In this context I read 'pressure' as meaning more groans than usual when long balls clear the roofs of northern shed stadiums on cold Tuesday nights, more people considering whether to part with their hard earned cash and travel to games, the odd nutter calling into 3CR demanding change, my girlfriend begging me to just let her stay home and watch Hollyoaks, my dad remarking at one of his three or four games a year that we've 'really gone downhill', Gasroomers demanding we sign a seventh, eighth and ninth striker as everything will be ok if we can just find out shooting boots, etc.
It's a general sense of negativity rather than people en masse calling for the head of a guy who we are pretty much all fond of and want to see succeed.
GA himself is a competitive guy who wants to succeed. I would imagine that if we were to perform badly for an extended period of games, then he himself would feel pressure to improve, having proven to himself that he is capable of better and seeing the likes of Accrington, Burton, Bournemouth, Wimbledon and Leicester defy the odds in the last season.
If "pressure" means a bit of moaning, let it happen. GA like nearly all managers will I am sure always be exerting more pressure than that in itself.
Where it becomes an issue is when the supporters become the problem, loudly criticising players and managers and creating a climate of fear which in turn brings about a further fall on confidence and a greater likelihood of the very results you are moaning about.
If that only starts in December and only if we are in the bottom four or five, well so be it. I fear it will start if we lose tomorrow and Saturday.
With the strong team bond the club enjoys, the season we sack ga is very likely to be the one we get relegated imho.
Personally I think we need a 'good spell' in the next month or so. Three wins in a row, preferably at home, and that will silence most dissenters until at least December.
When I read your posts, @DevC, I wonder if you imagine yourself to be some fine barrister when composing them, trying to paint one's opponent into a corner, looking to get them to concede a smidgen of ground you can then store away to use against them on a rainy day in November. Did you read a lot of John Mortimer when younger, Dev? Or maybe John Grisham?
This 'climate of fear' you talk about is part and parcel of supporting a football team. If the team does consistently badly and that's down to a manager's failings, as so often it is, fans have every right to put pressure on that manager by calling for him to go. Frankly, if our first 12 league matches of this season match those over the final 12 of last, I expect many fans will be calling for his head. And by my calculation that'll be mid-October, not late November. He'll keep my support if he shows a willingness to change things round - play to the players' strengths, show more tactical awareness, employ a style of football that's pleasing to the eye. But if the next eleven league matches mirror the last 13 in terms of style played as well as results, it will be difficult to continue making the case for Ainsworth, not least because every season under him our form has fallen away in the second half of the season after a relatively strong start. If we don't have that bedrock of early points to rely on, I'd be very worried he would be able to turn things round in time.
But that's all academic. I fully expect the team to take to the pitch on Saturday and wow us with an exciting blend of on-the-deck football and goals galore and for Ainsworth to build on his many strengths this season, culminating in a chase for the play-offs.
Just one more thing. You said earlier that "by all accounts there are at least 18 teams able to pay more to their players than we are". What are those accounts and can you link us to them please?
Do like a bit of Rumpole as it happens. Grisham not for me.
Creating a climate of fear damaging your own teams perfromance is "part and parcel of supporting a team." I rest my case.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how @DevC contrives to defend the indefensible tomorrow if our performance is on a par with those of the last dozen or so matches last season.
In an earlier post @DevC queried whether Myles Weston was "another Banton". Categorically not. After starting out as a youngster with Charlton (no first team appearances) he went on to make over 300 appearances for just 4 clubs - Notts County, Brentford, Gillingham and Southend. Not a prolific goalscorer but powerful and direct and a supplier of accurate crosses - witness the one at Wembley that led to Southend's equaliser!
Disappointed to here how bad it was but let's keep some hope, it was only one game and we have injured players to come back. We have the ability to play more than hoofball, I really hope we can get it together, I feel the team has the ability to play better football after some appropriate signings.
