Berwick Advertiser Letter

Those of you who read The Berwick Advertiser will have seen a letter from 'Name and Address Witheld' in today's edition. There are two letters pages in today's copy - this letter is nearer the back. It makes interesting reading...

SIR, - It would be encouraging to report that Berwick Rangers’ dispiriting defeat at Raith Rovers on Saturday represented an improvement on the embarrassing humiliation inflicted on the team at Peterhead the previous weekend, but the unpalatable truth is that the crisis enveloping the club seems to have spiralled further out of control with little sign that the ruling clique at Shielfield are capable, or even interested, in doing much about it.

Rangers’ desperate performances (Saturday’s defeat was their 11th out of 12 matches on the road this season) should come as no surprise to anyone with a passing interest in their local football team. Last season’s championship victory simply papered over the cracks, and the current campaign was a catastrophe waiting to happen, the inevitable consequence of a combination of factors ranging from the lack of long-term planning and vision to a chronic under-investment in the team.

Berwick Rangers FC used to be a decent football club which was held in respect by its peers. During the last week alone, the club has blundered from one sorry mess to another; to begin with, the second worst defeat in Berwick Rangers’ league history (they’re also on course for their lowest ever points total since joining the Scottish Leagues); then the furore surrounding Robbie Henderson’s exit from the club after a single match, heavily criticised in the tabloids and the possible subject of legal action, followed by the extraordinarily disrespectful treatment of legendary keeper, club captain and all-round good guy, Gary O’Connor, who has been advised that he is no longer welcome at Shielfield and should find another club.

These problems are symptomatic of a football club in crisis on the field and off it. Manager Michael Renwick looks way out of his depth and the breakdown of his relations with senior players - hardly a surprise given his treatment of them - looks to be a massive misjudgement in terms of the future development of a competitive team. Renwick was a political appointment by a club chairman wary of managers (like Paul Smith and John Coughlin) who were independent characters and who had their own ideas about running a football team, and, heaven forefend, enjoyed decent relations with the supporters. The cost of that paranoia is now being seen every Saturday on the football field.

Renwick’s seemingly random team selections have been influenced to some degree by the resources available to him, but you cannot build a team on the serial recruitment of loan players whose loyalties inevitably lie elsewhere, or on untried youngsters whose confidence is being destroyed by an unending sequence of defeats. The alienation of the remaining senior pros at the club and Renwick’s naive declaration that, with 45 points still to play for the team were already relegated, does not instil confidence in Berwick Rangers’ future prospects. The board are between a rock and a hard place on Renwick’s own future; do they sack him and admit they got it wrong, or do they fly in the face of supporter opinion and all natural logic by retaining a manager whose brief reign is already sparking claims that Berwick Rangers are the East Stirling of the new millennium?

While the manager is largely responsible for what happens on the pitch, the board are the people charged with the effective running of the club under company law. Unfortunately, the “board” at Shielfield seems to exist in name only, with the majority of directors sidelined by the ruling clique of Wilson, Forsyth and Darling. These are the people who decide what happens at Berwick Rangers, and their efforts deserve closer scrutiny.

The chairman’s silence on the current crisis affecting the club is remarkable but not untypical. Doubtless he will be quick enough to trumpet any improvement in the club’s finances at the May AGM, but he should ask himself whether Berwick Rangers are better off now than they were a year ago. At the bank? Possibly, though an overdraft converted into a loan is still a debt; On the pitch? Absolutely not - check the league table then contrast and compare with John Coughlin’s impact at Stenhousemuir; Dressing room morale? In tatters; On the terraces? Not if you listened to supporters who spent all afternoon at Kirkcaldy chanting for Renwick to be sacked. There is a fine balance between financial prudence and putting a team on the park that isn’t a laughing stock. That balance looks like a distant dream at the moment.

Rangers supporters with longer memories will recall that during their time on the terracing chairman Wilson and director Forsyth were some of the most vocal critics of poor performances and ineffective management. Their own experience seems to have taught them very little. Their knee-jerk reaction to criticism, however justified, is to batten down the hatches and continue the “us against the rest of the world” siege mentality, avoiding any form of constructive dialogue that might lead to improvements.

That contributes towards the general air of despondency at Shielfield, compounded by the board (sorry, ruling clique’s) relations with the two main supporters organisations, the supporters club and the trust. Without the financial contribution of both, the continued survival of the club would be an even greater challenge, yet relations with the former have deteriorated and they remain in a state of permanent conflict with the latter. It would be a pleasant surprise if the other members of the board, Messrs Davidson, Hush, McLaren, Parkin or Porteous were to emerge from the sidelines to help steer the club back into calmer waters, but the feeling remains that their influence is minimal and that they have been well and truly sidelined. Recent attempts by the chairman to persuade the Berwick Advertiser to drop David Cook’s away match reports because he’s had the temerity to criticise the running of the club speak volumes about his approach to free speech and a general interest in the future success of Berwick Rangers.

For some time now, there has been the sense that there is something rotten at the heart of Berwick Rangers FC, despite the good work of many. The chairman has the opportunity, through the pages of the Berwick Advertiser, to disprove that theory and convince an increasingly disenchanted support that he has a future plan for the club that will see it emerge from its current travails to be regarded with the same degree of admiration as well-run outfits like Brechin City. The ruling clique can no longer lay the blame for Berwick Rangers’ demise at the door of Jamie Curle, Paul Smith, John Coughlin, the injury crisis, leaves on the line, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all. It’s time for chairman Wilson and his cronies to take full responsibility for the mess that Berwick Rangers find themselves in.

The challenge for them is not only accepting that responsibility, but sorting it out. If they can’t do that, then it’s time for them to go.

NAME AND ADDRESS WITHHELD