I've contemplated the predicament we are in and tried to understand what it is that is the current problem. Easy to say sack the manager etc but whether that right or wrong is t what I've been thinking. In my mind we have two fundamental issues. Naivety and Leadership. By name it's I mean both on the field and off it. A turning point was the Doncaster away game. I think with more experience we would have locked the game down for a draw. While 1 point away is ok, it would have extended our unbeaten run and built confidence. Donnie had players who slowed the game down when we had spells on top, and increased the tempo when they saw our weaknesses. We played one pace and threw caution to the wind when at this stage of the season we didn't need to. They say strikers win matches and defences win championsjips. However we haven't had a settled defensive and goalkeeping combo. changing Davies out when he was fit and in form didn't help, but the defensive combos and formations have changed game by game. Player wise we try to do a lot of things at 100mph, I.e. Free kicks, corners etc but play on the ball at one tempo. There isn't anyone showing the leadership and experience to dictate how we carry out each passage of play. No one to talk the ref into realising mistakes without getting petulantly booked. A leader who can tap the kids on the shoulder and advise during a game. It's clear that we have players with skill. Harris and Croweley are examples but with no end product and game in game out they still try the same things, which fail. We can accommodate naivety where we can compensate with some older wiser game play, but we are the ones getting 'owed manned'. We can't tolerate 4 or 5 naive players game in game out with no one to pull em up during a game. Of course there should be work off the pitch to help here too. All in all I think we need 2-3 older heads, players who have seen it done it. Not all starting but also on the bench. Players who can point out the things to learn to others on the bench and in training. Players that can lead by example on the pitch and effect a game, make us hard to beat first. Players who have personal leadership and don't need an arm band to lead others. Remember we have a young inexperienced manager and a young inexperienced squad. There are players out there, some we know well, lets get some in.
The problem is that when you go for a young, inexperienced manager like we have done then the door to the "older head" kind of player is shut. I bet LJ saw the likes of Peter Ramage and Bobby Hassell as a threat to his own position. Not unreasonable to think like that, but it's not doing us any favours. We might be hoping for a Shaun Derry-type addition in January but you can't really see it happening can you? It might be just what we need but if the manager is then frightened of losing his job to this experienced interloper then it's not really a viable option. On the other hand if our "recruitment committee" overrule the head coach then there would be nothing he could do about it. It would be a case of sign somebody or get your boots on yourself
Typed it on iPad before i had my glasses on, and couldn't change titles afterwards. Thank you for pointing out the obvious though. If you look carefully you might find even more mistakes.
Very true. I was careful not to state who was responsible for the recruitment, but any good manager in any walk of life will hire people that are better than him. Management is about delivering results through the acts of others. This is where the head coach vs manager debate comes in and who in fact is 'The Manager'. Not necessarily by title but by their responsibility and accountability.
I originally read this as 'nativity' after spending all last night planning my class' Christmas Performance.
There's an inn near Bethlehem, en suite, full English and a lovely view over Galilee. see Spencer for details.
Anyone with experience has been discarded - Ie Hassell, Ross Turnbull, Ramage, Jonsons got rid of Lalkovitch Berry Bailey without even having an half decent look at them and brought no one in better yet to cover for them.
