Its hard to pinpoint one reason as to why its come to this, for me its more an amalgamation of everything. I suppose you can try and set it out chronologically.
For the most part we competed comfortably at this level during 2014/2015. That league was much stronger than this one. We replaced Carl Rodgers with Peter Cavanagh, and additions like Sean Williams and Ryan Crowther turned out to be genuine squad improvements.
Losing the last four games of that season without looking remotely arsed about it was the beginning of a complacency rot. That rot continued into the 2015/2016 pre season when we replaced Peter Cavanagh with Anthony Griffith, and brought in the likes of Josh O'Keefe and George Bowerman as well advertised 'improvements.' Lazy signings that have ultimately defined the season.
Signing Michael Rankine was the wrong decision, too. Admittedly he's scored us some goals this season but I wouldn't say he's justified the money he's most likely on. He's been over-praised because he's been surrounded by consistent under-performers, making him look better than he is. He's a lazy player and a moaner, here to be the first name in the XI. Absolutely daft considering we have always had a prolific, proven goalscorer at the club in Damian Reeves. The money could have been spent elsewhere. Kyle Perry did enough during 2014/2015 to keep his place in the squad, it was only Steven Gillespie that needed replacing in my eyes.
Didn't we get lucky with Tim Deasy, though. Lucky in the sense that if we'd have lost Stuart Coburn for this long during 2014/2015 we'd have been in big trouble. That man has undoubtedly been our player of the season and without him our fate would have been sealed in early March.
So ultimately we started the 2015/2016 season having taken steps back in key areas within the squad. Still, I think we were all fairly confident that we had enough about us to be competitive in the Conference once again? I certainly was at the time. We ran Forest Green very close in the opening game, who have gone on to finish second. The Guiseley game was a shambles but we went on to record wins over Grimsby, Tranmere and Cheltenham. There was obviously enough about us to suggest we were fine, we just needed to sort out our performances against the sides we'd be scrapping with come Spring. Except we didn't.
We may be unbeaten against the current sides in the bottom four, but we've only actually recorded a victory against one team in the bottom 9. Boreham Wood. The failure to pick up the key points has once again put us in huge trouble, just as it did last season where if it wasn't for our form against the top half. 2014/2015 saw us pick up the points where those other teams did not, 2015/2016 has seen us just not pick up any points at all.
Now that would be disgraceful if Lee Sinnott had a complete squad at his disposal all season, but we were dealt an extremely poor hand with the injuries to Shaun Densmore, Tom Marshall and Nicky Clee. In Densmore we lost the only real leader we have in the squad, in Marshall we lost a marshal and most importantly of all without Clee we have had zero creativity and spark.
The role Anthony Griffith was signed to play should have been replaced the moment he did us over. Instead we dropped Jake Moult there. A right-back should have been brought in the moment we knew the extent of Densmore's injury. Instead we dropped Jordan Sinnott there. Likewise with Clee, we persevered with him when he was obviously very unfit. A Josh Ginnelly should have been signed instantly, and Clee should have been given time to rehabilitate. Instead we've ended up losing him for the season.
The failure to accept what we were sliding into as a result of these injuries has been catastrophic. There was an "it'll be alright next week" attitude around Christmas time with promising performances away at Tranmere pulling the wool over people's eyes. They made it seem like we weren't far away from where we needed to be, but all the while we were naming benches full of kids who had about as much chance of playing as I did. Not only did that give us no viable options to change games, but we started to run the same players into the ground week after week after week. While teams around us were upgrading, replacing and fitting square pegs into square holes we were making do with what we had in the hope that things would get better. Those of us who were pointing all of this out were villainised on here.
Obviously when things didn't get better it became apparent that Lee had lost his dressing room. Probably the right decision for himself when he left, and it should been for us too. The moment I saw the statement from the club, in its apologetic tone, highlighting the injuries for the team's misfortune... I pretty much knew what we were destined for. Shortly after, we find out it will be Lee's assistant in the cockpit and so began Air Alty's nose dive.
I think that's been the biggest thing for me. The slow acceptance of doom, or at least that's the sort of vibe I've gotten from Altrincham FC since Christmas. We had a chance to bring in a manager and get out of a mess that was, at the time, fairly easy to escape from. The simple fact of the matter is the club, over the course of the season, haven't done anywhere near enough to keep us in the division. Be it not improving the squad from 2014/2015, to not bringing in reinforcements during the injury crisis, to not bringing in a manager when our's up and left. The whole thing has been one big act of consolidation.
At least they can't say we didn't get behind them. The support from the fans this season has been superb regardless. They've been backed across the country by the same 50-100 souls who have the absolute right to be disgusted at the way the campaign has ended.
Three, extremely unlikely, consecutive wins and survival in this league will not put any rose tint on the way this season has played out. Big changes needed next season regardless of the level we are competing at.
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Why are we in this mess
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Topic: Why are we in this mess (Read 38457 times)