fbm
Blue tinted optimist⭐
It's a tall order now. We MUST win both games and hope Leeds and Hull both collect no more than 1 point each from their last 2 matches. Possible, but unlikely.
But apart from a probable relegation, I fear that as fans we are going to make ourselves a laughing stock of the entire football world - and here's why.
It can be seen from my signature that I think Tilson has done a remarkable job here. He had absolutely no senior management experience before being thrust into the management job on a caretaker capacity with Brushy.
Since then - and these are facts, not opinions - we have
Reached 2 ldv finals
Won the play offs at the Milstad
won League 1 title
Beat Man Utd
Got to Carling Cup q/f for first time ever
Recorded our highest average attendance for years, possibly ever (can't be arsed to check)
In addition, our rookie manager has won manager of the year in both league one and league 2, and has had the honour of an involvement with the national sides U21 team (plus possibly other achievements that I have overlooked).
And all this has been achieved in 3 and a half seasons.
Now we as a club are probably the envy of many other league clubs and I think we can consider ourselves fortunate to still hold onto Tilly.
I think most of us agreed that at the beginning of the season we knew it would be a dogfight and that we would be lucky to survive.
So we weren't wrong, were we?
And before anyone accuses me of being a Tilson lover and viewing everything through rose tinted specs, let me say this:
Is Tilson a master tactician? No, certainly not yet and I am not sure he has had the playing experience to become one. But that is more Brushy's department.
Has Tilson made mistakes? Certainly. He is new to the job, and in managerial terms is still a rookie. he had no particular experience or knowledge before he took the job on and has learnt as he has gone along. His substitutions are sometimes interesting and the timing of them are questionable on occasion. Up to this season he had an excellent record with signings but this campaign has produced a couple of duds (Ricketts, Paynter) as well as a couple that have yet to produce the goods (Foran, Harrold).
Counter this with two good signings (Hammell, Francis) plus two youngsters that have enormous potential for the club (Hooper and Moussa) together with two players who have the potential to be up there among the best players that have ever played for the club - Clarke and McCormack.
Does Tilson present himself in a professional way? Well, not exactly. His "style" is different to every other manager in the league currently, if not in history. But that is part of his charm. He wears his heart on his sleeve, bleeds blue blood, and comes across almost as a fan rather than a manager.
I am sure that a straw poll of other teams fans would see them wanting Tilly and Brush in charge of their side and many of them, if viewing some of the threads on here recently, will be thinking "what have you got to moan about?". Spare a thought for the fans of Torquay, now conference bound after over 100 years in the league. Boston fans, who look to be going the same way, are just like you and I and it is not their fault that their management has, lets say, a "chequered" history that has led to them being one of the more unpopular clubs.
Of the teams below us in the football pyramid, Wimbledon were for me the epitome of every young boys dream, going from Southern league to FA Cup winners (and Europe if we weren't banned from it at the time) in little more than a decade. They were Division 1/Premiership survivors for another decade or more, until it all went pear shaped and they now preside in the Ryman Premier as AFC Wimbledon with the alleged "real" team relocating to one of Britains famous concrete cities, Milton Keynes, and have slipped from the Championship to league 2 in 2 seasons, although the play offs beckon for them.
We have the following teams in the FL that are certainly "bigger" than we are historically and who at the beginning of the season would have gladly swapped places with us (and some would maybe even now) - Bristol City, Notts Forest, Blackpool, Swansea, Millwall, Huddersfield, Brighton, Bradford, Swindon, Bristol Rovers and Notts County.
So, the point of my post is - what do we really want?
Liken Tillys managerial career to the playing career of a fine young player - Wayne Rooney for example. Exploding onto the scene as a rookie, for 2 years he can do no wrong. Then, mistakes are made, form suffers... but is he a bad player? Should he be cast aside by his club, only to resurface somewhere else and take the world by storm again? No, of course not - he has to work through the bad patch and emerge a stronger player.
Tilly will have learnt from this season and that is the only way that one improves - to learn from the mistakes. So do we want to be the benefactor of this increased experience or shall we hound Tilson out of a job so that he goes elsewhere and develops his promising career?
The immediate thought that springs to mind is certain posters ought to try and also learn from their mistakes, but I guess that really is too much to ask. Some behave like spoilt rich children wgo have been given too much too soon. As soon as something doesn't go their way, they throw tantrums until it does. Well grow up is what I have to say to them.
Have I been happy with what has happened this season? Not happy exactly, but very, very entertained at times. It has still been a memorable season although I would rather we had at least 10 more points. But we can't have everything and I am realistic enough to accept that.
So, if - I refuse to use the word when - we get relegated, I expect Tilly to work his league one magic again, maybe not for another immediate promotion but to consolidate and strengthen so that we can again progress. And remember, if you do take 2 steps forwards and one step back (possibly literally in our case), you still go forwards.
And who knows? The pressure is on Leeds for their home game against Ipswich next week. Maybe they'll falter and perhaps Cardiff will do us a favour against Hull. If we beat Luton then anything can happen. Football's a funny old game, after all.
