Blog: In all honesty, Town don’t deserve promotion
Monday 26th April 2010, 9:01AM BST.
Blog: With two games to go Town have still got promotion on their minds, but realistically it’s only a matter of time before the season ends it disappointment, writes Shrewsbury Town blogger James Pugh.
Once again this season a lack of creative play and an inability to score goals cost us as we were comfortably beaten 2-0 by Northampton on Saturday.
A large percentage of fans and probably players and coaching staff already know we will be playing in League Two next season but what everybody will agree on is that it will take a miracle for us to sneak into the play-offs.
If we are being honest we don’t deserve to get promoted this season as time and time again we haven’t shown enough quality in games to defeat our opponents.
What is more frustrating than our own form is when you glance at the table and see ‘smaller’ clubs like Morecambe, Aldershot and Dagenham who have been better than us this season and have more of a chance to get promoted with two games left.
No disrespect to these clubs but in terms of fan base, stadium and finances, we are better off on all three. So where has it gone wrong?
The manager is the first thing you question, but has our problem this year been having a lot of foreign players in our squad, which is rarely heard of at this level?
We have got an Australian, a Kiwi, a Dutchman, and a Canadian in our squad which might sound impressive on paper, but can also bring problems with communication on and off the field. Maybe the manager should look closer to home and blood more of the young players for next season.
What is clear is the manager needs to strengthen all departments in the summer, with creative midfield players and goal-scoring strikers his priorities. To get promoted from any league, you need a player who is going to score 20+ goals a season.
Town’s slim play-off chances could be mathematically over at the end of the next game where we welcome Morecambe to the Prostar on Saturday.
Morecambe have been a surprise package this season and will definitely be up for it as they chase promotion into League One.
If our players are in the mindset that the season is over in terms of promotion, it might make them play with less pressure hanging over them which could work in our favour on the day.
A repeat of the 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture in October will be no good for either side.
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What is this about? Foreign players? Communication? If you speak to Terry, Benjamin and Kris and Shane you will probably find that they speak and write better English than you. Perhaps by foreign you might mean Welsh?
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I was rather surprised at James’s comments regarding ‘communications’ relative to our foreign players – doesn’t he know that English is spoken in Australia, New Zealand and Canada and that the majority of Dutch people speak fluent English?
Maybe it’s the English players in the squad that have a problem with communication!!
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‘Communication a problem…’? Dutch people usually have a good grasp of the English language and the others are all from English speaking countries.
I think you’ll have to find your excuses elsewhere, mate.
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Communication? What a poor blog! Flemish aside, when does being Australian Canadian or of New Zealand decent prove a hinderance in communication, isnt English the first language of all those nations, and I am pretty positive the dutch lads English is of a high quality too. As for the comment of blooding new young ENGLISH players, does that now put stop to the hopes of many of the Centre of excellance and youth boys making the trip over the border thrice weekly to attend training and games. This would also put a dent to Tom Bradshaws oppurtunity as I am sure he hails from Towyn, Wales. I am sure the abundant Welsh fan base that Shrewsbury FC hold would be pretty disgruntled to apply to this theory, as would your readers in the Mid-wales area which I am positive you advertise as a major part of your circulation area.
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What a poor article. Any one who has followed Town this season knows the real reasons why they have failed and it is certainly not communications due to language.
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What a poorly researched post, while I agree we need a 20+ goals a seaon player, to blame the foreign players is naive to say the least.
Shane has been playing in this country for years at Leeds United, well above our level aside from a year in Denmark as well as being an aussie so he speaks ENGLISH. Kris Bright is a kiwi and speaks ENGLISH, Dunfield is Canadian and speaks ENGLISH, and Benji is dutch, and they learn ENGLISH at school from a young age.
Also, Benji was signed in January, and with few appearences can hardly be blamed for anything this season.
But obviously the english players are flawless?
hmm…
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could it also be that Jamie “Cure All” Cureton not fluent in English, or is there some other theory?
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Although I agree with your main contention that we simply aren’t good enough – no creativity, pace or tactical imagination – to blame it on communication among the players is farcical.
Perhaps the manager might have problems communicating to his players but to say a New Zealander, Canadian, Dutchman and Australian struggle to communicate is baloney.
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What a dreaful article.
The communication comments are ridiculous as others have pointed out.
In terms of top scorers, last season none of the teams that were automatically promoted had a player that scored 20+ goals. We did of course, Grant Holt. And yet we came 9th in terms of total points won.
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What’s the real problem with Shrewsbury Town? They should have walked Division 2 this season,instead of which, in the period since Christmas, they’ve fallen like a millstone. It seems to be all about money. Town have sold off Joe Hart,Grant Holt and Ben Davies, all quality players now doing impressively well with other clubs while in return spending miserly sums on players from the lower divisions past their best and lacking ambition. The chairman should be asked to explain his part in all this and should be honest about the constraints placed on Paul Simpson who appears to have operated throughout with one hand tied behind his back. Bad enough that we lost the Gay Meadow for the soulless Prostar when the old ground could have been turned into a showpiece to match its environment. Sorry, but it seems to me that Salop fans have been taken for granted and ill-served by those in charge. Watch the attendances slump if it continues like this.
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In a nutshell – Poor players & poor manager, plus combine that with the fact that other teams are just better than you!
Simpson will be gone in the next couple of weeks I reckon. Town fans really need to accept that playoffs out of the question for ANOTHER year – two wins needed just to get into playoff position as the table stands now (a draw, loss or teams above town getting a point or 3 means it’s game over!)
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If we’re supposedly bigger than Daganhem then why couldn’t we sign Paul Benson. We only get bigger crowds than these teams because we have a new ground, and the novelty of that is wearing off quick.
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True Blue Mike is spot on. I’m completely fed up with the current set up, no season ticket for me next season.
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Fair suck of the sav mate…we bloody Aussies speak English ya Pommy bastard! So does that useless Kiwi bloke!
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