Sheffield Steel, Reborn!

Possibly.

Tom Barrasso. A new name to be added to the Sheffield Steelers staff. Hopefully a new name to go down in Steelers history. 

He has a massive uphill job to do. He has to rebuild just about everything to do with the on ice product, almost from a standing start. An inherited team, originally signed by the best coach in the universe, and at the moment of Tom taking over, a team very much in a well deserved last place in the league. Last place, which will take some shifting from, as even though we are on equal points to the team just above us, they have played 4 games less than us. This applies to most of the rest of the teams in the league. They have all played less than us (except Nothingham, who have played 1 more, but are significantly higher up the league, (even though this might be a false position when other teams like Belfast, Fife and Cardiff start catching them up with games played)).

Last place, say it out loud, say it softly, or just think it. Whichever way you say it, it doesn't bear much in the way of inspiration, or instil a lot of confidence for the future. But last place is where we are at, and for Tom, that's his starting point. We were in last place under Thommo for his last week with us, so at least Tom knew the score and where we were at. Also, he has watched a couple of videos of this seasons games and has now seen us at practice sessions and been on the bench as head honcho for a couple of games....

…. AND HE'S STILL HERE, PEOPLE!

So, that in itself, sends a small, but very significant, boost to the confidence levels of the fans, who have had to put up with the demise over the past, few years. Hopefully, it will also ring bells with the current team. Whether they are the best we can get, or not, at this point is irrelevant. This is Tom's starting rosta. Changes may come in the weeks ahead, they may not, we shall have to wait and see how it pans out, but for now, it's all uphill from here. 

A few things worth noting, Tom has already said "the guys are buying into the idea that we can fix this" which is an immense step forward as he has them realising that it is broken, and broken badly. 

Also, no denials from the estate agent that it isn't broken, especially as he was asked when Thommo resigned "how did we get into this mess" to which he replied "We've been in worse spots, we can fix this", so another admission that things were broken.

A quote from Tony Smith saying "He couldn't get the team to play, a team he recruited" about Thommo, Recruitment, something mentioned a few times over the last couple of years by people on social media and on the forum.

Both Tom and Tony have accepted that booing is part of the game and the fans (paying customers) way of announcing that they are very unhappy about the product on the ice, even though the estate agent just wants to call us all "haters" (and no, I will not leave it alone, as I personally think he has done more damage than good for the Sheffield Steelers).

Tony was aware of the booing and said "fans have every right to do so". Tom has also said, "Fans will start to boo if the team doesn't start to get results" and he doesn't want that, so he knows he has to work miracles and in a relatively short period of time.

Everything coming out of the Steelers office now, is pretty much what the "know nothing" fans have been saying on social media for some time now, and not just this season. Again and again, our thoughts have become fact and we have had to sit here and endure abuse from just about everyone in the Steelers office. I suppose sitting here waiting for any form of apology or even an acceptance that we do know more than you think, will mean me wading through tons and tons of popcorn, and having to bite the bullet and think, NO, that will never happen.

For now though, looking forward, is a new future on the horizon?

Is Tom the man to take us to that future?

I certainly hope so. I'm willing to give him the chance to turn things round. How long a chance, well, we'll have to see. I am thinking he will take considerably less time than his predecessor to get players to work as a team and put some working performances out there for the fans.

Good luck Tom.

Bring the belief back.

Mart.