True success to come in time

In the best traditions of our tabloid national press, writers went totally overboard after England's 3-0 win over Spain last week.

But I doubt if new boss Sven Goran Eriksson will be fooled by the headlines proclaiming him a national hero after victory over a spineless and gutless Spanish side which would have been hard pressed to have beaten Southend United.

Why is it that people in this country are quick to build people up only to knock them down at the first sign of failure.

It seems to be a national disease of not only the soccer scribes but fans as well.

Watch out for Swede bashing vitriol dripping from pens and the lips of supporters if England fail to give Finland a hammering in the World Cup qualifier at Anfield in a few weeks time.

One man who knows and accepts the wildly see-sawing life in the manager's hot-seat is Blues chief David Webb.

Webby arrived in a blaze of glory this season as the fans choice and yet I've detected some signs of discontent recently among the club's faithful.

When he first took over, Blues were on the slide having narrowly survived being dumped out of the league and yet he was billed as the miracle worker.

Well let me tell you miracle workers only exist in storybooks and imaginations not at football clubs.

What Webb has achieved so far in rooting out some of the highly paid wasters inflicted on us by the previous regime and building a young, vibrant side with real hope for the future is remarkable.

At least, the Halifax game apart, the players brought in have shown a refreshing attitude and desire to try and bring success back to a club which has been on its beam ends for too long.

Success at club and international level does not happen overnight. Given time I reckon both Webb and Eriksson will bring more joy than sorrow to their respective followers . . . but only a fool would expect it to happen tomorrow.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.