Tuesday 31 January 2017

A Good Window For Roly's Bank Manager



Roly wasn't expected to spend much and he certainly didn't did he eh ? One can't be surprised when there's no plan and no ambition than having a nice get together on a Saturday and a quick two-step with the oppo's fans.

The transfer window has now slammed shut. No more ins although I guess there  could always be outs ! 

Certainly a couple of likely departures haven't departed.

This is crunch time. If you can’t achieve your aims with what you’ve got then sorry, it ain’t gonna change before the summer.

Ajose has returned to Swindon who have also recruited Rohan Ince a very shrewd acquisition. Why we were not into that ?

Robinson has rolled the dice, played the cards that he’s been dealt and the fullness of time will tell us all how successful he’s been.

He ought to have enough experience to know not to make promises he may not be able to keep. The marquee signing never happened and in all honesty most of us never felt it would. He's been somewhat naive there and remember Wilder didn't join up because he didn't have sufficient control of transfers.

I'm not sure how much to believe of Robinson's claims about other clubs bumping up prices because it's us. Is that genuine or is it faux anger or a smokescreen because The President didn't stump up the cash ? 

The manager is never shy in talking up the club and its players and to a degree, there’s little wrong with that. However, now it’s time to see if they and him can live up to the rhetoric

Recent results have shown there has been some improvement in results since the manager’s arrival. Certainly the football has been more attacking and the evidence is that the players want to play for him if last Saturday alone is anything to go by.

I still have reservations about Robinson as he overhypes everything and is seemingly too pally with players. However, I can’t deny what I’ve cited above and we’ll see how it goes. I can be won over a little by improved results and performances.

February is a real crunch time with March shaping up to be the same as the result of postponed games. It will really test the manager’s mettle and he may need more than just his favoured formation at various stages. One hopes he’s flexible enough in his approach to meet the upcoming demands.


Should we have realistic hopes of making the play-offs ? Well, looking at our squad (  when most are available ) and what I’ve seen of the other hopefuls then, yes indeed, we ought to. Only Sheffield United have really impressed me to date.

A lot depends on how Robinson can deploy his players and keep them as motivated as they were on Saturday. In addition, we need to see if he has an alternate way of playing when needs must.

We live in interesting times !

7 comments:

  1. Phil - sums it up nicely for me. We won't make promotion or the play-offs. The squad isn't strong enough and it hasn't been all season. The simple fact is we never set out to get promoted. To be fair, they never said that either. Under pressure a couple of months ago Meire hoped for promotion but that's about as close as we will get. Our fans need to realise that it isn't a driver for a man who doesn't watch us and whose only real interest is the bottom-line. The club's losses are now geared-down and that will suit Duchatelet. When all is said and done - and there's been bucket-loads of that - we have become a feeder club with no ambition. It's existence, not life, which is why fans will continue to pack it in and the shrinkage will continue.

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    1. Sadly that's all too true Dave. Promotion on the cheap if they can but it's not an ambition, aim or part of any plan. It's a disgrace as our club is withering away and yet the EFL et al do nothing.

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  2. Just seen Robinson's interview from last night. Wow, you certainly can't accuse him of not caring about our club. I do agree that the January window is a crap window to do business in - Igahlho - £20m, Brady £13m - you're having a laugh aren't you?! I'm glad we didn't pay over the odds wasting money on a 'marquee' signing who clearly isn't a marquee signing. If it means we have a few more pounds to spend in the Summer which is a better window to business in then fantastic. Also excited to see Stephy Mavididi play, sounds a very talented lad.

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    1. Hope you're right anon. What's a tad concerning is if you see Robinson's interview in the summer post transfer window where he says almost verbatim what he said yesterday!

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    2. Here's certainly not short of a soundbite or two and he talks so much that for sure, yeah there's going to be repitition but for now, he gets my backing. I'd take him over a cliched Ron Manager.

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    3. As I acknowledged there has been some improvement. If only he'd let himself be judged by results alone.

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