Who are ya? - Blair McPherson

It starts as a murmur. Then it turns into a verdict.
“Who are ya? Who are ya?”

A few voices. Then a stand. Then the whole ground—kids, pensioners, everyone. Arms out stretched fingers pointing . Not subtle. But defiant. 

The away fans have been at it all game. Top of the league. Too good for this division. You’re going down.

The strange thing is—they’re losing.
Top of the league. Losing to a team going down.

They’ve had the ball. Looked comfortable. Done very little with it. But they went behind early and haven’t fixed it.

Still, the noise doesn’t stop.

Then, deep into added time, they get their moment.
A scrappy equaliser. Big deflection. It counts.

Bedlam.
Did you really think a team like you could beat us?

From the restart—one move. One finish. Goal.
2–1.

No time for recovery. No time for spin.

Silence from one end.

From the other—

“Who are ya?”

You don’t have to like football to recognise this.

Some teams dominate the conversation. Early wins. Strong narrative. Lots of airtime. They look like the leaders. They sound like the leaders.

And they let you know.

Others just get on with it. Less polished. Less visible. Closer to the work. They take the pressure. Stay in the game.

Until something shifts.

An inspection. A crisis. A funding call. The organisational version of a deflection in added time.

That’s when overconfidence gets exposed—and culture is all you’ve got left.

The loud teams celebrate too early. They think the story’s done. They tell everyone how it ends.

Then the next two minutes happen.

Do you reset? Do the basics? Or do you keep talking?

Because the backlash isn’t subtle.

It’s staff rolling their eyes, partners going quiet, and senior leaders suddenly “in another meeting”.

The workplace version of “who are ya?”

Possession isn’t performance. Noise isn’t leadership. And being top of the league doesn’t win you this game.

Especially if you start celebrating before the whistle.

Because somewhere, quietly, is a team still doing the basics.

Waiting.

And when it turns, you won’t need it explained.

You’ll hear it.

“Who are ya?”