| FANS FORUM REPORT - PART 4
On Thursday 17th April 2003 close to 400 Wanderers' fans packed into The Vere Suite at Adams Park to hear the views of Club officials as well as having a chance to air their own opinions and questions. Chairboys on the Net has prepared a number of reports from the evening, continuing here with the opening speech by Wanderers' Manager Lawrie Sanchez. 
The Wanderers gaffer picked out what he thought to be the salient points of the 2002/3 season, touching on the Crewe booing fiasco and the Sean Devine saga but pointing out that there had been a lot of "doom and gloom" almost from the home draw with Mansfield in August. However, Sanchez admitted that performances had not always been acceptable, saying "The bottom line is that we haven't been good enough and we haven't achieved what we wanted to achieve - that's player's staff and me. I'm responsible for that because I'm at the top of the pile."But any thoughts from critics of Sanchez jumping ship were stamped on as he added "I have two years left on my contract here. I intend to honour that. If the Chairman feels that some time down the line the board don't want that any longer, then that's in his hands, but I intend to see those two years out. I don't feel my job is finished here. I know some of you are disappointed this season. A lot of people were disappointed last season with 11th in the table and 64 points - the highest finish since Martin (O'Neill) was here." Sanchez recognised the fact the fans wanted the team to do better but he claimed he wanted the same thing, saying "It is my job on the line. When people say 'sack him' it is my career. My livelihood and I want to do well. Not just for myself but for my family and I want to do well for this football club. To do well I have to do well here - so that is my driving force." The Wycombe boss also defended himself against those who had accused him of lacking passion while watching games, commenting "When we lose on a Saturday and I can't hold a conversation with anybody for 24 hours because I'm so choked up about it and people say you're not showing enough passion from the bench, then I would dispute that." Looking ahead to the 2003/4 campaign, the Manager said he was looking to the younger players to develop now that the average age of the squad had dropped to around 24. "If the youngsters like Roger Johnson, who has now got the games under his belt, comes in and we've got good young players in the Youth Team and Reserves who are champing at the bit to come in and supplement what we've got. If people like Holligan and Harris can avoid injury and Faulconbridge can show us what he did at Wrexham last year when he scored 17 goals and bits and pieces this year. If we can be a bit more radical in what we do team wise, we've got thoughts on that, then I'm hopeful that this time next season, the season will still be alive for us and we will be chasing that eighth place." The Manager's reference to eighth place came at the time when it was proposed that the Division Two play-offs would be extended. That idea has since been shelved following concern from the FA and Premier League but it was an indication that the Manager appeared to be looking at the business end of the table. Sanchez then let himself open to questions from the floor and during a fairly reasoned debate retorted "Whatever you think about me as a Manager here. I am the Manager and I will be the Manager next season and hopefully the season afterwards. The more you undermine me, the more you undermine the organisation, the more you undermine the players thoughts about thinking 'perhaps he's right and I'm not quite right'. There is a general undermining situation. I will take it to a bigger perspective. We have just had a big war and a lot of people have tried to undermine the Prime Minster and it doesn't help anybody." More from the question and answer session to follow  Fans Forum 17th April 2003 - Intro and index to other reports
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