The optimists, some of whom remain eternal throughout, are those donning the recently referred to beautifully coloured spectacles, influenced by a spectacular goal, one great pass, a fine tackle. These events not only change their impression of a player's performance, but that of the team, and generally the whole season ahead. Things are looking up, we're on the way, what a great mover in the transfer market that Nick Cusack manager guy is, the board have got it right at last, no need for the fans to be convinced, the team have proved themselves already, we've seen enough to believe. Few down features of a game are seen as an ongoing problem. Life is full of clouds and much brighter lining, of corners around which there is always something to look forward to. Patience and understanding are natural characteristics and talents they possess in abundance. The team and the club need people like this, they are supportive to the hilt, but do they secretly get despondent when no one else is looking?

The pessimists, well, what will ever please them, or convince them that there is hope, that the team needs time to settle, that in every sport a team needs a little luck and the run of the ball to change fortunes. Would any player signing a contract raise their spirits? They marvel at the wealth of talent in the visiting team, who are bound to finish higher in the league than we are. They compare each of our players to their opposite numbers and satisfy themselves that we will finish second. Once they have done that, they can relax, and complain for the duration. Why they pay their money each week, or even contemplate a season ticket will forever be the unanswerable question. As anyone who has sat close to such a person during a game will confirm, ninety minutes is a lot longer than two halves of football. Do they, you have to wonder, discreetly punch the air when they get back to the car after a win, before composing themselves and settling back into negativity in preparation for the next game.

Throughout each match, there is a fair dose of the optimist and a reasonable helping of the pessimist in us all, but what of the realist. Secretly we all have him inside us somewhere.

The realist is the scorn of both optimist and pessimist, to the optimist he is a pessimist and to the pessimist he is an optimist, he cannot win. He is alone in the middle, taking each game as it comes, judging the team's and individual players' performances fairly and without outside influence. So does he exist? I'm certain he does somewhere but very quietly, rarely raising his voice to put forward an opinion, fearing he will be ostracised by those objecting to or disagreeing with his comments.

At the moment, three games in, the optimists are delighted that we have scored 6 goals, thinking that the defensive problems will be resolved, and that the goal scoring machine that we have become will lead us onwards and upwards. The pessimists fear that if we were to score eight goals each game, the defence would manage to let in nine, and continue to send us spiralling downwards.

It's a long season, and far too early to be second guessing end of season positions, but we need to be winning a couple of games soon to take us back up the league a little and reduce the amount of catch up that we may have to play in later months. After three games (accepting two have been away) we are already looking at a gap of five points between us and the leaders, and if we do have the ambition to push for promotion, then we do not want too much more daylight between us and the leading pack.

All we can hope is that phrases heard from more than one source after the Bury game such as 'worse I've ever seen', 'went through us like a knife through butter', 'defence was pathetic' and the ever popular 'same sh*te different year' are not echoed through these pages too often in the remaining months of the season, and anyway, this is not the sort of thing you want to hear the optimists shouting really is it?

Suspensions are bound to feature this season on a fairly regular basis, and we seem to have stolen a march on that front. This will not only be through the fault of the players, who if guilty deserve the punishment, but also through the blatant incompetence of several referees it would seem. In our matches to date (including the pre- seasons), have any fans been pleased with the standard of refereeing? I always believed that referees were there to control a game, but increasingly each season, they seem to have the aim of dictating the game, and that does nothing for either team or any supporters.

Their methods of control are pedantic, regimental and old fashioned, and out of place in the modern game. I am sure that there are instances where referees should be sent off for inciting players and fans alike when they openly laugh at players who disagree with their decision. Not sure who could carry out this deed mind you, unless referees are trained to undertake the Basil Fawlty method of self-castigation, and then send themselves off. Clearly they all answered the 'were you bullied at school' question correctly to earn their stripes in the first place. Apart from managerial reports on referees, isn't one of the functions of the fourth official one of overview, and if so, does he ever exercise his rights in that department.

If anyone has any feedback to give me, I'd love to hear from you at pauly@scfc.co.uk