Here is just my thoughts on the club and what it happening as the season goes on.
After three years of blogging and continuing the theme from last year I will be doing a countdown of the points required to be safe in this Division. So each episode here and match report will have the points required tally counting down to the target of 46 points. I am reliably informed that 46 points is what is required to stay up based on historical data from previous years. Here is my thoughts...
Episode #4 - 16th February 2024 - Transfer Window Review Missed... (whoops again)
I was planning on doing a review of the transfer window and then realised there are much better reviews elsewhere so I thought I would give a state of play and then look at the current squad's contract situation as it makes quite interesting assessment. So firstly and most obviously the departure of Ali-Hamadi to Ipswich Town for a deal that was simply too good to turn down. I thought they only ever happened on gangster movies but in the EFL as well. I do not mind him going and wish him well in everything he does that does not have an adverse affect on my club. We have signed the exciting young-un from Solihull Moors Josh Kelly and the one making the biggest impact so far is Ronan Curtis who has been out of the game for a year with a busted leg. He has returned and scored on his debut then added a second in three games on his next home appearance. Kelly is yet open his account for us but he is trying bless him. Other new additions are two loanee's from Crystal Palace one at the back and one up front (or on the left apparently). Both have been looking very good so far. I even get the impression that we are actually looking up the table and win games rather than slide down the table without any purpose or reason to try. Anyway the interested bit is to look at the current squad and then when the contract of the players are due to expire. Here is the list:
Loans that conclude this season (End's June 2024 or earlier):
Kofi Balmer (Crystal Palace)
John-Kymani Gordon (Crystal Palace)
John-Joe O'Toole (Mansfield Town)
Alex Bass (Sunderland)
Players who's contract is due to expire (End's June 2024):
Alex Pearce *
Nik Tzanev
Lee Brown
Harry Pell
Armani Little
Omar Bugiel
Ronan Curtis
Paul Kalambayi
Quaine Bartley
Ben Mason
Josh Hallard
Ethan Sutcliffe
Marcel Campbell
Players who's contract have 1 year to run (End's June 2025):
Ryan McLean *
Huseyin Biler *
Jake Reeves
Ryan Johnson
James Tilley
Josh Davison
Josh Neufville
James Ball
Jack Currie
Isaac Ogundere
Paris Lock
Morgan Williams
Aron Sasu
Kai Jennings
Players who's contract have 2 years to run(End's June 2026):
Josh Kelly
Joe Lewis
Key:
Loan Player
First Team Player
Youth Player
A Player * - Player who is believed to have signed a 2 year deal when last offered
Episode #3 - 8th October 2023 - Review the first 10 (oops 11) games as promised...
I said I would add further update after 10 league games to kind of give a summary of why we should be sacking the manager. Well, here we are 11 League games in, and we are second in the table which obviously means I have to eat humble pie and apology for all my nasty thoughts and words. Weeeeeeeellllll that may not be the case completely. Impressed though I am with the current situation, and I will undoubtably add very complimentary comments about the performances so far and I can honestly say we should have (or maybe could have) won every game we’ve played so far this season. The issue that is still grating on the back of my head is we haven’t won the games we should have. Oh, and before I get too much further, I am not counting or including any of the Pizza Cup (or whatever it’s called now) games here.
Here we are after the 10 league games (well 11) as well as having a win and a defeat in the league cup game, which I will discuss first. Historically this team does not do well in the league cup for almost all of the AFC existence we have been awful in this competition. In fact, for many years, we averaged a round exist of less than one! Honest! So, when we drew a Championship side at home in the first round my hopes were not high. Shockingly we played a perfect game for an underdog by soaking up all the pressure for 75 minutes then switched it on and scored twice at the death to send Coventry City out and an away tie to Premier League Chelsea FC. It was a game we may not have won but we were well on the way to penalties when a single unlucky deflection saw us removed from the competition. A very impressive performance again and a truly great night, that will live long in the memory.
OK now we move onto the bread and butter and what all true football fans look for first and that is the league performance of the side. As I type, we are sitting second in the table which must mean we are doing fantastic, and I am as pleased as punch. Ok I admit it I am very pleased and more than happy with the performances but the little thing at the back of my mind is that we are still fragile with holding onto a lead and all the fears of yesteryear are all still there and those worries are quite hard to let go of, and I will explain that. So far, we have won five and drawn five. If you look at the five draws and the single defeat, we were winning four of those games of the other two we drew one game nil-nil and missed a penalty so should have won that one (arguably). But dragging myself back to remit of this episode here is a comparison with the first eleven games from last season.
