Barnet/ Alan Buckley
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:12 pmFirst of all condolances to Barnet FC after the tragic stabbing on Saturday. I've said it a hundred times on here and will say it again: Sometimes there are far more important things than football to worry about.
I went to the game and Barnet can count themselves extremely unfortunate not to have won it. But does that make us a bad team?
Underhill is a tough place to go (if you've never been, there is a pronounced slope). It's been rare we've got anything down there so a point is good in my view.
Clearly their players were fired up and we defended superbly to hold on. Hunter my man of the match. O'Carrol's goal worth the long trip even if we weren't at our best. Thing is when will people get it into their heads that every game is tough at this level? What's wrong with grinding the occasional result out?
Which brings me on to Grimsby.
We will have to be on our mettle again even if they have just lost a manager. But why was he sacked in the middle of September? We have a similarly poor record over the last seven months or so yet seem content to keep things going. Change for change sake isn't always the answer.
Buckley has over a 1000 league games experience as a manager. They got him in last year when they were in trouble. Now he's surplus to requirements again. Look at teams below with points deductions and you have to say it's a bit of a panic to put it mildly.
I admire Grimsby's aspirations but sometimes turning a club around is a long term thing. (Consolidating our own league position is also a long term thing.) There's no loyalty in football anymore and you just wonder if he'll get called in for a fourth spell if the next bloke doesn't work out!
I'm not having a go at Grimsby's fans who are as loyal as anyone. But the board does seem to panic over there and September seems ridiculous to get rid of a guy like Buckley. The only other thing is if it were by mutual consent but the wording of the statement seems to intimate he was sacked. The world's gone mad.
I went to the game and Barnet can count themselves extremely unfortunate not to have won it. But does that make us a bad team?
Underhill is a tough place to go (if you've never been, there is a pronounced slope). It's been rare we've got anything down there so a point is good in my view.
Clearly their players were fired up and we defended superbly to hold on. Hunter my man of the match. O'Carrol's goal worth the long trip even if we weren't at our best. Thing is when will people get it into their heads that every game is tough at this level? What's wrong with grinding the occasional result out?
Which brings me on to Grimsby.
We will have to be on our mettle again even if they have just lost a manager. But why was he sacked in the middle of September? We have a similarly poor record over the last seven months or so yet seem content to keep things going. Change for change sake isn't always the answer.
Buckley has over a 1000 league games experience as a manager. They got him in last year when they were in trouble. Now he's surplus to requirements again. Look at teams below with points deductions and you have to say it's a bit of a panic to put it mildly.
I admire Grimsby's aspirations but sometimes turning a club around is a long term thing. (Consolidating our own league position is also a long term thing.) There's no loyalty in football anymore and you just wonder if he'll get called in for a fourth spell if the next bloke doesn't work out!
I'm not having a go at Grimsby's fans who are as loyal as anyone. But the board does seem to panic over there and September seems ridiculous to get rid of a guy like Buckley. The only other thing is if it were by mutual consent but the wording of the statement seems to intimate he was sacked. The world's gone mad.
