Blog: Time for decisive action at AFC Telford
Once upon a time, writes AFC Telford blogger Rob Hughes, in the bleakest of mid-winters, a proactive Board of Directors took decisive steps to arrest a slide down the table that has seen performances failing to reach the high standards set in a 4-1, midweek away win at Dartford.
The move to stop the slide now, before we hit the bottom with a bang and a crash would be ideally timed, allowing the next manager to have the festive period to run the rule over the players signed up and put together a cunning plan ahead of the opening of the January transfer window on January 1st.
Allowing Andy Sinton until then, would mean a new manager - should one be forthcoming - would not have a full tilt at the window and cutting down the time available to himself to make the necessary changes.
Our part time status, consistency and youthfulness were all factors pointed to by the manager in his most recent press conference – two things he is in part responsible for, the third 'a club decision' was one he obviously doesn't agree with.
That seems to be the easy place to point the finger, but if he cannot deal with what is best for the club, then I am sure there will be a long list of candidates out there, more than happy to give it a damn good go and not whinge about things when they don't go right!
I don't want to talk our great club down, but people are becoming increasingly frustrated with how things are going on the pitch. Our on-field performances are our biggest selling point. When the product persists in mis-firing, then it becomes increasingly difficult to sell it to our friends, family and work colleagues.
Yes, we can look back at games where we have lost points, and could argue that with those additional points, there would be less doom and gloom and more points on the board, but it's not all about those points that got away, on other occasions, we have been indebted to last-ditch saves by Ryan Young, or opposition forwards that who have left their shooting boots at home. As the great Brian Clough used to say, the past doesn't count for anything. Grasp today.
It won't be every time, every change, every plan comes off. The Special One, couldn't manage it every time. The thing is, less and less is increasingly going right for Andy Sinton and all but Phil Trainer and Ryan Young are players he has brought in himself. If it's not Andy, then it's the players. And one person brought those players in and you have to ask, can we afford to back that same person in the transfer market again to strengthen and improve? I'm not so sure.
Kings Lynn next – on Saturday, an FA Trophy tie, with the opportunity to swell club coffers. An opportunity for the immediate future of our club, one that we must secure victory in, to ensure progress, bank the money and move a step closer to a potential Wembley visit. A decent cup run is our best hope for attracting back a few hundred of those fans that have slipped away and hopefully get some of the feel-good factor back in the town!
Let's go there, brave, bold and different. We have the capacity within the side, let's give them a shake and show everybody that we are where we deserve to be – and have the capacity to improve, even as a part time club!
