[spireitematt]

Believe me, Matt, I wasn`t accusing you of being a happy clapper in any way whatsoever and I meant nothing at all derogatory in what I said; sorry if i gave that impression. There`s no doubt, though, that out of all of us you`ve been the one that`s managed to stay most upbeat about our situation over the last couple of years. I genuinely admire and envy your positivity and wish I could find it in me to match it. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I can`t any more; sad to say, but when it comes to positivity right now I`m running on empty as far as far as both our football club and our politicians are concerned.

There`s no need to feel sad about my trip to Stockport with my son, Dev. The result was disappointing, but apart from that we had a bloody good day out. The missus and I are actually toying with the idea of moving up to that part of the world sometime in the next 12 months, but for the moment we are quite a distance apart and, with him being a busy fellah and having a young family of his own now, we don`t get many opportunities to get together for a good chinwag. It was a beautiful day last Monday weather-wise and being able to get the train in meant that neither of us had to drive, so we could have a few pints as well – which made it even more enjoyable. (Despite everything, discussions regarding Chorley away are currently ongoing.)

You can take it as a given that my flag-waving days are long gone. In fact, the truth is they never really arrived; I never was into that sort of thing. As far as I can recall, the last time I waved one was at the semi-final at Old Trafford in 1997. (Oh, those halcyon days!)  I have to confess that I do occasionally bellow with rage at our politicians, but only via the television screen. Mind you, if Question Time ever came to our neck of the woods.........

Thanks for the report, Dancing. The gist of it seems to be that we played quite well for part of the game, but were crap for a larger part. That seems to be a fairly consistent theme this season, which I`d suggest is largely why we are where we are. I think it`s ironic that JS has always made such a big thing about getting consistency from the players from one match to another and it seems we can`t even get it from one half to another.  Given the level of experience of a lot of the players as well as the management, it really beggars belief.

As you rightly say, Matt; what the XXXX is going on?

Don't worry, no offence has been taken. I have managed to stay upbeat and optimistic over the last few years but it's slowly starting to dwindle. I find the current situation annoying and frustrating. I've read on social media that a lot of fans feel empty now and aren't even bothering following the matches and one fan said he didn't celebrate the goals the other night against Halifax and instead just sat there.