Our last relegation team - it's not good reading

Following on from the earlier thread about who you might want from that squad of 2001-02 I have just been through the stats and got the following team out of those who played most games for us Surprisingly I always associate Paul Gibbs with this team yet he only played four games. I was thinking the other day of the comparison between now and then at left back - Gibbs then and Kennedy now. Not much to choose really, although in reality it was Chris Barker in that position (or centre back) and he actually played 43 games that season.

Anyway, here is "the team" - those who contributed most to our last dismal season.

1 Kevin Miller - overweight but generally a good keeper
2 David Mulligan - academy graduate, hot head
3 Chris Barker - steady player
4 Gary Jones - Rochdale import, came with Steve Parkin
5 Steve Chettle - steady centre half
6 Chris Morgan - in his last days as one of our best defenders
7 Kevin Donovan - did well at Grimsby and West Brom but stole a wage with us
8 Chris Lumsdon - cracking loan player, rubbish once signed for over £300,000
9 Mike Sheron - million pound signing when we had money to throw around, fizzled out to nothing
10 Bruce Dyer - fondly remembered player, always will be
11 Darren Barnard - same as Dyer, but this was one season too many for him with us

We had "stars" like Eric Tinkler, Mitch Ward, Lee Crooks, Dean Gorre, Richard Naylor, Alex Neil, Carl Regan and Peter Sand in the wings plus a few others best not to mention.
Now be honest - does the above look like a relegation team? On paper, no. In practice, it's much like we have this season. Good players not performing as they should (Sheron, Lumsdon, Barnard to name but three), a Rochdale cowboy in midfield (Gary Jones) and the inimitable, the stupendously awful Kevin Donovan on the wing. Hard to believe that he played 28 league games that season? How???

 

Sheron scored nearly a goal every other game. Barnard scored 7 and set up plenty. Dyer nearly got to 20 that season, Lumsdon chipped in well from midfield. Our problem was mainly defence. But throughout the side we had soft as **** players with no bottle. That's what cost us in my opinion. Not enough graft or heart for my liking.
Defensively though, Chettle was shot by then. Morgan was overrated. Mr Relegation. Flynn came in and was horrific. Crooks played right back a lot and he was beyond bad. Mulligan was never good enough a defender. Gibbs came into his 'own' a year later but the signs were there early. Barker was the only one I liked back then, and he wasn't great to be fair.
In midfield, Jones was bloody awful, and Lumsdon went from looking like Mellis on form, to the Mellis we see now. Barnard was still quality, but fading. Any pace he had, had gone by then. And Donovan was the worst midfielder I'd ever seen at that point. The archetypal soft as **** footballer.

We were blessed up front, until Parkin brought Naylor in. The Brek Shea of 2002.


I can certainly understand how we were relegated. There was a lot of upheaval and 'other' stuff going on behind the scenes as well. That won't have helped. So I reckon you're right, PoR. Similarities are there alright. Sad, innit?

 

Ominously we were actually "relegated" on 16 March, and we have already past that date this season. For everyone at Walsall that day this was THE day that sealed it. Don Goodman scored the winner for them (did he get both of them, I forget). They had a man sent off midway through the second half and this was a game for the taking, yet we lost it. I think most of us knew that was it, and so it proved to be.
We had Lee Crooks, Paul Gibbs and Richard Naylor playing that day - what a horrible trio!

 

One slight difference we did have a 12 match unbeaten run that season albeit plenty of draws this lot are not capable of putting two together imo

 

Agree Walsall game did us. Remember unbeaten run ending at Birmingham. Sheron should have scored and Morgan header off the line