What do we need for next season?

[cashman]

think thats a good honest summary wynonie.

[cmonstanley]

the thing is if you dont make mistakes you dont learn anything,look at fergie at man utd it took him more than 2 seasons to get it right.lets hope coley learns from his mistakes and by keeping coley it helps to stable the ship after recent events....




johnny coleman a survivor...........we are staying up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AccyMad]

Originally Posted by Tin Monkey

Without encouraging another 'let's sack Coleman' thread, one of the problems for managers with little league experience is the amount of contacts they have within the game. JC had a large number of contacts in the non-league game, as that is where both he and JB plied their trade. At league level it's a different story.

In addition to that, many L2 managers have a firm grasp of tactics and often when they have changed their play, JC hasn't acted soon enough to counteract the changes and we've lost games that we were previously well placed to get something from. That's something you saw a lot less of in the non-league game.

Thank you TM, that's exactly what I meant.

[AccyMad]

Originally Posted by cmonstanley

the thing is if you dont make mistakes you dont learn anything,look at fergie at man utd it took him more than 2 seasons to get it right.lets hope coley learns from his mistakes and by keeping coley it helps to stable the ship after recent events....




johnny coleman a survivor...........we are staying up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree, the trouble is how often does he admit that he's made mistakes - more often than not it's someone elses fault

[Haz66]

This subject seems to keep coming round time and time again, i think all posible views and thoughts have at one time or another been put forward on the issue of Sacking Coleman or not and what can be done in regards to our improvement next season, whilst its good that a few fresh idea`s do emerge from time to time its getting a little boring.
At one time i was swayed that maybe it would be a good thing for Coleman to go, now i dont think it would, mainly for the reasons already stated, I think that for what he as done for this club he at least deserves another season possibly two to see if he can improve on a rather poor start to life in league 2, he`s still learning at this level, ok some of his signings havn`t turned out to be very good but we are not in a position to compete for the better players, he`s probably buying what he see`s as the best we can afford and hoping he can improve them, in most cases this as failed to happen, even Craney seems a shadow of his former self so maybe there is an underlying problem at the club that we are unaware of as we know that Craney can play, well we know he could at non league level.
I, like Coley cant wait for this season to end, then over the summer let them try and get it right for next season.

[Pendle Red]

I think Coley is right in the sense of wanting the Season to End

For whatever reasons things have not reached the expectations certainly I had at the start of the Season which was pretty much Top Half if not a play off position.

There was enough to suggest the End of Last Season with some good Home performances and a little tweaking with additions during last Summer that is where we would should have been

I hope that plenty of people take up the Season Ticket options before the End of April to perhaps enhance & bolster the Transfer Kitty (whether that be for fees/wages or both) to move us up a notch, that could be the difference between bottom half & top half of the Table

I think the addition of a couple of experienced defenders at this level, a proven goalscorer with a utillity midfield/stiker and the four lads who have just come through the ranks things aren't maybe as bad as they seem

The key is consistency, if we can start to keep Clean Sheets and play with confidence and start to boss games particulary at Home then everything else will follow

[fc:stanley]

Originally Posted by depechemode

Instead of us all slagging team off

Is that really depechemode typing this up! How things can change in a few weeks !

Without coleman we will go down! If you all want a change of manager , who you got in mind? There isnt another person who could equal or do the same or better with the club than John Coleman! Eric will stick by Coleman! And good on him!!

[depechemode]

lol changed my tune abit but iv said all along we need someone who knows this league . some1 to be new number 2 .

[yonmon]

Originally Posted by AccyMad

I agree, the trouble is how often does he admit that he's made mistakes - more often than not it's someone elses fault

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.and making mistakes..

