at the club seems a real mess to me. I said when Davey was given the caretakers job that he would land it permanently. I was suspicious when he first started signing players and then an assistant manager. I honestly believe barring a disaster from his first few games that he had the job in the bag already. After interviewing a few other candidates (the list of managers wasnt very impressive imho) the board went ahead with their original decision anyway. They quickly moved to give him the job just in case he started going through a bad patch. Just made it public knowledge a day late. Mr Shepherd has done a grand job in sorting the finances out at the club and should be thanked for coming in and more or less getting us close to being a stable club again. However a big part of the praise whether he likes it or not must go to Andy Ritchie and the hard work of the players last season, and to a bit of luck thrown in. Unfortunatley things didnt go great this season so far. Whatever has been said whether it be AR not signing players or a few bad results i personally feel there was an undercurrent of some people not liking others that really caused the manager to leave. This month is crucial in that we must organise a squad capable of keeping out of the bottom three. Whether we wanted him there or not Davey is there and he must now show what skills he has in the transfer market. I dont know how much he has to spend (is it true £2m has been mentioned in the Chron?) but he needs to fill the team with experience. Im not convinced with what he has brought in so far and we need a couple of well known players who can get the supporters on his side. I do wonder if the board had waited till after the two defeats over Christmas whether he would have got the job but thats in the past now. Im a bit concerned we are going to go into February without any key signings and just players who are no better than what we already have. Lets hope im wrong. A couple more defeats and Daveys record will be as poor as Ritchies this season. Will Mr Shepherd be spouting statistics then? Will Davey be ready for the chop then? Also has he been offered a proper contract yet or is that going to take as long as the Ritchie one that didnt materialise? I just wonder has Mr Shepherd done as much as he can at the club? Maybe he should move aside and let someone else thake the club to the next step!
