We weren’t doing so bad under $chuey. We were among the highest scoring teams in the league at one point playing with flair and confidence, sat well above the relegation zone, with teams like Lazio trying to poach from us for huge sums!
We initially struggled to find consistency, not knowing what type of Argyle would turn up. One week we were beating Norwich 6-2 and the next losing to Millwall 2-0. I suppose we were consistently crap under Foster to be fair… but certainly in the first half of the season no one knew what to expect as each match day arrived.
Let’s be honest though - the fact we have survived is nothing short of a miracle.
Why?
Because our manager jumped ship halfway through the season, and took almost all of our entire back room staff, including the bloody fitness coach.
Because we had some quality players poached from us, or recalled, including Azaz, Cundle and KKH. Azaz alone was such a significant loss and look how well he is doing at Boro’ now. This really crippled us.
Because we unfortunately appointed a ‘head coach’ with no managerial experience, who treated the players like children and completely lost the dressing room, and the fan base.
Performances went from confident and fearless to flat and uninspiring.
Because under Foster we went from using a proven, data driven approach for recruitment, to instead relying on inexperienced England U21 players to see out the campaign.
Lessons learnt? In my opinion, there’s a few:
- We need to appoint a manager who has experience of actually managing a football team. Someone who has a track record of proven success. Someone who won’t disrupt the dressing room and tell our most senior players to sod off. Someone who is a leader, and respectful, and knows the game inside out. Someone who can connect with the fan base and get home park rocking again.
- Continue to use a data driven approach to recruitment. Jimmy and his team have been fantastic in identifying players over the last few years that have seen us climb the leagues. Yes we have had some duds, but overall this approach has been massively successful. From players like Scarr, Whittaker, Edwards, Mumba, Ennis, Azaz. We really have made some quality signings over the last few years, and the moment Foster deviated from this to bring in his U21 mates is when our season started to go downhill (although, I appreciate other factors were at play).
- Incentive: how can we incentivise coaches and players to actually want to commit to our club? So many managers seem to want to jump ship as soon at the slightest hint of another club sniffing around. Does it just come down to money? If that is the case, realistically we’ll always find it hard to compete against the ‘bigger’ boys in the division. I suppose I’m just fed up of our club being stripped down and left for scraps when we finally manage to have some success. Surely we have to find a happy medium where we sell players on for a profit but also strive to keep talent so we can sustain ourselves in the championship. Difficult one, and I don’t really know the answer.
Mistakes have been made, as admitted by Hallett, and hopefully lessons will be learnt. This season in the championship has been a massive learning curve and will only prepare us better for what lies ahead next season. Hallett, Parkinson, Dewsnip and the rest of the board will be desperate to get it right going forwards and to try and improve. I’m so glad we haven’t gone back down to league one and we get another shot in this magnificent league though.
COYG!