P W D L F A Diff PTS
Last season - 15th 11 3 3 5 13 16 -3 12
This season - 2nd 11 5 5 1 20 10 +10 20
You would have to be bias or stupid to see that this is a world of difference in straight numbers but please remember we went into last season talking of bouncing straight back up and this season we were talking of just surviving in the league. Which for me is a much better plan lower the expectations of everyone and then give it all you got. OK so if you are reading this as an independent then you are saying “JEEZE! What are you moaning about?” and honestly, I get that, but I have to labour the point that off the top of my head since December 2021 we have won eight home league games. That is nearly two years and off the top of my head you would not add that many more if you include all league games since the ground was open to fans again. The fans that love this club turn up and believe me they turn up week in and week out to watch this side throw results away week after week. So, when we are behind, we know we have lost. When we are winning, we are just waiting for the away side to spring into life and turn the game around because it has happened time and time again. My point is that we missed a penalty against Grimsby Town and Wrexham (and Walsall) which if converted we would have beaten Grimsby and Wrexham giving us an additional 4 points. We were two goals up on Newport County and Crewe Alexandra and winning against Forest Green Rovers and yet drew all three games. Which was a horrible repeat of last season. 47 points thrown away from winning positions and hopefully this explains why everyone thinks this is a curse that we just cannot get a win. We were also winning the only league game we’ve lost this season as well.
As Sherlock Holmes once said, “When you have eliminated all which is impossible then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Which only leaves the logical reasoning that we are cursed. Or the EFL simply hate us and send us some of the dodgiest bias referees out there. Which may well be the case. Whichever it is as a good friend once said after leading Crewe 2-0 and at 2-1 going into the 90th minute it feels like we are trying to beat a curse here right now. It echoed in my ear as the 96th minute equaliser beat Bass at the near post and the away side went home with a point.
So, this episode was about sacking the manager wasn’t it and no I do not think we should be doing that. He has done what he said he would do and pulled together a team capable of beating any team in this division on the day. We have not been outplayed in any game this season (maybe Chelsea) that I have seen. In fact, we have dominated and attacked teams like I have never seen in years before this season, and I honestly am impressed. When we have been behind in games, we are not out of them like in yesteryear we come back fighting. Even the games we lost or drew we were still looking for that winner and a decent penalty taker would have seen us top of the table right now. Which means I can only conclude this episode but discussing the curse and then upload this.
Now here is the major flip coming as I fully understand, and I am guilty of it as well but the whole place holds its breath in the last 10 minutes of every game. We could be two or three goals to the good, but the expectations built up over years and years of watching failure after failure. The current squad doesn’t know or probably cares about that history they just get this nervous vibe from everyone as soon as they take the lead. Now the argument I could have here is that our game management towards the end of a game is awful and always has been under Jackson. Not taking the ball to the corners when the shot isn’t on late in a game the falling with arms flailing when attacking deep into injury time that opposition sides do so well. We have always had the attacking mentality but not the ability to back it up. The game management is a very valid point as we concede a single goal, and you watch them shrink back into themselves with the back four getting closer and closer to the keeper and everything they have done so well for the previous 80 minutes seems to suddenly become very difficult to execute. Can I explain it, not but the theory I have is that the fans that love this team are desperate to them win and equally terrified to watch them throw it away as they have done many, many times before. That feeling has to make its way onto the field from taking a throw to the abusive shouts of so-called encouragement (sorry but it happens). We no longer give the air of confidence in the team as we have no reason to and that has been the case for a long time. To change that is a momentous challenge that I and probably many others would actively avoid. This manager has stepped up to the plate and historically thrown his players under the bus and the board to a certain extent. You must accept and appreciate that he said things that he would do and so far beyond the curse he has delivered. So, I hear you say, “AHA he has won you over!” no he hasn’t not entirely but I will sing his name again and I will give him a lot more than a single defeat before calling for his head but this season the performances more than the results have impressed me. Should I give it another 10 games and come back for more ranting and raving? We shall see.
Oh, bonus paragraph as we drew away to the only undefeated team in the league yesterday and that means the new target is - 25 points to go!
Episode #2 - 6th August 2023 - The curtain is up - Not the jig tho...
45 points to go!
