Quote: Staffs FC "So you really think Gentle was making progress ? Really?'"
It's indisputable that we made some progress under Gentle compared to what had gone before. We had consolidated 6th place and, although our squad wasn't good enough to get much higher than that, we weren't ever in danger of not making the play offs as we were under Agar and we now are under Radford.
Quote: Staffs FC "See for me he was actually going backwards not forwards. We had a great run at the start of last year when Horne was pulling up trees in the play making and try scoring role (an in form half is worth his weight in gold) but once he got injured we had a terrible run. '"
As I have said previously (and as Worm In Hand alluded to), much of that (in my opinion) was down to the coach having 'lost' the dressing room.
Quote: Staffs FC "Maybe you've forgotten saying this ...'"
No. Suggesting that the coach is partly responsible for inconsistent performances and saying that the coach was making progress overall are not mutually exclusive.
Quote: Staffs FC "I don't think Gentle's record stands up any where near as much as I'm reading on here.'"
You deny that we finished 6th in both of his seasons in charge? Even allowing for some awful performances along the way? We can only dream of that this year.
Quote: Staffs FC " That said I knew then as I know now that the playing roster wasn't strong enough to win any final. '"
That much is not in dispute. The squad is, however, good enough to be doing much better than it currently is. I'd say we should be around, er, 6th.
Quote: Staffs FC "But we weren't coached any better than we are now in my opinion - hence why those shambolic performances were around before just as they are now.'"
The squads are roughly comparable, but the results were better under Gentle. 9 points better (I think) than for the same games last year. On that basis, we must have been better coached under Gentle.
Quote: Staffs FC "The only consistent thing I can see is that we haven't got enough good players. Another coach to replace Radford would be fine but Pearson was at least right to get rid of Gentle who with McRae was responsible for much of the poor spend on recruitment.'"
He would have been right to get rid of him if he'd have replaced him with someone better, I fully agree. But to replace him with Lee Radford was asking for us to be in precisely the situation we now find ourselves in.