If this is true then JC should have enough experience by now to manage a Division 2 Football team !...To what level is another question altogether.
It would seem that after another season of 'consolidation' (If that's what has really happened at the FES over the season!!)...that at least he needs another period of' learning by making bad judgements'.
Those who have posted here sharing these thoughts are I feel on the right track!!...The 'Sack JC' lobby need to look beyond the errors of this season to 2008/9 where a Manager who is still finding his feet in League Football, should lead our Team to better things!!.
I note that there are few if any alternative names suggested to replace JC
if he was 'terminated'....' Alfred.E. says ' But who would come to the FES
with the present lack of resources?'....and I can't really give him an answer!.

'WHAT ME WORRY ?'...not when I look forward to another season in the Football League....shouting 'ON STANLEY....ON!!!'

[Outback Ozzy]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

Whatever Coley's faults and individual mistakes as regards signings and tactics, this season, like last season, he has achieved a miracle - he has kept (touch wood!) a club with average gates of 1,600 in the football league - can anyone name another manager who has done this? Many fans make the mistake of talking about Stanley as if we are just another league club; we are not - we are unique because we operate on non-league gates and therefore a non-league budget. The only league club even approaching our level of poverty is D&R and look at how they are struggling now. If the knockers get their way and Coley goes, do you think that will solve our problems? Any incoming manager will face the same old scenario - no crowds and no money. In my view, Coley should receive the freedom of the borough for achieving the impossible!

Yess Wynonie, I can name 2, the managers of the old Wimbledon FC who only got 3500 in the premier league and the manager of Wigan athletic when they first came into the league and look where they are now.

[shakermaker]

What do we need? With respect to playing staff...
a) Cling on to Kenny Arthur with all our efforts, for one. He's played brilliantly this season, especially after coming back from a serious injury. You can bet your bottom dollar that there'll be a lot of bids for him this summer. We must keep him.
b) A solid, consistent back four. Cavanagh, Edwards, Kempson and Richardson are capable of this, however the third person in that line up leads me to point (c).
c) Get Darran Kempson signed. Get investment from wherever - we must this player to the club. He's an old fashioned defender who never put a foot wrong in a red shirt this season, a must sign.
d) A midfield, please. Craney has not been effective, he can't be the first name on the team sheet. Grant deserves a regular spot as does Proctor. However, other than those two I'm not sure. Todd hasn't impressed me on his return. Harris isn't strong enough to dictate the play in a defensive midfield role and Mannix hasn't found his feet. I think developing these roles properly in training would suffice rather than seeking a new player, however this leads to the next point.
e) Permanent, professional training facilities are a must.
f) Keep John & Jimmy. They do have the ability, they've just got to wise up to professional league football. The management must, however, get over their obsession with dropping players due to personal differences. Don't lie about it, we all know it happens. We're a professional club now, it's high time we acted like it.

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by Outback Ozzy

Yess Wynonie, I can name 2, the managers of the old Wimbledon FC who only got 3500 in the premier league and the manager of Wigan athletic when they first came into the league and look where they are now.

Got to admit, Oggy, I don't have the stats to hand, so I'll have to take your word for it. 3,500 seems a bit low for an average gate, since Plough Lane could hold at least twice that and all the big London clubs must have attracted full houses. I take your point, though, that their gates were way below other premier league clubs...but eventually gravity asserted itself, with disastrous results.

As for Wigan, did they really only get average gates of 1,600 per season when they came into the old 4th division? Again, seems a bit low...however, Wigan had two things that we don't, a catchment area of around four times the size of ours and a rich backer!

[Alvin the chipmunk]

Originally Posted by Outback Ozzy

Yess Wynonie, I can name 2, the managers of the old Wimbledon FC who only got 3500 in the premier league and the manager of Wigan athletic when they first came into the league and look where they are now.

Wimbledon also won the FA CUp taking 37,000 Dons fans to Wembley in their 2nd Premier League Season. Are we to win that as well?

Coley is doing a fine job. Ajob the likes of York and Exeter can only dream that their manager could repeat.

