Where to start?
By definition management is making the best use of the available resources. All football managers should have a vision of how they want to play, and, the kind of player they need to implement that vision. I have no problem with PB feeling that Akinola does not fit in with his plans, and, wanting to build a team without him.
When PB took over he must have realised that Akinola was contracted until the end of this season, and, in the context of SUFC, was not on insignificant money. This is where management comes in. By all means try to move him on but this is Southend a club with very limited resources. If we cannot find another club to take him, or, he does not wish to move on, it cannot be in the best interests of the club to pretend he does not exist while still paying him wages that are above the going rate.
This is by no means an easy situation to resolve but I would suggest that management is finding the best solutions, or, the best compromises, to difficult problems. Having a number of players on the books being paid good money and never being considered for selection, is, for any club, a poor outcome. For a club like Southend it makes no sense at all. That is even before taking into account that some of the players on the 'scrap heap' possess a modicum of pace, a quality seriously missing from the first team squad as presently constituted.
Prior to playing us yesterday Torquay had won but one game. Despite having available all of the players he signed in the close season, and, therefore presumably being able to field his first choice team, the manager's ambitions seemed to be limited to 'parking the bus' in the hope aiming at nil nil while at the same time hoping to sneak a one nil win. That is worrying. We are a club with a proud history, and, although we may now be in the National League who thought that just six games into the season when away to one of less successful teams in the league the limit of our ambitions would be to steal a point. If this mindset (and level of performance) continues we will soon find our support dropping.
From what I have seen or read I do not think the players are not trying. It is not just about 'character', or, 'playing for the badge'. If you are not good enough no amount of effort, or, determination can compensate. Leaving aside for the moment of whether our players are good enough our performances have, for the most part, not been.
Why would that be?
Why we are underachieving? It does seem, for whatever reason, that our players do not compliment each other. Whether it is the formation being used, or, the style of the players, I am left with the impression that the players have the ability to be part of a much better team than this one seems to be.
Even before the season began I thought that this squad seemed a little brittle and ill suited to the demands of the Conference. For that reason I felt the most interesting of our early games was the Wealdstone fixture as it came just about forty eight hours after the Saturday Stockport game. My fear was that with the age profile and injury history of the squad we might struggle to show our best when we were required to play an early weekend fixture following a Saturday game. I did not watch us play either Wealdstone or Aldershot but we were disappointing in both. Coincidence? Perhaps someone who saw one or both of these games might be able to tell me if I am on to something.
In the squad we have a number of players who are either nearing the end of their careers or in the twilight of them. I would suggest their game time needs to be carefully managed. I doubt (granted this is my personal opinion) that many, if any, are going to be able to start in forty games or more this season. If they are played too much we might find it results in a drop in effectiveness, or, injuries, or both.
How can this be managed? Using all the players at our disposal might be a start. There might be many reasons for the manager not to cast players out but by doing so he is seriously limiting his selection options with the result that some players will be playing a number of games which pushes them close to, or, beyond, their physical limits.
PB feels under pressure as he should. It is asking a lot of the supporters, many of whom have welcomed his appointment, to travel to watch their team play teams in the bottom half of this league, and find the limit of the team's ambition is a scoreless draw.
Have I faith in Phil Brown? I am the wrong person to ask as I thought from the beginning that his appointment was a hopeless retrograde step which could only end in tears. I do not hate the guy but just think he was the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Should he be sacked? Poor old MM got the boot following drawing 1-1 with Morecambe away, a result that now looks pretty good. Two games before that we beat Harrogate away!
Do I think PB should be sacked? I confess I am conflicted. This is not because I think he is the man for the job but the same reason I think PB should stop casting players out, and, try to use all of the assets at his disposal. A club like Southend cannot afford to be playing two players decent wages for doing nothing (SimAk and ANG) still less four (Ferguson and Phillips?) just like we cannot afford to keep firing managers. The popular belief is that PB is stubborn and will never change but perhaps recent results might force him to undergo some self reflection.
If I had to make the decision on whether PB should stay or go I would want to know the identity of the two players we are rumoured to be trying to bring in soon. If their profile was closer to Bridge and Dalby to that of Dunne and Coulson I would find it difficult not to give him a chance to try and turn things around. But if he is seeking to bring in some veteran(s) with dodgy knees who cannot be relied on to play twice a week I would say, enough is enough. Go.
Finally, respect to John White for his actions after yesterday's game. Perhaps if PB has to go (or decides it is all too much for him and leaves) we could do worse than to give him a chance to turn around the ship. JW is charge with JD as his assistant? Or the other way around?
Many many years ago on another internet forum I did suggest RM appoint Tilly before he was given the job. If JW was to find himself in the post and did a quarter as well as Steve Tilson it would give all of us some reasons to smile. And it seems a very long time since we had a reason to do that.
And one last thing. All football managers are judged in their results. One can say 'yes but if' or 'but' but it is the results that matter. That is why Alf Ramsey eventually lost the England job many years ago and PB his first time around. And why MM was moved on.
Whatever PB says to the Echo is meaningless: it is results that will keep or lose him his job. He sometimes seems like a pundit talking about a team managed by someone else. Here's a thought: when next asked about a defeat how about saying something like: 'you saw it and it was not good. I am in charge and have to take responsibility. There is nothing left for me to say other than I have a lot to think about'.
Just a thought.
