Quote Originally Posted by frogmiller View Post
I once had a great pair of boots that got a hole in them but I kept wearing them because they reminded me where I'd been. I'll not moan about the hole because I'm grateful for the boots. Neither will I moan that the stitching has come undone because they were made by the best cobbler in the world so I should be grateful because he didn't have to make them he just chose to do them. I daren't ask for him to repair the boots as I may be sounding ungrateful. Maybe he'll stick a plaster over the hole and then everything will be well again because the best cobbler did it and I must toff my cap every time his name is mentioned!
That would be a great analogy if it actually bore some resemblance to the position that Rotherham United is in.

The first problem with the analogy is that the cobbler didn’t just make the boots; he paid for them - largely out of his own pocket - before giving them to you. So why wouldn’t you remain grateful for them after they have started to wear?

Someone bought me a very decent bottle of Scotch at Christmas. I’ll remain grateful for that long after it’s finished. Why wouldn’t I? On the face of the evidence of some of the posts on this board, I should, instead, become resentful that I wasn’t bought an even better bottle or given a lifetime supply rather than 70cl.

The second problem with your analogy is that the boots that you were given remain perfectly serviceable and do not have a hole in them. That’s because the cobbler has – largely at his own expense – maintained them for you, periodically repairing the stitching and re-soling them. Indeed, given the club’s league position compared to that when he bought the boots for you, he has improved rather than just maintained them.

To extend your analogy a little, if you don’t like what the cobbler is offering there are plenty of other shoe shops on the High Street. If it’s bespoke hand-stitched Italian leather that you are looking for, the Etihad really is probably the best one for you at the moment.

P.s. I don’t doff my cap to anyone. I say what I think. It’s one of the reasons that I am such a popular poster.