Oh My God! You Can Get Sacked For THAT?

Joey Barton sums Steve Evans up pretty well...

Steve Evans lets rip at the officials as their car
pulls into the carpark two hours before kick off

This brightly coloured little fellah
ain't gonna fall over any time soon

Northamptonshire's finest

 

If you judge a man by the company he keeps...

Peter: I deny all accusations

Philip: Who put me next to him?

Farage: Watch it matey, I'll be your leader after the next election

The End of the Phoney War

Well, the Chesterfield FA Cup tie went about as well as expected.  Chesterfield utterly dominated.  We (mostly) defended well and had the occasional foray forward.  At no point in the game was the result in any doubt whatsoever.  We saw Burberry-clad "Poppies supporters" who we'll never see at Latimer Park, professing in song and beer their eternal love for the Kettering Town FC pre-match and then strutted out of the ground with 20 minutes remaining.  See you next time we have a big away game lads....

So, the FA Trophy and FA Cup have safely and firmly been put to bed, what next?

Long-suffering Latimer Park patrons have a league fixture against rampant Mickleover who already have as many wins this season as we have achieved in the past TWO seasons.  This game is followed by two away games against fellow strugglers Leiston and Berkhamsted.  The Phoney War is over.  The Real War is here.

Patgod has been unusually harsh in it's treatment of Leese.  This doesn't sit well with us.  We don't enjoy slagging off club managers.  He seems an OK bloke and we're certain he is doing his best, but the the facts are the facts.  Ten League games played.  One victory.  Plenty of footballing lessons handed out to our flagging, ever-changing squad.

Surely, anything less than at least a couple of victories from the next three matches will confirm the relegation battle most of us believe we are already in.  The Club officials will then need to REALLY consider the managerial position.  Do we double-down on a manager who has put us in this frankly embarrassing position?  Or do we go for broke and imagine the unimaginable with the possible return of someone we'd told ourselves we would never have back here, but might just be what we need to turn our faltering squad into a slightly more successful faltering squad?

Andy Lose Leeses It Again.....

If anyone can recall less impressive first 45 minutes from a Poppies team in living memory than the opening half today at St Ives, I'd like to see it.  Well, obviously I wouldn't like to see it.  As it would be unremittingly awful, but you know what I mean.  In 45 dismal minutes my team contributed NOTHING to a game of football against a team so poor that they are below even us in the league standings.  Not that you would have guessed it.  You'd have been more inclined to believe they were a Football League team the way they picked us apart time and time again so easily.  

Barely 90 minutes since the humbling at home by Hitchin after which Leese promised we would never again be so abject, we were far worse over the opening period at St Ives in our meek FA Trophy surrender.

When the players slunk off at halftime to what, by rights, should have been a full-Fergie hairdryer, every Poppies fan at the ground had the same worrying thought -

How many goals will Chesterfield stick past us next week?  My guess, if we played anything like this, was about 30.

This doesn't bode well for the gaffer.  Let's be honest, the FA Cup run must be the only thing keeping him in a job.  Our League performances certainly aren't.

But let's be even more honest.  We have hardly been worth any of the FA Cup wins either.  If any of the opponents we've overcome had beaten us we would have had no cause for complaint.  Starting at Hullbridge where a missed penalty and numerous missed opportunities scuppered our lowly host's chances.  Sporting Khalsa's wastefulness in front of goal in a second half where the game was 90% played in our penalty area.  Hitchin missing chance after chance last week.  I can't recall us having more than 3 attempts on goal over all three matches.  Luckily for us, they all went in.

This time next week our luck will have more than likely have run out.  We will have the League to concentrate on (staying in).  Leese has managed 10 games where we have won only 1.  And our next game is up against Mickleover who have won 10 out of 10 and are, no doubt, salivating at the prospect of taking to the pitch against us.  

In the final analysis, regardless of Andy's relevant success in the past, his Poppies teams have been thoroughly underwhelming this season.  What's worse is that there are literally no signs of an improvement happening.  It is utterly tragic at a time when so many people are doing so much behind the scenes at the club and so many events, activities and other off-field works are going on, the on-field element is such utter garbage.  

It's nothing short of a miracle our gates have held up as well as they have.  It won't last if decided action isn't taken soon.  What if Andy's given another 10 games to magically get the players to want to play for him, or to develop a smidgen of tactical nous?  Suddenly we would be looking ahead to half a season having slipped away before we accept what everyone can see right now.  Leese isn't up to the job and we have only half a season to save ourselves from a second successive relegation.