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Coyle is tactically naive, but will hopefully learn. Many fans on the other hand, will never learn that he is governed by our financial situation. And how quickly they forget where we started this season.
Let me take you back a year to the 17th of April 2011.
It was a beautiful warm day and I was in
a pretty good mood on my way to the match, not because our Premiership form had
been anything other than “average”, but because this was the FA Cup semi final
and I thought we had a decent chance of beating Stoke and getting the chance to
come to the new Wembley again. My younger kids were up for too. We’d had a nice
meal, a few drinks and we all bought cheap commemorative scarves on the walk up
to the entrance – so we’d be able to remember that glorious day in the future.
It was perfect.
Two hours later, we were still wondering when the team would
turn up and who the hell were those comedians that had just performed a shoddy
impersonation of my beloved Wanderers and had been stuffed five nil?
Thus began the journey into decline and we tumbled down the
league for the rest of that forgettable season.
I will treasure that rip-off commemorative scarf forever as
a constant reminder of the damage that excessive optimism can inflict.
The semi-final squad on that day was as follows:
·
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
02 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
04
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
05
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
12 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
06 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
73)
·
10 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
46)
·
27 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
09 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
14 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
17 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
46)
Substitutes
·
01 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
25 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
31 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
07 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
16 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
21 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
19 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Fast forward through a summer of transfer speculation to the
beginning of this season. It seemed like everyone else bar us had spent big,
including Wolves. Elmander, Taylor, Cohen and Moreno had headed off into the
sunset, but where was the new and improved defence that the Wembley fiasco and
subsequent games demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that we needed
desperately? Where were the pacy wing backs that could cope with fast wingers
and get up and down the pitch to add weight to the attack when needed? We lost
Holden, Mears and Lee before we’d even started, and Ricketts was soon to
follow. We struggled so badly in throughout the first half of the season that I’d
already posted a “Run In to Relegation” thread on the Mad site by December.
December FFS! We had 9 points on the board in December.
Cahill went, and the new signings continued to arrive, all
young, all “players for the future” and nearly all midfielders. It had already
dawned on me what OC was trying to achieve. Massive wage bill cuts.
Fair enough I thought. We have to be sustainable as a club
and we have to cut our cloth accordingly. And if we haven’t got money to spend
on established players, then buy young and back them to step up when they’re
ready. It makes sense.
But there was a niggling worry at the back of my mind. We
need a Premiership platform for these players. Kids with great aspirations like
Sordell will want to prove what they can do at the highest level and if we want
to attract even more young “starlets-in-the-making” the Premiership is where we
need to stay, so it was important to do enough to hang in there until the
summer when Holden will return, Lee will get back to form, the old guard will
be ushered out, we’ll be able to sort out our defence and everything will be OK
again.
Only we didn’t. We flew too close to the sun and got burned.
We almost made it but we had too many setbacks, too many mistakes were made and
we never pulled clear as we should have done. Change was inevitable, but OC
tried to change too much too fast – although it might have worked with a bit
more luck, application and focus on defence – particularly setting the team up
to defend a lead.
So where does that leave us for next season in the
Championship? Now that we’re here I have no doubt whatsoever that we need to
see the OC plan through to it’s conclusion.
There are some positives and some worries. On the positive
side, we have a great array of young talent who will get a chance next season,
some better than others but all with potential: Sordell, Wylde, Riley, Mavies,
Bogdan, Lee, Ngog, Vela, Alonso, and others who could come through – in fact
the entire reserves back four could come through. Then there a few players who
are still quite young such as Wheater, Ream, Pratley, Holden and Eagles. Who
knows? Fabrice may even play again. But expect a big clearout of the rest in
the summer.
And the worries? Only two. First and foremost that OC doesn’t
learn about the importance of defence i.e. the importance of teaching the team
to defend as a team, to be able to protect a lead when required and to understand
that if you want to play attacking attractive football that attack starts at
the back and needs to be based on a solid foundation that is never exposed. If
it means spending a little of the money he’ll be saving by letting players go
on shoring up the defence then it will be money well spent. And the second is
that the young talent he is clearly intending to put his faith in doesn’t make
the grade. I’ve seen enough of most of them to believe they should make it, but
you never know.
It’s been a tough season for us all. We almost made it but
we didn’t so let’s move on – but please don’t completely scupper our chances by
calling for the managers head. There’s a (albeit flawed) plan in motion and we
need to see it through so more change is the last thing we need right now.
Finally I’d like to say how proud to be a Wanderer I was
yesterday at the Britannia when the game ended. Superb support and we were
pretty damned dignified in defeat by and large which is tough to say when you’re
stood near a lad in a banana costume and a bloke with false tits.