Here we are after an away 0-0 draw, we could have won with a missed penalty, and we held on for long periods of the game against a side that is tipped to be top of the table come May. OK, OK, that isn’t strictly true, well it is a complete lie and the reason being that last season in our opening away fixture I drove all the way to Hartlepool United where we struggled to a 0-0. Which we could have won but just as easily we could have lost and left with a slender 1-0 away defeat. At that time, we had players that were injured that couldn’t play but then suddenly were fit enough to sign for other clubs. I may not have the exact quote, but I remember the lines of “many other teams would travel there and struggle” and the classic “this is a tough place to come to and get a result” so we should really see this as a point gained that was the same manager as we have today.
Spooling forward a year and rather than beginning the season at home we start the campaign away to a team up north and something familiar filled the air. That said there seems to be a very familiar feel to proceedings we have two left backs, and both were unavailable. With one in particular the target of many clubs higher up the league and potentially putting in a bid for him. The other is older and wiser but reportedly with a back problem. The result was the same with many opportunities for the result to go either way and the quote of “this is a tough place to come”. We have progressed from losing 1-0 there on the final day of last season we have now taken a point. Which only time will tell have good that point was. Compare that to last season after our league game visit to United they went on to win five home league games for the rest of that season. The first coming in October, the second ironically against Grimsby Town at the end of October. One more in January and then two in April. They beat teams that finished 18th, 11th, 24th, 10th, and 9th if that is a team that is tough at home then you’d hate to see a team at the top.
I am not stupid (yes, I hear the argument) enough to think this season will be identical to the last but I am yet to be convinced by this manager and I won’t be singing his name for a little while yet. I won’t say I cannot be turned but for me he has the shortest patience limit that I have had for any manager we have had. I still cannot work out why he wasn’t released last season as his team was allowed to peter out for the season and he wasn’t out there pointing the finger and firing them up to perform. Nope, he waited for the fans to eventually turn on him and sing for his exit and then he hangs the board and the squad out to dry (or you may prefer thrown under the bus. Many of those that ‘he’ signed in January have been left by the roadside meaning that there is a handful of players that he inherited left, and this team is pretty much his. I said that he needs to be given 10 games and being very generous after ten games we should be expecting at least half the games won, for him to be allowed to continue in this position. That said he is still here, and we have to unite again behind him and cheer on the team that he has created otherwise it will all be a waste of time even bothering this season. That said Terry Brown had already brought us success when he was sacked after nine games (Seven league games and already knocked out of two cups).
Time and results will tell…
Episode #1 - 4th August 2023 - It begins all over again...
46 points to go!
Here we are on the eve of the new season we are a mere hours away from the kick-off of another season in the professional ranks of English football. Which when I think about it – it truly is amazing. However, I cannot forget the tedious and horrendous football that we have had to watch for the last two years. Now there were some highs, but they were very short and far between. I am desperate to actually enjoy going to football again as I haven’t for so many season that I have got to the point where I was not interested in attending. At the end of last season, I really didn’t care whether I went or not and most importantly I didn’t feel like the players cared either. They turned up, lost shrugged their shoulders did the ‘onto the next game’ quote and went home ready to pick up their paycheck and move onto the next week. It was awful to watch, and my football mad son didn’t care either on a Saturday he would ask who we were playing and then decide if he could be asked to go. It would depend on whether he wanted to see the other team not the useless mob that were somehow being rolled out week after week without a victory to show for it. The manager’s position was never question at this time and this was something that I really couldn’t understand personally. I was never convinced when he was named as the new manager and after the unbeaten run came to an end it seemed liked, he and the rest of the squad just threw in the towel. This year they couldn’t be arsed, and the manager didn’t really care either. Is that good enough to keep your job? Well, Nope not for me!
Now having said that there is a really different feeling and atmosphere around the place which is a positive thing. We have gone through the preseason without a defeat which is another positive. These games have included games against teams in the division above us and they have been reported as great performances. There has been some cracking goals and very strong defensive displays so once again (and we have been here many times before) we are going into a new season with all reasons to be positive. Last season we were talking of promotion and were told to lower expectations and only look at a play off spot. Well, we were blooming lucky to stay in the league and if there were better teams at the bottom, we would be playing in the Conference this season.
As you can tell I really do not know what to expect this season all I can say is exactly the same thing I said at the end of what can only be described as a disastrous season. You have got ten games to show me what this season is all about. I will try to withhold strong judgement until this point in the season. That is what Terry Brown got and he left, so JJ there is your deadline. I expect a better win than loss ratio by that stage.
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