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Beesotted contributor, Jim Levack, who was at the Press Conference after the match last night, looks back at the events post-match, and adds a unique perspective on proceedings…

Just before Lee Carsley’s first press conference my neighbour, a diehard Bluenose, texted me these words…” Not a classic – thanks for the points mate”.

Suffice to say he got a two-word response. I was in a bad mood after yet another toothless and yes, frankly boring, display against a side I’ve never been that keen on.

That might be because I live in Leamington among a load of Blues fans, who were queuing up to text and facebook message me after the final whistle.

My mood wasn’t exactly brightened by the new gaffer’s opening gambit where he revealed he didn’t ask to be the manager and doesn’t anticipate being at the club after May.

It was an admission that left the assembled press corps slightly baffled and was another strange turn in one of the most un Brentford-like weeks I’ve ever known.

But then as I walked to the car I took a facebook message from a friend and former colleague on the Birmingham Mail who knows Carsley very well, which made me think there might be a plus side to his outspoken start.

Ian Clarkson is a pain in the arse. I’ve told him so on many occasions and never cease to remind him how he broke my heart in a Leyland Daf semi-final way back when.

Clarky, as we all know him, waited until after the game to send his message, and typically for a seasoned ex-pro, didn’t rub my nose in it.

Of Carsley, a team mate in the Blues Old Boys side, he wrote: “He’s a top bloke… straight down the line and knows his stuff”.

That made me think again about Carsley’s unexpected presser and make a few assumptions – dangerous I know, but at the moment I’ll clutch at any straw I can find.

Perhaps his blunt honesty and knowledge is precisely what we need to help us through the choppy seas we’re experiencing right now.

Yes, it’s frankly bloody odd that Matthew Benham has appointed a bloke who doesn’t actually want the job, but if the criteria for a good fit is someone who knows the English game and how to get the best out of people then Carsley is that man.

Pondering on it as I drove home, I quite like his honesty – after all he did say he felt it was a privilege to do the job – and know he will give it 100%. As Clarkson said, that’s how he works.

The fact that he’s “straight down the line” was never better underlined by his words in the press room, and that kind of bluntness might prove to be the perfect foil to Matthew Benham.

Diplomatically, he said we have enough quality in the side to do well, especially once the foreign lads start to bed in to the English game. That may well be true.

But equally I can’t see someone so outspoken and forthright sitting idly by while we wait until December for our squad to get anywhere near its full complement in terms of quality, a facet sadly lacking last night.

He will see the details – thing like the fact that a ban for five yellows after just nine games for Alan McCormack suggests one of two things. Either he’s over compensating for a lack of steel in the post-Douglas era or he simply isn’t good enough – I think the former.

Whatever is wrong – and the abject failure to replace Pritchard is obvious – it looks pretty clear that Carsley has enough about him to let the management team know what he needs to get the job done.

To my mind a couple of loan signings are essential if we are not to drift like an anchorless boat until December, waiting in hope that the injured players are going to return like messiahs.

After my late night drive home up the M40, I feel a lot more reassured that we have a bloke in charge who is clearly unafraid to say what he thinks and won’t be backward in coming forward to keep the new approach in check.

So my mood has lifted this morning – until that is I received a text from another former colleague at the Birmingham Mail, food critic Paul Fulford.

He wrote “@Jimblee1 Good morning #KRO”

I replied “Morning Paul #FRO”. I’ll leave you to guess the acronym.

Jim Levack
@Jimblee1

Beesotted’s Pride of West London post-match podcast can be heard here.