 Thursday, 10th Feb 2011 13:34 by Daniel J Sewart Now Nigel Clough has spoken it seems that if nothing else, it has only deepened division between fans and in turns the fans and their club. In a time when protest looms and stability was needed, somehow GSE have let things get even worse. In his radio interview yesterday Nigel Clough went to great lengths to once again re-iterate he does not take in media reaction and pretty much gave a picture of himself being nearly Amish in his self inflicted media black out. I have no doubt shielding yourself from the media is certainly important when trying to be focussed in the modern, shallow world of football but totally sticking your head in the sand is another thing. The one thing that has come out of all of this for me (and many have been saying this for a long time), is that the awareness and day to day management of the club is poor. Cywka was no doubt the victim of a manager’s outburst but to me Clough has been the victim of GSE as far back as the day he first signed on as manager. It has been a financially abusive and irresponsible relationship ever since. I have been an undoubted Clough supporter since day one, I wanted to believe in the romance of the situation but in recent days I began to waver. Not so much because of his comments but because of the way in which Nigel seemed to be losing his grip on things. Today my opinion has adjusted again as once again as it seems he is once again being forced to the clubs dirty work for them. The club should have issued the first media statement. The club should have spoken first for both or better, with Cywka and Clough. The club should have invested in a manager that has done what they asked and returned parity to the wage bill. The Club should have seen this coming and assisted Clough in ensuring he had ample support in dealing with the media and his growing frustration. The club should protect the legacy that they are destroying by allowing Clough to drag himself personally along with a name that the club holds higher than any other. If Clough fails then GSE have failed as they should be doing everything in their power to make sure he succeeds by providing a support structure that made it near impossible to fail. An experienced, proven assistant. Financial backing with a proven scouting system, focussed on finding the best players for the money available. And most importantly act as a shield for the manager in the media and help walk him through the best way to deal with the situation. It is ok for Nigel to run things his way but the club could insist they provide high levels of support that any manager would find hard to refuse. That is what good businesses do. At the moment I do not see DCFC being run as a good business. This is scattergun, unorganised and unprofessional domino effect that has the potential to further scar a club that has been emotionally battered for far too long. Fans are upset, fans are angry; fans are turning on their clubs players, their manager and each other. No matter how much you might think Clough should go these actions will have effects that far outweigh sacking just any manager. DCFC and the closeness to the Clough family would be forever damaged. That alone is worth a re-think of where the blame here should be levelled. If Nigel fails when the dust settles it will be a sad and unnecessary footnote to the pain of his father walking away many years ago. By Wednesday Clough become a lead story on Sky sports, his comments were debated on football shows around the country and all because the club allowed the situation to grow legs and run. It is the club who are responsible for protecting their staff and shutting it down. They did not and look where we all are now. Whether you think Cywka was treated unfairly, Clough was right, wrong or otherwise; the only thing that is 100% true is GSE has let everyone down. They are letting our manager and squad self destruct in the national media and in the minds of fans. Good administration does not let that happen. The return of Nigel Clough should be a romance decided entirely on his ability in managing players and bringing together a successful team. He has had to make do in both areas with tools he may not necessarily choose if he had his own way. Now things are unravelling fans are turning on him faster than those that caused the lion’s share of the problem. The romance is fading, the spark is nearly out and as is the case in many relationships a third party is to blame. I love Derby County Football Club. I want to believe in Nigel Clough. I am angry. You should be too. It should never have come to this. GSE should be ashamed.
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