The recruitment team has been found wanting & the criticism is fair.
I'm not sure Warne will stay either if anything is read into his post match comments regardless of Tony's support.
A change of playing style to utilise the skills of our better players Barlaser & Wiles must be seriously considered woever finds themselves at the helm.
A specialist defensive coach is an absolute must also.
My head is mush as today feels like a bereavement.

Don't think PW bought poor players he just has an cost envelope to work in that's not like the rest in this league. I like our squad and the way we play so I can't wait to see him take us to the title next year. At the end of the day this is a game and the world has been dealing with bigger issues. UTM and hopefully we will be back at NYS to see the lads next year.

So unlike the Barnsleys of this world, we didn't have a fairy godmother in the end.

It's been my view for sometime that we have the players in this current squad to have stayed up. It's true that we didn't quite have that little bit of flair or quality but I have always been an advocate of the old saying 'There's more than one way to skin a cat'.

This was shown to be the case with Warnock at the helm. As mentioned in a previous post, I think it was smiler who noted that he set up the game plan not to lose; it wasn't pretty but he took a completely deflated and demoralised squad of players and gained enough points to stay up with relative ease. He fulfilled his brief.

Our brief was to scrape as many points to stay up over the season, I'd rather have had us not play pretty; to have not lost but drawn in a couple more games. As smiler mentions above, we were only two minutes away from staying up, 2 minutes from a whole season of two minutes football did for us; and how many goals did we concede in the dying minutes of a game over the course of a season. The occasional own goal, missed chances when it looked easier to score. We couldn't do much about the appalling refereeing decisions; the stuff of conspiracy theories. But when professional football players consistently miss the opportunities that we missed I can only conclude that the missing 'X' factor in our case was Mindset.

Glenn described some of the football we played this season as sublime, and I agree. So what goes wrong with a set of player who play some great attacking football one week, putting some pretty strong teams to the sword, and the next match just don't turn up. We make the excuse, 'They wanted it more' as in the home game against Wycombe. Dreadful. And a dreadful reason for losing a game, because 'They wanted it more'. If you want to win then you wave to want it more or don't pull on the shirt. A good or decent player does not become a bad player overnight. So for me it was the mindset that got us relegated in those last two minutes. Those two minutes added to the the other few seconds here and there, of doubt , indecisiveness, and perhaps panic. I concede the tranche of games over the last few weeks must have been draining, but if we'd got those two elusive points earlier in the season the bad run of losses wouldn't have mattered so much. You have to be up for every game. The right mindset makes up for much inadequacy in style and skill. But we are where we are with no Fairy Godmother at the end

I agree with a bit of what you've said there Derby, and disagree with some of the rest. No problem with you having those opinions. I just thought that expressing your appreciation for the efforts of everyone but going out of your way to not thank Warne and his team was a bit mean spirited. Not a big deal.

Being a season review then it seems to me that its a little futile to think of any ifs or buts and to cite refs, the bounce of the ball or anything not directly under the control of the 11 on the pitch.

We have not been good enough to put daylight between ourselves and the fallen and the just safe .


We have lost 26, drawn 9 and only win 11. Clearly nowhere near good enough. Taking 6 points each from Wednesday and Derby and a further 6 point reduction fir Wednesday perhaps sends 2 messages.

Firstly, did we show enough to manage games to a draw, or did we perhaps hang on to most points in games and subsequently rarely triumphed over the opposition in all but a handful of games.

Secondly, it's hard to ac***ulate enough points without a striker on the pitch , combined with a frail defensive midfield.

My impression of the team selections is they have been a little naive. I'm wondering why our journalist and our good and mighty pundits haven't raised any ire about some obvious issues that at the very least beg a reasonable and curious musing. We just don't hear it. That's pretty unusual and rare. Even les Payne would often criticise both players, managers and owners. Is it that we have been sold the mantra that we are absolutely a good and wonderful club and should be thankful as this is the absolute and the apex of our reasonable expectation. You know what. I think as a club and supporters we may well be guilty of some kind of indolence.

Over the season there are question marks.

The release of a number of players that left us very short.
The playing of Smith and crooks together as often as possible.
The lack of a striker on the pitch.
The conspicuous substitutions.
The late , late show.
The sudden lack of composure and discipline from good positions in games.
The amount of totally needless fouls conceded near our 18 yard box.
The perhaps myopic view that PW expressed once he had fortuitously fallen into a 3-5-2 .
The inability to defend pressure on many occasions.

In many ways some of these points feel a little like the season on L1 when he declared that we would outplay and outscore teams. He persisted (rather heroically at first ) with a 4-3-3 , and only changed when we started to slip too far away from the pack.

TS, was like us all, upset,  and then he rallied to show his appreciation for the effort. Only he and the board know if they have supported PW enough. Historically,  TS, has shot every other manager as soon as they even hinted at assuming the position (hands up! Bang!)

A somewhat controversial point coming up. My sense is that PW is not comfortable praising the fans. He rarely directly thanks us. He talks in very cir***spect ways and utilises the players as a vehicle that often sounds passionate about the fans but feels to me like a proxy function. The players this and that and we give and they give and I hope the families, staff, and players are this and that .

I understand that we haven't been there in physical form this year , but its not just a trait from this season. PW, tells us to be proud and thankful and if we are not, he adds , then...-this is analogous , and as clear as I can make my point without exhaustive quotes ..., and he ends with a shrug in words or body and often both.

