Assessment

Feb 1st and some Town fans are fretting about relegation. I'd fret about it too if it seemed likely, but consider the following:

The team has just achieved a draw at the side currently 4th in the Championship.
Without Andrew Dallas. Without a 6-footer leading the line.
Having previously beaten three League 1 teams  - including giving the top L1 team a sound walloping.
This is a strange CV for a side about to be relegated from L2, surely.

Where does the pessimism come from?
Well we've got rid of a bunch of loanees who most thought weren't good enough anyway, and failed to replace them with
Andrew Dallas (2 goals in 23 L2 games) or a target man (overlooking how well Orsi played at Luton).
I'm not trashing Dallas - he looks a very good prospect, and I'd like us to have signed him.
But if he doesn't want to come here that's the end of that one (and we need to accept it and move on).

I make no apologies for tending to view GTFC affairs through rosy glasses - that's my choice.
So being optimistic about the players we have brought in...

Everything I've seen and read about George Lloyd makes me think he could easily become a fans favourite due to his
workrate and combative nature. If he can start scoring goals we'll have a gem.

Tom Dickson-Peters has Scottish international caps at youth level - so there's certainly some ability there - and is described
as a 'clinical finisher' on his Norwich City webpage, who rate him highly.
Well that's what we need isn't it? Someone good at finishing off our (often) good approach play.
Doesn't need to be a 6-footer heading in crosses who scores our goals. Think Podge...
Might also mean more playing time for Hunt as the midfielder most likely to find TDP with a telling pass, which also makes
sense. We apparently paid 100K for Hunt, yet given him few opportunities to justify his price tag.

Josh Emmanuel is a super signing if his health issues are behind him...a real coup.
I can't believe PH hasn't done the due diligence on a player he knows well, so very hopeful.

Criticism of the board seems out of order to me. They've made it abundantly clear that all footballing matters are left to PH,
and have made funds available to him.
Perhaps the 17 years of justifiable criticism of the Fenty regime hasn't worked its way out of the system for a few.

I can understand why some are thinking PH is more 'El Corporal' than 'El General', but failing to satisfy football fans'
expectations is more likely due to the fans excessively high hopes rather than managerial weakness.
I don't think anyone doubts that Paul has worked his nuts off in the last month.

In summary: we'll be ok.

UTM

Edit: And if Scanz and/or Wearne can perform for us in the remainder of this season, things will look a fair bit different.

Personally I never had expectations that we would be fighting for or in contention for another promotion this season, so with that thought out of my head, I feel like doing enough to just linger mid table for this season is all they are doing with a view to a push on reforming and refining the squad a bit more ambitiously in the summer. Maybe they didn’t want to squander the cup money earned so far and see how far they could go before seeing what was in the wallet for the summer transfer window.

I do genuinely understand the perspective that ultimately what happens on the pitch is really all that matters, and that another raft of basically loanees doesn’t show ambition .. and for those showing up at BP week after week, they want to see some results… but honestly to me it says that whilst not cruising, we are doing ok but that I would expect to see a push in the summer to make next season a decent effort for a run to the top and go up.

Quoted from chicaneuk

Personally I never had expectations that we would be fighting for or in contention for another promotion this season, so with that thought out of my head, I feel like doing enough to just linger mid table for this season is all they are doing with a view to a push on reforming and refining the squad a bit more ambitiously in the summer. Maybe they didn’t want to squander the cup money earned so far and see how far they could go before seeing what was in the wallet for the summer transfer window.

I do genuinely understand the perspective that ultimately what happens on the pitch is really all that matters, and that another raft of basically loanees doesn’t show ambition .. and for those showing up at BP week after week, they want to see some results… but honestly to me it says that whilst not cruising, we are doing ok but that I would expect to see a push in the summer to make next season a decent effort for a run to the top and go up.

The commentary from the board is one of incremental improvements on a sustainable basis. That’s okay if you sustain the revenues. I’m not sure they will.

Dont think relegation is an issue this season, we're 100/1 but if we're going to occupy the bottom third of this division then it's inevitable it's going to happen again within the next few years.

I'm happy with the squad.
3 new forward players and a right back to give Efete some competition *who I rate by the way.
I'm assuming with us now having 4 'strikers' he may look to play 2 up top. I'd like to see us keep the 3 at the back, 532 or something along those lines.

This season is about stability and staying in the FL. I think we have enough to finish in the top 15. Then we need to look to improve further next season and aim for a top half finish.
I'm not expecting promotion or even a play off spot. We need to be realistic.

Not sure how anyone can make an assessment, one way or another, until we’ve seen them play. Each to their own but reckon people are really overthinking it.

What if the infrastructure of the club was in such a bad way that it's going to take more time and money than the owners first realised?
Could it be that 20 years of neglect is going to take longer to fix than first thought ?

Quoted from It Bites

What if the infrastructure of the club was in such a bad way that it's going to take more time and money than the owners first realised?
Could it be that 20 years of neglect is going to take longer to fix than first thought ?

You just won’t do it if your ambition is League Two stability. Gates will drop next season without substantially better recruitment in the summer.

Quoted from GrimRob

Dont think relegation is an issue this season, we're 100/1 but if we're going to occupy the bottom third of this division then it's inevitable it's going to happen again within the next few years.

I agree with you on both points  - but there was a lot of gloom and doom on the January Window Thread when
I called it a day and went to bed.

We may occupy a position in the bottom third of this division this year, though personally I doubt that - and I would share
your concern if that were to become the norm. However, I've already admitted to being a glass half full type, so I don't expect it.

Don't feel that the club - players and manager - are quite getting the respect for what they have already achieved this season in
the FA Cup run. Non-league to 5th round draw in about 8 months is going some imo.

*from the transfer window thread…

“Wake up and smell the coffee”, “dress it up as you like”, “disaster”, “cheap”, “bargain bucket”. All opinions without the benefit of seeing any of these lads play. Did I want Dallas, Vernam etc? Of course, but what do you expect the club to do? Kidnap them? If they don’t want to come, or their club won’t allow them to come then that’s that. Don’t blame the people currently in charge, blame the previous incumbents who have allowed this club’s reputation and facilities to fall below the likes of Barrow, Rochdale and Stevenage. Blame the council and the government for the lack of investment in N.E Lincs needed to make it a desirable place to live. Blame Grim for discovering this town in the location it is and not 50 miles west. The fact is that we are what we are now, and it’s going to take years, not a few transfer windows to repair and build this club again.