Former Bombers weigh in on team's woes
Some former Winnipeg Blue Bombers are shocked with the troubles the team is facing this year.
The club has only won three games this season and is tied for last place in the CFL's East division. Its most recent — and most humbling — defeat came Sunday at the hands of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Riders routed the Bombers 55-10 in the game, nicknamed the Banjo Bowl. It was a followup to the miserable outing the Bombers had one week earlier in the Labour Day Classic, which they lost 29-14 to the same Riders.
In the hours after the Banjo Bowl blowout, a Facebook site was created, called Fire Mike Kelly. By Tuesday morning, it had 1,800 members, many spewing vitriol against Kelly.
"In 22 years of being a fan, I've never been so angry and exasperated with this team as I am right now," wrote Holly Walker.
"Kelly is so overwhelmed and outclassed as a coach it's tragic. He needs to be tossed immediately. I will not attend any home games this year, not because I'm a fair-weather fan, but because I have zero respect for a guy who is running this franchise into the ground," wrote Billy Pollock.
'At this point in time in the locker room there's no fun whatsoever. There's nobody smiling and laughing and joking around. People are on the cusp of losing their jobs at this point in time.'—Former Bomber kicker Troy Westwood
In the aftermath of Sunday's game and Monday's outrage, Kelly told a media scrum that the team's fortunes will turn around and the fair-weather fans will return but there won't be room for them on the bandwagon.
Aside from the mounting losses in games, the team has also lost big name players who were released after refusing assignments or asking to be traded.
Quarterback Kevin Glenn was released at the start of the season and receiver Derick Armstrong was sent packing a week after he refused to play in the season-opening loss to the Edmonton Eskimos because he was upset at being relegated to backup status.
More recently, veteran linebacker Barrin Simpson has requested a trade, citing a diminished role on the team.
Former Bomber offensive tackle star Chris Walby finds the team's woes disturbing.
"I've never seen a team go through so much turmoil, with the Armstrong thing and now the Barrin Simpson situation. It's gotta be, that locker room, it can't be a happy place," he said.
Walby said Kelly should never have gotten rid of Glenn at the start of the season.
Former Bomber Troy Westwood also expects the team locker room is a horrible place these days, but he doesn't think Kelly will get canned.
"That's an environment where paranoia rules at the best of times. And when you start losing, things just get exponentially worse as each week goes by," he said. "So at this point in time in the locker room there's no fun whatsoever. There's nobody smiling and laughing and joking around. People are on the cusp of losing their jobs at this point in time."
Westwood agrees Kelly made a serious mistake by releasing Glenn.
Board of directors concerned
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers board of directors is concerned about all the negative attention the Bombers have received but does not intend to get involved in the problems with the team's football operations.
Board chair Ken Hildahl said the board is not satisfied with the team's performance. However, even though the team is community-owned, it must be run like a business and the board will not interfere with the on-field part of that business or with Lyle Bauer's job as team president.
To interfere would mean the board has lost confidence in Bauer, and Hildahl stressed that's not the case.
"From a board perspective, what we'd like to see is the distractions eliminated. But a lot of times you don't see them coming," he said. "You know, Mike Kelly says you've got to stay the course, and from a board perspective, Lyle's responsibility is to run the organization."
Board members have concerns about poor ticket sales for the rest of this season if the team doesn't start winning, and Hildahl said he is aware some fans are trying to sell their season tickets or suggesting a boycott of the team.
But he wants to assure fans that the team's problems are being dealt with by senior executives. He wouldn't offer any details, adding no business should air its internal matters publicly.