(23-11-2014, 09:41)Owlkev71 Wrote: The two promotion teams from the pub league have been our best teams.
As MS & SCO have said, we have some good players but not a team at the moment, thanks to a tactically inept manager and rigid 442 formation.
Sturrock worked wonders with a couple of gems and a dozen artisans. We weren't one of the best six sides that season but we managed to steal wins when below par, we had a player in Brunt who could win a match with a moment of magic & in McLean we had a player who knew where the net was.
The GM/DJ promotion was a weird one. We had the fourth biggest budget (behind United, Charlton & Huddersfield) but had done poorly the previous season. We started the season poorly but it all changed when we signed BM10 on loan at the end of August. His partnership with Madine fired us up the table into second behind Charlton. We still had blips - 5-0 defeat at Stevenage, 3-2 at Carlisle but we continued serenely until the new year when everything went pear shaped after we lost BM10.
Eight points out of 24 seemed to end our automatic promotion challenge but the signing of Antonio & DJ as manager caused probably the best run of form I can remember from Wednesday. Eleven wins & three draws from the final 14 matches got us over the line & there were some magic moments along the way. None more magic than Antonio's 95th minute winner against Carlisle although the wins at Huddersfield & Brentford run it close.
That run in was magical and nothing could stop us. Each player we brought in contributed - Batth, BM10, Antonio, Ranger, Treacy. Even injuries couldn't stop us as we ended the season with Beevers playing at LB.
Currently we have a talented squad but little pattern to our play as we appear to be underachieving. We are now four points above the relegation zone & the way things are going, we are likely to slide slowly downwards.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.