Last chance saloon

It’s not getting any better is it?

Another dismal night at the D(ire)W(atch) Stadium ©*

*Someone funnier than me

I had big hopes going in to this game, foolishly. Two draws against Luton in the original game and the battling point against Cardiff on Saturday afternoon had pointed to something. What that something was I wasn’t sure and I’m even less sure now.

Was it the start of the turn around of our season? Well in a word – No.

The game against Luton followed that well trodden path that we’ve followed ever since Sheffield United at home, a month ago today coincidently. Increasingly that opening point against Millwall and the defeat that could have been a point against the Blades looks like the high point of Kolo Toure’s reign.

Let me state here I am not anti Toure, I’m not screaming for his head because another rushed managerial change won’t in fact change a thing. It’s now as clear as day that the problem this season wasn’t Leam Richardson. Many of us expressed shock at his sacking, the timing of it made little sense. But if there was a plan for his successor and as a result a plan to keep us in the Championship it would have made sense.

We all know what followed, at I imagine some substantial expense the club decided to hire Kolo Toure and as a result hired a novice for a relegation battle in one of the toughest leagues in Europe.

Now that isn’t Kolo’s fault and I imagine upon viewing the job he thought he could have turned things around but things have gone very quickly from salvageable to terminal.

Where do we go from here? Well another management change is unlikely, the club won’t dispense with Toure and I’m not even convinced they would be right too if they did. An already lopsided side will be even more lopsided for a new manager to come in after Toure and try to get a tune from a busted piano.

Can you say we’re as good as down in January? Probably not but we’ll soon be reaching that point. The damage done to our goal difference over Christmas may as well count as an extra point chalked off, so although we’re only four points from safety without a consistent run we’ll be down by March on our current trajectory.

Sadly a consistent run of results looks as far away as ever before, we’ve failed to win in any of Toure’s first eight games in charge. Do we think we’re capable of stringing a run of results together that will get us away from the dropzone and stay away? I’m not convinced we are. In fact I’m sure we aren’t.

I felt a bit of belief after Cardiff on Saturday, we’d earned a point and the players and bench looked delighted. But the FA Cup defeat is once again another golden opportunity missed. A golden opportunity to progress, with a very good draw against Grimsby on offer for the victors.

Indeed if the referee had done as he should have done and awarded a penalty we could have been talking about a very different game but it would have only papered over the cracks, Latics didn’t deserve a thing from Tuesday’s match.

Once again I’m not throwing all the blame at Toure, it’s an impossible situation but he and indeed the club should have seen that. Mid December, bottom of the league is not the time to teach good but not spectacular League One players possession based, free flowing football.

The club would have been better sticking with Rob Kelly post Blackpool, or even better not sacking the man who had saved the club from relegation during administration and somehow turned a squad of free transfers and bargain buys into Champions of the division a year later.

But everyone says we were cr*p last year and only won games because we scored in the last minute of matches, so what do I know?

All I know is this isn’t working and unfortunately after eighteen months of near flawless success the copy book of Phoenix 21 has been severely blotted by the decision making that led to this appointment and indeed the termination of Leam Richardson’s contract.

Anyway there’s no time to dwell on it, what’s happened as happened. If we end up back in League One – so be it. We’ve been in far worse positions, little over two years ago in fact. So attempt nine at a first win for Kolo Toure will commence against Luton (again) on Saturday.

If we put in a performance like we did on Saturday we’ve no chance. Let’s hope Miguel Azeez and Steven Caulker build on their impressive debuts against Cardiff – because we’re quickly approaching last chance saloon.

Sean Livesey

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