Comments
In this context I read 'pressure' as meaning more groans than usual when long balls clear the roofs of northern shed stadiums on cold Tuesday nights, more people considering whether to part with their hard earned cash and travel to games, the odd nutter calling into 3CR demanding change, my girlfriend begging me to just let her stay home and watch Hollyoaks, my dad remarking at one of his three or four games a year that we've 'really gone downhill', Gasroomers demanding we sign a seventh, eighth and ninth striker as everything will be ok if we can just find out shooting boots, etc.
It's a general sense of negativity rather than people en masse calling for the head of a guy who we are pretty much all fond of and want to see succeed.
GA himself is a competitive guy who wants to succeed. I would imagine that if we were to perform badly for an extended period of games, then he himself would feel pressure to improve, having proven to himself that he is capable of better and seeing the likes of Accrington, Burton, Bournemouth, Wimbledon and Leicester defy the odds in the last season.
No DevC i mean Pressure from those above GA.
If "pressure" means a bit of moaning, let it happen. GA like nearly all managers will I am sure always be exerting more pressure than that in itself.
Where it becomes an issue is when the supporters become the problem, loudly criticising players and managers and creating a climate of fear which in turn brings about a further fall on confidence and a greater likelihood of the very results you are moaning about.
If that only starts in December and only if we are in the bottom four or five, well so be it. I fear it will start if we lose tomorrow and Saturday.
With the strong team bond the club enjoys, the season we sack ga is very likely to be the one we get relegated imho.
Personally I think we need a 'good spell' in the next month or so. Three wins in a row, preferably at home, and that will silence most dissenters until at least December.
When I read your posts, @DevC, I wonder if you imagine yourself to be some fine barrister when composing them, trying to paint one's opponent into a corner, looking to get them to concede a smidgen of ground you can then store away to use against them on a rainy day in November. Did you read a lot of John Mortimer when younger, Dev? Or maybe John Grisham?
This 'climate of fear' you talk about is part and parcel of supporting a football team. If the team does consistently badly and that's down to a manager's failings, as so often it is, fans have every right to put pressure on that manager by calling for him to go. Frankly, if our first 12 league matches of this season match those over the final 12 of last, I expect many fans will be calling for his head. And by my calculation that'll be mid-October, not late November. He'll keep my support if he shows a willingness to change things round - play to the players' strengths, show more tactical awareness, employ a style of football that's pleasing to the eye. But if the next eleven league matches mirror the last 13 in terms of style played as well as results, it will be difficult to continue making the case for Ainsworth, not least because every season under him our form has fallen away in the second half of the season after a relatively strong start. If we don't have that bedrock of early points to rely on, I'd be very worried he would be able to turn things round in time.
But that's all academic. I fully expect the team to take to the pitch on Saturday and wow us with an exciting blend of on-the-deck football and goals galore and for Ainsworth to build on his many strengths this season, culminating in a chase for the play-offs.
Just one more thing. You said earlier that "by all accounts there are at least 18 teams able to pay more to their players than we are". What are those accounts and can you link us to them please?
Do like a bit of Rumpole as it happens. Grisham not for me.
Creating a climate of fear damaging your own teams perfromance is "part and parcel of supporting a team." I rest my case.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how @DevC contrives to defend the indefensible tomorrow if our performance is on a par with those of the last dozen or so matches last season.
In an earlier post @DevC queried whether Myles Weston was "another Banton". Categorically not. After starting out as a youngster with Charlton (no first team appearances) he went on to make over 300 appearances for just 4 clubs - Notts County, Brentford, Gillingham and Southend. Not a prolific goalscorer but powerful and direct and a supplier of accurate crosses - witness the one at Wembley that led to Southend's equaliser!
Disappointed to here how bad it was but let's keep some hope, it was only one game and we have injured players to come back. We have the ability to play more than hoofball, I really hope we can get it together, I feel the team has the ability to play better football after some appropriate signings.