Greyhound Racing is in more trouble than we are. AFC Wimbledon is killing, or has killed, the last one in London.
I don't know how good or bad our three directors are, but I am sure that like Caldwell they have been given an impossible task. Two people have set it up this way - the would-be funeral directors (the puppet) Turner and Mr. Allen. We just don't know their motives, or their end-game, or even if their plan has now entered the cock-up stage.
My objection to Caldwell is not that he is failing, but that any sign he has of a plan is one which involves bringing in outsiders who cannot possibly make the club better, or move the team forward in the long-term. And yes Danny Wilson and/or The Hump would have been a massively better option IMO!
It is intriguing that many managers at our level head down this route of bringing in often dodgy prospects marooned gameless at clubs in the higher reaches. Yet in both the FA Cup and League Cup we see regular evidence that Premier teams weakened by the inclusion of fringe players, reserves and youngsters fare pretty badly against lower and even non-league teams. WE ALL SEE THIS. So why would a team in trouble like Chesterfield think that signing youngsters who haven't even made the weakened sides their clubs fielded in the cups can go out and be part of a successful fight against relegation? IT IS THE LOGIC OF DESPERATION.
All this said my biggest beef is that sitting at a computer with minimal intelligence, nous and research EVEN AN IDIOT LIKE ME can find players we can get for nothing, or next to it. Raggett was at Dover when I was writing that teams were thinking there's a promising young centre back. He only went to Lincoln, but everyone seems to be giving him 8 or 9 out of 10 for the way he handled Andre Gray and Sam Vokes of Burnley. Omar Bogle was at Solihull Moors when I was saying he was a player to sign, now he's scoring for Wigan. Take a look at Craig Eastmond tonight for Sutton, next season he'll be in Division One at least (and we won't) but no one wanted him till this cup run went large. It can be done but the club needs to want to do it, to be sharp, alive and fast on its feet. And when it has prospects it has to play them rather than loaning-in those on their last throw of a dice at a big club.
You would expect football to be an exciting and creative environment where original thinking would thrive. But the truth is that the EFL is populated by loads of Chesterfields - it's just that at the moment we are deliberately making ourselves the worst. Managers say the same things and repeat each other's errors. Club Chairmen appear interchangeable. Stultifying structures are repeated, tactics are repeated ..... and so even the fans and the media come out with the same old bollocks. Originality? It's like the kid who is dressed different at school, let's beat him up!
I'll guarantee there are players available for nothing at lower league clubs, who are regarded as dead-wood and who, given the chance and proper management, would shine at Chesterfield. One example I'm sure of is Rhys Oates at Hartlepool - he's been consigned to the bench by two managers, now he might be getting a go with Dave Jones - he is their best player by a country mile. SO we don't need much money to build a team, but we do need to exist and we need an original, creative manager, who is a risk-taker. That manager has to be someone who has taken off the blinkers his career has trained him to wear, is prepared to do something different and isn't ever going to settle for the conservative option to please his bosses, or the public. Caldwell could choose to be that man, but he won't.
I don't know how good or bad our three directors are, but I am sure that like Caldwell they have been given an impossible task. Two people have set it up this way - the would-be funeral directors (the puppet) Turner and Mr. Allen. We just don't know their motives, or their end-game, or even if their plan has now entered the cock-up stage.
My objection to Caldwell is not that he is failing, but that any sign he has of a plan is one which involves bringing in outsiders who cannot possibly make the club better, or move the team forward in the long-term. And yes Danny Wilson and/or The Hump would have been a massively better option IMO!
It is intriguing that many managers at our level head down this route of bringing in often dodgy prospects marooned gameless at clubs in the higher reaches. Yet in both the FA Cup and League Cup we see regular evidence that Premier teams weakened by the inclusion of fringe players, reserves and youngsters fare pretty badly against lower and even non-league teams. WE ALL SEE THIS. So why would a team in trouble like Chesterfield think that signing youngsters who haven't even made the weakened sides their clubs fielded in the cups can go out and be part of a successful fight against relegation? IT IS THE LOGIC OF DESPERATION.
All this said my biggest beef is that sitting at a computer with minimal intelligence, nous and research EVEN AN IDIOT LIKE ME can find players we can get for nothing, or next to it. Raggett was at Dover when I was writing that teams were thinking there's a promising young centre back. He only went to Lincoln, but everyone seems to be giving him 8 or 9 out of 10 for the way he handled Andre Gray and Sam Vokes of Burnley. Omar Bogle was at Solihull Moors when I was saying he was a player to sign, now he's scoring for Wigan. Take a look at Craig Eastmond tonight for Sutton, next season he'll be in Division One at least (and we won't) but no one wanted him till this cup run went large. It can be done but the club needs to want to do it, to be sharp, alive and fast on its feet. And when it has prospects it has to play them rather than loaning-in those on their last throw of a dice at a big club.
You would expect football to be an exciting and creative environment where original thinking would thrive. But the truth is that the EFL is populated by loads of Chesterfields - it's just that at the moment we are deliberately making ourselves the worst. Managers say the same things and repeat each other's errors. Club Chairmen appear interchangeable. Stultifying structures are repeated, tactics are repeated ..... and so even the fans and the media come out with the same old bollocks. Originality? It's like the kid who is dressed different at school, let's beat him up!
I'll guarantee there are players available for nothing at lower league clubs, who are regarded as dead-wood and who, given the chance and proper management, would shine at Chesterfield. One example I'm sure of is Rhys Oates at Hartlepool - he's been consigned to the bench by two managers, now he might be getting a go with Dave Jones - he is their best player by a country mile. SO we don't need much money to build a team, but we do need to exist and we need an original, creative manager, who is a risk-taker. That manager has to be someone who has taken off the blinkers his career has trained him to wear, is prepared to do something different and isn't ever going to settle for the conservative option to please his bosses, or the public. Caldwell could choose to be that man, but he won't.