It’s The Hope I Can’t Stand Fanzine: If we lose on Tuesday, Simon Grayson should walk away

I was walking along Roker Baths Road after the capitulation against Bristol City and I turned to see what looked like the Apocalypse in the sky over what used to be Roker Park.

It's approaching a year since we won at home. A year. The amount of time spent in the lead in any match at home in 2017 is 0 seconds. We are weak. The team are weak.

Simon Grayson is weak.

What the hell did he say to the players at half time to turn them from the better team in the first 45 to the dreadful second half shambles that we had the misfortune to witness?

This is a poor division. I have not seen a really decent team against us - nobody, although Leeds can play football. It's a poor division and we are, somehow, one of the poorest teams in it; full of experienced players with plenty of Premier League experience.

How the heck is octogenarian John O'Shea still our best defender? Why is Lamine Kone playing when he can't be bothered to get back to defend, wandering around the pitch like he has early onset Alzheimer’s, unsure of where he is supposed to be and wondering if he left the gas on?

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Why can't Grayson motivate him to the point where anyone would be interested in taking him off our hands, never mind for the £15m that Everton were offering a year ago? Where has that defender gone, and why? No clean sheets this season. None. You will always struggle if you are guaranteed to concede every game, especially with the paucity of attacking acumen we exhibit.

We will struggle to a draw against Bolton. It will just make the crowd sigh, and a few more won't come back for the next game. Rinse and repeat until the crowds are down under 20,000 and we are down to Division 3.

Lose on Tuesday and, if he has any integrity, Grayson should walk.

But who to replace him with? We need a football man, we need football brains, we need passion. Why not try someone like Bally or Phillips, with Reidy as a Director of Football? Because until Short sells the club, there will be no money, no passion and no improvement.

It has reached the point where I sit with my pint pre-match needing to neck it just to summon the courage to go to the ground. I can’t even give my spare tickets away for free because those without the financial commitment of a season card just can’t be bothered to go anymore - and who can blame them?

Everything I hear from Martin Bain and Ellis Short sounds hollow. They don't give a f**k about the club and fans. It's profoundly sad and this all feels like 1987 all over again. Let's hope we can find a Gates and Gabbiadini in League One.

It's the HOPE I can't stand? There's very little hope there right now.

This is unacceptable.

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