For some considerable time the vast majority, if not all, of us have been saying that the squad needs experience. Having young 'saleable' assets is all well and good, just as long as you've got the older teachers around them on the pitch to help them develop. This view has been taken on by the management team in the past few weeks, at least verbally. So, in starting to move the squad around and freshen things up, we bring in a 19 year old from Newcastle. How does that fit the 'experience' agenda? True, Adam Hammill is 27, a relative veteran in that dressing room, but is he a leader? No, of course he isn't. He's barely been in control of himself in the past few seasons. So what's going on? I think the problem that we have is that we have a young manager. Could it be the case that LJ is fearful of someone 30+ entering that dressing room, in the state that it's in, because his authority could be challenged? Imagine if Bobby Hassell was in that squad today. Arguably, we'd be in a better position than we are now. Yes, Bobby's powers were fading, but I'll tell you what, I'd pick him tomorrow to sit in front of that back four reading the game and vocally instructing / encouraging his young team mates. But Bobby being in that dressing room would cause problems for LJ. The younger players may turn to Bobby instead of LJ. The biggest problem of all, of course, is that we'd turn to Bobby. We'd want him taking control, perhaps even as manager if he's got the right coaching badges. Thus, we won't be getting in any truly experienced players because LJ doesn't want to weaken his position. As a result we will remain rudderless and in genuine peril of falling to League Two. In short, it's a disaster.
