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« on: September 15, 2008, 06:13:34 PM »
Of course we should keep Heathcote, any new manager would still have the same problems, without some of the advantages. Much better to be like Crewe, not Newcastle (remember Bobby Robson?) IT would be like sdacking Dario Grady because Crewe got relegated to the third (stroke 2nd stroke league one).TYhat's the reality of how hard the Conference is for us.
A quote from radio Five Live: "United fans are blaming Alex Ferguson's tactics". I was going to say enough said, but some people are getting a bit carried away so seemingly not. For those who find it difficult to understand, I will go through some of the problems we face, and why I think we have a decent manager (and decent man) doing the best he can do in difficult circumstances.
A couple of things that need clearing up straight away. Yes, we did better after getting rid of Bernard Taylor. If you remember, he had dispensed with Graham Heathocte as assistant manager by then. Graham had been a lot of the reason why we had been doing well (probably the same in 1991 aswell). The new assistant, if I remember rightly, was in fact clueless. That's basically why we needed a change.
As for Heathcote being clueless, that is absolute rubbish. And people who say this may realiase it aswell if they calm down and think about it rationally. He's been involved in the non league game for over thirty years.He reads the non-league paper thoroughly every weekend (a good source tells me). I have had the opportunity to watych countless training sessions that Heathcote has taken over the years, probably more than most people on here, certainly more than the muppets who are looking for any excuse to have Heathcote out, and I can tell you that he gave no impression to me of being clueless. I remember one tiome when he explained exactly how he wanted the players to deal with a particular opposition player (possibly for Emley?) - we did well enough in that league didn't we. As one person close to him said, he can tell the players what to do, but he can't do it for them.
Now about sacking managers. I remember hearing somewhere that statistically, teams are more likely to do the same or worse in the long run under a new manager. I would think this particularly would apply to an experienced manager with a proven track record (yes we nearly went down last season after a disrupted preseason in a difficult league. Btw it would be just as accurate to say we got promoted (for the sixth time in a row) at the end of last season (when Halifax went bust) as to say we got relegated), with a proven track record and who knows and cares about the club like Heathcote. Would United have done better if they'd sacked Fergy in the eighties? no. Would Crewe have done better if they'd sacked Dario Grady? no. Will we do better if we sack Heathcote? No. The conference is a hard league deal with it.
Now we had all this nonsense last season, and we turned it around, and Heathcote told some of the realities of life about the "boss team" and all the rest of it. So far this season we have played six top half teams, two bottom half teams (away) and one team who should be top half (away). Not much opportunity for being the boss team there I think (apart from Woking which we won, and Eastbourne which we were unlucky not to win but that's football). This season, we again have almost a new team, and surprisingly enough the manager is trying different things trying to find the most effective way of playing. And recently, our two best strikers have had injury problems, Little carrying an injury and Senior coming bvack from injury. Maybe there is a confidence problem by now aswell - thank goodness for the Cheshire cup!
Yes, we've got less problems than in the past, thanks to Goodwin and Heathcote )don't forget we had no right to get promotion in 2005, three years ahead of schedule). But even now, we didn't have a full preseason to prepare, the Halifax thing coming a few weeks after the end of the season, if earlier than the time before. Still, we ARE doing better. 6 points from 9 compared to 3 from ten last time, and we'll probably have 9 from ten by Saturday (although there's no certainties in football). I'm convinced the goal will come, it's just a matter of time. The end of the year would be a better time to assess if there's any assessing to bwe done.
I was wrong to say we could beat Stevenage, perhaps it was a bit of wishful thinking, it seems other people think we should have won. Well we got beat 5-0 by these teams in the past. Anyway our current position is not too bad. Look at the table and tell me which teams you expect to finish above.CRAWLEY TOWN 9 6 1 2 17 8 9 19 - no
2 SALISBURY CITY 9 6 1 2 13 7 6 19 0-0 probably not
3 KETTERING TOWN 9 4 5 0 13 7 6 17 1-1 no
4 MANSFIELD TOWN 9 5 2 2 17 12 5 17 no
5 CAMBRIDGE UNITED 9 5 2 2 13 8 5 17 no!
6 HISTON 9 4 3 2 15 11 4 15 0-1 maybe, but they've gort some money I heard
7 BURTON ALBION 9 4 3 2 18 16 2 15 no. Clough out too, they lost 4-1!
8 WREXHAM 9 4 2 3 16 9 7 14 1-1 no
9 KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS 9 4 2 3 16 13 3 14 0-4 no
10 BARROW 9 4 2 3 16 14 2 14 3-4 maybe but they're a bigger club, settled team
11 YORK CITY 9 3 5 1 12 10 2 14 no
12 FOREST GREEN ROVERS 9 4 2 3 10 9 1 14 no
13 EBBSFLEET UNITED 9 3 4 2 16 10 6 13 no
14 EASTBOURNE BOROUGH 9 4 1 4 11 15 -4 13 0-1 maybe
15 RUSHDEN & DIAMONDS 9 3 3 3 12 8 4 12 no
16 WEYMOUTH 9 3 3 3 13 15 -2 1 maybe
17 TORQUAY UNITED 9 3 2 4 8 11 -3 11 no
18 STEVENAGE BOROUGH 9 3 2 4 13 17 -4 11 0-3 no
19 OXFORD UNITED 9 2 3 4 10 13 -3 9 no
20 GRAYS ATHLETIC 9 2 1 6 9 15 -6 7
21 ALTRINCHAM 9 1 3 5 7 16 -9 6
22 WOKING 9 1 2 6 8 13 -5 5 2-1
23 NORTHWICH VICTORIA 9 0 3 6 10 18 -8 3
24 LEWES 9 0 3 6 5 23 -18 3
