Of Prolonged Absence

Yes, yes... I know. I have been away from here for far too long. Considering how Newell's Old Boys preformed over the Apertura is that really surprising?

That is not to say I am a fair weather fan. I still watched ever game that I could, have been following the team news, but just could not bring my self to write anything because the state of the team was doing nothing short of pissing me off... and I would rather not write about something I am passionate about while angry with them. With the Apertura over, I had fallen out of the habit of posting. Shame on me for that.

Well, guess I should say something about the Apertura. Nineteen games played, one win, thirteen draws. What a disaster. Before the Apertura I had stated that we needed as many points as possible to avoid a relegation battle come next season. Instead we got so few that we may just be facing a relegation battle during the Clausura.

Enough about that... or I will get angry, and start ranting.

Gerardo "Tata" Martino has come in (old news now, really) as the new coach during the summer break. Tata is a legend at Newell's from his playing days with the club. The former midfielder played a total of 505 matches for the team, and in a 2010 poll of Lepra fans was voted the best player in the history of the club. He has had some success as a coach as well, though so far it has all come at the helm of teams in Paraguay, winning the league championship there four times, winning the South American Coach of the Year award in 2007 while directing their national team... Whether all this will translate to his being able to turn Newell's around is yet to be seen, but I have already seen many a Lepra posting on Facebook and Twitter proclaiming him a savior.

I pray that it will be so.