[Bunter]

A lot of our problems stem from a toothless attack, 19 goals in 20 league games since the 1st of Jan. If you can't attack with any real threat your always going to put yourself under pressure at the other end.

To begin with I don’t think we can call Mullers or Whalley for this, Mullers is a better player when he has got a busy little so and so running round him for flick ons and dinks through and Whalley isn't that. McGiven might have been, but I don't think we will ever know now, and Craney certainly never will be.

Roscoe, who was well on the way to providing the ying to Mullers yang was let go, at precisely the time Tin Monkey has highlighted things went pear shaped for us in the league. Not being a keen fan of coincidence I can’t help but think the two might be related…

Likewise Whalley has been given the thankless task of being something he isn’t naturally (a striker before anyone exasperatedly exclaims footballer).

If you can close your eyes you can see him picking up the ball on the left wing against Dagenham, beating his first man on acceleration alone, cutting inside the fullback, giving himself a couple of yards of space, looking up from the corner of the box, and unleashing a shot that arced through the cooling night sky and crept 6 inches inside the corner flag.

I for one would much prefer him to play out on the wing as I still think he has promise in that area, rather than as a finisher. It must pummel his confidence more each game, especially as the crowd is small enough to pick out what individuals are saying about you.

The big thing that will define next season and to a greater extent, whether JC can take things further or whether we go down the route of new manager or settling for league existence with JC (which is not a criticism, just a dose of realism), is sorting out our midfield and in particular a suitable partner for Ian Craney.

For the greater part of the season our central midfield has neither supported the attack in any meaningful way nor protected the defence particularly well (44 conceded in the league since Jan 1st and counting). Yes there is a lot of running, yes there is commitment, but there has been precious little in the way of guile or ability on the ball being displayed from the centre of midfield, nor has their been any noticeable shielding and tackling (unless you are fan of the flying lunge with remorseful look at the ref afterwards) when breaking up an attack.

We have played players out of position to accommodate personnel, Harris on the wing??? We have signed a stinker in Miles (irrespective of the niggling nasty football teams Paul Ince creates, I am eternally grateful he took that pile off our hands). We play Whalley out of position and Mannix wont show his true potential till next season.

And why is Craney pivotal to all this? Coleman has pinned his colours to Craney;- record signing, long term contract, he’s going to have to play him and if we are going to achieve the top half / playoff / promotion that the club has stated as its ambitions he is has to find a way of playing him so that he doesn’t go awol in matches.

Craney was at his best in the conference winning season when he was the attack minded midfielder and we had a sitter in there as his partner. Anthony Barry is a player we have never properly replaced and I don’t think Craney has ever been as consistently good for us since Barry left.

He did a lot of tackling, broke up the play, covered the back four, he could pass a bit and made sure, crucially, that he did very few stupid things. He was the perfect grafter (if that doesn’t do him a disservice) that allowed the artisan in Craney to flourish. I’m not surprised he has made it at a higher level with Yeovil.

Without a good defensive minded partner to allow Craney’s attacking talents to be brought to the fore the midfield will struggle, and Proccy and Harris just don’t offer this.

I don’t think they have the ability or consistency to their game at this level to do it reliably or against the top notch teams in our league. After all Proccy wasn’t really part of the conference winning season due to knee knack and who would you have dropped to accomodate him?

Yes we could do with Kempson back permanently, yes we need a forward to complement Mullers (some might argue we have them in McGiven and Brown), but it wont make much difference to us until we get a midfield that can defend and cover the back four and knows when to and how to support an attack

As we don’t have the money to splash on a grand signing can Coley unearth another gem like Barry? Will Mannix turn into this character? Possibly, but all I know for certain is that he is not there yet, but I wont pass judgement till next season

I cant wait to see who goes and who comes in over the close season, but what I’m hoping for is that Coley finds a player that will bring the best out of Ian Craney, if he does then the £209 I’ll be spending come pay day will be one hell of a bargain.

[maccawozzagod]

belting first post Bunter, welcome to the forum