COYW
Let me take you back a year to the 17th of April 2011.
It was a beautiful warm day and I was in
a pretty good mood on my way to the match, not because our Premiership form had
been anything other than “average”, but because this was the FA Cup semi final
and I thought we had a decent chance of beating Stoke and getting the chance to
come to the new Wembley again. My younger kids were up for too. We’d had a nice
meal, a few drinks and we all bought cheap commemorative scarves on the walk up
to the entrance – so we’d be able to remember that glorious day in the future.
It was perfect.
Two hours later, we were still wondering when the team would
turn up and who the hell were those comedians that had just performed a shoddy
impersonation of my beloved Wanderers and had been stuffed five nil?
Thus began the journey into decline and we tumbled down the
league for the rest of that forgettable season.
I will treasure that rip-off commemorative scarf forever as
a constant reminder of the damage that excessive optimism can inflict.
The semi-final squad on that day was as follows:
·
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
02 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
04
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
05
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
12 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
06 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
73)
·
10 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
46)
·
27 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
09 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
14 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
·
17 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
46)
Substitutes
·
01 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
25 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
31 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
07 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
16 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
21 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
·
19 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Fast forward through a summer of transfer speculation to the
beginning of this season. It seemed like everyone else bar us had spent big,
including Wolves. Elmander, Taylor, Cohen and Moreno had headed off into the
sunset, but where was the new and improved defence that the Wembley fiasco and
subsequent games demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that we needed
desperately? Where were the pacy wing backs that could cope with fast wingers
and get up and down the pitch to add weight to the attack when needed? We lost
Holden, Mears and Lee before we’d even started, and Ricketts was soon to
follow. We struggled so badly in throughout the first half of the season that I’d
already posted a “Run In to Relegation” thread on the Mad site by December.
December FFS! We had 9 points on the board in December.
Cahill went, and the new signings continued to arrive, all
young, all “players for the future” and nearly all midfielders. It had already
dawned on me what OC was trying to achieve. Massive wage bill cuts.
Fair enough I thought. We have to be sustainable as a club
and we have to cut our cloth accordingly. And if we haven’t got money to spend
on established players, then buy young and back them to step up when they’re
ready. It makes sense.
But there was a niggling worry at the back of my mind. We
need a Premiership platform for these players. Kids with great aspirations like
Sordell will want to prove what they can do at the highest level and if we want
to attract even more young “starlets-in-the-making” the Premiership is where we
need to stay, so it was important to do enough to hang in there until the
summer when Holden will return, Lee will get back to form, the old guard will
be ushered out, we’ll be able to sort out our defence and everything will be OK
again.
Only we didn’t. We flew too close to the sun and got burned.
We almost made it but we had too many setbacks, too many mistakes were made and
we never pulled clear as we should have done. Change was inevitable, but OC
tried to change too much too fast – although it might have worked with a bit
more luck, application and focus on defence – particularly setting the team up
to defend a lead.
So where does that leave us for next season in the
Championship? Now that we’re here I have no doubt whatsoever that we need to
see the OC plan through to it’s conclusion.
There are some positives and some worries. On the positive
side, we have a great array of young talent who will get a chance next season,
some better than others but all with potential: Sordell, Wylde, Riley, Mavies,
Bogdan, Lee, Ngog, Vela, Alonso, and others who could come through – in fact
the entire reserves back four could come through. Then there a few players who
are still quite young such as Wheater, Ream, Pratley, Holden and Eagles. Who
knows? Fabrice may even play again. But expect a big clearout of the rest in
the summer.
And the worries? Only two. First and foremost that OC doesn’t
learn about the importance of defence i.e. the importance of teaching the team
to defend as a team, to be able to protect a lead when required and to understand
that if you want to play attacking attractive football that attack starts at
the back and needs to be based on a solid foundation that is never exposed. If
it means spending a little of the money he’ll be saving by letting players go
on shoring up the defence then it will be money well spent. And the second is
that the young talent he is clearly intending to put his faith in doesn’t make
the grade. I’ve seen enough of most of them to believe they should make it, but
you never know.
It’s been a tough season for us all. We almost made it but
we didn’t so let’s move on – but please don’t completely scupper our chances by
calling for the managers head. There’s a (albeit flawed) plan in motion and we
need to see it through so more change is the last thing we need right now.
Finally I’d like to say how proud to be a Wanderer I was
yesterday at the Britannia when the game ended. Superb support and we were
pretty damned dignified in defeat by and large which is tough to say when you’re
stood near a lad in a banana costume and a bloke with false tits.
COYW