I would like a manager who speaks about the fans directly and not in the third person. We are the club and we more than any player, team, owner or member of staff . We feel it more. We think about it more. We give more. Yet, we are rarely directly mentioned,   praised,  or,  I believe empathised with as opposed to the amount of metaphors,  similies and analogies and prose waxed lyrical about the herculean efforts of the family . I do think a little bit of a kick up the arse publicly and skillfully done is missing in his act. Cohesiveness is not about goodness,  but collective responsibility.  Sure, PW, has his style and its laudable , but, I do wonder if it is too one sided. After all,  according to PW, the players give everything every game and the only thing missing at times is that bit of quality. We may have been had a little? 

I'm not making an emotional point. I don't feel overly invested in this. I think it's a right and at the very least a courtesy. It's all to rare at all clubs and in the media and in the corporate world and I'd like this to become a club conscience as much as the love-in that seems to be endlessly waxed lyrically about from staff, to ex players, the press and our clubs current owners. More power to the people please! 

Summary (lol)

A for effort
D for achievement
C-for communication.
C for comprehension.

I hope PW continues to apply himself next season as he has done this. However, to reach his maximum potential he may need to focus more on the application of theory to practice. There's no doubting his passion, but, Paul, no war was ever won by effort alone. This is a technical and hard science as well as one of belief. Its not arts and craft. Its novice to advanced practioner and finally a professional-doer, and , occasionally sprinkled with a little magic.

Of course , I do not know how much study our staff do and how football bright our staff are. PW, et al , have also not managed at a high level and thus are gaining their experience at a low level.

Lastly...

I've said more about the staff than the players for a simple reason.

We can't influence who we bring in to play so much, but we can influence the staff room to a greater extent. Spending and creating sustainable growth is hard to manage with little to no surplus cash, but educating our managerial and coaching staff is perhaps needed and a potential much better investment.

-- Edited by ian on Sunday 9th of May 2021 12:00:32 AM

Summary

Self inflicted. We had half a season to see that Flo and Hirst were not good enough. We had Ogbene, Sadlier, Robertson and Mattock with long term injuries. So at the end of the transfer window we had released 6 and brought 2 in. We new we needed a left back and another striker these did not materialise. So we entered the second half of the season with a squad 16 players who could be relied on to be competitive. Then we lose Lindsay who at the time was probably our best player. This meant that the way we play we were always going to run out of steam.

Would Vassell have scored a couple of screamers off the bench?

Would a proper left back allowed Wiles and Harding to play in their proper positions?

Would we have been able to get more understanding in midfield and defence?

Two strikers was never going to be enough.

So considering all that we did better than I expected.

Looking forward to attending games next season.

Best wishes to all.

 

I think everybody has covered just about everything there is to cover about this season.

There isn't one relegation I can remember though that I was genuinly disappointed. This one has been a right kick in the nads and no lie. After Everton I was convinced we had enough about us to avoid it. The 2 post Covid games we had to play and throw, referee's who show a level of sheer inteptness not befitting their professional level, the horrid fixture pile up a squad depth like ours can't cope with.

But, but after all that we have been the prophets of our own doom.

Warney, Barker and Hammy have got us playing a way that kept us in games. How many times did we hear the cliches of other commentators that we're route one blah blah, We can actually play. In fact it's a handful of games out of 46 we proabbly haven't been in, the rest we have. It's testament to the management coaching that they can get largely a group of L1 players competing like that - and that should be applauded. Unfortunately, while those L1 players played their hearts out week after week it is indeed our recruitment that has let everybody down.

Frecks would have got 20 goals this season. That's not even being over the top. Our recruitment team knew what they were buying, their shortcomings would have been extensively scouted. Even Crooks is not a goal scoring midfielder, we have't got one - nobody, absolutely nobody knows where the goal is apart from our centre half who I hope doesn't retire this summer!

Those 2 identical chances Crooks and JL missed at Cardiff, which would have kept us up, summed our season up. We haven't scored enough goals and missed too many easy chances. It doesn't matter how you play goals change games. If you have players that can score you're always in with a chance, at any level of football. For us, go 1 down and that's it. That is simply not good enough.

I want Warney to stay, and I want him to have the chance to work with some good quality players. He will get the group fighting every game for us, he will set them up playing the right way, what he can't control is their quality and ability to shoot properly.

If you want summing up how much our recruitment department is not fit for purpose - George Hirst - need I say more.

I agree with most of that 'Villa'. Very harsh to say Mattock is not good enough even when fit though. In Division one John Breckin (a good judge of a left back) said he was the best in the division. I agreed with that at the time. The championship stretches him and now he appears to be getting too many injuries, i think he can only be second choice till his contract is up in 2022. As you rightly said using Wiles and Harding is not the answer.

Tend to agree about Ladapo and think we should try and get what we can for him. Hirst was a poor fit for us. He looked to me to be nowhere near the championship standard we so badly needed. As you say it put a lot of pressure on Smith and by early April he looked a shot player. My big worry about Smith his inability to hit the target from good positions never mind score. Kayode will figure next season but i still believe we need to push the boat out for a striker. We will be selling players so use that money for a striker and left back.

We have several players in midfield who should be ok in div 1. Lindsay, Wiles and Barlaser all have contracts past next season. They should be kept if at all possible. Crooks is the one who will go i fear. We also have Ogbene, Olosunde, Sadlier and Miler. I doubt if all those four will stay.

In defence we have Harding,Cooper, McDonald,Clarke, Mattock, Wood, Ihiekwe, Robertson and Tilt. Olosunde can play right back if needed. If we can add a left back i think we can get a settled defence out of that lot, depending on how many stay.

Warne has taken us up but not been able to keep us up. He is now having time out to think about what he does. If he goes to the chairman and the chairman says he is offering more of the same, then i think it's time for change... Warne has to find something different or the same will happen again. As i have said before i fear a new manager would not be able to get as much out of these players but it might be the time to bite the bullet and see. I am still with Warne but he has to be given more than before.