There are a myriad of things that have led to our current position; many out of the club's control entirely (the overall financial position, injuries etc.), some in MP's control (where the limited funds are spent - investment v infrastructure v playing staff), some in MM's control (team, formation, training). There have been a number of calculated risks/investments that have been made this season, none of which look foolish in hindsight, but a large number have not paid off.
Budgets needed to be considered BEFORE we knew we were promoted to L1 which impacted who were offered contracts - after being bitten by the departures of Cook, Norwood and Norburn this seemed sensible. In terms of recruitment we were always on the back foot due to the late promotion and budget so there was always an element of risk with our signings and loanees. Was anybody really criticizing the signing of Ray at the time (Crewe captain and the right age), CBJ (played L1 regularly and ex EPL), Maddox/RHM (EPL and International youngsters), Payne (used to this level)? Ok one or two seemed more of a risk than others - Ponticelli being the one that springs to mind - but there was nothing wrong with a punt or 2 in the situation we were in as part of a (necessarily) hasty recruitment plan.
Leaving aside any criticisms of MM and MJ regarding training methods and player motivation, which I constantly hear but won't even comment on since I see no evidence, there are a couple of things that haven't helped our cause on the pitch. The first one is injuries that have been at an unprecedented level in my memory. There aren't many of the team that was expected to start the season who have avoided a lay off which has made it very difficult to select an XI with any consistency of either personnel or formation. I also think that our reasonable start to the season has actually come back to haunt us, certainly in terms of expectation with some of the fan base. We seem to forget that we couldn't string back to back wins then and that a number of our points were taken via last gasp "miracles" (Burton, Rotherham) while the Coventry win was wonderful but freakish. Remove these points and we would have been where, in all rights, we should have been for a team with 2 back to back promotions who crept into L1 in the last qualifying place.
It is only now, at the tail end of the season, that there is a full squad to choose from and to try and gel into a "team". Add to that the new faces of Cook, Vaughan and Clarke - who nobody was complaining about when we signed them - and it is one hell of a job for MM to a) put together the best functioning team, and b) not upset players and fans alike by those who are left out as part of that process.
I'm sure that MP and MM could have done a better job this season and that mistakes were made but I'm also sure that this was the case in the previous 2 seasons as well. As long as you learn from mistakes that's absolutely fine and applies to employees/managers/owners/investors in any walk of life.
Our position at the moment is disappointing. However, it is easy to forget where we came from; not just the NL but the terminal decline that was being suffered by a rotting club for a number of seasons before we dropped from L1. I think a sense of perspective is lacking at the moment and that there is a need to lay "blame". Personally I think that we are more a victim of circumstances than poor management and that the club is not going backwards despite (what looks like) an inevitable drop into L2. I find some comments, elsewhere, that we of will drop through L2 into the NFL unbelievable since it shows a complete lack of understanding how the management of our club has improved over the past 5 years.
