A new managerial era has
started here at Bloomfield Rd with the appointment of Michael Appleton as the
new man in charge. He’s quickly brought in Ashley Westwood as his first team
coach, with the purpose of getting the players fitter and improving our
defence. Some fans are getting a bit irate about Westwood coming in and taking
over Steve Thompson’s role. Well I would have thought that’s for the manager to
decide and no one else. When a new bloke takes over they always bring in their
own staff, why should it be any different here. For me Thommo has had his
chance and although officially he is still classed as assistant manager I think
his influence will start to disappear once Appy moulds the team more to his liking.
Appy has already identified
areas for improvement including fitness levels and our defensive failings. It
seems under Ollie, especially when it appeared he was losing interest, fitness
levels and training weren’t as good as they should have been. These contributed
to why the team were conceding late goals and matches in recent months. Most of
us have been screaming long enough for someone to come in and improve the
defence, because under Ollie/Thommo this was an area that suffered and
consequently contributed to us losing our premiership status. Yes, Ollie
brought us exciting, roller-coasting type of football, which for the neutrals
was great to watch. But for us who travelled around the country it was also
extremely frustrating watching us throw away games because we couldn’t defend
to save our lives. Even this season we have lost games to teams, which we would
have steamrollered earlier.
So, since Ollie left, we lost
to Derby Co, away 4-1 (absolute nightmare) we have beaten Sheffield Wed away
2-0 (incidently when Thommo was in charge) and drew last Saturday 2-2 at home
against Bolton (first game Appy in charge.) The good thing about the Bolton
game was we came back twice from being behind, but really a draw at home is 2
points dropped. Again this was a problem in our premiership days too.
Appy is determined to trim the
squad down from the current 45 players on the books. This was another problem
caused by the chairman not negotiating deals with players Ollie had identified
as his first choices. So instead of signing one quality player, we ended up
with signing three cheaper but poorer options instead. Hence, a top heavy squad
of players who will never get a game, because they don’t possess the quality
that’s needed.
Next game is away against a
struggling Bristol City. This will give us a good idea of whether the
improvement has already started, because I would guarantee we would lose this
game if Ollie was still in charge. Why? Because our confidence had gone along
with the enthusiasm Ollie once had for the club. That’s why it’s more important
than anything we get behind the new man and his staff and create the 12th
man again.
