Looks like I am fairly spot on with my prediction so far. Makes the anti-brown brigade look pretty silly at the moment..:unsure:
Not really.
The side is currently being held together by loanees who we aren't going to keep (we went there last season too) and restoring a Sturrock signing in Timlin who should never have been dropped. We finally pick up, many dropped points later, after Brown belatedly makes changes that most wanted a long time ago. What's going to happen when the loan forwards go back to their parent clubs? It's sticking plaster covering the cracks.
Meanwhile Brown's cash signings find themselves 5th choice in his position and given a free to Alloa. The young players he signed who we hoped we could polish into diamonds, like Clifford and Ellis Brown, find themselves on the transfer list not for a fee but for free.
Where's the progress? We're in the same position as we were this time of the year in Sturrock's final season (we were two points off the automatic promotion places then, compared to 4 points now), except that we don't have a Wembley final to look forward to nor games in hand over the other teams.
How has the team progressed? Worrall and Coker were excellent signings, but otherwise how has Brown moved the team forward? We don't have an established system, formation or style. Payne finds himself out of the team again. If it's a young team, other than Thompson (whose position is under threat from 35 year old Adam Barrett) it's essentially because we are developing other team's loanees for them, for no benefit to ourselves once they return. Bentley only got his chance because Smith got injured - Brown's first act was to drop him, then didn't pick him for Wembley nor even the final match of the season when nothing was riding on it.
The football we've played at home this season has been turgid, lacking creativity, flair and quality. Hopefully that'll change now we're playing a more attacking formation but would anyone really be surprised if Saturday was another 0-0?
Despite all this we may get promoted. The division is woeful this season and Brown inherited a squad that got 80+ points one season and was on course for automatic promotion (IMO) the following season until injuries intervened (in particular the excellent Timlin's broken leg in the JPT Area Final), so combined with our budget yes we should be there or thereabouts which is where we are. But if we go up, IMO we're less well placed to compete in League One than we were under Sturrock. Under Sturrock we held our own against League One teams in the cup (including some storming games) playing 12 times, winning 4, drawing 5 and losing 3. Under Brown we've lost both times. And if we go up, who are we going to play up front? What happens at central defence? Maybe we're sorted in central midfield - although they were Sturrock players in the first place.
Put all this together and looking at the bigger picture beyond the last two results I don't think we've particularly progressed, nor been given grounds optimism that we're on the right track LONG TERM.
However we've won our last couple of games so I'll be shouted down until at least the next defeat because football is nothing but short term.
Sorry if that's a depressing outlook. At least we advertise the Samaritans at Roots Hall now.
