George Gandy has this evening reassured Ben Snowball that his job as Cross Country Captain is safe after Loughborough's famous cross country squad slumped to dismal showing at the weekend's first Birmingham League at Leamington. Sunday's News of the World carried the headline SNOWBALL MELTS UNDER PRESSURE and reported that "Loughborough chiefs were planning to axe the new skipper by the end of the week". Speaking from a press conference today, Gandy dismissed such rumours as "nonsense". "Just because it has taken me 48 hours to make a comment, you jump to the incorrect conclusion that Ben's job is under threat," thundered a stony faced guru, "nothing could be further from the truth. Ben is very much the man for the moment."
Snowball's meteoric and quite unexpected elevation to captain has been met with derision from some. A statement of protest from disgraced former president Rob Hodges last week did not help matters and yesterday, Canadian assistant coach David Howe called on the club to address the "crisis of leadership" facing it. "It's about who can motivate the guys," said Howe "I don't think Ben can do that because nobody knows who he is". Snowball himself exclusively told the Echo that Saturday's performance was "depressing" but stopped short of giving up hope. "I think when Pete Matthews actually decides to man up and compete things will be a lot better- no one wants to be beaten by him!"
Whilst Snowball's position is safe at the moment, it is unlikely Gandy and his colleagues will look kindly on the potential of relegation to the second tier of Birmingham competition and a club insider has said that the Aldershot man's days are numbered. "They want to bring in a big name to get us out of this mess," said the source, "there is a lot of talk of Shane Kerr taking it back for the rest of the season, but anything can happen."
Coming Soon:
- SNOWBALL: WE CAN STAY UP
- WHAT HAS GONE WRONG AT LOUGHBOROUGH?
- IS ALASDAIR DONALDSON TO BLAME?
- THE DAY LOUGHBOROUGH LOST ITS SENSE OF HUMOUR: INSIDE STORY