[bluepooch]

...but there's still along way to go ...
When Wilson left I believed it would be difficult to get any worse but Im afraid the second half today was the worst half yet of a terrible season .
My positivity is draining fast and I'm struggling to see how we can get out of it now
I was hopeful that we would improve albeit in baby steps but today second half was a massive step backwards ,even the sedentary passing to each other disappeared and I have to admit that so far I have seen nothing in Caldwell that tells me he is the man to improve us.I know he has taken over in difficult circumstances but he knew this and has been nothing but positive about the squad since he came .
Having said all this at 1-0 we had a fantastic chance to put the game to bed but Grimshaw put the ball over from about 6 yards,but overall we didnt deserve to win and Tuesday looks a daunting task Im afraid and will possibly be another nail in the coffin.
Positives from today ? Hmm let me think ,Evatt was a rock at the back, Anderson did ok until his sending off and the keeper looked like a proper keeper until his mistake,thats about it .
Whether or not Caldwell stays depends on how we do between now and the end of the season ,if it does not improve I would have serious doubts as to whether he is the man to be in charge next season.
I still believe the team manager is the most important man at the club but it is obvious we need change of direction at the top.

[spireitematt]

This all started when we lost Doyle, Clucas, Ryan, Roberts and Cook. The appointment of Dean Saunders in the words of Donald Trump was a total disaster. Danny Wilson did his best to keep us up last season and had his hands tied this season and tried his best, Caldwell has come in, brought in a lot of young loanees and what has changed? Nothing. The club is in freefall and we haven't hit rock bottom yet!

Next season isn't going to be a walk in the park either like last time we came down from L1. It will be the likes of Accrington, Hartlepool and Notts County. We could even end up in the National League.

[Devongone]

Blue, sadly you summed up Stuckmann's career in England and why NO-ONE WANTS HIM:-

"looked like a proper keeper until his mistake"

What kind of man-management is that for a young keeper like Allinson? And what kind of message is that for all the other young players Caldwell is keen to forget?

I absolutely admire your honesty Blue. But we took on Mr Caldwell. He doesn't want to lose even though it looks as though that's his favourite pastime and he's left me wondering whether it will be Bob Newton or Roger Wylde at centre forward on Tuesday.

Mr Caldwell happily managed a Wigan side winning every week and had no idea what to do when they stopped winning the next season. He seems clueless now to halt our decline but our race is run. WE ARE DOWN! Our (and his) only option is to accept that and plan and re-build for next season. AND WE NEED TO BE AWARE THAT WE AREN'T BETTER THAN NEWPORT AT THE MOMENT.

[Dancingwilldoit]

Blue both Bury and Oldham were up for it. If we had half that fight in us I would be happy but Danny Wilson or Humphries would have done better with the last 6 games than Caldwell has. I firmly believe that.
One thing I really do hope is that its not our Director Of Football that's controlling the ins and outs because if it is we will be doing a Stockport County.

[bluepooch]

As i said at the time it was absolutely the right decision to get rid of Wilson but that was only half the job .the other half was getting the right man in to take us forward .luckily Caldwell is on a rolling one year contract if my memory is correct so it wont tske a massive amount to get rid.We may as well give him the next 10 or 15 games to see if he is capable at all of taking us forward.I cant believe he is as bad as it looks right now .

[spireitematt]

Blue both Bury and Oldham were up for it. If we had half that fight in us I would be happy but Danny Wilson or Humphries would have done better with the last 6 games than Caldwell has. I firmly believe that.
One thing I really do hope is that its not our Director Of Football that's controlling the ins and outs because if it is we will be doing a Stockport County.

Difference is Stockport entered administration we haven't yet!

---

As i said at the time it was absolutely the right decision to get rid of Wilson but that was only half the job .the other half was getting the right man in to take us forward .luckily  Caldwell is on a rolling one year contract if my memory is correct so it wont tske a massive amount to get rid.We may as well give him the next 10 or 15 games to see if he is capable at all of taking us forward.I cant believe he is as bad as it looks right now .

He did well with Wigan because he had a big budget and could buy the players he wanted due to parachute payments from the Premier League.

[Dancingwilldoit]

"Yet" is a very big word Matt. When we go down and they lose between 1 and 1.5k season tickets their eyes will start to water a bit. Our player budget will be cut drastically and we will end up with a battle to stay in the league. Allen is never going to get £15mill for the club so will start to look at other income streams. The Proact could end up going to the dogs with Greyhound racing a couple of nights a week and a casino instead of the lounges. There is no way he going to put more money in and whilst ever the 3 Amigos are running things we are in deep shit.

[Devongone]

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.

[Dancingwilldoit]

Caldwell is like a rabbit caught in the headlights. On Sat after the substitutions, Hird looked at the bench holding up his arms up to say "What the F**k are we supposed to be doing" he obviously didn't get an answer because less than 5 mins later Evatt did exactly the same thing. Both the same players later lambasted their team mates for not putting in the effort and not having the desire to win.

[Devongone]

Caldwell is like a rabbit caught in the headlights. On Sat after the substitutions, Hird looked at the bench holding up his arms up to say "What the F**k are we supposed to be doing" he obviously didn't get an answer because less than 5 mins later Evatt did exactly the same thing. Both the same players later lambasted their team mates for not putting in the effort and not having the desire to win.

I have to agree, I reckon both managers and players have set a few scripts running in their heads, so their options are limited anyway and when cues are being missed and lines forgotten they can't improvise. Players are as conservative as managers and if they can't read the plan or think it has been discarded they'll let the project fail .....

IF we had a manager who embraced change, his first job would be to take the players along with him. People only adapt if you tell them that adaptation is allowed and encouraged. Players can think on their feet like the rest of us, but they don't if they think that would be disregarding instructions.

Clearly if you get into your firm tomorrow morning and everyone's raising their arms and asking what to do you'll think management needs to get its act together. Possibly its because most footballers have never had a proper job that such a reaction doesn't meet the same managerial response.