Matt, I was optimistic that even if Jack Lester couldn't save us he could begin the recovery process. The only sign I spotted was the brief, inexplicable "winning run" with very much the same players Caldwell had failed with. Later he just supplied more intelligent and better-worded explanations for persistent failure. Like Dancing I've seen what has happened coming way-off. (I think I remember Dancing's last truly positive vibe - it was early in Saunders "reign" and we beat someone 3-0 or 3-1 and played them off the park, Northampton or Gillingham. It was never repeated and the bad feelings he'd had since Danny's sacking flooded back in, and that is a tide that has never turned for either of us.)
Last season as soon as our first signings turned out to be Anyon and Wiseman I decided I'd be happy with 22nd place! This time? Well Martin Allen seems surprisingly likable. I hope he takes care. He's won himself a following with his silly pronouncements, but they'll be hostages to fortune if we don't start winning. My big positive is Wedgbury, because he is just the kind of player we have lacked - he's what I think Danny expected with Gary Liddell. His Aldershot centre back seems also to have been well-regarded. Negatives? Well he may have Donald-Trump-like perception, but it disturbed me that within a very few days of taking over he could discard youngsters like Willock and German with whom he could only have had the very briefest association and that he also succumbed to the traditional new-broom philosophy immediately ditching Evatt, Hird and Talbot for the even-older and certainly not-better Michael Nelson. I also share Pooch's disquiet over the sudden silence descending over incoming players. The top non-leaguers I've been burbling about over the last two years seem to be finding new EFL homes at a rate of knots. Askey taking over at Shrewsbury for instance grabbed Dagnham's centre forward and Macclesfield's full back, Reise Allassani went off to Coventry, Sam Barratt to Southend ....... I've kept saying there are a lot of players around who could make it from lower levels but the supply is not endless and we need a goalscoring forward, a speed merchant and more midfield craft and graft. AND of course we need to move on several of the players who Martin Allen wants to discard. AND the World Cup starts in the middle of June which is this week ............ Deals happen quite fast at this level. Havant and Waterlooville's top goalscorer of last season decided the National League and all its travel was a commitment too far. He's left the club and they've immediately replaced him with Dartford's top scorer Pavey.
I know Martin Allen has the experience to know what he is doing and the timescales involved. Those behind him who are apparently in charge may not. When he wants to move will the club move with him, and if it doesn't won't he very quickly become frustrated? This is a very big season for us. We need to do well. We've all too easily become fifth-rate and only results will prove that we have stopped falling.
As to the big-bore exhaust ........ the whole human race survives upon the tact of women. If men were convinced they were satisfying them, there'd be no such thing as FGM.
Last season as soon as our first signings turned out to be Anyon and Wiseman I decided I'd be happy with 22nd place! This time? Well Martin Allen seems surprisingly likable. I hope he takes care. He's won himself a following with his silly pronouncements, but they'll be hostages to fortune if we don't start winning. My big positive is Wedgbury, because he is just the kind of player we have lacked - he's what I think Danny expected with Gary Liddell. His Aldershot centre back seems also to have been well-regarded. Negatives? Well he may have Donald-Trump-like perception, but it disturbed me that within a very few days of taking over he could discard youngsters like Willock and German with whom he could only have had the very briefest association and that he also succumbed to the traditional new-broom philosophy immediately ditching Evatt, Hird and Talbot for the even-older and certainly not-better Michael Nelson. I also share Pooch's disquiet over the sudden silence descending over incoming players. The top non-leaguers I've been burbling about over the last two years seem to be finding new EFL homes at a rate of knots. Askey taking over at Shrewsbury for instance grabbed Dagnham's centre forward and Macclesfield's full back, Reise Allassani went off to Coventry, Sam Barratt to Southend ....... I've kept saying there are a lot of players around who could make it from lower levels but the supply is not endless and we need a goalscoring forward, a speed merchant and more midfield craft and graft. AND of course we need to move on several of the players who Martin Allen wants to discard. AND the World Cup starts in the middle of June which is this week ............ Deals happen quite fast at this level. Havant and Waterlooville's top goalscorer of last season decided the National League and all its travel was a commitment too far. He's left the club and they've immediately replaced him with Dartford's top scorer Pavey.
I know Martin Allen has the experience to know what he is doing and the timescales involved. Those behind him who are apparently in charge may not. When he wants to move will the club move with him, and if it doesn't won't he very quickly become frustrated? This is a very big season for us. We need to do well. We've all too easily become fifth-rate and only results will prove that we have stopped falling.
As to the big-bore exhaust ........ the whole human race survives upon the tact of women. If men were convinced they were satisfying them, there'd be no such thing as FGM.