I was pondering how Barnsley had got into real trouble over the last two or three years. If we look at the bottom and the top of the table the divide is purely financial outlay. At the top the majority have spent millions. At the bottom no money to spend on players, it is mainly wheel and deal. Yeovil, Charlton Barnslley, Millwall, Doncaster, Birmingham, and latterly Blackpool .( Oyston pockets are full). So then we come to their Managers. Redknapp, Pearson Dyche Rosler, etc. Do we think these managers could have done any better at Oakwell, or at the other bottom clubs. Imagine being a trainer at a racehorse stables. On the one hand you enter top pedigree horses into races and would expect success. On the bottom side, you know your horses are only average and you week in, week out, train them etc but deep down come Saturday you do not expect fantastic performances. You get the blame for everything, but you know things will not alter unless you get new horses. So we have had Davey, Robins , Hill, Flitcroft, and now Wilson. We are putting the cart before the horse. It's new finance and new players, not new managers. Until this alters we will struggle at this level. I do not class all our players as cart horses, but most have not got the pedigree required.
Some trainers seem to be able to get an extra response from their horses. That extra inch which makes the difference. Take Leicester - Ok they have one or two household names but I've never heard of half of them yet they worked their ******** off for the full 90 minutes. Every manager should be getting that and then the result is down to skill, flair, luck or whatever. This season we have not worked hard enough because if we had, we wouldn't be in the bottom three.
So you believe that Leicester are 7 points clear at the top of the Championship with a game in hand, a goal difference of +33, and have won 8 and drawn 2 of their last 10 games due to them working harder than other teams? Not the fact that they have establised a squad in the last few seasons consisting of Jamie Vardy (15 goals), David Nugent (17 goals), Kevin Phillips, Anthony Knockaert, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Kasper Schmeichel, Paul Konchesky, Ritchie De Laet, Sean St Ledger, Danny Drinkwater, Wes Morgan, Chris Wood, Lloyd Dyer etc etc etc? Anyone one of those players would walk in to our team. But could we afford the wages of a single one of them? Highly doubtful.
Think Rosler would have been a good fit for us, some wanted him when Robins walked, wether he would have come is another matter. Dyche would have been decent as well, not sure how much Burnley have spent to get up there either. Blackpool didn't really spend that much to get promotion so with the right manager you can achieve something , obviously money helps
Yes, I do believe they work harder than other teams and that's why they are 7 points clear. Never heard of Jamie Vardy, Richie De Laet or Anthony Knockaert till the other night. Phillips is older than me. Nugent has had is career rejuvenated by Pearson. Konchesky and St Ledger are both over the hill but have had a new lease of life under Pearson. Did anyone think Chris Wood was going to be any good when he played for us? Drinkwater was steady for us but no world beater. Most of these players were there last season. The manager has turned them into a very workmanlike side who would die for him. I didn't think any of them apart from Nugent were over-blessed with skill or flair. Maybe we couldn't afford to pay their wages but a lot of teams could - they are nowhere near the highest paid team in the league. Ball on the other foot, are you saying that the difference between them and QPR is all down to wages?
I think the things that murdered us is that they worked as a unit, were quick on the attacking front and their off the ball movement was superb. They also had the advantage of pace over ours lads, you only have to look at the first goal for that to be plain. I have been quite impressed at the pace Jennings has shown but otherwise we aren't blessed with it, that needs to be addressed whatever division we start in next season..
