tommyg wrote:It's funny how quickly football can change. A few weeks ago, Hargreaves was being labelled as the club's saviour and up on Tyneside, Alan Pardew was on the verge of being lynched... I do think talk of sacking Hargreaves is premature (besides I doubt we can actually afford to pay off another manager). We're on a rotten run and our rookie boss has made mistakes, but if we win our game in hand (admittedly a rather large if on current form), we'll be on the brink of a play-off spot. I expect us to be heavy underdogs against Barnet, although we do have the 'advantage' of a free weekend, while the Bees are in FA Cup action against the Chairboys. Win that game and this forum will be littered with feel-good posts again.
What were the expectations for this season? Hand on heart, did anybody actually think we'd mount a serious promotion challenge at the first attempt? I think most fans expected a lower-half finish in the top half of the table, with perhaps one eye on the play-offs to keep the season interesting. That's exactly where we are right now. A few of us got carried away by the six straight wins. That gave us hope that perhaps we could buck the trend of relegated Football League clubs struggling to adjust to life in the Conference. And it's the hope that kills you. If somebody told me that after 17 games we would be six points off second with a game in hand, I'd have taken it. And I suspect many other fans would agree, especially with a new team still finding its feet.
That doesn't mean we can't complain or be angry about recent events. I think Hargreaves' biggest mistakes have not been addressing the weak areas of the team over the summer, particularly at full-back. I understand that the budget is tight, but going into the season with only one recognised right-back on the transfer list and one recognised left-back on a month-to-month contract was always a recipe for disaster. Tonge and Cruise were out of their depth last season, and while their have been improvements (expectedly so given they are now playing at a lower level), neither are good enough. Hargreaves has at least has signed Berry, who will surely walk straight into the team, and I hope Ives is given a run on the opposite flank.
As for our goalkeepers, Rice did well last season and performed beyond expectations. But he has always been a limited goalkeeper. Starting the season with Rice as No.1 and a rookie as back-up was always a risky strategy and it's already starting to backfire. I have a feeling Seabright isn't the answer, but it's harsh to judge him when he's only played a couple of games.
Another problem is the squad lacks leadership and experience, with one or two exceptions. Hargreaves should know from his time as a player here that you need a few wily old pros who have tasted success at this level. Look at the key cogs from our promotion-winning team - Hargreaves, Sills, Todd, Mansell, Nicholson, Carlisle etc. I think Harding is the only player over 30 in our current squad (and he's only just become a member of the 30s club). We have a very young - and at times naive - group of players at the start of their careers and sometimes you need a few older and wiser headers to steer them in the right direction.
Finally, we need a new striker. I have desperately wanted Yeoman to succeed but it's not going to happen. He might pinch a few goals off the bench but every time he starts a game he struggles. Bowman needs a rest and kick up the backside. I would guess he probably made the biggest dent in the budget this summer, along with Young and Briscoe, and he simply isn't justifying his place in the team. O'Achie is very raw and needs to work on his finishing, but there's something there. I haven't got a clue what Benyon is doing these days. What exactly is his injury or is that just a smokescreen? Right now, I'd play a fit Benyon ahead of both Bowman and Yeoman, which shows how desperate we really are up front (sorry Hector). Surely there must be a striker available on loan who won't cost the club too many pennies. It's always a bit of a lottery with these young kids, but we need to try something different because our strikers are being outscored by Downes for a second straight season.
Other than that last bit about Benyon, I think you are right with this post. Had we sort of been consistently, inconsistent (if that makes sense) such as win-draw-lose sequence of results, instead of that superb 10 game run and now this awful 7 game run, where we are in the table would have probably satisfied most people. People would have accepted that a young team would be inconsistent but because it feels like the wheels have come off and the wagon collapsed, it feels so very different, as momentum is such a big deal in football and it doesn't quite feel that things are going to improve very quickly - therefore, things may get a lot worse before they get better.
That supposition is based on nothing more than gut feeling but often the gut is right.
The problem is that it very quickly creates, and raises, levels of discontent - whether that be the fanbase or even the players and we have seen, especially last year, how it can be when the fanbase feel dislocated from the team and club. The first two months went some way to repairing that relationship between supporters and club and it it is a real shame that because the last two seasons have created a default setting of disillusionment, it doesn't take much for fans to revert back to that.
I certainly am feeling that way. I'm not angry, just resigned to our fate and I feel I just cannot be bothered anymore. I've stopped buying the papers I usually read about TUFC in, I never look at the official website - just the community of the forums is where I glean information from now. And if I hadn't succumbed to get a season ticket I would be picking my games a bit more. However, I understand what Scott and others say about how not spending the £17 anymore does not help the club but ultimately the club do nothing to reverse this. Would x times £17 extra be used positively anyway?
I think most of us expected a difficult season, but when, for a while, it appeared to be one of promise it feels even worse when the realisation of mid-table or worse comes to fruition. Being mediocre in such a dire league is maybe feels worse than some of ever imagined it would be.