But apart from a probable relegation, I fear that as fans we are going to make ourselves a laughing stock of the entire football world - and here's why.
It can be seen from my signature that I think Tilson has done a remarkable job here. He had absolutely no senior management experience before being thrust into the management job on a caretaker capacity with Brushy.
Since then - and these are facts, not opinions - we have
Reached 2 ldv finals
Won the play offs at the Milstad
won League 1 title
Beat Man Utd
Got to Carling Cup q/f for first time ever
Recorded our highest average attendance for years, possibly ever (can't be arsed to check)
In addition, our rookie manager has won manager of the year in both league one and league 2, and has had the honour of an involvement with the national sides U21 team (plus possibly other achievements that I have overlooked).
And all this has been achieved in 3 and a half seasons.
Now we as a club are probably the envy of many other league clubs and I think we can consider ourselves fortunate to still hold onto Tilly.
I think most of us agreed that at the beginning of the season we knew it would be a dogfight and that we would be lucky to survive.
So we weren't wrong, were we?
And before anyone accuses me of being a Tilson lover and viewing everything through rose tinted specs, let me say this:
Is Tilson a master tactician? No, certainly not yet and I am not sure he has had the playing experience to become one. But that is more Brushy's department.
Has Tilson made mistakes? Certainly. He is new to the job, and in managerial terms is still a rookie. he had no particular experience or knowledge before he took the job on and has learnt as he has gone along. His substitutions are sometimes interesting and the timing of them are questionable on occasion. Up to this season he had an excellent record with signings but this campaign has produced a couple of duds (Ricketts, Paynter) as well as a couple that have yet to produce the goods (Foran, Harrold).
Counter this with two good signings (Hammell, Francis) plus two youngsters that have enormous potential for the club (Hooper and Moussa) together with two players who have the potential to be up there among the best players that have ever played for the club - Clarke and McCormack.
Does Tilson present himself in a professional way? Well, not exactly. His "style" is different to every other manager in the league currently, if not in history. But that is part of his charm. He wears his heart on his sleeve, bleeds blue blood, and comes across almost as a fan rather than a manager.
I am sure that a straw poll of other teams fans would see them wanting Tilly and Brush in charge of their side and many of them, if viewing some of the threads on here recently, will be thinking "what have you got to moan about?". Spare a thought for the fans of Torquay, now conference bound after over 100 years in the league. Boston fans, who look to be going the same way, are just like you and I and it is not their fault that their management has, lets say, a "chequered" history that has led to them being one of the more unpopular clubs.
Of the teams below us in the football pyramid, Wimbledon were for me the epitome of every young boys dream, going from Southern league to FA Cup winners (and Europe if we weren't banned from it at the time) in little more than a decade. They were Division 1/Premiership survivors for another decade or more, until it all went pear shaped and they now preside in the Ryman Premier as AFC Wimbledon with the alleged "real" team relocating to one of Britains famous concrete cities, Milton Keynes, and have slipped from the Championship to league 2 in 2 seasons, although the play offs beckon for them.
We have the following teams in the FL that are certainly "bigger" than we are historically and who at the beginning of the season would have gladly swapped places with us (and some would maybe even now) - Bristol City, Notts Forest, Blackpool, Swansea, Millwall, Huddersfield, Brighton, Bradford, Swindon, Bristol Rovers and Notts County.
So, the point of my post is - what do we really want?
Liken Tillys managerial career to the playing career of a fine young player - Wayne Rooney for example. Exploding onto the scene as a rookie, for 2 years he can do no wrong. Then, mistakes are made, form suffers... but is he a bad player? Should he be cast aside by his club, only to resurface somewhere else and take the world by storm again? No, of course not - he has to work through the bad patch and emerge a stronger player.
Tilly will have learnt from this season and that is the only way that one improves - to learn from the mistakes. So do we want to be the benefactor of this increased experience or shall we hound Tilson out of a job so that he goes elsewhere and develops his promising career?
The immediate thought that springs to mind is certain posters ought to try and also learn from their mistakes, but I guess that really is too much to ask. Some behave like spoilt rich children wgo have been given too much too soon. As soon as something doesn't go their way, they throw tantrums until it does. Well grow up is what I have to say to them.
Have I been happy with what has happened this season? Not happy exactly, but very, very entertained at times. It has still been a memorable season although I would rather we had at least 10 more points. But we can't have everything and I am realistic enough to accept that.
So, if - I refuse to use the word when - we get relegated, I expect Tilly to work his league one magic again, maybe not for another immediate promotion but to consolidate and strengthen so that we can again progress. And remember, if you do take 2 steps forwards and one step back (possibly literally in our case), you still go forwards.
And who knows? The pressure is on Leeds for their home game against Ipswich next week. Maybe they'll falter and perhaps Cardiff will do us a favour against Hull. If we beat Luton then anything can happen. Football's a funny old game, after all.
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