Simpson: Futures are on the line
Monday 9th February 2009, 1:00PM GMT.
Manager Paul Simpson has warned members of Shrewsbury Town’s squad they are playing for their futures in professional football after bemoaning a “soft underbelly” in the team.
Town’s dismal return away from home continued on Saturday as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at lowly Bournemouth.
Shrewsbury remain in the play-off positions, but their form on the road continues to threaten to undermine their promotion bid.
And Simpson said: “We have got a group of players there, most of them are playing to stay in professional football.
“There are a lot of players out of contract and I don’t think they realise how close it is and how easy it is to fall by the wayside. Maybe it’s time to start realising and do something about it.”
On the away form, the Town boss added: “I’m getting sick of it now. Unfortunately, there is obviously a soft underbelly there that is not acceptable.
“We have aspirations to be talking about promotion and at this moment in time we are doing at home and we are not doing it away.
“And, for me, that tells you there is a weakness there that can’t be accepted and it is something that has to be addressed. Unfortunately, you learn to realise the longer you are in football that you can’t actually change people’s personalities.
“The ability is there but you can’t change personalities, so as time goes on the personnel will have to change and that’s something we have got to look at.
“I’ve said all along that we are only part way through changing it to how I would like it to be, and I think every time we lose away from home it emphasises it even more.
“I haven’t come to this football club just to scrap about and be mid-table in League Two and on Saturday we didn’t deserve to win against a side who – without being disrespectful – I think were waiting to be beaten.
“We need to look at it and do something about it.
“It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen before next Saturday – but it’s something that definitely needs to happen.”
Simpson admitted his team had missed a golden chance to stamp their authority on the promotion race, with just four of Saturday’s League Two matches beating the weather.
“With the games that were off, we have had a chance to really push ourselves up there,” he added.
“We have had fantastic support again.
“We have let everybody down and now, too many times we are letting ourselves down.
“You can accept the odd one that doesn’t go your way – like the Port Vale one at home.
“I’m not being disrespectful to any other team in the League but Bournemouth away is not acceptable, Accrington’s not acceptable, Grimsby’s not acceptable, Morecambe’sc not acceptable.
“Too many times it’s happening which tells you it’s becoming a nasty habit that needs to be broken.”
By JAMES GARRISON
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Not sure about the team playing for their futures, the manager is too at the moment!
It’s hard to put a reason to why our home and away form is so different but part of the fault for our away form must rest with some pretty negative tactics away from home from the manager.
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its about time someone got shouted at, but I would ask how many of the players that started a Bournemouth have been brought in by Simmo???
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with the bookings for dissent and off the ball incidents, it seems like too much agression and passion from the players directed in the wrong way.
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Simmo is right and many of the players that he is forced to use were brought in on long contracts by the last regime.
For anyone to say Simmo is under pressure is rather rash in my view, Salop are still in the play off places and a good run before the end of the season would see us back in contention for automatic promotion.
The manager must be given this season and next to assemble his own squad, too many players left by Peters are not upto the job and Simmo can’t replace them until May.
I have as much right to moan as any not having missed a game, home or away in any competition this season and I endured a horrible 10 hour round trip to Bournemouth on snow laden icy roads, but I would like to see people get behind Simmo, these problems are not all of his making.
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Oi Simpson – perhaps you should concentrate on staying out of the drop zone rather than rattling on about promotion. You and your donkeys look like a pub team at the moment ( and a bad one at that). Three yellows and a red and a loss against a relegation battling side. How embarassing it must be to be a town fan at the moment.
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monkey boy and donkeys, thank goodness for charles darwin. yes town are going through a bad patch and things will not radically improve until simmo can sling out about 8 deadbeats who are out of contract. when the manager has his own squad and not an inherited one look out town here we go. the donkeys as you put it have not done too bad at home, and as soon as round wheels are put on the coach, and travel sickness tablets handed out who knows we might start performing away. please do not blame an excellent manager for team he mostly inherited. next season the situation will be different, then may be the time to have a moan, providing one of the best managers town have had for decades will still be with us, after all the taunts boos and criticism unfairly directed at him and not at a group of deadbeat minorities in the squad who must play for their shirts or might face the ignomy of non league football if they are lucky!
