Are Brentford supporters all manic-depressives? Or amnesiacs? Talk about the agony and the ecstasy. Only three days ago fans were having mystic visions about Brentford's achievement; now the lynch mob is out. I remember the fan who swooned: "ah, it's a hard life supporting Brentford, but nights like tonight make it all worthwhile." Does he still think it's all worthwhile? Or is he part of the posse?
Let's keep a sense of perspective. In all competitive games, Andy Scott's teams have won five, lost four and drawn three. That's a very respectable record. And yes, I'm counting the Everton game as a win - they're premier league, after all. (Two of the cup wins were against teams from a higher division, two were against teams from a lower division). Scott's sin is to have his team win the wrong games.
To be sure, the points total in league games is disappointing. One point from the first four games. Five points from the next four games. At least the trend is in the right direction. The defence was a problem to begin with; that seems to have been worked out. Now the attack is misfiring (though having your top scorer sidelined doesn't help). It's not unreasonable to believe that Scott is capable of resolving that problem too.
Meanwhile the armchair managers and fans with 20/20 hindsight have the knives out. One poster believes that the players get the credit when they win and the manager gets the blame when they lose; you suspect he'd be happier to see Brentford in a lower division as long as it was with another manager. And then there's the poster who demands, yes he positively demands, three points in the next game. Otherwise he'll throw a temper tantrum, so there. He reminds me of Violet Elizabeth in the Just William books: "I want three points now and if I don't get them I'll thcweam and I'll thcweam and I'll thcweam."
It's far too soon, and somehow indecent, to be talking about changing the manager. Sure, Scott has made mistakes; which manager hasn't? But in view of his previous achievements, he deserves at the very least a full half-season before there's any talk of failure. One day, possibly, there may come a time when the directors decide they have to offer Scott a silver platter bearing a tumbler of whisky and a pistol and suggest that he visit the library. I wouldn't bet on it. For what it's worth, I believe that GPG is doing the club a disservice by running a poll on whether the manager should or not be booted out. You expect fair-weather fans at the big clubs; Brentford are better than that.