Prior to tonight's last gasp victory at Cliftonhill, I sensed some people might have been starting to lose patience with John. It is, however, important to keep things in perspective - not simply because we won this evening, but because John has, overall, done a very good job since he came to the club. Whatever people say about his motivational abilities, the fact is any group of players on a losing run will look like they've lost heart. It's a blip - a fairly major blip, admittedly, but it doesn't mean John has suddenly become a bad manager.
As it stands, we still have a good chance of making the play-offs, especially after tonight's result. Even if we head into the play-offs on something of a downward spiral, the pressure-cooker type atmosphere of those games means they're a law unto themselves - I'm sure the players we have, with John at the helm, would give a good account of themselves. And if the worst comes to the worst, and we find ourselves in the Third Division again next season, there is certainly nobody better than John to have another go at winning the league. The point I'm making is that nobody stands to gain anything from a change of management. Whatever happens in the remaining matches, I'd be very surprised if the board would consider sacking John, and I hope John himself is equally intent on sticking with it for the long term.
In the 2005-06 season, under John’s stewardship, Berwick had a very similar campaign to ourselves this time around, setting the pace early in the season before falling away during the winter. (The ultimate beneficiaries and eventual champions were of course Cowdenbeath, who took advantage after our own challenge collapsed during April.) The following season, however, after a slow start, John’s Berwick team came good and won a richly-deserved title. In the current situation, then, I remain optimistic about our long-term prospects, precisely because we have John at the helm.
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