Here comes the future
I was as surprised as anyone to see Jermaine Grandison picked ahead of Elliott Ward for Saturday's match against Reading. Ward has a back problem, but looked nimble enough in the pre-match warmup. Such is Coleman's confidence in Grandison, he felt able to err on the side of caution and leave Ward on the bench.
Jordan Clarke notched up his fifth start of the season. Another player who Coleman is always quick to classify as 'one for the future'. Despite shaky starts, both Grandison and Clarke finished the game as two of the most impressive players on the field, belying their age and inexperience.
City fans appear to be divided between those who are hopeful for the future of our young team, and those who believe a lack of short term success is unforgivable. However hopeful you are, there seems to be no argument that there is little on display at the moment to suggest imminent success.
The required penance for that sin seems to be honesty. Tell us what's going on, Ray, I often hear. What is your 'business plan'? Who exactly are you trying to buy? What are you offering them? What boots will they wear? Who are they dating?
I don't see what good it would do knowing any of those answers, or on what grounds us fans have a right to know them. Unfortunately, since Mr Abramovic, and some rich Arabian gentlemen started buying football clubs and ploughing millions of pounds into them, there is a real interest in owners. And with interest come an inquisitiveness that sometimes borders on paranoia.
Let's not forget that whatever you think of Ray Ranson as a businessman, he was a professional footballer for over twenty years. He knows football. He knows footballers. He's not sat in a luxury penthouse smoking a cigar, counting fifties, wondering why we haven't won for five games, whilst weighing up which player to sell next.
Perhaps injuries have granted us a premature glimpse into the future, to see players that aren't ready, that shouldn't be relied upon, that mustn't be left in the deep end or have their stabilzers removed. But I'm not so sure.
Chris Hussey - one for the future - will be first choice left-back when Patrick van Aanholt returns to Chelsea, probably as soon as January. Gary Madine - another Coleman baby - will be a ready-made replacement when Leon Best gets a Premiership move in the summer.
Grandison and Clarke will soon enough be staple inclusions on the teamsheet too. And waiting in the wings are Ashley Cain, Curtis Wynter, and Adam Walker amongst others. The future could be here sooner than we think. But do we have the patience to watch it unfurl?
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