'It all went downhill when Jewell left'
5:54pm Monday 12th May 2008
The Wetherall Years: Everybody blames the "six weeks of madness" as the reason why it all went wrong for us in the Premiership.
But by far and away the biggest mistake the club made was losing Paul Jewell. For me, that was the beginning of the end for us in the top division.
You don't realise how good something is until it's no longer there and that was definitely the case with Paul.
I was absolutely devastated when I heard the news.
I'd just got back from holiday and there was a message on the answerphone from Paul saying that he was off. I couldn't believe it after what we had achieved but, with what had gone on, he was right to go.
Unfortunately his exit really set us back. No disrespect to anybody else who took over but he was such a massive part of that first season.
Seeing what followed during the summer, I'm sure the signings would have been very different if he had still been in charge.
And as has been widely said, we've been paying the price ever since in more ways than one.
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