Celebrate maybe not the right word, but I think we thoroughly deserve promotion. Given the mass overhaul we went through last summer with a raft of key players abandoning ship after relegation, the manager and his team deserve a huge amount of credit for being in the automatic fight at this stage of the season.
Based on what I watched this season, there were not three teams playing better football than us. There were some more resolute than us defensively, some more clinical going forward, but few who were the all round package that RL has put together.
Something noticeable is the impact of our new signings. Under DA weâd become accustomed to a scattergun approach to the transfer window. Weâd sign just as many bad players as we would good, although when he got it right, he got it very right. This year, only Jose Baxter would fall into the âbad signingâ category, albeit the circumstances of his departure remain somewhat strange. Aimson looked good when he featured but has been unlucky with injury and even Rudden who I really did not rate, contributed some important goals. Mayor, Fadz, Moore, Grant, Bakinson, Hardie, Telford, Edwards, Cooper and Palmer have all been somewhere between good and outstanding. Itâs a positive sign of things to come, and also testament to our scouting/analysis team.
Whilst weâll never know, I personally think weâd have finished in the top 3. Our form since October has been very consistent, losing only four times and with the amount of goals in our squad I didnât see us falling away, particularly as this team has shown it could bounce back from a bad result and has become very effective on the road.
All of the above makes me feel good about next season. The transfer window is going to be unpredictable but gives us all the more reason to keep the core of this squad together and continue giving opportunities to youth players to be involved.
So will I celebrate? I wonât be jumping up and down, but Iâll be delighted to get out of this division and Iâm very positive about what comes next!
Based on what I watched this season, there were not three teams playing better football than us. There were some more resolute than us defensively, some more clinical going forward, but few who were the all round package that RL has put together.
Something noticeable is the impact of our new signings. Under DA weâd become accustomed to a scattergun approach to the transfer window. Weâd sign just as many bad players as we would good, although when he got it right, he got it very right. This year, only Jose Baxter would fall into the âbad signingâ category, albeit the circumstances of his departure remain somewhat strange. Aimson looked good when he featured but has been unlucky with injury and even Rudden who I really did not rate, contributed some important goals. Mayor, Fadz, Moore, Grant, Bakinson, Hardie, Telford, Edwards, Cooper and Palmer have all been somewhere between good and outstanding. Itâs a positive sign of things to come, and also testament to our scouting/analysis team.
Whilst weâll never know, I personally think weâd have finished in the top 3. Our form since October has been very consistent, losing only four times and with the amount of goals in our squad I didnât see us falling away, particularly as this team has shown it could bounce back from a bad result and has become very effective on the road.
All of the above makes me feel good about next season. The transfer window is going to be unpredictable but gives us all the more reason to keep the core of this squad together and continue giving opportunities to youth players to be involved.
So will I celebrate? I wonât be jumping up and down, but Iâll be delighted to get out of this division and Iâm very positive about what comes next!
