Whither fortress Prenton.

In the not too distant past, Prenton Park was a fortress, a place visiting teams hated coming to because they usually got nothing. Our problem was usually our away form, which was often poor or very poor. Fortress Prenton though was safe, like a mothership. 

Like so many things, this notion seems to be melting away. We no longer seem to worry teams who visit us. In fact, too often, teams see us as the football equivalence to an ‘all you can eat buffet’. Stuff your gills, everything is on offer at Tranmere Rovers except a home win. 

What is the root cause of all this? Is it that our players have fallen out of love with the Super White Army? Are they sick of the criticism from the sidelines? I could buy this idea if we were talking about an U14 team, but our players are supposed to be professional. I suspect they are not enamoured with some of the cat-calls, but nor are they that bothered. However, it might be that it makes them less likely to think of our club as a long-term gig. They are working footballers, paid to fulfil their contractural obligations, not to fall in love with us. 

There is the possibility, hinted at by the likes of Sam Finley, that the uncertainty regarding the clubs future is having an effect. This may be true, but doesn’t explain the poor form at home compared to our better away record. Surely it would be the case that home and away form would suffer equally? 

As it stands it’s a worry and leaves me thinking if our away form starts to match our home form we are far from safe. We have seen the addition of two rookie players during the window so far. Quite what this says about Sol Solomon’s future is a mystery. He has rarely been played as an attacker and now seems to be likely to go either now, or in the summer. In the meantime we may need to start looking over our shoulders, not up the track. A football season is a long season. There have been plenty of occasions when clubs have let safety slip through their fingers. Let’s hope this is not the case for Rovers. 

All views expressed are personal