Let me start by setting down my personal opinion of the manager. John Sheridan is a charmless oik, completely incapable of adjusting tactics in the course of a game, who should be replaced by the best available candidate at the earliest opportunity. I make my view clear because the remainder of this post might imply I am supporting Sheridan, when that's not the case. I do however believe criticism should be backed by facts, and that much of the flak being thrown at Sheridan is speculation, even invention, and certainly unsubstantiated.
Let's take the "injury crisis". When the likes of Comedy Steve (Evans) bang on about poor training leading to injuries, then few take too much notice. However when more rational posters like GreenSam, AFT stalwart and respected poster, take up the argument, then there is a danger of facts being overlooked. Sam tells us in his Morecombe match report that "virtually our entire squad is walking wounded" and "such an incredibly large amount of injuries simply cannot be a coincidence". Sam implies that this is down to the training, but is honest enough not to speculate whether it's under-training, over-training, or some other training factor.
Is it actually true that virtually the whole squad is carrying an injury? Sam is closer to the club than I am, but I sense that his statement is somewhat overdramatic. Of course we have players who are carrying injuries but name me a club for whom, at this stage of the season, this is not the case. We've had a brief spell where we have had several (mainly short-term) injuries, but plenty of clubs have this. Going into yesterday's game we had only one first team regular (Hartley) unavailable through injury, one squad member (Smalley) out for the season, and one other long term casualty (Lecointe). Many clubs are in a worse state. Yes there are some other fringe players out, but Blizzard has long been injury prone and the absence of Harvey and Allen hardly handicaps Sheridan as they don't ever start. It's also important to note that several of the injuries this season cannot be put down directly to the training regime - Purrington, Nelson, Thomas and Luke yesterday were either contact injuries or in Thomas's case a long-term affliction. In summary, I don't think our injury list is incredibly large, I believe it is utterly speculative to say that the injuries we do have "cannot be a coincidence", and I see little evidence that a significant proportion of injuries stem from defects in the training regime. I emphasise that I'm not defending Sheridan's training except regarding injuries - what we are seeing on the pitch suggests something is not right.
Next to the "Sheridan lives up north, Sheridan doesn't want to be here, Sheridan isn't here much" allegations. Loads of people work in highly paid, highly stressful careers hundreds of miles from home. Most of them would prefer to be able to do their job nearer home, but for all sorts of reasons that's not possible. So Sheridan's not unique in that. In his situation, however, it is essential that he spends sufficent time in Plymouth. I have absolutely no idea how much time Sheridan spends at Argyle, and I suspect very few others do. We read posts on this, but they tend to refer to "he's rarely at training", "part time manager" etc. If fans hear this from insiders, surely they ask for facts? If you post this sort of stuff, then back it up with facts.
"Sheridan doesn't love the club like we do". Why should he, as the hired help, love the club? How many of us, even if we are committed to our careers "love" our workplace. I require a manager to produce a successful team, I don't care about his personal emotions.
Perhaps most bizarre are the allegations that Sheridan takes decisions to upset fans. This came up several times in the Luke Young saga - "He's got rid of Youngy because the fans like him" was the tone of it. Recently there was a post of similar ilk about Tyler Harvey, and last night I read that JS doesn't play Nathan Thomas because of chants from the Devonport. What utter bilge! It's fairly obvious that Sheridan is utterly unconcerned about what the fans think of him, and the thought that he would jeopardise his own career, and those of others, to upset fans is plainly nonsense.
John Sheridan's position as Argyle manager is gradually unravelling. I'm certainly ready to hear valid criticisms of the manager, and there are no shortage of these. If you're going to be speculative, however, at least back up your opinion with some facts.