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What a charming comment from Monkey boy. Try addressing a person with some degree of respect. Think where we last year and spot the relative success.
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I think the negative comments about Paul Simpson are totally unjustified.
In the short time Paul Simpson has had to turn round Shrewsbury’s fortunes he has worked a small miracle when you consider that most of the squad he inherited were on long term contracts and not players of his choosing.
Fans need to get real and understand Town are having an excellant season.
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well said denis and chirbury, give our respected manager a chance, advance shropshire, floreat salopia, amwythig am byth and come on you shrews
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Chirbury – Simpson has made one signing that’s saved his bacon so far, that’s Grant Holt. Imagine where town would be without him. Town are an absolute laughing stock at the moment – do you really think Holt will want to be part of that if it continues?
Well said monkey boy!
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I don’t think anyone is really calling for Simpson to go, just to maybe look again at the tactics he uses for matches and to motivate the team. Fans of Preston and Rochdale said Simpson turns on the players when things go badly and there was maybe a hint of this in the
interviews he gave at the weekend.
He’s been here for nearly a year and things have moved forward but using the excuse that its not his team really isn’t good enough. By recent standards for Town he inherited a pretty decent situation at Shrewsbury and was able to spend a lot of money singing Holt and giving contracts to new players in the summer.
Other managers like those at Bury, Rochdale and Daggenham had much worse starting points than Simpson but have been able to improve their teams without totally revamping the squad. Peters tried changing the squad each season and look with where that got us!!
Still time to turn things round – up the Town!
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The buck always stops with the Mananger just look at Scolari and Adams, Simmo has to get the best from his players or we will not be in the playoffs at the end of the season :-(
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There are too many people on this thread that are not true supporters of Shrewsbury. I suspect a jealous AFC Telford element.
Gary Peters spent a fair chunk of money last January (£100,000 plus) and apart from McIntyre where are the rest.
I know whose judgement in the transfer market I would trust the most and when Simmo can dispense with a few in the Summer, he will be able to improve the squad further.
Don’t forget we are a whisker away from an automatic promotion place, never mind the play-offs. There is little point in impatiently criticising that.
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How forgetful and fickle some Salop fans are! Remember when Jimmy Quinn left: we had just, by the skin of our teeth, got out of the Conference and our football league survival was hanging on a shoe string, we had just been knocked out of the FA Cup by Histon and our home ground (NB I loved Gay Meadow as much as the next man!) was one of the worst in the football league. Fast forward to present day: we have a fantastic home ground, one of the best players to pull on a Shrewsbury shirt certainly in a decade, an overall good squad of players, a promising young(ish) Manager, fantastic home form, Crowds that put our average attendance in the top 3 or 4 in the league and we are just outside the playoffs with a chance of Automatic promotion.
Ok our away form is shocking but it’s not all bad, I swear certain people go to away games and come to home games with a permanent pessimistic attitude and an uncontrollable desire to moan and belittle the team regardless of what happens!! Perhaps we won’t win away again until the away crowd becomes our 12th Man, instead of booing and collectively moaning. COME ON SALOP lets help the lads turn this form around, instead of getting on their backs lets get behind them!
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shrews82, you forgot in your praise to mention towns gold nugget the chairman and his board, just 40 miles up the road another league 2 club is fighting going into administration and demotion by 2 leagues. they have 9 fit players, no reserve team and are reliant on their youth team. because of their parlous financial state the fl/fa will not allow the club to loan any players. just have a quiet think about that for 10 minutes and instead of carping on about a successfully run and managed club, spare a thought for poor chester city and their fans, compare what they are facing and what we have. those of you moaning should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves. floreat salopia and come on chester!
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sorry shrews82, i was not accusing you of carping on about the shrews. those to whom i was referring will know who i am addressing
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