I’ve started a number of blogs in the past, on various subjects, and generally speaking they all go the same way. Two or three posts in and I move on and forget to publish more posts. And so it’s happened again, only another change of management has prompted me to publish something else rather than give up.
It’s fair to day I wasn’t exactly enthralled with the appointment of Bonner at the time, but I thought the timing was right – give him the whole summer to settle in, be involved in the recruitment and be there for the whole of pre-season. And of course the season started well. Like last year, results were good, but unlike last year, we were scoring goals and actually looked like a quality side. Then came a little wobble at Doncaster which kicked off what appeared to be a very tough September, but we steamed through the rest of the month with maximum points and headed into a much easier looking October. Only the wheels came off and a month that should have seen a “promotion hopeful Gillingham” snap up at least 12 points netted just a single point at the end of the month to snap a five game losing streak. The hopefuls among us thought the rough patch was over when we beat top-of-the-table Port Vale, but actually the month saw us exiting two cups and losing at home to Harrogate in an appalling match. After a poor defeat at Bromley, there were more signs of hope when we finally managed two wins on the bounce before drawing with Cheltenham, a match we should have comfortably won. The month, and year, ended with a defeat at Wimbledon, very much aided by two huge refereeing mistakes. Although to be fair to the ref, video replays showed he briefly looked away at just the crucial moment, but only the Assistant on that side, who was perfectly placed and looking right at Nevitt when he was thrown to the ground, knows why he didn’t call it. The second mistake was Wimbledon’s goal, but again, the fact that no one appealed at the time and it was only obvious it was a solid hand ball when it was replayed in slow motion, does tend to let the ref off the hook on that too. If only we had VAR in the arse-end of the Football League.
So at this point, I was pretty much a loan voice in wanting to keep Bonner in place. It wasn’t that I thought he was a good manager, more the fact that I didn’t think a change would make much difference and I didn’t fancy playing a month without a manager. But then came the home match against Bromley and clear evidence that Bonner had lost the plot. The performance at Wimbledon didn’t warrant widescale changes, and it certainly didn’t warrant dropping our top scorer. The result was an absolutely awful performance and a 3-0 defeat that should have been at least five. The only surprise after that was that Bonner wasn’t sacked the next day and would have taken charge of the match at Chesterfield if the game hadn’t been called off. Makes you wonder what would have happened if the game had gone ahead and we had won with a stunning performance. Coleman had clearly already been lined up, so that was a bit odd.
Positives with Coleman – at last they’ve picked a manager with a long track record of management at this level. That he’s been able to turn around a team that hit a shit-streak will be a much needed skillset that’s been lacking from our much less experienced appointments. Negatives – his experience is pretty much exclusively with one team. The match against Accrington in March will be interesting. You can’t expect someone to manage a side for 22 years, 1100 matches, taking them from non-league to League One (I think he managed that) and not love that team like a favourite grandchild. If Accrington are in a relegation battle, expect him to play a youth team with Jonny Williams in goal.
Half the season left, ten points adrift of the play-offs, 12 adrift of second place and a game in hand over most teams. The title is Walsall’s, but it’s not too late for promotion.
One additional comment. Was sorry to see Lapslie leave. He really proved himself in the first half of the season and towards the end of the year, when Bonner played him, he was often the hardest working player in the team. I understand we needed to let people go to free up wages for new signings, but surely there were half a dozen or so other players who should have left first. Fingers crossed a few more make some space and are replaced with quality signings in the next week or so.