Post by Steve Rogerson on May 8, 2005 23:07:04 GMT 1
Here are a few thoughts on the season gone and the one to come
The season started with a lot of hope and Lincoln at home, and that's where things started to go wrong. We outplayed Lincoln, but didn't take our chances and ended up losing one-nil. I can't help but wonder if we'd won that game as we deserved whether it would have spurred the lads on to a better start to the season and thus a better season overall. As it was, we lost five of the first six games and we were lucky to win the one that we did. Confidence was at a low and the outlook was bleak.
Things then improved slightly and, including the LDV, we had a run of two wins, three draws and no defeats to boost the optimism. And it did. I was confident that we still had a reasonable season to look forward to now we'd got the shaky start behind us. But the next six matches saw not one win and the loss of Jimmy Quinn as manager. I believed at the time, and still do, that if he had stayed he would have kept us up, but we'll never know. All credit though to the board for allowing him to resign with dignity rather than sacking him.
But the board did take a ridiculously long time to appoint a successor and the team suffered from lack of leadership as a result, hitting the low point in the debacle that was Histon when the players were running around like headless chickens.
So, bring on Gary Peters with the difficult task of creating some sort of organisation. As with all good managers, he started with the defence first and stopped us leaking goals. He then brought in, with limited success, Mick Wadsworth to start us scoring goals. Chic Bates left as a result - not good.
There was an improvement - we even strung together three wins on the trot at one point as the team aimed for the 50 point target that Gary had set, a target we never actually reached, though we did achieve the ultimate goal of staying in the league with three matches to play.
This was despite poor form at the end of the season, with one win in our last eleven matches - not a good omen for next season. Gary, to his credit, realises we still have a long way to go and is not even talking about promotion next year but a year of consolidation, a mid-table finish, what many of us were hoping for this season.
The question is: Can he do it? The form at the end of this season suggests not, especially as we are likely to lose a number of key players over the summer and have not the money to attract the best players to the Meadow. Gary is talking a five-year plan, which is a long time in football and the board and the fans have only a limited amount of patience if things start to go wrong. Even if we start next season with the view of achieving mid-table, without noticeable improvements as the season goes on, the mood could easily turn against him as it did against Jimmy Quinn this year.
Gary might have a long-term plan, but he has to show hope in the short term. He makes the right noises, but we only survived by the skin of our teeth no matter what noises he made. One win in the last eleven games is relegation form. I hope he succeeds; I have my doubts.
The season started with a lot of hope and Lincoln at home, and that's where things started to go wrong. We outplayed Lincoln, but didn't take our chances and ended up losing one-nil. I can't help but wonder if we'd won that game as we deserved whether it would have spurred the lads on to a better start to the season and thus a better season overall. As it was, we lost five of the first six games and we were lucky to win the one that we did. Confidence was at a low and the outlook was bleak.
Things then improved slightly and, including the LDV, we had a run of two wins, three draws and no defeats to boost the optimism. And it did. I was confident that we still had a reasonable season to look forward to now we'd got the shaky start behind us. But the next six matches saw not one win and the loss of Jimmy Quinn as manager. I believed at the time, and still do, that if he had stayed he would have kept us up, but we'll never know. All credit though to the board for allowing him to resign with dignity rather than sacking him.
But the board did take a ridiculously long time to appoint a successor and the team suffered from lack of leadership as a result, hitting the low point in the debacle that was Histon when the players were running around like headless chickens.
So, bring on Gary Peters with the difficult task of creating some sort of organisation. As with all good managers, he started with the defence first and stopped us leaking goals. He then brought in, with limited success, Mick Wadsworth to start us scoring goals. Chic Bates left as a result - not good.
There was an improvement - we even strung together three wins on the trot at one point as the team aimed for the 50 point target that Gary had set, a target we never actually reached, though we did achieve the ultimate goal of staying in the league with three matches to play.
This was despite poor form at the end of the season, with one win in our last eleven matches - not a good omen for next season. Gary, to his credit, realises we still have a long way to go and is not even talking about promotion next year but a year of consolidation, a mid-table finish, what many of us were hoping for this season.
The question is: Can he do it? The form at the end of this season suggests not, especially as we are likely to lose a number of key players over the summer and have not the money to attract the best players to the Meadow. Gary is talking a five-year plan, which is a long time in football and the board and the fans have only a limited amount of patience if things start to go wrong. Even if we start next season with the view of achieving mid-table, without noticeable improvements as the season goes on, the mood could easily turn against him as it did against Jimmy Quinn this year.
Gary might have a long-term plan, but he has to show hope in the short term. He makes the right noises, but we only survived by the skin of our teeth no matter what noises he made. One win in the last eleven games is relegation form. I hope he succeeds; I have my doubts.