way to get us all smiling and looking forward again. The Board and management must not bottle this one time.