Yesterday was grim, but I was expecting it. Having been optimistic for 45 games, I finally admitted to myself last week that we were going to go down. The three key results were no surprise. At least we gave it a go. It was just frustrating that we scored only one goal and took just a solitary point from our last six games. Just five points out of 18 would have seen us safe, but when only one of your players has managed more than three goals all season, you will struggle.
The important thing now is to look forward and make sure we learn from the mistakes of this season. In many ways we were unlucky, as we were to a certain extent last season, but things were going wrong even before the season started. Our pre-season was disastrous – worse than even the Barnes era. We simply didn’t get quantity or quality (Foster, Horwood, Sodje) and were forced to start with a makeshift defence who had not played together. Some of the loanees we found turned out to be decent (Ridehalgh) but a lot were not. Even when we found a good young loanee, he would often be recalled just when he was settling in. We should have learned our lesson from last season, which started to go pear-shaped when Gibson and Cassidy were recalled, although Wallace’s injury was another major factor. I am not against loanees, but they need to be planned and not brought in in panic. We also need to be wary of clauses stating that they must play every week. I was pleased to see in Jeremy Butler’s statement on the OS that our whole recruitment policy is under review.
I am not downbeat. How many other clubs would have stayed up after what we’ve been through? All teams lose key players through injury from time to time, but having one fighting cancer, losing the manager after he admitted betting offences and having two players arrested must be pretty unusual. And in the background, all the uncertainty about the future of the club. A change of luck would go a long way to improving our fortunes.
Yes, next season is critical as we don’t want to do a Stockport. But if we can get a good manager, keep some of our key players and start to put a few good results together, we should get better gates and hence more income.