What really happened with Clarke?
I have been thinking about this interim GM label lately and find it very odd that Paul Holmgren would have that label. I mean look at it this way, Clarke has been Snider’s MAN for decades and now all of a sudden he steps down without giving the team any chance to find a replacement for him.
From Ed’s point of view, wouldn’t you want to keep Clarke in the title of GM until you could find a replacement? You keep the fans thinking you are trying to do what you can to win and keep the face of the team with you. Ok his heart wasn’t in it, fine let him sit at home and let Homer take all the GM meetings until a replacement is found and then Clarkie steps down and so-so steps in. No matter what those idiots on the sports talk say about Clarke he is the Flyers and they are going to take a hit in attendance with this. You knew evey year that team was going to be competitive, no matter what you thought of his moves the Flyers were always one of the top teams in the league year in and year out. Clarke was the main reason for that.
From Clarke’s point of view, this is the team that has given him everything and in return he has given them everything he has year in and year out. The athelete in him has got to be saying, stick it out and see what I can do just one last season, I don’t want it to end this way in mid fight. He didn’t think about this decision too long, if he did he would have thought about doing it in the beginning of the season. Not a few games into the season.
No, none of those things happened and it strikes me as very odd. Something else happened beside a difference of thinking, something to make the hard as nails Clarke walk away in the middle of the season, and Ed Snider throw his hands up in the midst of a season and say to the fans, we know we suck now but give us some time to right the ship. He has never done that and Clarke has never walked away. Something is very wrong with this team and one or 2 trades are not going to correct it.
The Flyers have always gotten the silver spoon treatment from the fans in this town, not now. With Clarke gone and this team as dismal as it is, it could get very ugly down on Broad St.