It's that time of the month when I bring back the most obvious answer to why we are where we are and that it is not all down to Foster! I'll recap for those who can't grasp that more than one thing / person is to blame for what's happened recently:
* Please please please don't reply about the fact Mayor or Ennis aren't that good these days... they aren't performing etc... it's not about getting rid of them it's about REPLACING THEM... and replacing them with a better standard player. Simple.
* In league one where we actually over-performed we had numerous options off the bench.
* When it came to the january transfer window we recruited Callum Wright, T. Wright, Ben Waine and one or two others.
* I liked Callum Wright and he was actually a decent contributer towards our promotion last season
* However the rest of the players weren't even that effective in league 1 let alone the Champ.
* Last summer window our board were brilliant in financing Whittaker and Mumba signings. I do really appreciate it. It made sense, sadly we weren't to know that Mumba has only recently (under Foster) picked up form.
* Whether we blew our finances on those two or not, I don't understand why we never identified new attackers apart from Cundle this campaign. Azaz returned, great news.... but compared to last season... we failed to recruit...
* Let's say Devine is the Mayor replacement (and that is down to foster, I agree that he's not been good enough)
* Bundu is Cundle's replacement (I mean not exactly PLAYER FOR PLAYER but anyway... in terms of numbers.)
Who is...
Ennis' replacement?
Cosgrove replacement?
Azaz replacement?
Now bearing in mind if we were in league 1 i'd be making the same argument! 100%! The Championship however we needed to step it up big time. We never ever replaced these guys. Really basic stuff. Not Foster's fault at all and in fact like Holloway years back when he failed to tie down Norris, Buzsaky and co (or blame the board) Schuey knew that second half of season would be a HUGE struggle. Easy to leave, bearing in mind rumours are he applied for numerous jobs beforehand but oh no it's Foster's fault we are in this mess... haha...how ridiculous!
A couple of things to tie up...
Gyabi let's say is Matete's replacement although Gyabi is slightly more forward thinking
Forshaw is Butcher's replacement although sadly his injury-ridden past has come back to haunt him/us. Funny that Butcher scored a superb double on Saturday, check the goals out if you haven't seen them.
An additional point. We also miss KKH. Think about the pace we are now missing.
Foster comes in and has three weeks to attract players, bearing in mind we apparently have scouts that are stats driven. What have they given us in the last 14 months? In terms of NEW players. Not azaz or Whittaker etc.
Forshaw - decent player but injury prone
Gyabi - a step up from Butcher he just needs to be a bit more consistent
Phillips - Decent start to life in defence but has been found out in 3 matches... recently brought back and to be honest we haven't shipped that many goals recently.
Sorinola - not quite as energetic and perhaps as skilful as KKH but a decent player
Devine - Sadly hasn't delivered since a promising start
Sousa - actually did well replacing Miller on Saturday. Nice touches, skill but extremely raw.
So in Summary apart from Devine these players above aren't the main issues.... these are the key issues:
1 Ennis' replacement - n/a
2 Cosgrove replacement - n/a
3 Azaz replacement - n/a
4 Bundu for Cundle not good enough
5 Devine for Mayor not good enough at the moment (Foster to blame)
6 Callum Wright - not good enough sadly and ridiculed when Foster gave him a few chances but then fans questioned why he wasn't in the squad recently blaming Foster for... I don't know really. Totally laughable.
7 Dan Scarr - Same as above (foster gave him a chance to be fair)
8 Ben Waine - I think he will come good one day but the fact he is our second striker is absolutely bonkers.
9 Tyriek Wright - on loan to league 2 side bradford
Youngsters:
10 Roberts - fair play to foster for giving him a try but seems to not be good enough
11 Freddie I. - Same with Freddie, I mean these boys were on the bench on Saturday, they rarely made the bench in league 1.
So in summary in terms of recruitment I can only see one obvious player who isn't performing to standards we require in champ that is Foster's fault. We can also maybe question the Sousa signing although perhaps with Miller's injury background back up is crucial.
Otherwise the proof is for everyone to see. So So obvious. I mean how on earth are fans even thinking about booing Foster when we are THREE PLAYERS down from our league 1 winning side and arguably 7 down due to poor recruitment in the last few transfer windows.
Quite simple really. I know we are a club that can't afford to make mistakes. Other clubs can afford 3 or 4 bad signings, whereas we can't. So i'm not suggesting the board, the directors etc are totally to blame and are awful. Far from it, but we can't just blame foster, a chap who has been responsible for some poor results at home, but has been miles better than Schuey away from home. The board need to take responsibility. Schuey as well beforehand to blame. Poor recruitment for the best part of 14 months.
The problem actually comes down to us winning the league in a record breaking season. Getting off to a fairly decent start this season as well. I was really concerned even before this campaign about recruitment. Unfortunately i've been proved right. We needed to improve our squad... forget us winning the league, we weren't actually exceptional as such, remember we were thrashed on 4 occasions. But we were clinical and worked hard. We also, and this is the key point, had players that could change the game off the bench. Yes this season we were fairly exciting but that was with Azaz and Cundle. Two players at the start of season making huge differences alongside a fresh Whittaker and Hardie. Today those two are knackered because we have no back ups to replace them!
Sadly the biggest of hospital passes began with Schuey just before he left and was finished off by Dewsnip (didn't they both fall out!!) and the board which has resulted in Foster taking the sh*t pass and being royally stitched up.... I mean name me a club that only has two strikers on their books!? We would need to go down to part time leagues to find such club.
Best wishes to you all...