Is It Promotion Or Bust For GA This Season?

[tangerinedream]

Given the huge expectations heaped on GA shoulders this season is it likely to be promotion or bust as far as his tenure goes at Moor Lane come the end of the season. I can't but help thinking that it might very well be given Gary Neville's lofty statement at the back end of last season where he announced his ambitions for the club being no less than the Premier League. Given also his comments both before the Everton game in his pre match interview and in their matchday programme where he felt that "we'd got a bit of a clip around the face" and that we'd wound  up "finding ourselves a bit short" as well as raising the case of both Lincoln City and Tranmere Rovers who after winning promotion from the National League then went onto to gain promotion to League One at the first time of asking. When the season finished prematurely earlier this year we had nine games left to play and were still within striking distance of the play offs however our failing in my opinion was our relatively poor home form where managed to win to win just five home games from a possible nineteen - with six draws - while away from home we won eight games from a possible eighteen - with five draws. That's a point's difference of 21 at home as against 29 away.  All last seasons memorable high points were almost exclusively away while obviously our Football League opener against Stevenage and our 'final' game of the season against Bradford City were the Moor Lane high points. With a home draw and an away win already this season I'm wondering whether we're following on from where we left off.  A significantly smaller squad than last season would suggest that there is more money being paid to less players due to the reduction in numbers and this may also put extra pressure to bear on those involved. The expectation levels from our owners back in 2014 while obviously wanting success seemed to accept that it wouldn't happen season on season. Given what we achieved since then in what is an incredibly short space of time it seems that expectations have gone through the roof and nothing less than 'success' every year will be acceptable. While we may have the richest owners outside the Premier League there are however no cast iron guarantees. We are experiencing very strange times at present and it is to be hoped that this can be taken into consideration at the expense of instant gratification. GA has  probably one of the toughest jobs in League Football given the sky high expectations surrounding this club. I hope he has broad enough shoulders to carry them!

[Chris P. Bacon]

I think that the on and off-field progress has to be simultaneous. I don’t want us in the PL with 3000 fans. In one of the earlier documentaries, Phil Neville was the sensible one. He said he didn’t expect promotion every season, whilst some of the owners do. In the last documentary, he changed that to demanding promotion every season. I disagree with that stance. It puts far too much pressure on the manager and players. When Shelts moved on, he gave an interview and said the pressure on the players at Salford is enormous. Yes, money is almost always the deciding factor, but Man City didn’t win the PL last season. We have to be realistic.

I’ve been a vocal critic of the manager in the past. Some strange substitutions.....Pond on as a striker with a striker sat on the bench. Bringing everyone back for corners, so when we knock it out, they pump it back in. Occasionally, some strange line-ups. In the past, I’ve felt that he’s stumbled onto a winning team, rather than chosen it. But this is a new season and he has a clean sheet. Whether the owners ‘helped’ with the player choices or not, this is now GA’s team. After the learning curve of last season, I expect a minimum of the play-offs. The owners will accept that if we get promoted. If we don’t make the play-offs, they will sack the manager. If we do make them and NOT get promoted, I’m not sure what they’ll do? Maybe if we fail after dominating the play-off final, he’ll be ok?

Despite the euphoria of the Hendo hattrick, it’s too early to tell if he’s the complete answer to our scoring problems. Sometimes, we create oodles of chances but can’t finish them off. But he’s looking like he could get a goal from anywhere, as does Hunter. We also have players now who can shoot from distance. My question is....can we grind out a result when needed in games like Exeter? We need to take the chances we get and finish teams off. If we can do that, I think the play-offs are the least we can expect.