We finished 5th in the league. 12 places above what I would have hoped for. I'll take that. A good summer, and keeping big Val, guarantees us doing at least the same next season.
We managed all that with a one dimensional Head Coach who plays poor football and sh it players like Woodrow, Brittain, Sykes, Mowatt & Dike, too! If the board have any sense they'll track down all the self appointed football experts who have an answer to everything on various social media sites! That way, we won't be in a relegation battle like the intelligentsia claim we'll be facing!
Not having seen much football this season I have to say, based on the stats, (and it seems to be stats that drives recruitment etc at BFC) and comments on here (again from fans' perspective and not professionals) one would have to argue that Woodrow, in spite of many people backing him, has not delivered to the expected level. Take away his goal tally from penalties and the stats indicate he has well underperformed. Whether or not that is due to tactics, positional role he has been asked to play I cannot say. Nevertheless, comments like, he has" gone missing", "he has the first touch of a blacksmith" "inaccurate passing" "giving the ball away", "wrong decision on final ball", have been all too common on post match comments here. That alone would suggest, that his level has dropped from the Woodrow we signed . The little I have seen of him has left me unimpressed although I will probably get pilloried for saying so but he has become distinctly average for most of the latter part of the season. Whatever the reason, be it complacency for apparently being an automatic pick or whatever, I cannot say, but he does appear to deserve criticism and those leaping to his defence need to reconsider BFC deserve more from him. Close season he needs to get his head down and work on his game. Anyway well done to the Reds for having confounded the critics and making the playoffs when, like you say, many naysayers had us down for a relegation struggle at the start of the season. Onwards and upwards.
Well, as someone who HAS seen all the games, I believe Woodrow has been vital for us this season, especially in the first half of the campaign. Valerien Ismael has continued to select him and I honestly believe Valerien knows a damned sight more about football than self appointed experts from the internet. If liking and rating Cauley Woodrow means I'm in a minority of one on the BBS, I'm quite happy & relaxed about that.
we need to convince everyone that Styles and Brittain are rubbish then they might leave them with us.